English in Korea

For my readers who are also teachers of English, you might be interested in this article from the Korean Times - click here about the sad state of affairs of the English language learning programs in Korea. The people spend a fortune on English language lessons here - but the results are appallingly low.

Having spend time in China and more recently Korea, I have some thoughts on this.

I remember attending an English Teachers' Conference in Hangzhou in December 08, where the state of affairs of English language learning in China was described in not very glowing terms. It was stated that many students after 16 years of English lessons were still functionally illiterate! However they do rate higher than the South Koreans according to the report mentioned in the Korean Times, and strangely North Korea rates higher than South Korea.

My time in Korea has been very short - just over three weeks, but I have learned that there are few people here, despite the fact that many would have learned English, who are prepared to try and say a few words to a foreigner. I've met just two - one a young gun toting security guard in the local KB Bank, and another in another bank.

In China we discovered that many people were coy about speaking English, and if you asked anyone if they spoke English, they would reluctantly admit "just a little" but it was always enough to get the help we wanted. In Korea, they are extra-ordinarily shy - and just won't admit to it. The lady in my little local shop, I am told, speaks English well. When I spoke to her - she just waved her hands " No".

My students - themselves employed as English teachers have poor English skills - and admit they don't talk much in English, and that they have in many cases forgotten their skills. "If you don't use it, you lose it" I say, and one keeps repeating that saying as he is determined to improve his skills.

Despite the fact that there is English on many buildings, and on many products, there seems to be a total reluctance to use the language. There appears to be no similar program here like the regular"English Corner" programs in China where the Chinese and foreigners met for discussions as I did on some occasions in the Dio Coffee Lounge on a Friday night in Shaoxing.

In Korea there are few if any opportunities to practice conversational English. I see the "English" in the English schools - very much Konglish. (like Chinglish is crazy Chinese English, Konglish is crazy Korean English).

I was looking at the Korean English Dictionary of one of the students today and was gobsmacked. It was huge and had so many pages and so many words - many of which I did not recognise. I've never seen them. Ever. I don't think any average English dictionary in Australia would have that many complex words. So why is it "fare" for Koreans. The dictionary was based on a Japanese dictionary!

So it is a struggle teaching English, and quite a challenge to be teaching teachers how to speak, read, and comprehend English - so that they can help their students.

Somehow we must get more native English speakers to counicte with the Chinese and the Korean students - otherwise they will keep on wasting their money.

OMG!

Editors needed!

My time in China has shown me that the Chinese language is not easy to translate into English - and that more quality editors are needed. So often there is a literal translation from Chinese to English and the folk think that it is a quality translation.

For example the word "river" - it seems that in China an element of water that in the English language in the UK, or Australia, a river would be a large flow of river, a natural water course. Here "river" is used to describe waterways that clearly are not natural, and don't resemble anything I would call a river.

Recently while staying at a hotel that was described as 'overlooking a river' I discovered it was a "canal" - a somewhat polluted man made waterway.

I've written elsewhere about that - but additionally when things are printed - the come out different, because the printers do not know the difference. If they are typesetting in English, it is very hard for printers. Thankfully things are more computerised now, but still no one can pick up the errors.

I have had students in exam consistently write some bad English - when I refer to the text book, the errors are there. The students are learning incorrectly from text books that should have been edited and corrected.

If a Chinese company hires a translator to translate from Chinese to English, they usually do not know that the resulted words are Chinglish, and don't make sense in English. It is impossible to translate directly from Chinese to English without editing. Impossible!!!

As well, with Chinese English teachers, they often have to rely on material that is prepared without an editor. Not only that, Chinese naturally have difficulty pronouncing some sounds "th" and "l" in particular. So "mother" becomes "muzer" and "fall" and "tall" become "for" and "tor".

Then comes a foreign teacher whose native tongue is English and it is somewhat of a nightmare. The students believe their Chinese English teacher!

It is a nightmare for a foreign teacher to mark examinations because in many cases one knows that the errors are because the students have been taught incorrectly. The longer I am here the more I understand.

What to do about it? I have no idea!!!