Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Trinny]

Maybe you guys help me for my discussion class at hagwon.

What are the psychological effects of English, learning it or hypes about learning it on the Koreans? Have Koreans fallen victims to inferiority complex towards English speakers or the Koreans who speak English? Why do some Koreans bring the baggage of emotion to learning English?

This is not a troll. I am looking forward to serious replies only.

[the_beaver]

Learning a new language involves learning a new culture. Subconsciously many people feel that they are abandoning (or betraying) their culture as they progress in their second language. This can manifest itself in many ways, examples being a worsening of pronunciation, less desire to use/learn the target language as well as antipathy towards the culture of the second language.

It's not a Korean phonomenon or even a phenomenon associated only with English.

[peppermint]

The thing is, there aren't as many psychological road blocks it seems, for a Koran person who studies Japanese or Chinese. When a Korean person is studying Chinese, their friends don't giggle when they practice.

I've noticed the same things and it kind of bothers me. I asked my students about it, and they said it's because Chinese and Japanese people look similar, so it's not as shocking. Either Korean people are extremely shallow, or my students are liars and this is one case when I hope they were lying through their teeth.

On the flipside though, a white person trying to speak Korean can get quite a reaction too. Last night I was talking with a friend at the subway station. Since I'm trying to study Korean, I asked her to speak to me in Korean, and not let me be lazy and answer in English. Well, according to her, my pronunciation is pretty good, and stuff, but I was getting a lot of slightly confused looks. ( Maybe if I had dark hair and looked more asian, it wouldn't have been as interesting?)

[ulsanchris]

I find trying to learn korean is rather discouraging due to all the koreans who laugh at me when I try to speak it.

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

Has anyone ever experienced saying something in perfect Korean ( confirmed by my good friends ) and had the Korean person either totally not understand because they think you're mangling English, or require three or four repeats because they simply aren't listening for Korean from a foreigner?

[camel96]

Maybe it's that Juche thing -self reliance or whatever.
You've gotta figure that's it's pretty tough to be raised under a relatively rigid confucian society and then to have the same people who taught you that your country and everything it has produced is the ant's pants turn around and say "Oh by the way you have to learn this new language and adapt to this outside culture otherwise our economy and country will go down the toilet"
Sorry I think I should have added a full stop in there.

[ulsanchris]

Kiwiboy i've had that happen to me so many times. I go to a restaurant with my girlfriend and I order in Korean but the waitress just turns to my girlfriend to get her to order.
What I love is when you say a word that is both korean and english (like banana) and the people have no clue what you have just said. So you say it again with a korean accent and they still have no clue and they never ever get it. grrr its frustrating.

[The Man known as The Man]

[Trinny]

You are talking about my broken English, right?

No connection with Mr. Quebec. I have a relative married and sold off to John Manley's family, though.

[Wombat]

I agree that language is obviously very strongly tied to cultural identity. Westerners (having such a young culture) are rarely, if ever, laughed at for trying a new language. (Can you imagine? "Hey fellas, Larry's trying to lear Sanskrit! Ha ha ha ha!)

Wombat