Korean Job Discussion Forums

[DCJames]

You're at the store or some other place and you speak Korean to the clerk. The clerk UNDERSTANDS you and then says in English, "Wait" or "Ok" and then tries to speak English. Unfortunately, "wait" and "ok" are the only words they know in English and your Korean is much better than their English.

Why do they do this again and again and again??

[Alyallen]

You ever listen to Korean music? There are like 3 words in English and the rest is in Korea. I guess it's all in the ATTEMPT to speak in English. It's inconvenient but I'm sure you'd want your students to try in such a situation as well.....

And yes it happens to me. That and the other version where I speak only in Korean and they answer only in English....A bit silly but we both are happy in the end I guess

[frankly speaking]

Why would a teacher ever criticize the people of a country for trying to communicate a language that they him/herself is teaching.

I guess people's arrogance allows them to forget that they once sounded like an idiot when they first learned how to speak a foreign language.

[RACETRAITOR]

For me it's just easier to understand them in those circumstances if they use Korean. Kudos for trying, but "sa-chun won" is easier to understand than "four thousand won" with a heavy accent.

[tomato]

[DCJames]

[oneofthesarahs]

[Ginormousaurus]

I used to go into a little mom and pop shop next to my old house on a daily basis. The woman who worked there always told me the price with her fingers. 1 finger=1000 won... This always bugged me because whenever I needed to speak to her, I always did it in Korean so I was sure she knew I spoke the language.

Finally one day I outright asked her why she won't tell me the prices in Korean or without a calculator. She told me that she didn't think I could hear her because I always had my earphones in. (True. I almost always wear them)

So in the end it turns out she was only being conciderate and I was foolishly getting bothered by it by assuming the worst on her part.

[Fresh Prince]

This happens to me a lot actually. Sometimes it bugs me, sometimes it doesn't. Usually they get to practice what little English they know and it makes them look cool in front of their friends. I get to practice what little Korean I know and I feel like maybe I'm improving.

The times that it really bothers me is when they make no effort to let me speak Korean and do not attempt to speak English, instead opting to call another coworker that knows a fractional amount of English. I know I make pronounciation mistakes but I don't think that they are really that far off and difficult to deduce. For example, at the pizza place, how hard is to figure out what I'm trying to say in badly pronounced Korean? Most of the pizza related vocabulary is Koreanized English anyway.

I can see the other poster's point about letting the Koreans try out their English. The Koreans kids are spending so much time studying English in school that it is only fair to let them try out their English when they see a foreigner. It's probably the only time they will get the chance outside unless they travel to the west, which I doubt most will ever do.

[tomato]

[DCJames]

[Corporal]

[Young FRANKenstein]

[jajdude]

I find it strange this happens to some of often enough to bother commenting about it. I've been here a good few years, it rarely happens to me. It doesn't bother me the odd time it does, but it seems to happen only once in while anyway, not even once a month I guess. If they can say "four thousand," fine, if not, no problem, I got the numbers down.

[DCJames]

[quote="Young FRANKenstein"][quote="frankly speaking"]