K-Netizens comment on a translated Reddit post about a foreigner's negative 3 month experience

[tokyocinema.livejournal.com]

Instiz: European who visited Korea claims "I hate everything about Korea"

Gasengi (a Korean site that translates English comments into Korean) translated this Reddit post along with its comments. I pulled reaction comments from Instiz (do a push up every time I say the word comments.............. fitness goals 2015!)

"I think he's right. The title of the post pissed me off at first but after reading his post, I agreed with it a lot."

"He's right but I don't think he should write off the entire country based off of that."

"You can't expect everyone to love Korea... There will obviously be people who don't like it just like there are people who do enjoy our culture. I have a friend who hated being Korean to the point where she changed her nationality to Japan."

"I agree wholeheartedly with a few of his points but he seems a bit extreme."

"Let's just say he didn't say anything wrong..."

"He's not wrong but he wrote it in a way that pisses me off."

"Overall, I agree with him. I think I'd feel the same way if I was a foreigner in Korea."

"I agree with a few of his points but a lot of what he said pisses me off. Most of his points sound like personal problems that he shouldn't have posted for the whole world to see and judge our country off of."

"There's nothing we can really retort here."

"I laughed at the title but after actually reading it... I don't know what to say."

"Agreed! But look at that anger in his post... you can definitely tell that he's got 50% of Korean blood in him."

"Man, if I was vacationing in another country, I'd try not to dwell on the negatives and try harder to search for other more beautiful things to see."

"It's sad because this isn't all there is to Korea but that's what we're being known for now."

"I think it's wrong of him to take this to such extremes but we as Koreans also need to realize that some of the stuff he points out shouldn't be brushed off as 'oh it's our culture' but things that we should work towards fixing. I know it's upsetting to hear someone talk bad about our country but we should also be embarrassed and try to fix it. I notice people commenting to not live here if you don't like it but it's a sentiment like that that drives people to suicide because they don't see a way out."

"I read the title and said well screw you too man~! but after reading it, I nodded my head at some of his points. After all, there is no squeaky clean country on the internet."

"He's right but why talk shit about our pop culture like that? What does he consider high class music then?"

-

Sources: Netizenbuzz, Instiz

ngl, I really want to see if Gasengi or any other korean sites talk about Omona...

Comments

[turdferguson.livejournal.com]

gonna leave this here

http://www.gasengi.com/main/board.php?bo_table=member_translation&wr_id=209050&sca=US&w10=

http://www.gesomoon.com/Ver2/board/view.php?tableName=transGame&bIdx=335&searchType=&searchText=

[shiroki-tenshi.livejournal.com]

hahahahaha omg omona is on there! ahahahahahaha

(I spy your name a couple times...)

[bauci.livejournal.com]

But look at that anger in his post... you can definitely tell that he's got 50% of Korean blood in him.

I couldn't help it but I lol'ed.

I don't know how the comments were chosen but it's interesting most seem to agree/acknowledge the problem

[seroquels.livejournal.com]

I lol'd too tbh oop

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

At first I was expecting it was from a tourist but the guy is actually half Korean.
In my experience you need more than 3 months to really like a country. Because at the beginning you love everything, after some time you face reality and at the end you manage to find the good points of this country by accepting the differences.
I think he had good points though but I also had the feeling he had personal issues and he didn't want to come in the first place, it was his parents' choice.

[love-allure.livejournal.com]

ehhhh. coming from a westerner who's korean too, i'd have been super emo about the move too at his age. which i'm guessing is late teens/early 20s since he's going to college back in the us. can't speak korean well, wayyyy different culture and mannerisms from the us, food, scenery, etc. it's a lot to take in. it's like the reverse from the korean teens who had their life turned upside down when their parents moved to the us during their high school years. ngl as a person of habit, moving to an entirely different coutnry, even s. korea, would have probably activated my asshole-ness to the max.

[seroquels.livejournal.com]

Ooo wee

He brought up points I've heard others who have lived in SK for more than 3/6 months bring up, but he sounds super bitter beyond the fact that SK isn't as liberal as he'd like. He sounds very young. Maybe after he's been there for longer than 6mos he'll feel better about it.

I completely understand the knetz reactions of, "it's true but still fxck you too," because I think most ppl feel like that when someone readsreads the life out their country like that lol.

[love-allure.livejournal.com]

I completely understand the knetz reactions of, "it's true but still fxck you too," because I think most ppl feel like that when someone readsreads the life out their country like that lol.

ngl i have the same reaction when people talk shit about los angeles. i mean, i completely agree with all the bad points that people have about la but fuck you stranger, i love my city.

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

LOL...everyone is like, "He's not wrong...but why you gotta put this on the Internet?" like he owes them that consideration lol

It's interesting how they acknowledge his points but they just accept it...thus validating (some of) his points

The job thing would make me angry at least but I guess not for them

Celebrities have it even worse than he described really...and seemingly "happy innocent" girls wearing short shorts and dancing provocatively lol...sounds right

I went to Korea for vacation and witnessed some of what he described...but I kind of expected it.

[atopworld.livejournal.com]

I meant to ask you about your trip. Were you treated nicely and whatnot?

[nana-the-dwarf.livejournal.com]

Sounds to me like a case of culture shock. I don't mean to downplay what he said because I'm sure, without being condescending, that what he said is true (maybe even to an level that makes some uncomfortable), but this is something that commonly happnes to people who move to other countries.

[kairoso.livejournal.com]

he seems like he's facing culture shock and experienced xenophobia due to being half korean/half white or being western born. idk his rant is not as bad as i wouldve expected

[asth77.livejournal.com]

I think culture shock is the cause of his strong bitterness although some Korean people along with apparently other foreign poeple who've been and moved in SK agree with many of his points. That should also be taken into consideration.

[starsdestiny.livejournal.com]

Considering the title, the actual post is quite ... not sure what the word is, maybe insightful? He seems to have seen quite a few problems.
It's not like he hates all of Korea because he doesn't like the trains or something silly...
Also I don't agree with the netizen saying "Man, if I was vacationing in another country, I'd try not to dwell on the negatives and try harder to search for other more beautiful things to see."
3 months is a fairly long holiday.... he's probably finished doing the touristy stuff and things are looking less shiny.
I don't like how people were writing it off as "it's a personal thing", well duh, it's his post about his experience, given the title did they expect a balanced pro-con list about Korea?

I get it though, if my country described like that, I wouldn't like it but then again, does everyone have to like the same thing? If they acknowledge they see where he's coming from, maybe they could do something about it, although it's problem too deep-set but gotta start somewhere...

[angel-9-lives.livejournal.com]

from what I understand, he's not vacationing there at all...he said he has to live there when he's on break until he can find his own place away from his parents.

I think, if it was just vacationing, he wouldn't mind it so much, but having to make a life there for those months, and knowing that he'll have to return there EVERY break to start all over again (since I highly doubt the company he works for will keep a space open for him while he's gone)....yeah. I really kinda feel bad for him :S

[bomsnose.livejournal.com]

can we please turn this thing into some back and forth translation game?

also the poster needs to make more friends, and ditch xbox for pcbang. just kidding, i don't know. i moved countries before, but i moved from a closed-minded place to a more open country, so for me it's the other way around...

[laeryn.livejournal.com]

The P.S. made me laugh tbh.

Truth be told, from what I've heard he's probably right on many if not all points, but he does sound super bitter and pissed of about it, even if at the end he's like "I mean, I know it's not all bad BUT STILL". I understand tho. These are all things that can be quite hard to accept and live with if you've grown in a completely different environment. I'm trying to repeat similar things to myself all of the time because I wanna move to Japan temporarily (because I study Japanese and think there's no better way to completely learn a language) and even if I've grown up knowing the 'bad' parts, it's completely different to actually experience it, so I can understand him because I think I'll have my fair share of "fuck this shit". I do think, however, that after a while he'd probably accept them. You can't change a country, so either you leave or you learn to live with the things you don't like, which IA that is a lot easier if you make a bunch of friends because you have your own bubble and you can forget about the rest a little more.

Idk. It seems like it was not his decision, too, which also makes it harder, because if you move because you want to, and you know what to expect, you'll have a hard time anyways but at least there's a reason for you to make the effort of becoming comfortable. But in this case... nope.

I'm glad to see netizens agree tbh. I think if this post was about my country you wouldn't even get that. People get so damn defensive when you talk about the bad here, like OMG NOES MY COUNTRY IS THE BEST, lmao.

[existingisfunny.livejournal.com]

This plus the recent popular video of the Korean kid talking about what he hates about Korea makes the issue so emphasized I wonder if/how the conversation has been growing with Koreans (past the reactionary comments of "I agree/disagree".) And if they've proposed any active ways to change what they don't like besides "yeah, we should change".

[gacchiri.livejournal.com]

is there a link to that video??

[setsuna16.livejournal.com]

Wow. The netizens were much more receptive and civil than I expected.

[angel-9-lives.livejournal.com]

same...I was expecting hellfire and brimstone, lol

[cast-no-shadow0.livejournal.com]

It wasn't as bad as I expected. His main issues seem to be about the narrow-minded and xenophobic culture, which the comments didn't really dispute. Those are things to be upset and angry about.

Now, if he was just complaining about how the food sucks and the music is bad, that would be petty, but he is complaining about real issues that would be upsetting.

[lexissexist.livejournal.com]

Nice Ouroboros.

[male acuña (from livejournal.com)]

"Agreed! But look at that anger in his post... you can definitely tell that he's got 50% of Korean blood in him."


love this comment so much xD

[o-o-mai-o-o.livejournal.com]

lol and he didn't even mention the horrible Korean education system, one of the biggest sources of suicide in SK. Most of his points are the reason why I would only visit SK for vacation, rather than actually live there.

[premonitioner.livejournal.com]

I was prepared to refute his post with a bunch of my own experiences living in Korea but then I was like '.....ah. well. yeah. he just listed the reasons why I won't go back to Korea for anything other than a vacation'. I'd certainly not want to work there.

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

Dang...I thought this was gonna be racist post but it's something that happens pretty much everywhere. Like what he's talking about also applies in Japan too. :/

[bauci.livejournal.com]

idk he didn't even mention noodles - think this post is a fake

[agoongprincess.livejournal.com]

honestly i think one of the reasons he is so bitter is since he's half he probs doesn't look 100% white and mixed kids always have to go around explaining their "half-black, chinese, indian" etc etc etc so he probs thought korea would be a place he would be accepted and fit in since he was looked at as korean his whole life. and when he got their they viewed him as a foreigner even more added with the culture shock drove him to this anger.

i know if i went to my home country and i was treated like him and experience such a culture shock, i'd be miserable

[embroideredkiss.livejournal.com]

Firstly, the comments translated from Instiz mostly agree with him, from what I can read of the untranslated ones on Gisaengi they mostly agree to, but there are a few of the "well fuck off home then" variety. I read a lot of sites that translate comments for Korea and China and it's kinda sad that these days most people would happily leave, would rather buy foreign products, prefer foreign education etc. I understand why, and would think the same, but still, kinda sad.

Secondly, I've lived in Korea for three years now and agree with everything this guy said. Yeah, he's not lived here for long really, so maybe his thoughts will change but....tbh, mine never have. Stuff that bugged me in the first six months still bugs me, but I've just learnt to give less of a shit about it. I think this will be my last year here because the amount of stuff I have to make myself not give a shit about is making me compromise beyond what I want to.

[viakyusu.livejournal.com]

Honestly, what he's going through can apply for other countries too. Whenever you travel abroad no matter what you're going to be the "other" the "outsider". My friend faces the same problems being a Korean Native now living in United States. How people outcast her because her English isn't that good, everyone makes racist jokes and called her North Korean once...I feel so bad due to people treating her like shit in America. So, I not going to sit here and act like America is kind to their immigrants. My Dad is one and I know first hand how they treat others. I understand how he feels about being "other"ed...I mean shit I'm a outcast in my own country lol Shit blows. Also, I think he's miserable because he was probably forced to move there, not his choice. Happy to see the netizens agreeing, the "Korean blood" comment is hilarious tho lol

[chibi-rei.livejournal.com]

He's not wrong tho.
I liked living in Korea, but honestly I wouldn't want to live there forever or I'd end up like that guy.

[misshoa.livejournal.com]

Mte.
It's nice to live there for a while and I've really grown fond of Seoul, but there are too many things that would bug me if I'd lived there forever or had to raise my future kids there (only thinking about the education system makes me shudder).