RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

The verification question answers for this site are wrong.

Are you a robot?

Yeah, well, you know, that's just like, your opinion, man.

Beat me to it. hahaha

Don't fall in love with me.

Yeah, well, you know, that's just like, your opinion, man.

Beat me to it. hahaha

Don't fall in love with me.

Don't sweat it. Someone is mathematically bound to take you up on your love motel request. Just keep asking^^

I'm tired of people pretending like they understand what I'm saying.

I try very hard to speak simply around Korean friends/coworkers but I know sometimes things get lost on them. I can tell easily when they don't understand my most recent sentence but they just continue to nod and make noises as if they understand. Then I go back and ask them if they understood a certain word or phase and they admit that they didn't. Just TELL me so I can explain it in the moment.

I feel like a lot of foreigners here don't realize that their Korean friends don't understand them fully. I've watched people go on and on in English as if the Korean person they're talking to is following them 100% and the Korean person looks totally lost, but doesn't want to say so. The foreigner doesn't seem to care or realize.

I guess it's not that big of a deal in passing, but when I'm explaining something to my CT it's usually for a reason. And it just kind of sucks when you're trying to be friends with someone and you realize a lot of what you say isn't even registering with them.

I have a good friend from another Asian country and when she doesn't understand me, she lets me know (at least some of the time) and we figure out the problem. No this isn't necessary for every interaction but like... in some situations it's really important that you understand each other.

If I really think about it, almost every problem in Korea can be attributed to the pathetic practice of saving face.

The verification question answers for this site are wrong.

Are you a robot?

It's hard enough being a human with this nonsense...

Koreans not slowing down or grading their language are significant contributors to my lack of desire to put any real effort into learning Korean anymore. I was pretty serious about it in the past, but it just got so frustrating not being able to communicate despite putting in the effort to learn. Having beginner-level or low-intermediate-level Korean is scarcely better than having no Korean at all.

i recently went to china for a trip, and i have a friend who lives there and speaks basic chinese. i was absolutely amazed how everyone made the effort to understand him, and they were able to have a conversation, despite his (self-admittedly) terrible chinese and pronunciation. but people made the effort to understand and be understood, and they were happy to converse.

this was my experience when I went to China for one vacation. even if people speak absolutely no english at all they'll bust out a translator on their phone and use that. or they're happy to communicate via gestures and pointing.

here in korea you can speak some korean but if you're not almost completely fluent people just get annoyed and don't want to speak to you, and get extremely dismissive.

The verification question answers for this site are wrong.

Are you a robot?

It's hard enough being a human with this nonsense...

yeah the verification questions are ridiculous and make no sense. i had an issue with them too when i first registered.

"can you moo like a cow?"

what is the actual answer to that? yes, i can make a mooing sound with my mouth. so i guess the answer is yes? but i'm not actually a cow so the answer could be no?

The verification question answers for this site are wrong.

Are you a robot?

It's hard enough being a human with this nonsense...

yeah the verification questions are ridiculous and make no sense. i had an issue with them too when i first registered.

"can you moo like a cow?"

what is the actual answer to that? yes, i can make a mooing sound with my mouth. so i guess the answer is yes? but i'm not actually a cow so the answer could be no?

Exactly the questions are too open ended.

How many fingers do you have on a hand? 4? 5? on both hands? 4/5/8/10? Took me like 3 goes to pass that verification. The answer was 10. But what about thumbs? Meh. I'm free now anyway.

My favourite thing is being asked a "What do you call this?" question then the person deciding they don't like your word because it doesn't match the 1500s English word they found on naver so they wander off and use the atrocious naver word instead.

My favourite thing is being asked a "What do you call this?" question then the person deciding they don't like your word because it doesn't match the 1500s English word they found on naver so they wander off and use the atrocious naver word instead.

Oh my goodness, yes.

People will look something up on Naver dictionary or translate, come to you, ask you how to say something, see that it doesn't match, and then either argue with you or just ignore your advice. Also, even people who are near-fluent in English will never, ever use an English dictionary to see what something means. They'll always go throw it into Naver and get some inaccurate nonsense.

I wish I had some hilarious examples to cite, but it's surely happened to me. I can't imagine, for instance, asking a native speaker about a word and then being like WELL GOOGLE TRANSLATE TOLD ME THIS SO I'M NOT SO SURE. 

My favourite thing is being asked a "What do you call this?" question then the person deciding they don't like your word because it doesn't match the 1500s English word they found on naver so they wander off and use the atrocious naver word instead.

Or asking to "language exchange" but not accepting any critiques/even arguing with you.

"I feel hard" is not the right way to express that you're having a hard time, that you're tired, or that your task is difficult. But okay, keep on saying it if it means that much to you.

Maybe that's not what he's trying to express...

My favourite thing is being asked a "What do you call this?" question then the person deciding they don't like your word because it doesn't match the 1500s English word they found on naver so they wander off and use the atrocious naver word instead.

Or asking to "language exchange" but not accepting any critiques/even arguing with you.

"I feel hard" is not the right way to express that you're having a hard time, that you're tired, or that your task is difficult. But okay, keep on saying it if it means that much to you.

Maybe that's not what he's trying to express... 

Online translation tools can be great tools, if they're used together with other tools. That's where a lot of people seem to fall flat.

I'll use google translate for a Korean word if it's something I can't remember how to spell, or something I know I learned before but can't remember now, so I know just seeing the correct word will set off an "A-ha!" in my head.

For stuff I don't know, though, I won't use any translation tool that doesn't provide example sentences and several different options (with their own example sentences). That way I can at least be able to tell if the word I'm using is completely wrong, and I can follow up by asking a coworker if the word I chose is the best choice. It isn't always, but is more often than it'd be if I just busted out the google translate app and used whatever it gave me.

It reminds me of a time I texted a friend to ask what she was up to, and she replied in Spanish (my major): "I'm cleaning my props." She was a circus performer, so she meant her performing props, but google translate gave her a word that meant a prop as in something you use to prop something up. I pointed out that she used the wrong word, but she wasn't having it and argued with me about it. Awkward.

Yeah my female CT is constantly going on about how hard she is while we teach 3rd graders 

Not sure what that's about... 

I've been trying to buy Olympic tickets for an hour now, and it just says, ""좌석 배정중입니다." I'm not sure if the seating actually is in progress or the site has just forgotten about me. 

Update: After two hours I have a ticket for figure skating and for the opening ceremony!

I've been trying to buy Olympic tickets for an hour now, and it just says, ""좌석 배정중입니다." I'm not sure if the seating actually is in progress or the site has just forgotten about me. 

Update: After two hours I have a ticket for figure skating and for the opening ceremony!

May I ask where did you buy the tickets from? I'm also interested in potentially attending both the opening ceremony and one of the figure skating events.

how come people say something is "below par" meaning that it is bad, yet to be "below par" in golf is good? once again, it's one rule for golfers and another for the rest of us

how come people say something is "below par" meaning that it is bad, yet to be "below par" in golf is good? once again, it's one rule for golfers and another for the rest of us

I realize you're just being goofy, but for anyone who's curious: "Par" just means something like "average" or "standard." In golf terminology, it'd mean the average number of shots it takes to finish a hole, in which case finishing below par is good. Outside of golf, though, something being below par would just mean it's "below average," which could very well be a bad thing.

Because knowledge is power!

how come people say something is "below par" meaning that it is bad, yet to be "below par" in golf is good? once again, it's one rule for golfers and another for the rest of us

...Par for the course... you might say...  

I have a ticket for figure skating and for the opening ceremony!

How much were those tickets?