RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

I agree with that too. What I started doing is saying: Don't say sorry. English isn't always a math problem where a question will have a single correct answer. Sometimes there are many different ways to answer a question in English. (My co-teacher usually translates that into Korean for them). My higher level students have become more willing to try their own answers. The lower level students are still kinda looking for -the- answer though.

I'm going to sound totally ignorant and generalising here, but here it goes.

Listen to Koreans speak to each other.

  와, 맛있어

  "네, 맛있어!!!"

Think of if you were in a group of Canadians, or Brits and it went like that

  Delicious!

  Yes, delicious!

This would NEVER happen. You'd get people saying different things in response. If you saw the English exchange above, you'd think it was a cult.

This isn't a knock against Korean, but it does appear like there is a method of HOW you say things that is more concrete. The age reverence thing doesn't help, there are RULES on what to say, when and how.

I'm going to sound totally ignorant and generalising here, but here it goes.

Listen to Koreans speak to each other.

  와, 맛있어

  "네, 맛있어!!!"

Think of if you were in a group of Canadians, or Brits and it went like that

  Delicious!

  Yes, delicious!

This would NEVER happen. You'd get people saying different things in response. If you saw the English exchange above, you'd think it was a cult.

This isn't a knock against Korean, but it does appear like there is a method of HOW you say things that are more concrete. The age reverence thing doesn't help, there are RULES on what to say, when and how.

Good point!

At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite given how poor my Korean skills are, ESL teachers should at least have an idea of how Korean works or the cultural components of the language, it really help to understand how alien English is to Korean.

Compared to English, there seems to be a much stronger cultural emphasise, in Korean, on the appropriate thing to say rather than expressing oneself.

My Korean listening skills are far better than my speaking skills and oftentimes, particularly when it's a bunch of people talking in a group, I get the impression that a hell of a lot of their conversation is them being fake AF. From a Westerner's perspective it might seem fake, but in Korean culture it's seen more as maintaining a semblance of harmony by giving the generic response; to an extent, I can understand the sense in this.

This bleeds into their English too. A few weeks ago I did a conversation class with some of the other teachers, 2 younger teachers in their 20s and 4 older teachers in their 40s and 50s. the dynamic of the conversation shifted dramatically when the older teachers joined in (previously it was only the younger teachers). Suddenly, the younger teachers seemed reluctant to express themselves or "show off" their English and the older Koreans adopted a patronising and condescending tone.

I get the impression that a hell of a lot of their conversation is them being fake AF.

I totally get the 엉~~~~~ 엄~~~~~~~~ (awwwwwwwwww sound?) agreeing, looking directly at the speaker and nodding your head and saying 맞아 every 4 seconds in the Korean context, but my Canadian brain still has that little voice that sees a MASSIVE sarcastic response. hahahahaha

I just transpose it onto my mom telling a story and I'm just staring at her nodding, incessantly saying, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, YUP YUP, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHH" *nods head*

After all of 4 seconds she'd say "Kevin, what the hell is wrong with you?" hahahahahaha 

I think this might give some insight, including our own version of this. Of course I think its a bit generalized, and that rather than really being that different, we are all basically doing a similar dance, just to a different tune. But it can help us understand.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20151214-why-do-brits-talk-about-the-weather-so-much

I'm going to sound totally ignorant and generalising here, but here it goes.

Listen to Koreans speak to each other.

  와, 맛있어

  "네, 맛있어!!!"

Think of if you were in a group of Canadians, or Brits and it went like that

  Delicious!

  Yes, delicious!

This would NEVER happen. You'd get people saying different things in response. If you saw the English exchange above, you'd think it was a cult.

This isn't a knock against Korean, but it does appear like there is a method of HOW you say things that is more concrete. The age reverence thing doesn't help, there are RULES on what to say, when and how.

It is diverse because on every TV cooking/variety you've got 맛있어! 정말  맛있어! and also 맛있어! 진짜 맛있어!. Then there's....um....maybe... nope, got nothing else.

I totally get the 엉~~~~~ 엄~~~~~~~~ (awwwwwwwwww sound?) agreeing, looking directly at the speaker and nodding your head and saying 맞아 every 4 seconds in the Korean context, but my Canadian brain still has that little voice that sees a MASSIVE sarcastic response. hahahahaha

I just transpose it onto my mom telling a story and I'm just staring at her nodding, incessantly saying, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, YUP YUP, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHH" *nods head*

After all of 4 seconds she'd say "Kevin, what the hell is wrong with you?" hahahahahaha 

Yes, when I hear 네 like 79 times in one conversation drives me a bit crazy, but yeah there is a cultural aspect of it.....always catches me off guard when a phone call just seems to end or end with 음...

Here's a cultural difference.

GF and I were watching Kim's Convenience on Sat and (this isn't really a spoiler, don't worry, it's 20 secs from one episode, it's NOT important) Kimchee went into the loading bay to grab a file whilst on a very important call to HQ. There's a woman sat in front of a rental car crying her eyes out. Kimchee looks at her, winces, rummages through the filing cabinet, grabs the file and runs out back to the call.

Well, inevitably, Kimchee gets shit for this from the staff. Words like callous and uncaring are thrown around.


Enter GF and I. This show is perfect for us, it's literally my hometown and it's about Korean culture, too.

  Wait, what? He's in trouble for that???

  Yeah, like BARE minimum he should have asked if she was okay.

  That's so weird. In Korea we don't do anything.
 
  In Canada, you'd have to ask if they're okay. And the rental place in the show has something like SEVEN employees, haha. IT's not like you can just walk by some random co-worker you've never met from a different floor.

  I don't think people like me in the office in Canada maybe.

  

Yes, when I hear 네 like 79 times in one conversation drives me a bit crazy, but yeah there is a cultural aspect of it.....always catches me off guard when a phone call just seems to end or end with 음...

For sure. I'm sure we have our oddly repeated words and things other people are like "Why do they do that?"

Like conversations that are just little more than "Dude" and "Shit" Constant "like" and "mannnn" A language that seems absolutely anarchic when it comes to spelling and pronunciation. That's before we get to our constantly updating lexicon of taboo words.

Like conversations that are just little more than "Dude" and "Shit" Constant "like" and "mannnn" A language that seems absolutely anarchic when it comes to spelling and pronunciation. That's before we get to our constantly updating lexicon of taboo words.

Not gonna argue your point, because its true that all languages have this to some extent, but I do want to point out that all four examples you used are very much used only by teenagers and/or people who still think of themselves as teenagers.
Also, while English is definitely a mongrel language, I'm not sure how that relates to the number of ritualized exchanges/responses a language may or may not contain contain. That's a different topic entirely.

For sure. I'm sure we have our oddly repeated words and things other people are like "Why do they do that?"

Like conversations that are just little more than "Dude" and "Shit" Constant "like" and "mannnn" A language that seems absolutely anarchic when it comes to spelling and pronunciation. That's before we get to our constantly updating lexicon of taboo words.

indeed, I say ok a ton in class....kids make fun of me a bit for it so I exaggerate it more

This show is perfect for us, it's literally my hometown...

Since this is the ranting and venting thread, is Toronto really your hometown?  Hometown being where you were born and raised, not spent a few years as an adult?  Come on now.  It's a pet peeve of mine.  I can't tell you the amount of people I've met here that say they're from Toronto and when I say "me too" and start to talk about where they grew up and what schools they attended, it turns out they're not actually from Toronto.  And this is not a Toronto snobbery thing.  Just an issue of accuracy. 

Not gonna argue your point, because its true that all languages have this to some extent, but I do want to point out that all four examples you used are very much used only by teenagers and/or people who still think of themselves as teenagers.

Like dude, I don't think of myself as some teenager and I say that shit all the time mannnn.

There's how people speak at work, and then there's how people speak at the bar or on the golf course.

Then there's our various phrases and tics from our countries of origin, eh?

Since this is the ranting and venting thread, is Toronto really your hometown?  Hometown being where you were born and raised, not spent a few years as an adult?  Come on now.  It's a pet peeve of mine.  I can't tell you the amount of people I've met here that say they're from Toronto and when I say "me too" and start to talk about where they grew up and what schools they attended, it turns out they're not actually from Toronto.  And this is not a Toronto snobbery thing.  Just an issue of accuracy. 

It was the town in which I resided prior to Korea and I was a Golden Horseshoe brat Exactly 18 of my 36 years here on Earth.

Might not meet lofty standards of some, but I'm fine with it. hahaha But yeah, I don't meet strict definitions. But I'm not from London trying to claim that status. hehehe

Since this is the ranting and venting thread, is Toronto really your hometown?  Hometown being where you were born and raised, not spent a few years as an adult?  Come on now.  It's a pet peeve of mine.  I can't tell you the amount of people I've met here that say they're from Toronto and when I say "me too" and start to talk about where they grew up and what schools they attended, it turns out they're not actually from Toronto.  And this is not a Toronto snobbery thing.  Just an issue of accuracy. 

I do this too.  mostly to explain to people that are unfamiliar with canada. Most people know Toronto. So when asked,  always say I'm from, "a bit north of toronto".  if someone knows the area we can start to narrow it down. I believe C02 is from Barrie. which is "a bit north of toronto. I believe we also went to the same University, which is..."about 3 hours north of toronto".

I do this too.  mostly to explain to people that are unfamiliar with canada. Most people know Toronto. So when asked,  always say I'm from, "a bit north of toronto".  if someone knows the area we can start to narrow it down. I believe C02 is from Barrie. which is "a bit north of toronto. I believe we also went to the same University, which is..."about 3 hours north of toronto".

Hamilton for 10, Kingston for 3, Barrie for 8. Did three years at Laurentian at their Georgian Campus (Barrie) and went to Sudbury for three. Then life in Toronto then Korea.

Also............. who are you? hahaha Pohang Laurentian person???

Hamilton for 10, Kingston for 3, Barrie for 8. Did three years at Laurentian at their Georgian Campus (Barrie) and went to Sudbury for three. Then life in Toronto then Korea.

Also............. who are you? hahaha Pohang Laurentian person???

Hhaha   my bad,  I though you went to nipissing.  I loosley remember someone writing about nipissing recently. Thought it was you. Im from midland. been in pohang a while.

Im from midland.

Remember Al's Diner trailer with the little grill restaurant?

Remember Al's Diner trailer with the little grill restaurant?

Remember Al's Diner trailer with the little grill restaurant?

2 blocks from my high school. and close enough to little lake that you could get a garbage bag full of fries to feed the seagulls

It was the town in which I resided prior to Korea and I was a Golden Horseshoe brat Exactly 18 of my 36 years here on Earth.

Might not meet lofty standards of some, but I'm fine with it. hahaha But yeah, I don't meet strict definitions. But I'm not from London trying to claim that status. hehehe

I wouldn't say lofty standards, just normal standards.   I had one grandfather born and raised in Clarkson (now Oakville) and my grandmother born and raised in Welland.  They were married living in Toronto at Mt. Pleasant and Lawrence area by their twenties and were there close to 60 years.  They couldn't and wouldn't claim Toronto as their hometowns.  I'm not arguing the point with any sense of animosity, just clarifying.  I was born at Grace hospital at Church and Isabella.  Other than three years spent in the west island of Montreal and a year in New Jersey I grew up in Toronto.  My mom has never lived anywhere else in her seventy plus years.  So, even when we were in Montreal or Jersey, I was constantly going back because of my mom and grandparents.  So, that's literally my hometown. 

I do get saying Toronto if you're from Barrie or wherever  when overseas, but among us fellow Ontarians it's like Home Hardware says "Be hometown proud."  You can't just claim somewhere as your hometown. 

I do get saying Toronto if you're from Barrie or wherever  when overseas, but among us fellow Ontarians it's like Home Hardware says "Be hometown proud."  You can't just claim somewhere as your hometown.

Yeah, I can see what you're saying. I wouldn't go around saying that in Toronto cuz people would automatically know I'm from an hour away. With living in Korea, not even on waygook.org necessarily, but here, I guess I take more liberties with it.

The thing is, I have absolutely no connection to Hamilton. I moved from there when I was 10 and I have never returned, save for a concert at Copps when I was...........26? There's no family there at all. Zero. No friends. Nothing. Hamilton could Thanos snap overnight and it wouldn't affect me personally (you know what I mean, haha).

So it also feels weird to claim Hamilton as some nostalgic, rootsy place when I was too young to really know it or appreciate it. Gage Park, Cootes Paradise Cons Area............ Stoney Creek battlefield.

I know some people move away, but they always go back to visit their cousins, or their grandparents, but I don't have that with Hamilton. I lived there over a quarter of my life but it really has no tangible meaning in my life whatsoever. Weird feeling.