GFN, Gwangju Foreigners' Network, will launch April 1st. There's more information available on the website, but I'm just not feelin' it enough to write it up. You'll remember Seoul launched TBSeFM, an English-only radio station, in December, so I guess this will be something like that. They had a contest through yesterday on the website to give the station a slogan; however *slaps forehead* the information is entirely in Korean, meaning we can anticipate something like "Gwangju English Propose" or "Up! Up! Gwangju." I submitted my entries in the nick of time; daddy wants that 500,000.
By the way in Korean it's 광주영어방송, more directly translated as Gwangju English Broadcast. Not Foreigners Network. But whatever, we'll take it. Just keep all those Chinese students away. *cough* It would be an interesting idea, though, to offer an hour here an hour there in languages other than English in order to connect with the foreign community here who don't use it as their first language.
22 comments:
I think it would be really neat if they had the station in other languages occasionally. Probably not much demand, but a neat concept.
Also, since I know you sometimes like stories about Koreans actually being good people, you might like this interlude I had on my return to Korea on Saturday: A story of Korean hospitality… Proof that not ALL Koreans are foreigner-hating bigots. Feel free to link to it, if you want.
LOL, diggin for hits are we?
Haha. Nah, the double comment was to fix an edit, but my school's censoring firewall blocks out the page to delete a comment. It's highly annoying.
And no, not fishing for hits, just thought it was the type of thing you might enjoy.
Yeah, maybe I'll throw it up tomorrow. My school has blocked blogger---apparently it's happened to others as well. I thought my school was just trying to send me a message. *cough* In case of emergencies I can still use a proxy, but I think I should just worry about teaching for the time being, heh.
I've gotten rides from Koreans several times; very kind, though I think it'd worry my mother to tell her about that.
I've gotten rides a couple times too, but the crazy thing with this was letting me stay at their house, feeding me, offering to show me around, etc. I totally didn't know what to say.
Some Koreans (just like with the bad stuff, we can't say it's everybody) are hospitable in ways that would creep me out back in the States, including the ride thing.
About the broadcasting... isn't there a sizable non-English-native population, especially around GIST? I think having at least an hour or so each week/day of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, etc., would be a nice gesture.
And I think with 광주영어방송 you could get away with calling it Kwangju English Broadcasting.
Well, yeah, if it's going to be in English they should just call it Gwangju English Broadcast. Big G, Gwangju. But if they're going to call it the Foreigners Radio, they should try to accommodate all the different kinds of foreigners here. I saw some stats that showed the vast majority of foreign students in Gwangju's universities are Chinese, although their Korean is good enough to not need foreign language broadcasts. There's, like, three Japanese people in Gwangju, but lots of Vietnamese, Indians, Filipinos, and others who would enjoy some local flavor.
Thats exactly right. In Chonnam National University, maybe 80-90 pct of foreign students are Chinese and/or Chinese-Koreans. Sometimes it makes me feel im in China whenever there is a festival for international students :).
And they can speak Korean very well.
by the way blogger sites are also blocked here in my university. i thought its because im accessing Brian's blog too much :)
My vote goes to " Gwangju English Broadcast"
I find it frustrating that Koreans insist upon referring to people who live for extended periods of time here as, "Foreigners".
To me, a "Foreigner Radio Station" should be broadcast by people with less of a connection to Korea then living their lives here, like North Koreans or something.
Perhaps, in Korean, the label 외국 stays with one forever (I wonder if Korean immigrants to American consider themselves 외국 after 20 years).
But Koreans need to learn, in the English language, at some point, one ceases to be a foreigner and becomes a resident, a part of the community, without the 'outsider' connotation that foreigner brings. "원어민 radio" might be a little more pleasing to my ears.
matt, you probably saw this already but last month there was some discussion here about the use of 외국인, though more about how Koreans use it to describe non-Koreans in their own country.
http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2009/01/us-versus-them-more-about.html
I'd feel much more comfortable either just calling it Gwawngju English Radio or something like Gwangju International Channel. (After all, I'll bet it'll be streaming online and thus acceessible to everyone all over the world).
For many English teachers here, as annoying as it is we just have to resign ourselves to being called "foreigners" all the time. If we're only here for a couple years, really that's all we are. But increasingly non-Koreans are coming here as brides/spouses or otherwise as long-term residents. Is this station not for them? You'll see on the website that the job openings were for English speakers.
I have a feeling that while this is ostensibly for the foreign community---Gwangju's all about developing it's international image in order to attract the Universiade and other projects---I can't help but thinking that this like all other Korean-produced English media is really just a way for Koreans to conveniently practice their English. I'm glad to see they're actually recruiting English speakers in the area to write and be on-air.
Now, the station wasn't trying to be cold or trying to bicker over semantics. And I do have to give Gwangju credit . . . how many cities its size in the US have foreign-language media? Certainly not Pittsburgh. But I think it's just another another another case of not thinking things through, of checking with the target audience first before going ahead with something designed for foreigners. For other exapmles the foreigner-only taxis come to mind, and the altered street signs. Or even another example from this post: they had the advertisement for the slogan contest for the English-language radio station IN KOREAN, meaning most English-speaking foreigners coming to the site wouldn't be able to find it or even enter.
And arvinsign, I can't leave a comment on your blog for some reason---happens on blogspot blogs sometimes---but I just wanted to say those Yongpyong pictures are gorgeous!
yeah Brian I here you. I think it's a chicken and egg kinda situation.
Do they call us foreigners because we stay here a year or two, or do we only stay here a year or two because they call us foreigners?
Thanks Brian.
"I can't help but thinking that this like all other Korean-produced English media is really just a way for Koreans to conveniently practice their English"
- Im starting to feel this might be the case, or maybe im wrong.
"they had the advertisement for the slogan contest for the English-language radio station IN KOREAN"
- Maybe they dont want us to grab the prize? :)
matt and Brian, I hate the word "foreigners" and put it in quotes whenever I can, to show I'm using the word under duress. Where it's appropriate, I'd prefer to write oégugin. I try to use terms like "international residents" or even "internationals," but it can get wordy or awkward.
But guess what? You should get used to it. Welcome to the world of being a minority. One of the best things you can take away from living in country where you are identifiably of a different race than the majority population is the day-to-day experience of being easily singled out as different.
When the locals are inured to your presence, things are great. When their focus is on your difference, it can suck (although it can also bring benefit; it's probably a bit of a wash).
This is by no means a uniquely Korean behavior. I point that out not to excuse Koreans but to suggest that addressing it as a primarily or uniquely or especially Korean trait is not a very effective way of understanding it or dealing with it.
Sometimes it sucks to be a minority. And no matter where you're from, I'm pretty sure minorities there don't have a rosy time all the time with the "majority" population there. Even in the United States, millions upon millions of Asian-Americans are still seen as different and not even fully American by some Whites (and Blacks).
This point was driven home in something I blogged about just yesterday from "multi-cultural" Orange County (my hometown).
I'm going to link to that post of yours tomorrow, kushibo, it's very revealing. I typed out a longer comment here but I'm too tired to think coherently so I'll save it for another time.
matt wrote:
Do they call us foreigners because we stay here a year or two, or do we only stay here a year or two because they call us foreigners?
Oh, my God! If the precious little lotus blossoms can't handle being called oégugin or foreigner (or gaijin or whatever), then they should stay home where they can wrap themselves up in the cocoon of their majority-ness and feel all secure. Never leave your home country in that case.
Seriously, if someone is so sensitive that would cause them to leave, then they really have too thin a skin. This reminds me of the people who thought little kids shouting "Hello!" was "hate speech" (I'm not making that up).
Damn fu¢king racist Koreans. Most racist people in the world! Fu¢kin' Koreans always shouting Hello!
Brian wrote:
I can't help but thinking that this like all other Korean-produced English media is really just a way for Koreans to conveniently practice their English.
Of course it is. That's part of the business model. I've been involved in things like this in the past, and the people who set this up see it as a win-win situation — something that would bring positive benefit to both 외국인 and 내국인, native English speakers who want more relevant local media and English learners who want more exposure that is relevant to them.
Just don't let it turn into Arirang, where almost everything starts out as Korean and is turned into English.
Kushibo:
You response was a little obtuse.
I was hoping readers would read between the lines a bit. It isn't simply that, "they call us foreigners" per se. That was simply a literary devise.
I was referring to the unique bond that Koreans share with each other, a kind of "us against them mentality".
Like when I'm told that since I'm not Korean, I can never truly understand the concept of 정.
One manifestation of this *unique* mentality being the insistence upon labeling people who've lived here there entire lives "foreigners" if they are the product of 1 or more non-Korean parents.
and again, I'm not crying, and I'm not a lotus blossom.
The only way ANY society can improve is if we have this kind of dialogue.
When you belittle me or Brian by calling us shrinking lotus flowers or whatever, you are lowering the level of this important discourse about the flaws of the society I live in.
In the end you're only hurting the society from whence you came.
I'm under no pretenses that my society is any better.
But I know that my society improves when outsiders like me comment on it's flaws, and we discuss them open and rationally.
Stick to the facts. A little comic relief is nice, of course, but it seems a little knee-jerk on your part.
You response was a little obtuse.
I guess I was. When referred to people who "stay here a year of two" being called "foreigners," I thought you meant people who stay here a year or two, when in fact you meant "people who've lived here their entire lives" being called foreigners. ;)
When you belittle me or Brian by calling us shrinking lotus flowers or whatever, you are lowering the level of this important discourse about the flaws of the society I live in.
I may have been a bit glib about presenting my opinion here, so I want to take this moment to apologize for any misunderstanding I may have caused.
The "precious little lotus blossoms" comment was NOT in any way meant to refer to you or Brian, but rather the thin-skinned people you seem to be referring to and whom I have met many times over in Korea.
Essentially, the ones who really can't hack living the life of a minority somewhere, individuals I find especially annoying when they say that something along the lines "in my country we treat our minorities much better" when in reality they have no freaking idea.
From what little I know of you and Brian, I like you both as bloggers/commenters, and I respect your views even when I don't agree with them completely. Really, I'm very sorry if you felt I was belittling you or Brian.
Courteous discourse in a forum such as this is a reasonable request, so I apologize if I seemed not to be providing that. I would never have used the "precious little lotus blossoms" comment in regards to either of you for what I've read here.
The only way ANY society can improve is if we have this kind of dialogue.
Also, even if I think the whining from the precious little lotus blossoms is annoying when it is coming from people who have previously had no clue what it's like to be a visible minority in Korea or their home country, I do think it is absolutely worthwhile to discuss things that are wrong.
Having said that, I risk distracting from that very important point you made by saying that one thing that has turned off many Koreans I know about these discussions is when the international resident is (a) speaking from partial ignorance about the issue at hand, (b) speaks from a point of view that the way it's done in their country is better, and/or (c) is inappropriately aggressive about the way they go about 'convincing' Koreans (or whomever) about how they are wrong.
I've seen that a lot, and it's too bad, because it means that valid points to be made are botched and/or ignored.
I'm going to link to that post of yours tomorrow, kushibo, it's very revealing. I typed out a longer comment here but I'm too tired to think coherently so I'll save it for another time.
I look forward to that. I even went back and checked for grammar, in anticipation of having guests over. ;)
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