Things Koreans do that irks us

Can confirm; I was one of those people. Couldn't figure out why everyone spoke English to me when I spoke Korean. Figured out I sucked at Korean. Went on to study hard. Now it happens <10% of the time and when it does happen will be like "damn my Korean sucks" instead of "wtf is wrong w/ these people"

Agreed. I also think that the time and effort it takes to get anywhere decent at a language like Korean is a bit of a factor here.

Like, if you're starting from zero, you could study Korean for a long time and still suck hard. I remember thinking so many times "I've put X amount of hours and so much effort into this, how come I still can't do XYZ???"

I think after awhile people tend to think "Well, I must be decent by now, just look at all the time I've put in." No, sorry you still probably can't do much. It's disheartening but a little ignorance is bliss. If I'd been aware of just mow much I didn't know, and how bad my level really was, I might've given up way earlier in the process. Anyway, as it goes with most things don't be a know-it-all prick and usually it's all good.

I'm not gonna judge anyone's ability to speak based on ONE spelling mistake, either.

lol I dunno why everyone's giving HiddenPerson such a hard time. When I saw 왜국 I rolled my eyes too. There are a lot of people who claim they speak Korean very well but in reality can't so his reaction to such a simple misspelling is quite reasonable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

"The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which low-ability individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability as much higher than it really is."

"Dunning and Kruger proposed that, for a given skill, incompetent people will:[4]

fail to recognize their own lack of skill
fail to recognize the extent of their inadequacy
fail to accurately gauge skill in others
recognize and acknowledge their own lack of skill only after they are exposed to training for that skill"

Don't make fun of people's 핸굴 you 왜이구긴.

I did this soooo much, still do sometimes.

"my speaking is low but I can read and understand quite well" etc is one of the most spoken phrases about Korean by expats. I am super guilty of saying it myself. These days I feel it translates to

"I don't really speak Korean but I feel a bit embarrassed about it, so I am going to say to myself that my understanding is good"


Edit - I actually read the posts. Don't be a spelling nazi....

this is so absurd. one spelling mistake = not being able to order food effectively???

going by that standard my fluent English speaking korean partner would have to be ignored all the time in the states. he makes plenty of writing errors in English.

I always thought it was so funny that when I went to Toronto with my K-girl, no one said, not even once, "Wow, your English is really good."

I saw Ann yawng Hasayyo and I'm a god damn genius here.

Very different experiences. 

lol I dunno why everyone's giving HiddenPerson such a hard time. When I saw 왜국 I rolled my eyes too. There are a lot of people who claim they speak Korean very well but in reality can't so his reaction to such a simple misspelling is quite reasonable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

"The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which low-ability individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability as much higher than it really is."

"Dunning and Kruger proposed that, for a given skill, incompetent people will:[4]

fail to recognize their own lack of skill
fail to recognize the extent of their inadequacy
fail to accurately gauge skill in others
recognize and acknowledge their own lack of skill only after they are exposed to training for that skill"

Don't make fun of people's 핸굴 you 왜이구긴.

this is so absurd. one spelling mistake = not being able to order food effectively???

going by that standard my fluent English speaking korean partner would have to be ignored all the time in the states. he makes plenty of writing errors in English.

Are you saying that I am piping on about a spelling mistake? 

People on this board are giving someone a hard time about mispelling 외국인. Personally I see that as pretty stupid too. It's like 5th graders giving 4th graders a hard time just because a 4th grader made a mistake on his math homework. In the end they both still suck.

The funny thing about inadequate people is that they feel the need to point out the flaws in others.

With that said, I'm not going on about how silly the mistake is, I'm merely pointing out a very common trait of the foreigner who claim to be good at Korean and why they are the way they are.

this is so absurd. one spelling mistake = not being able to order food effectively???

going by that standard my fluent English speaking korean partner would have to be ignored all the time in the states. he makes plenty of writing errors in English.

I always thought it was so funny that when I went to Toronto with my K-girl, no one said, not even once, "Wow, your English is really good."

I saw Ann yawng Hasayyo and I'm a god damn genius here.

Very different experiences.

It's kind of disheartening, the "WOW YOUR KOREAN IS GOOD" when I've literally only said hello.  Oftentimes the Koreans who say this to me are also "ashamed" of their lack of English even when their English skills are clearly far superior to my Korean.  I make a point of telling them so but they never seem to believe me. 

now, i'm going to start asking for a written example of their english ability before ESL speakers engage me on the street.

"excuse me, may i ask you some questions about your experiences in korea?"
-"i'm not sure if i'm understanding you correctly. can you please write a short paragraph before we continue this conversation? i must warn you that if you make a spelling error I'll have to assume we cannot have a real conversation!"

Somewhat relevant.  I get annoyed when some Koreans assume I can't read hangeul at all because I can't decipher cursive as well.  Maybe if it wasn't chicken scratch, I could read it just fine.  Lemme scribble some English cursive and see how well you do 

Somewhat relevant.  I get annoyed when some Koreans assume I can't read hangeul at all because I can't decipher cursive as well.  Maybe if it wasn't chicken scratch, I could read it just fine.  Lemme scribble some English cursive and see how well you do 

Some of that shit is incomprehensible top me. I just say "Microsoft Hangul, please."

Makes me wonder if that's what my handwriting looks like to them. hahahaha

Somewhat relevant.  I get annoyed when some Koreans assume I can't read hangeul at all because I can't decipher cursive as well.  Maybe if it wasn't chicken scratch, I could read it just fine.  Lemme scribble some English cursive and see how well you do 

This shit is nuts. Annoys me as well

Somewhat relevant.  I get annoyed when some Koreans assume I can't read hangeul at all because I can't decipher cursive as well.  Maybe if it wasn't chicken scratch, I could read it just fine.  Lemme scribble some English cursive and see how well you do 

This shit is nuts. Annoys me as well

You must not be very fluent in Korean. If you were, you would be able to read Korean handwriting without problems.

 

Somewhat relevant.  I get annoyed when some Koreans assume I can't read hangeul at all because I can't decipher cursive as well.  Maybe if it wasn't chicken scratch, I could read it just fine.  Lemme scribble some English cursive and see how well you do 

This shit is nuts. Annoys me as well

You must not be very fluent in Korean. If you were, you would be able to read Korean handwriting without problems.

 

hehe I admitted my level earlier. I also stand by what I said. Basic mistakes in any language make me question ones fluency, especially when they only used 3-4 words in that language. If 1/4th of your writing has errors in it, you're not doing a very good job.

Somewhat relevant.  I get annoyed when some Koreans assume I can't read hangeul at all because I can't decipher cursive as well.  Maybe if it wasn't chicken scratch, I could read it just fine.  Lemme scribble some English cursive and see how well you do 

This shit is nuts. Annoys me as well

You must not be very fluent in Korean. If you were, you would be able to read Korean handwriting without problems.

 

 

If you can't spell a basic word, I wonder how good your Korean really is. Maybe there's another reason(besides your race) why they are speaking to your SO rather than you.

And you think... what? That native Koreans are immune to misspelling their language's words? Plus 외 and 왜 aren't exactly dissimilar.

Of course people can misspell words. However, if you're claiming to speak a language and you make a basic mistake, one can't help but wonder how fluent you are/if they(the waitstaff) can really understand you. If someone claimed to speak English and subsequently misspelled an easy word, then I'd question them as well.

A person in America could order "Hamburger give me" and the waitress would understand, but might ask the native speaking partner what they'd like on it or if there's anything special they would like done to it.

You can't be serious! Do you know how many people spell the word "definitely" wrong? Definately. Definitaly. Defanately. Definetely. Definetily. It's feels almost endless. Some of these people are university educated folks who are still using an incorrect spelling. Does it matter? Do I assume they can't speak English because of that? So silly.

This all reminds me of how some English speakers get butthurt when my wife, who clearly does not speak English as well as they do, says jokingly that their English sucks. They'd be all butthurt and try to defend their honor in the English language.

Seems like there's a bit of inferiority complex going on in this thread.

This all reminds me of how some English speakers get butthurt when my wife, who clearly does not speak English as well as they do, says jokingly that their English sucks. They'd be all butthurt and try to defend their honor in the English language.

Seems like there's a bit of inferiority complex going on in this thread.

Seems like you've realized your viewpoint sucks and now your last resort is to try to silence the other viewpoint by claiming any rebuttal is evidence of being overly defensive and by extension, wrong.

If you think fluency in speaking and listening requires perfect spelling, you're just wrong. I'm sorry that facts don't agree with you.

If you can't spell a basic word, I wonder how good your Korean really is. Maybe there's another reason(besides your race) why they are speaking to your SO rather than you.

And you think... what? That native Koreans are immune to misspelling their language's words? Plus 외 and 왜 aren't exactly dissimilar.

Of course people can misspell words. However, if you're claiming to speak a language and you make a basic mistake, one can't help but wonder how fluent you are/if they(the waitstaff) can really understand you. If someone claimed to speak English and subsequently misspelled an easy word, then I'd question them as well.

A person in America could order "Hamburger give me" and the waitress would understand, but might ask the native speaking partner what they'd like on it or if there's anything special they would like done to it.

You can't be serious! Do you know how many people spell the word "definitely" wrong? Definately. Definitaly. Defanately. Definetely. Definetily. It's feels almost endless. Some of these people are university educated folks who are still using an incorrect spelling. Does it matter? Do I assume they can't speak English because of that? So silly.

While "definitely" isn't a hard word, it is a longer one. When I said basic, I meant widely used as well as being easy to spell. One example would be spelling "for" as "four" or as "foor".

While "definitely" isn't a hard word, it is a longer one. When I said basic, I meant widely used as well as being easy to spell. One example would be spelling "for" as "four" or as "foor".

There/they're/their

Your/you're

Notice how these words sound similar, like 왜 and 외

While "definitely" isn't a hard word, it is a longer one. When I said basic, I meant widely used as well as being easy to spell. One example would be spelling "for" as "four" or as "foor".

There/they're/their

Your/you're

You're/your. If you can't use these correctly, then I assume the person is an idiot. Same with the there/they're/their.

You're/your. If you can't use these correctly, then I assume the person is an idiot. Same with the there/they're/their.

Even an idiot can be fluent in a language, though.

Case in point: me.

If you can't spell a basic word, I wonder how good your Korean really is. Maybe there's another reason(besides your race) why they are speaking to your SO rather than you.

And you think... what? That native Koreans are immune to misspelling their language's words? Plus 외 and 왜 aren't exactly dissimilar.

Of course people can misspell words. However, if you're claiming to speak a language and you make a basic mistake, one can't help but wonder how fluent you are/if they(the waitstaff) can really understand you. If someone claimed to speak English and subsequently misspelled an easy word, then I'd question them as well.

A person in America could order "Hamburger give me" and the waitress would understand, but might ask the native speaking partner what they'd like on it or if there's anything special they would like done to it.

You can't be serious! Do you know how many people spell the word "definitely" wrong? Definately. Definitaly. Defanately. Definetely. Definetily. It's feels almost endless. Some of these people are university educated folks who are still using an incorrect spelling. Does it matter? Do I assume they can't speak English because of that? So silly.

While "definitely" isn't a hard word, it is a longer one. When I said basic, I meant widely used as well as being easy to spell. One example would be spelling "for" as "four" or as "foor".

I know a dude who's in his late 30s and spells "our", "are", and "hour" all as "our". "There" and "their" are also the same to him. This guy has never left Canada, his parents were born and raised there, same as him, but he can't spell to save his life. I should also note that he has no (professionally diagnosed) disorders that interfere with his ability to learn. He just doesn't care, but English is his first language and his FB posts hurt my soul.