Korean Job Discussion Forums

Rock · Joined: 25 Feb 2005

Determining English ability nationwise, who's leading amongst the Asian countries of Japan, Taiwan, and Korea, and how's this determined?

I once read in the Korea Herald that Korea'd led the way.

Tokki1 · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:24 am Post subject:

As far as English comprehension/speaking/etc... goes, Korea is by far the leader of the three aforementioned countries.

Young FRANKenstein · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:57 am Post subject:

Treefarmer · Joined: 29 May 2007

it's probably based on the best of the best, if korea really is leading the way then jesus christ...

but from those countries i've only been to korea and japan, and japanese seemed better at english in terms of people who worked in hotels and shops, but i live in korea so it's not really a fair comparison

Tokki1 · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 10:12 am Post subject:

You must be joking. I've had more trouble communicating in Japan and Taiwan than in Korea (in English). But I may be biased because I speak intermediate Korean. It's hard to be objective when you have kimchi on the brain. Surprised

Newbie · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

Isn't Korea something like 127th in English ability?

Someone here must have the numbers.... Korea is definitely one of the worst.

Tokki1 · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:06 pm Post subject:

Try to take a taxi in Taiwan or Japan. It's like smashing your head against a wall. I'm giving my thumbs up to the ajoshis.

DCJames · Joined: 27 Jul 2006

Korea is way better than Taiwan and Japan.

Most people under the age of 30 can speak some English here.

Newbie · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

"According to a report released in 2003 by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy in Hong Kong, which provides information on the management environment in East Asia, Korea ranked the lowest among 12 Asian countries when it comes to communication in English. From 2004 to 2005, the TOEFL scores of Korean applicants ranked 93rd among 147 nations. And last September, when a speaking section replaced the grammar component in the TOEFL exams, Korea�s rank dropped to 111th. In the speaking section, Korea ranked almost rock bottom, at 134th."

There you go. As I suspected, Korea just sucks. (at English)

Tokki1 · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 9:02 pm Post subject:

Goes to show you how meaningful statistics really are in the context of Very Happy

real life.

Saxiif · Joined: 15 May 2003 Location: Seongnam

zappadelta · Joined: 31 Aug 2004

Where's Real Reality?

jinju · Joined: 22 Jan 2006

tokki, exp;ain something to me. Why do people put numbers after their nicks? Your handle would be much neater without the 1

Young FRANKenstein · Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 3:37 am Post subject:

insam · Joined: 17 May 2007

if you are referring to speaking ability by second language learners (not people brought up learning english), korea is and will always be the leader in the context of the three countries mentioned (assuming each remain interested in promoting english language learning). it is simply a linguistic reality. both taiwanese and japanese will initially (sometimes indefinitely) struggle with the pronunciation more than koreans. that said, if you start teaching kids from infancy, then it wouldn't matter where you are from.