A 71-year-old man was booked for hitting a restaurant staff member who was trying to stop him from talking to a foreigner at the establishment, police have said.
Seoul Gangseo Police on Saturday apprehended a man identified as Lee for beating a 60 year-old identified as Jeong at a restaurant in Naebalsan-dong in western Seoul last Friday. Lee was reportedly trying to approach two Scottish men who were eating at the premises while Jeong attempted to restrain him.
Lee was said to be drunk and told police that he was simply trying to ``learn English from the foreigners.''
The KT's headline? "Man Booked for Trying to Talk to Foreigners."
8 comments:
ooch. It sounds like overkill to arrest the guy when you just read it in the newspaper, but I've been in situations like that. Them drunk old guys... especially if there's a blonde female at the table...
on the other hand, I have one friend, female, who speaks Korean really well, and the area of Korean communication she does better than any other is telling drunk, old men to piss up a rope. It's awesome watching her at work.
In my personal opinion, the worst is when it happens in the Sauna.
question of the day: would you rather be followed down the street by a drunk old man trying to practice his English, or by some religious folk trying to get you to come to their church?
I can't believe you didn't include the headline in the KT. The headline makes it sound like the guy was arrested just for talking to foreigners.
Give me the religious guys over the drunk guys any day.
I don't know ... sometimes the religious guys are determined to give you a lift in their car ... which is why it's good to carry car keys with you wherever you go, even if you don't drive.
One thing I like about Korea is that although I'm viewed as freakish and degenerate because I'm not one of them, the simple fact that my native language is English qualifies me for certain things... Indeed, I don't mind speaking a few general pleasantries to old men because I turn the conversation back on them and learn a little Korean, or something about Korea. More than once a Korean ajushi has told me I look like Johnny Depp (or once Neil Diamond...) and offered me his daughter.
But then there are the times it turns bad. When someone seems nice, it's a shame when you suddenly realise their soju-breath is getting you drunk. Then the shouting begins...
Generally I don't go for the free English practice, because it's rarely a sincere attempt to be nice. Well, at least it comes off that way; I'll grant that sometimes I'm not in the mood to chalk an unsolicited "where are you from?" up to an ignorance of appropriate conversation starters. But I usually make exceptions for the old or the young. Hell, they're the ones who are the most interesting to talk to anyway.
Yes, I know we're hired as "native speakers" and often nothing more, and I appreciate that people only see us in that role . . . but I think it was on Dave's that somebody said "would you go up to a banker at a restaurant and ask for a loan?"
I appreciate that while Koreans can be inappropriate and sometimes downright rude in demanding English or in demanding entertainment, I'm thankful that things usually don't get violent. I think we can all imagine what would happen back home if a couple of Koreans told off some white guys throwing around chink taunts.
Who knows what actually happened, though; the article isn't helpful. Probably a drunk guy was getting loud and throwing around Engibberish and the guy at the restaurant was just trying to get him to calm down. Reminds me of an anecdote from Breen's "The Koreans" where an accident is caused because the driver was staring at a foreign pedestrian; surprised the foreigners don't have to foot some of the bail money, since after all if they weren't in the restaurant the ruckus would have never happened.
From my experience, it's always important to rely on the strangeness of kind people. Every time, especially in a drunk scenario, I always ask myself, "What does this person really want?"
But I must say, all in all, I am more impressed than anything else when a Korean speaks to me. Most of us from "the West" live in multicultural societies, where it is commonplace to talk to strangers, which is obviously not the case here. I've actually even made some good friends with outgoing Koreans who initiated a conversation. In a society where it is considered weird to speak with strangers, I usually find it refreshing, but there are the annoying and patronizing cases that come along as well.
I would think that almost everyone has had a similar like that - Koreans approaching "foreigners", coz they want to practice some English. When I was in my town in Korea, I would just speak Korean back to them. Or if parents tell their kids to "go and talk english to the foreigner" while I'm eating dinner, I would take the kid back to their table, and tell their parents (in Korean), that I'm trying to eat, and if they want to talk English, they should go to my hagwon.
When I wasn't in my town (and in tourist mode), I found that Koreans were more surprised that I was actually talking Korean to them (low expectations in that department, in my opinion), and when I was travelling, depending on the situation, I didn't mind people approaching me.
But, I've definitely had times where I've felt like knocking out a drunk guy or two, just for being dickheads and not really thinking... I'm eating dinner... fuck off. lol. "싸까지 없냐?" ㅋㅋㅋ
I speak enough Korean to get past cookie-cutter introductions, so I only speak Korean to Koreans who speak English to me. This often results in the obvious disappointment of the Korean.
One of my Korean language learning goals is to be able to speak Korean to any random Korean who approaches me for a free lesson. Looking back, I think I've more or less accomplished that goal. It is a quite awkward situation because you know the (usually male) stranger wants to speak English. How do you know? They keep speaking English and I keep speaking Korean. It's like a battle... who's going to break first? How hillarious is that situation?! The Koreans I like are the ones who realize that I can carry on the conversation in Korean and switch to speaking Korean.
My other primary Korean language goal is to be able to argue (minus profanity) with people about stupid things they do towards me. For example, one time on a crowded subway car, a 30-something woman standing with her boyfriend turned around to face me and my friend, put her finger to her lip and hushed us. LOL. I embarrassed the hell out of her in Korean in front of a subway car full of Koreans. Priceless.
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