RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

a lot of people complain about the korean language but i don't usually mind it unless it's the whiny sounding thing... but i really hate and cannot bring myself to use the phrase that basically equates to "please take good care of me" or whatever. it sounds so infantile and pleading...i guess it just doesn't translate well but i cut it out of my new school introduction my very first year. i dont even react well when other people say it.

Out of curiosity, what is it? I don't have such a phrase in my introduction but it's entirely possible others have said it and I've just never known

I've been teaching middle school for the past year and a half, but I taught elementary school for three and a half years before that. I've been in the same province the entire time, so I have a few students now who I also taught when they were elementary schoolers.

One of my students who started 3rd grade this year is one of them, and he has a younger sister who started middle school this year. When I taught at their elementary school, she was one of my favorite students, so when her brother told me she was going to be attending my middle school, I was pretty stoked.

However, a week of classes came and went without seeing her a single time. I mentioned that to my coteacher (who I had already told about my excitement  ), and he said "Oh, she transferred to another school. Her brother told me today."

a lot of people complain about the korean language but i don't usually mind it unless it's the whiny sounding thing... but i really hate and cannot bring myself to use the phrase that basically equates to "please take good care of me" or whatever. it sounds so infantile and pleading...i guess it just doesn't translate well but i cut it out of my new school introduction my very first year. i dont even react well when other people say it.

Out of curiosity, what is it? I don't have such a phrase in my introduction but it's entirely possible others have said it and I've just never known

"잘 보탁드립니다"

We learned it at orientation when I got here and that was the meaning they told us. I think it's probably oversimplified and phrases often have different connotations than what the exact words mean, but I just don't like it as it gets translated 

If you translate the word "부탁하다" by itself, it's more like "to request" or to "ask (for a favor)", so for me, I've alway thought that "잘 부탁드립니다", is more like saying "I will rely on you"/ "I will request help from you". Anyway if you start a new job somewhere, or start at a new school, you have no choice but to ask people for a lot of favors, or how to do things properly. It's like saying, "I'm going to try to fit in here, please help me out".

That reminds me of some Japanese films and anime where there's a new character at a school or wherever who says "Please take care of me." I'm fairly certain there's a Ghibli film with that line in it somewhere

That reminds me of some Japanese films and anime where there's a new character at a school or wherever who says "Please take care of me." I'm fairly certain there's a Ghibli film with that line in it somewhere

That's one way to translate the phrase "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu," particularly in this context. That's the first thing I thought of when sevenpm first brought it up, haha.

We had a hweshik and there's mostly women at our school. We got another male teacher, and the behavior of most of the women was embarrassing. It was verging on sexual harassment.

Oh god, what happened?

We had a big group of new teachers, and people cheered for all of them, but it was verging on cat-calls with the new male teacher. I kept thinking, if this was a group of men with a new female teacher, people would think this is terrible, right?

Wouldn't think it was particularly terrible for either gender, but no doubt someone would get offended.

Did I mention that they also forced him to sing even though there wasn't a karaoke machine at the restaurant, like they expected? You had to be there to soak in the weirdness of it.

I found today that the male teacher was embarrassed by it all and felt a little harassed, so my observations were pretty accurate.

Did I mention that they also forced him to sing even though there wasn't a karaoke machine at the restaurant, like they expected? You had to be there to soak in the weirdness of it.

He should have grown a pair and refused.

If you translate the word "부탁하다" by itself, it's more like "to request" or to "ask (for a favor)", so for me, I've alway thought that "잘 부탁드립니다", is more like saying "I will rely on you"/ "I will request help from you". Anyway if you start a new job somewhere, or start at a new school, you have no choice but to ask people for a lot of favors, or how to do things properly. It's like saying, "I'm going to try to fit in here, please help me out".

"Please take care of me" is how I've seen it translated in Korean language books/dramas etc.  "부탁하다" can also be translated as "beg" or so says my Kor-Eng dictionary.

I mean, your interpretation of it is probably more right, that's why I said it's an awkward translation. I don't know why they insist on translating it as "please take good care of me" to people who are brand new Korean speakers. it just sounds awful to me!

Yes, "beg" is also right, but that also depends on context. Yeah, I don't really like the dictionary definition, but I think how I described it is a little bit closer to it's actual usage. After all, if I need someone to "please take care of my child" for the weekend, I might use "부탁하다", but in that case, it is the "please", and not the "take care of" part of the sentence. If you meant "please take care of me", or "please look after me", in a literal sense, it would be a whole different sentence. I'm not an expert by any means, but just if it helps you to not shy away from using the word, then I'll be happy.

When I first got to Korea, I lost like 9kg in my first few years and it was awesome. And I stayed that way.

Then, in the past two years, my metabolism has suddenly decided that I have to be fat now and I've gained like 8kg. It's the worst. My diet didn't change at all - if anything I eat and drink less than I did before.

It's lame.

Resting metabolic rates between people of the same height, weight, age, fitness level, lifestyle etc. don't differ by much (we're talking a 5% difference, at most). Your muscle mass
has decreased, since you're less active, which causes your BMR slows down.
Don't blame your metabolism, fatso. Go lift weights and get them gainz back

If you translate the word "부탁하다" by itself, it's more like "to request" or to "ask (for a favor)", so for me, I've alway thought that "잘 부탁드립니다", is more like saying "I will rely on you"/ "I will request help from you". Anyway if you start a new job somewhere, or start at a new school, you have no choice but to ask people for a lot of favors, or how to do things properly. It's like saying, "I'm going to try to fit in here, please help me out".

"Please take care of me" is how I've seen it translated in Korean language books/dramas etc.  "부탁하다" can also be translated as "beg" or so says my Kor-Eng dictionary.

I mean, your interpretation of it is probably more right, that's why I said it's an awkward translation. I don't know why they insist on translating it as "please take good care of me" to people who are brand new Korean speakers. it just sounds awful to me!

Yes, "beg" is also right, but that also depends on context. Yeah, I don't really like the dictionary definition, but I think how I described it is a little bit closer to it's actual usage. After all, if I need someone to "please take care of my child" for the weekend, I might use "부탁하다", but in that case, it is the "please", and not the "take care of" part of the sentence. If you meant "please take care of me", or "please look after me", in a literal sense, it would be a whole different sentence. I'm not an expert by any means, but just if it helps you to not shy away from using the word, then I'll be happy.

It's also think it can be used just as an emphatic request modifier. There is a famous host of an ancient long-running music program that used to end introductions with "부탁해요~". He was asking the audience to be attentive and listen to the performers. Basically, "Please, take care of them."

I think when we translate it to people who are just learning we are using it as if the phrase has a defined usage that is separated from the literal meaning of the constituent parts.

In Spanish when you meet someone you can say "encantado" the meaning of the word in other contexts is magical. Like bewitched or enchanted. But in the context of meeting someone for the first time it is more similar to "charmed", which itself doesn't hold the alternative meeting of being under the influence of magic. You are acknowledging in a culturally dictated way you are pleased to meet someone.

When I first got to Korea, I lost like 9kg in my first few years and it was awesome. And I stayed that way.

Then, in the past two years, my metabolism has suddenly decided that I have to be fat now and I've gained like 8kg. It's the worst. My diet didn't change at all - if anything I eat and drink less than I did before.

It's lame.

Resting metabolic rates between people of the same height, weight, age, fitness level, lifestyle etc. don't differ by much (we're talking a 5% difference, at most). Your muscle mass
has decreased, since you're less active, which causes your BMR slows down.
Don't blame your metabolism, fatso. Go lift weights and get them gainz back

Yeah, this is true. It was about a year after I started exercising regularly that I started getting fat and gross.

Not enough info, but if you're goal is weight loss, you're definitely doing something wrong.

For you, Dave Stepz.

For you, Dave Stepz.

No.

For you, Dave Stepz.

No.

Why not, huh?

"Tell me honestly, did you ACTUALLY go to church in America?"
"Yes. But it was different. We didn't go all day. We went from 10-12."
"And did your parents live together before they were married?"
"Yes."
"Oh, well good Christians don't do that."

...I'm really, really trying to work through what his possible thinking process could have been to think it was okay to say that to me. I have theories. But I'm way too talkative and this will turn into a novel no one cares about if I try to articulate. So. Just trust that I am super pissed.

Yesterday, I helped my CT pin up a nice large map, in our classroom. It was one of the Koreanized maps, with Korea in the center complete with  Dokdo and 'Sea of Korea' labelled in a bolder font than capital cities, but I digress.
There were a few other teachers in the class as we usually meet there, at 3, for coffee and conversation. We started playing a 'find the country' game. After giving her a few difficult and obscure ones, like Uzbekistan and Lithuania, and having her fail, I went easier:

Saudi Arabia
Sicily
Spain
Argentina
Greenland
Algeria
Iceland

... When she failed to find any of them, the other 2 teachers tried and couldn't find a single one.
I hid my shock by keeping the mood light and tried to help them save face by feigning ignorance to a few which they asked me to find (all Asian countries and ridiculously easy).
I'm no Geography whiz, but the level of Geography of fairly level-headed Koreans seems quite shocking. How can you go through life knowing so little about the outside world? 

"Tell me honestly, did you ACTUALLY go to church in America?"
"Yes. But it was different. We didn't go all day. We went from 10-12."
"And did your parents live together before they were married?"
"Yes."
"Oh, well good Christians don't do that."

...I'm really, really trying to work through what his possible thinking process could have been to think it was okay to say that to me. I have theories. But I'm way too talkative and this will turn into a novel no one cares about if I try to articulate. So. Just trust that I am super pissed.

I agree that church is too long.  Koreans want to turn it into an all day affair, and measure one's spirituality and devotion that way.  Sometimes I go to only one service and then leave.  It's been commented on, but hey, I'm an adult.

Koreans can also be superblunt. 

"Tell me honestly, did you ACTUALLY go to church in America?"
"Yes. But it was different. We didn't go all day. We went from 10-12."
"And did your parents live together before they were married?"
"Yes."
"Oh, well good Christians don't do that."

...I'm really, really trying to work through what his possible thinking process could have been to think it was okay to say that to me. I have theories. But I'm way too talkative and this will turn into a novel no one cares about if I try to articulate. So. Just trust that I am super pissed.

Sometimes, you just need to laugh it off.

Ex CT of mine, who was a really kind person and who I'd consider a friend said "You're such a good person, it's too bad you're a Muslim". She also spent the better part of the year trying to convert me... Honestly, I found it pretty hilarious; she reminded me of those cartoons of grown men in giant mouse costumes dangling a piece of cheese near the mouse hole.

For you, Dave Stepz.

No.

Why not, huh?

I don't know much about Jamie Oliver, but he lacks the... flair of Gordon.

For you, Dave Stepz.

No.

Why not, huh?

I don't know much about Jamie Oliver, but he lacks the... flair of Gordon.

I'll agree with you there. Oliver is much more hearty, simple home cooking. Ramsay is where it's at. I wouldn't put Mr. Baek and Ramsay in the same league EVER. Go to Bread Street Kitchen in Hong Kong! So good.