Korean Job Discussion Forums

VirginIslander · Joined: 24 May 2006 Location: Busan

I'm helping my girlfriend and a few of her friend out. They can teach English grammar and speak fairly well, but they don't know how to maintain a conversation.

When I go to the bar with them, they want to talk to foriegners but don't know how to get passed the "I'm fine and you."

I think Koreans, both men and women, often get embarrased too easily because they are afraid they'll make a mistake (too many years of an education that stipulates perfection). They're afaid that we will judge them and ridicule them like one of their former language teachers.

I'm trying to convince them that most of us dont care. If there are common interests and a sincere interest, conversation shouldnt be a problem.

If you struck up a conversation in Korean or another language, what kind of questions would you ask keep the coversation flowing.

jlb · Joined: 18 Sep 2003

The usual:

Where do you work? Do you like it?

How long have you been in Korea?

What do you like to do in your free time? And follow up on this of course.

mountainous · Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Location: Los Angeles

A common conversation piece:

"Are you MARRIED?"

I get that one a lot...I wonder why, hummmmmmm....... Cool

Jizzo T. Clown · Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Location: at my wit's end

Are you a strong drinker?

Which songs can you sing at noraebang?

What do you think about America's influence on Korean society?

On second thought...

Drink more! Where are the women?

riley · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Location: where creditors can find me

out of context · Joined: 08 Jan 2006 Location: Daejeon

Unless the English is totally and utterly incomprehensible, I will always prefer a free-form conversation with grammatical errors to a letter-perfect canned conversation. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this.

My advice is to suggest that the learner look up English words that are likely to come up when talking about a topic of interest. Grammar is secondary; if the vocabulary's missing, the conversation won't go anywhere. After that, I don't think there's going to be all that much cultural difference in the kind of questions you ask to keep a conversation going.

tiger fancini · Joined: 21 Mar 2006 Location: Testicles for Eyes

laogaiguk · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Location: somewhere in Korea

Tell them to say, "If our conversation goes well, we could end up going home together tonight." That should help Wink

But seriously, ask what they like to do and then just ask about that until you find out enough about them. People love to talk about themselves.