KOREANS ARE RACIST AND WORST

Posted: 2010/01/15  By: maestraviajes (Views:773)

Q.A. KOREANS RACIST AND WORST!

QUESTIONS:

Is it true that according to opinions of most native speakers, koreans are:

1. racist

2. Korean students and managers to be the worst.

3. The Koreans have this superiority complex which seems to hinder any honest effort to build
a good rapport with them.

4. The Korean managers will tell you what you want or need to hear, and then deny or fail to
follow through with their promises.They would rather replace you with someone else as opposed
to giving you that raise they promised.

5.Their business ethics are somewhat unethical

6. Japanese to be the most polite and understanding when teaching English. Their word can be
taken at face value.

( according to :JJ August 19, 2009 at 8:38 am posted at -

http://www.buhaykorea.com/2009/02/05/teaching-english-to-koreans-online/comment-page-2/#comments

ANSWERS:

First of all, Koreans are NOT RACISTS.

Some old people might act with a sense of racism, however that is not out of bad intentions;

they're just unfamiliar with foreigners. I have also experienced rude attitudes or starings

when I was in US, Europe, etc., so I believe that is something the young people must endure.

Secondly, it is just unbelievable that Korean students are considered to be the worst among
many other Asian countries! As a Korean student myself, I have met a lot of teachers from
overseas, and all of them were like " wow, Korean students are so passionate, enthusiastic, and
do their bests on studying." Maybe some students might be rather unpassionate about their work,
but every country has such students. I'm positive that Korea has the least amount of such
students.

About the managers, I cannot deny that some are rude and unrespectful of foreign workers,

however, more and more people are trying to adjust themselves to the global standards.

Well.. I'm not even sure what 'complex' you're talking about, but I guess people all have
their complexes and that might interfere in making good relationships with others. I don't get
why these questions are only referred to Koreans.

Again with the manager thing. I'm not really sure of what's happening in the business world
in depth, but I am quite confident that Koreans aren't that bad bosses...

No our business ethics are somewhat exceeding all standards in good ways.

About the Japanese people being the most polite and Koreans the worst,

I guess that depends on which person from each country you've met.

I can't believe that someone's trying to set Koreans up this way.

Also, it is hard to believe that the person who wrote the article is even American

since I've never seen such words or phrases used in America when I was living there.

Anyway, I hope this answers all your questions,

and have a good day.

( according to SERENA E.H. JEE a VOLUNTARY AGENCY NETWORK KOREA(VANK )member)

(Continuation of QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: KOREANS ARE RACIST AND WORST- I )

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Hello, I'm Seeun.

I saw your blog and since now I know who you are (
http://englishlanguageesp.blogspot.com/2010/01/geraldine.html,)   I'll respond to your e-mail.

Each of the paragraph are responses to the number mentioned above. And because these are just
my opinions, I'm not sure if I'm right or wrong. Again, this is subjective not objective.

1. Koreans are not racists. Well, it could be possible that some native speakers might think
Koreans are racists. But, this isn't true.

Korea attracted the world's attention mostly from about thirty years ago due to its rapid
economic development and in other words a lot of Koreans also began to have chances to meet and
to experience the new things and new people. That's why young generations are familiar with
international matters but not many of the old generations are familiar with exoticism. However,
it doesn't mean that elders are racists. So I hope you don't get the wrong idea from this.

2. I'm a Korean student and to be honest I have no clue why native speakers stated that
Korean students are the worst. I'm right now living in Korea but I had lived in the states for
two years too. Seen from my experience, I think Korean students can be divided into two groups:

1)students who are very eager to learn and study and

2)students who are not interested in studying and just do their work without any purpose
because their teachers or parents told them to do so.

Aren't the students the same in other countries too? And... if the fact Korean students are
the worst is true, I, a Korean student, would not even put my effort to fix the wrong
conception that other eople have for the Korean students. Because I don't know on what
standards the native speakers considered Korean managers to be the worst, I cannot respond to
this question properly. However, if the manager put someone as a replace on the phone, I think
there might be three options to think of: 1) the caller did not call the one whom he or she
wanted to speak to and that's why the manager connected the caller to the 'right' manager, 2)
the manger is in meeting, and 3) the manager does not want to work at all. (if the native
speakers are mentioning about type 3 manager, whoever the manager is, he or she has to be fired
in my opinion)

3. I think I little bit understanding why the native speakers would think in that way.
Imagine that you have a lot of people around you in a foreign country but you don't actually
have a person who can really share your emotion or feeling with. Different culture might lead
the native speakers to think that Koreans are reluctant to make foreign friends but this isn't
true. When I was in the states, I also had the fear that I might not make any friends in the
states because I couldn't speak English, experiencing different culture seemed to be very
scarry, and it was the first time for me to be alone among a lot of foreigners. But after I
decided to learn American's culture and hang out with people who could understand me and whom I
could understand, everything was gradually changing. So I think because of this kind of fear, a
lot of Koreans in other countries are struggling to make friendship with the native speakers.
But once they open their mind, I'm sure things are going to be changed. Not only Koreans, I
guess a lot of cosmopolitans also have the same problem when they're in a foreign country
because even in Korea I see a lot of foreigners in Korea seem to encounter with this problem
too.

4. I think I mentioned about this on number two. Therefore, I will not state again.

5. I'm not sure what kind of business ethics they are talking about. But thinking of some
moral things related with business, some points might seem to be very strange to foreigners. In
Korea, when you fill up your application form, basically you need to give every detail
information to a firm. So taking one example, you have to attach your photo or picture on the
application form so that the juries or people who select the workers of a firm know how you
look. I've heard that this is very segregated and very unfair to foreigners' thoughts. And I
too, think that this isn't a good system to conduct for the preparatory workers. However,
unfortunately you need to attach your photo if you want to work in Korea because most of the
companies conduct this system. And in the company, there are more male workers than female
workers as far as I know because women have to manage housechore and company work
simultaneously. However this trend is now becoming old fashioned and firms are now trying to
select many female workers too. Besides, these facts I personally think that overall business
ethics are good and Korea tries to support one of the best business ethics as the world is
globalized.

6. I don't know on what standards the English teachers use word 'polite' and 'understanding.'
And since I'm Korean not Japanese I don't know if Japanese people are the most polite and
understanding when taking English classes. I guess it just depends on the students the teachers
had.

P.S. I think it could be possible that some native speakers might describe Koreans in
somewhat a negative way. As you know,nothing can be perfect in this world. However, I can
definitely say that most Koreans are very kind and humane because they are the ones who love to
share what's so called '정情'-'human affection.' With these responses, I hope people's
conception will gradually change in a positive way and thank you for your e-mail.

Sincerely,

PRKOREA OF VANK

Seeun Yim

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Hi, I read your blog and found it quite interesting. My name is Diane, and I'm currently not
in korea- I'm studying biology in a Canadian university named Queen's. I don't completely
disagree with what you've said-( by: JJ) about how Koreans are racist and such. However, I
think that it's not just about Koreans because there are many kinds of people out there in the
world. Being out here in America since middle school have given me many opportunities to meet
various kinds of people and share many experiences with them. In America, even though
everyone's supposed to 'tolerate' differences between one another, I've met many people who
were racists- and they were not Koreans- surprise~! Also, even when working or volunteering, I
found many people frustrating to work with because they were unethical, selfish, or lack
sensitivity toward others...see, what I'm trying to say is the issues you talked about is not
just about 'koreans'. it's about people in general. I think it's not logical to say that
koreans are not ethical in general and such- how would they be working abroad and be successful
if their nature was unethical? People from other countries wouldn't work with them or even face
them!I think it's about individual differences and how mature they are. From your ( by: JJ)
passage, I could see how ( he) you were frustrated with your work experience in korea with some
nasty koreans. I guess they weren't treating you right. Hope your experience in korea will be
more pleasant this year and meet some genuine people to show you the warmth of our culture and
people.

Diane Lim