Fucking hilarious. I can't believe that hagwon owner taught the girls "nigger". He wants them to speak black English like he does, but his English is barely understandable. I wonder how Koreans would feel if we made videos using racist words like "Gook" and "Slant Eyes."
I would hazard a guess that this is a Korean guy who is a former KATUSA member. I worked with a guy who was Katusa and every second word was either motherfucker or chickenshit. Not exactly the type of guy I could tolerate.
I think "we" have made videos far worse than fake scenarios with a few racial words sprinkled in. I mean, for starters, you got the governor of the unfortunate state of Alaska -- no wait, that's right, she was also the vice presidential NOMINEE -- going around telling everyone that Obama hangs around with "terrorists" (that's plural, mind you).
The "Brack Engrish" video is simply terrible.... I hate to imagine what kind of "under qualified" teacher is teaching such inappropriate stuff to his students, while bilking the parents for hundreds of thousands of won per month too. Really, think of your daughter, your niece, your own students - would you want to see them in that sort of environment. Makes me shudder.
Can I award "Pretty Jielin" a prize for non-sequitor blog commenting?
There's the stereotype of gyopos talking like Rosie Perez, and my limited exposure to them in Bundang confirmed that to some degree. I've also found that, again in my limited exposure, you'll have Koreans who spend some time in LA coming back here throwing "man" at the end of every sentence and using pretty foul language.
However, I'm not sure the guy's Korean. And if it weren't for the hangeul on the back of that girl's TKD uniform I might have thought this was filmed elsewhere. It's pretty obvious he's not American or a native speaker, though. If you go to the video on youtube it says Viery's students. I'm not sure exactly what kind of name Viery is, but Google makes me think it's Slovakian. Furthermore, the students speak to him in English rather than in Korean. He can't pronounce L or R, but the rest of his accent sounds European. What made me believe this was filmed outside of Korea was because the students had the same accent as him, suggesting they had been studying from him or from others with the same accent for a while.
Notwithstanding the disturbing video, I think it's worth pointing out that black english is alot more fun to use than standard english. Not saying it's ok to teach it to little kids as their intro to a second language, but just saying.
I think it's like that with any regional dialect, but black english even more so. I think it's one understandable reason (among bad ones) that korean americans have adopted alot of it into their daily vocab.
"black english is alot more fun to use than standard english"
He's not teaching "black English". He's teaching profanity. Big difference.
As for the "Viery" name. I assumed it was posted by someone else other than the teacher. The guy sounds Korean to me. As Michael mentioned, I though immediately of a potty-mouthed Katusa.
"I didn't know there were degrees of fun when it came to English."
Well here, I can give you a quick lesson, since I'm thinking there's a real chance that you are genuinely puzzled.
Standard English greeting that you teach to foreigners
"Hello, how are you?"
Black English greeting that is used at any given moment in the States
"Wazzup homeboy, how's it hangin'?"
Yes? Do you now see my point? Standard English *by definition* is boring because it is meant to be shared across regional and group boundaries. Just as, if you wanted to share Korean food with a general sampling of American folks without turning them off, you would be well advised to cut out a great deal of its extremely spicy characteristics.
"Hello, how are you?" = Boring. "Wazzup homeboy, how's it hangin'?" = more fun than a weekend with Batman.
Whatever. Is "Wazzup" really "Black English"? Is "How's it hangin?" Aren't these fairly mainstream? If I hear a "Wazzup" I wouldn't necessarily assume someone is speaking "Black English."
Am I the only one that would pay money to see JW say this to an African American and then attempt a ten-step handshake?
Plenty of white (and yellow) people talk like that, if we're going to get into colors.
But the fact remains that you shouldn't teach your students this kind of stuff. Profanity, I mean. No 10-year-old EFL students should be saying nigger and fucking.
I tell my students not to say "whazzup" because they're being condescending toward black people. They aren't saying it as a greating, they do it as "yo, whazzup man" accompanied with a ridiculous pose. It's helpful to sometimes introduce different slang or regional variations, because there are after all tons of types of English students will encounter. But it should only happen if the students are mature enough to handle it. And, only if the teachers are mature enough to teach it. Considering the way black people are viewed here, anything that demeans them more or renders them more cartoonish should be left out of the classroom.
Any teacher who runs their class this way needs a talking-to, at the very least.
Jw--don't call me an idiot. Your comment about Palin and Obama makes no sense. Was Palin being racist--is that what you meant when she refered to Obama and terrorists? Explain.
ebonics (ie. "black English") has been shown to be its own dialect of English, complete with its own vocabulary and grammar rules (yes, ebonics DOES have grammar rules).
The teacher in question is not teaching ebonics. "Yo, homeboy, wassap ma nigga?" is not ebonics. Profanity-laden sentences is not ebonics. It's nothing more than street slang that makes you sound like an uneducated fool, regardless of how "fun" it is to speak.
Yes of course my intention was never to imply that the video was ok. I did in fact mention that the video was disturbing. I also mentioned that teaching ebonics wouldn't be an appropriate way to introduce foreign kids to English.
So what was my point you ask? Basically that learning and teaching Black english, as in the case with any regional or group dialects, is not a bad thing in and of itself, and that it usually is a much more interesting affair than learning your standard textbook English, because standardization by definition involves stripping away of idiosyncrasies that makes life interesting.
So yeah, I guess I'm trying to get to the idea that diversity is almost always more fun and interesting than being stuck with a standard, everything else being equal. An idea as American as apple pie if I must say so myself.
Oh and I have to disagree with you on one thing. Too much use of street slang may indicate that you are uneducated, but a fool? Nonsense. When we say that a person is street smart, we say it for a good reason.
Brian, of course I am assuming that this language learning of special varieties is all done in a respectful and friendly environment.
I've always had an inkling of feeling that using the words Black and White would cause awkwardness. If I offended anyone, I do apologize and would like to ascribe most of the insensitivity to an immigrant experience that's been decidedly non-mainstream. Heck, I think even now I speak Korean more often than English, living as I do smack dab in the middle of a koreatown.
24 comments:
Fucking hilarious. I can't believe that hagwon owner taught the girls "nigger". He wants them to speak black English like he does, but his English is barely understandable.
I wonder how Koreans would feel if we made videos using racist words like "Gook" and "Slant Eyes."
Disgusting.
I would hazard a guess that this is a Korean guy who is a former KATUSA member. I worked with a guy who was Katusa and every second word was either motherfucker or chickenshit. Not exactly the type of guy I could tolerate.
Hiya Samuel
I think "we" have made videos far worse than fake scenarios with a few racial words sprinkled in. I mean, for starters, you got the governor of the unfortunate state of Alaska -- no wait, that's right, she was also the vice presidential NOMINEE -- going around telling everyone that Obama hangs around with "terrorists" (that's plural, mind you).
The list can go on and on and on.
Idiot.
Hiya JW--you calling me or Palin an idiot?
Way to stay on topic, JW. Way to go.
Hi! I will be going Seoul for my honeymoon with my hubby, how's the weather there? Is it snowing there already??
1) Why does he hope they can speak "black English" like him? They are not black. He is not black. They don't live anywhere near the projects.
2) Who TEACHES kids expressions with the f-bomb?
What a shining example to the teaching community. Where's that Anti-English Spectrum guy, and why is he not going after this moron?
The "Brack Engrish" video is simply terrible.... I hate to imagine what kind of "under qualified" teacher is teaching such inappropriate stuff to his students, while bilking the parents for hundreds of thousands of won per month too. Really, think of your daughter, your niece, your own students - would you want to see them in that sort of environment. Makes me shudder.
Can I award "Pretty Jielin" a prize for non-sequitor blog commenting?
I was hoping this was a bad joke but I was wrong.
There's the stereotype of gyopos talking like Rosie Perez, and my limited exposure to them in Bundang confirmed that to some degree. I've also found that, again in my limited exposure, you'll have Koreans who spend some time in LA coming back here throwing "man" at the end of every sentence and using pretty foul language.
However, I'm not sure the guy's Korean. And if it weren't for the hangeul on the back of that girl's TKD uniform I might have thought this was filmed elsewhere. It's pretty obvious he's not American or a native speaker, though. If you go to the video on youtube it says Viery's students. I'm not sure exactly what kind of name Viery is, but Google makes me think it's Slovakian. Furthermore, the students speak to him in English rather than in Korean. He can't pronounce L or R, but the rest of his accent sounds European. What made me believe this was filmed outside of Korea was because the students had the same accent as him, suggesting they had been studying from him or from others with the same accent for a while.
Notwithstanding the disturbing video, I think it's worth pointing out that black english is alot more fun to use than standard english. Not saying it's ok to teach it to little kids as their intro to a second language, but just saying.
I think it's like that with any regional dialect, but black english even more so. I think it's one understandable reason (among bad ones) that korean americans have adopted alot of it into their daily vocab.
JW
Did you call me an idiot or Palin?
"black english is alot more fun to use than standard english"
He's not teaching "black English". He's teaching profanity. Big difference.
As for the "Viery" name. I assumed it was posted by someone else other than the teacher. The guy sounds Korean to me. As Michael mentioned, I though immediately of a potty-mouthed Katusa.
It sounded like a Korean accent to me too and the first comment on the video was in Korean.
My guess is that its a hagwon that this guy is running out of an officetel or apartment building. He's probably the only "teacher" there.
Black English is more fun? What the hell? I didn't know there were degrees of fun when it came to English. Is "White English" boring?
Either way, I don't think Elementary age kids should be taught to use profanity and racial slurs under the guise of an "English Lesson."
Ms. Jaelin picked the perfect thread to make an innocuous comment on. It's freezing in Daegu and we never get snow.
Thank you, ROK_Hound, for pointing out the obvious. As if other races don't speak incorrect English laced with profanity. Give me a friggin break.
"I didn't know there were degrees of fun when it came to English."
Well here, I can give you a quick lesson, since I'm thinking there's a real chance that you are genuinely puzzled.
Standard English greeting that you teach to foreigners
"Hello, how are you?"
Black English greeting that is used at any given moment in the States
"Wazzup homeboy, how's it hangin'?"
Yes? Do you now see my point? Standard English *by definition* is boring because it is meant to be shared across regional and group boundaries. Just as, if you wanted to share Korean food with a general sampling of American folks without turning them off, you would be well advised to cut out a great deal of its extremely spicy characteristics.
"Hello, how are you?" = Boring. "Wazzup homeboy, how's it hangin'?" = more fun than a weekend with Batman.
Whatever. Is "Wazzup" really "Black English"? Is "How's it hangin?" Aren't these fairly mainstream? If I hear a "Wazzup" I wouldn't necessarily assume someone is speaking "Black English."
Am I the only one that would pay money to see JW say this to an African American and then attempt a ten-step handshake?
Plenty of white (and yellow) people talk like that, if we're going to get into colors.
But the fact remains that you shouldn't teach your students this kind of stuff. Profanity, I mean. No 10-year-old EFL students should be saying nigger and fucking.
I tell my students not to say "whazzup" because they're being condescending toward black people. They aren't saying it as a greating, they do it as "yo, whazzup man" accompanied with a ridiculous pose. It's helpful to sometimes introduce different slang or regional variations, because there are after all tons of types of English students will encounter. But it should only happen if the students are mature enough to handle it. And, only if the teachers are mature enough to teach it. Considering the way black people are viewed here, anything that demeans them more or renders them more cartoonish should be left out of the classroom.
Any teacher who runs their class this way needs a talking-to, at the very least.
Just what Korea needs, Korean children learning/using more foul language and not really knowing it's real meaning.
Jw--don't call me an idiot. Your comment about Palin and Obama makes no sense. Was Palin being racist--is that what you meant when she refered to Obama and terrorists?
Explain.
What an asshole.
JW,
ebonics (ie. "black English") has been shown to be its own dialect of English, complete with its own vocabulary and grammar rules (yes, ebonics DOES have grammar rules).
The teacher in question is not teaching ebonics. "Yo, homeboy, wassap ma nigga?" is not ebonics. Profanity-laden sentences is not ebonics. It's nothing more than street slang that makes you sound like an uneducated fool, regardless of how "fun" it is to speak.
ROK Hound,
Yes of course my intention was never to imply that the video was ok. I did in fact mention
that the video was disturbing. I also mentioned that teaching ebonics wouldn't be an appropriate
way to introduce foreign kids to English.
So what was my point you ask? Basically that learning and teaching Black english, as in the case with any regional or group dialects, is not a bad thing in and of itself, and that it usually is a much more interesting affair than learning your standard textbook English, because standardization by definition involves stripping away of idiosyncrasies that makes life interesting.
So yeah, I guess I'm trying to get to the idea that diversity is almost always more fun and interesting than being stuck with a standard, everything else being equal. An idea as American as apple pie if I must say so myself.
Oh and I have to disagree with you on one thing. Too much use of street slang may indicate that you are uneducated, but a fool? Nonsense. When we say that
a person is street smart, we say it for a good reason.
Brian, of course I am assuming that this language learning of special varieties is all done in a
respectful and friendly environment.
Just casually using the term "black English" sounds like I'm at a 1920s Klan rally.
I've always had an inkling of feeling that using the words Black and White would cause awkwardness. If I offended anyone, I do apologize and would like to ascribe most of the insensitivity to an immigrant experience that's been decidedly non-mainstream. Heck, I think even now I speak Korean more often than English, living as I do smack dab in the middle of a koreatown.
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