Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Dev]

I knew a couple of Gyopos (Korean Americans / Canadians) back home that couldn't speak Korean at all.

Now I know one in Korea who speaks Korean really well.

I was surprised that some Korean parents back in North America don't teach their children Korean despite Korean people generally being very nationalistic.

How many of you gyopos are good at speaking Korean?

Why do you think some parents don't bother teaching Korean to their kids in North America and other foreign countries?

[Ginormousaurus]

I'm not a gyopo, but out of my gyopo friends 5 of them speak Korean quite well and it is mostly thanks to hearing it at home. Granted, I met all these people in Korean language classes, but only one of them started from a begining level.

[Johnwayne]

I'm Korean on my mother's side (i.e. half) and I don't speak fluent Korean. My mother tried to teach me over the years when I was younger and I picked up on some random words and phrases, but being a kid and living in the States, I was more interested in going outside and playing and not sitting there trying to learn 한국어, much to my mother's dismay I'm sure. If my father had spoken Korean, I imagine I would have learned it growing up.

Having said that, as I have gotten older I have taken more of an interest in learning to speak, etc. Korean and took a year's worth of classes when I was attending school. I'm sure after a year or so of living in Korea, I'll be able to get by quite a bit better than I do now, especially since I plan on to continue studying the language. If I remember correctly, the majority of Kyopos I knew in my language class spoke Korean on a more or less fluent level at the start (reading and writing not so much). I am pretty sure all of them had two parents that spoke Korean though.

[ca12bon]

Mine was pretty bad at first, almost to the point where people would stare at me when I "tried" to speak Korean, but after living in Korea for about 6 years, I can speak it quite fluently. Now people have no idea I lived 22 years of my life abroad.

[pkang0202]

I went to Korean Language classes on Saturdays back home in the States when I was little. you are a kid and all your friends are watching Saturday cartoons and playing while I'm learning Korean. Lets just say the motivation was never there.

I can hold my own in a conversation and I can comprehend about 75% of what I hear. My biggest weakness is in vocabulary. Even though I can understand about 75%, I can only speak about 40%. I just can't find the right word to use whenever I'm talking.

[migooknom]

I can even type like a Korean

즐! 뷁! ㅋㅋㅋ ㅎㅎㅎ ^^ ㅜ_ㅜ -_-;;;; >_<

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[jvalmer]

It's not about parents teaching them Korean. In reality, how formal do you think a parent can actually teach their kids Korean? It's mostly the motivation of the kid and how many other Korean there are living in they area. As a kid gets older, the less and less time the kid spends at home. Most likey by the time that kid gets to high school, most days he/she only sleeps and eats breakfast at home.

Also, to a white guy/girl, a gyopo's Korean languages skills are probably far superior to ours, so we assume they are fluent when they aren't.

But, I think 50+% of the cases, gyopos can probably understand alot (maybe approaching 80%, but sounding like a native Korean is a whole different matter.