Category South Korea
Adventures in Linguistics
Korean (한국어) differs from English in every way you can imagine. It also differs in some ways you cannot imagine. Because of this both Koreans and native speakers of English often end up with creative grammar, weirdness galore and unintentional humor when they stray from their mother tongues. The Korean-speaking-English weirdness manifests in what I […]
Fun Facts on Teaching English in South Korea
Hi everyone, Here are a few fun facts if you are interested in teaching English in South Korea: Most programs for foreigners teaching in Korea require nothing more than a four year degree. There are also comparable programs in Japan and China. Typical pay for a teacher in Korea is around 2,000,000 won per month […]
Return to the United States
A little more than a year ago I left behind my family, my friends and my job in Reno. I did this because Chungdahm April Language Academy offered me work teaching English in Korea. Here’s what happened. Return to the United States “그레하운드 장류정에 가야 해요.” I was standing at the airport in San Francisco […]
People and Fun and Funny People
I lived in Daegu for my year of teaching. I started out knowing exactly zero people and finished the year with more friends than I could make time to hang out with, which brings me to another observation on Korea. If you can’t make friends there you either stink to high hell, look like a […]
Things to Fear and Things to Ignore, Korean-style
A good rule of thumb for Korea is to assume that half of what you see will be very familiar and half will look like something invented by Martians. You can find multitudes of Martian-like behaviors by examining the things Koreans fear and the things they couldn’t care less about. Koreans do not like infectious […]
Welcome to Seoul
It was my first time outside North America. The first time I’d gone further east than Orlando, further west than San Francisco, further south than Tijuana or further north than British Columbia. I had just crossed an ocean and my passport was about to lose its virginity. Incheon International Airport is designed to serve Seoul, […]
Why I Came to South Korea
Hi everyone, Please click the following link to watch my speech in Korean, “Why I came to South Korea.” For those of you who can’t speak or understand the language, here is the translation: Korean People often ask me why I came to Korea. I never tell them the complete truth. I will say “I […]
