RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

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.

yeah some people are really completely oblivious to it. a good friend of mine had a korean friend. and the 3 of us used to hang out. the korean dude's english was decent - i'd say high intermediate, he could understand like 80% of what we were talking about - but my friend just used to ramble on to him as if he was a native speaker, using all sorts of slang and americanisms that the poor guy had no hope of knowing.

the korean dude would sometimes give me this look of bewilderment and then i'd have to 'translate' what the other guy was saying but putting things into simple english and slowing down my speech.

but on the other side of the coin i've had koreans do the same thing to me. they'll just ramble on at machine-gun speed as if i'm a native speaker of korean. i mean come one, slow down a bit and use some simpler vocab please.

Yep, seen both sides of the coin.  When someone just goes on and on, I kinda feel like that person just likes hearing themselves talk... real conversation would be more of a back and forth.  Though sometimes it can just be someone honestly overestimating someone's ability.

When a Korean is speaking to me and I say 네 it's usually my own personal shorthand for, "I don't understand, nor do I think it's possible for me to understand," or if I understood, "No, but I'm not able to explain why." If I truly understand/agree I'll give an 알겠습니다 or the like. Saves a lot of time

I hope you don't do that during serious conversations to your closest friends/gf/wife/coworker who relies on you to get shit done.

No. More often in situations like the one described by kobayashi:

I've had Koreans do the same thing to me. they'll just ramble on at machine-gun speed as if i'm a native speaker of Korean. i mean come one, slow down a bit and use some simpler vocab please.

I do catch my wife doing the just-nod-along thing every once in a while, but most often she wants to understand and is good about asking questions. She'll also get upset/frustrated when she tries to explain something in English and it turns out later I didn't fully grasp what she said. "Why did you pretend to understand?!" But in those cases I honestly thought I *did* understand, or I was waiting for her to finish so I could piece the story together.

I do catch my wife doing the just-nod-along thing every once in a while, but most often she wants to understand and is good about asking questions. She'll also get upset/frustrated when she tries to explain something in English and it turns out later I didn't fully grasp what she said. "Why did you pretend to understand?!" But in those cases I honestly thought I *did* understand, or I was waiting for her to finish so I could piece the story together.

When my wife meets my family, she understands my mum pretty well, as she is careful about how she speaks.  She understands my younger brother the least because he doesn't grade his language and mumbles a bit.  But my older brother and his wife are her favourites, as they live in Berlin with their two sons, so they are aware of how to articulate themselves properly, so that people understand, because they are in the same situation.  But I can understand my wife's problem sometimes as I have two brothers and two sisters with extended family, so a family get together is kind of noisy with lots going on.  If I am in the same situation with my wife's family, I can't do it for any massive length of time. 

On the whole from my experience, younger Korean teachers here who have travelled (not package tours) seem to understand that when they are talking to the native English teacher, they should speak slower and grade their language.  But then the native teacher has to reciprocate that by using simple language back.

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.

(Before anyone chimes in: No, I don't think all Koreans are like that. Some have been lovely and super helpful. Nor do I think people in other countries are never guilty of the same thing. I shouldn't have to point that out, but sometimes it feels necessary to cover all my bases on this forum  )

The verification question answers for this site are wrong.

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 feel you. You're going to go over the top with ninja Korean on me? Please understand my understated 네~

I do catch my wife doing the just-nod-along thing every once in a while, but most often she wants to understand and is good about asking questions. She'll also get upset/frustrated when she tries to explain something in English and it turns out later I didn't fully grasp what she said. "Why did you pretend to understand?!" But in those cases I honestly thought I *did* understand, or I was waiting for her to finish so I could piece the story together.

When my wife meets my family, she understands my mum pretty well, as she is careful about how she speaks.  She understands my younger brother the least because he doesn't grade his language and mumbles a bit.  But my older brother and his wife are her favourites, as they live in Berlin with their two sons, so they are aware of how to articulate themselves properly, so that people understand, because they are in the same situation.  But I can understand my wife's problem sometimes as I have two brothers and two sisters with extended family, so a family get together is kind of noisy with lots going on.  If I am in the same situation with my wife's family, I can't do it for any massive length of time. 

On the whole from my experience, younger Korean teachers here who have travelled (not package tours) seem to understand that when they are talking to the native English teacher, they should speak slower and grade their language.  But then the native teacher has to reciprocate that by using simple language back.

I don't know what's worse, English speakers not slowing down for their Korean friends, or not slowing down for poor employees. I've witnessed some friends spew off an insanely specific order to someone at a restaurant while asking questions and not slowing down one bit. It irks me so much. Why do you have to speed through "Yeah, okay I'll get some chicken fries and oh hey like do you still have that like sauce that was like a special like limited thing like a few months back?"
I start screaming on the inside then calmly repeat their order simplified in Korean after.

Also irksome: People who put "like" as every other word while speaking to Koreans. It completely throws them off and it's a garbage filler word o.o

Also irksome: People who put "like" as every other word while speaking to Koreans. It completely throws them off and it's a garbage filler word o.o

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

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

Beat me to it. hahaha

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

Beat me to it. hahaha

Don't fall in love with me.

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.

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.