KSA Frustration

[tapestrybabe]

Yeah, so i just came back from the Korean Student Association meeting at my school. Ummmm... yeah, the meeting was spoken MOSTLY in Korean. It was the very first meeting of the school year... and yeah, we all had to go around the table and introduce ourselves.... and errr... I was THE ONLY ONE that introduced myself in English-- and i was the SECOND one to introduce myself..... My name is TJ, I'm 30, a fine arts major, a grad student... and I DON'T understand any Korean and I dont speak it. I just joined this meeting today cuz i saw a flier on campus about it... and i wanted to check it all out. And yeah, while there were some 20 odd ppl in that room.... EVERYONE ELSE introduced themselves in Korean-- even the few pple who knew how to speak english fluently, spoke in Korean anyways. The president of the club.... he translated a few stuff in english... but just a few things. For the MAJORITY he spoke Korean.

Anyways, after the meeting was over.. this one korean guy... he spoke to me... asking me why i dont know any korean. I just explained cuz i have white parents thats why.... and he went on saying how everyone speaks in korean in the club, cuz thats the language they all feel most comfortable speaking. And some ppl dont know how to speak english that well.... But anyways, he was telling me... that since that i dont speak it... i may not feel so comfortable attending the meetings. But i'm always welcome to attend anyways. Now shit, whats the point of attending the meeting if EVERYONE is gonna be communicating in Korean?! I mean, dont you think there should be accomodations for ppl like me who only speak english?? I mean, its not as if were in the middle of Ktown or anything... but its MONTCLAIR!!!! And its a Korean AMERICAN club... which should also mean, Korean Americans like ME.... and not just exlusively those Korean Americans who just feel more comfortable speaking Korean...

Me, i may consider participating more.... thats if more ppl are willing to ACTUALLY speak english...



<!--EDIT|tapestrybabe|Sep 18 2002, 07:58 PM-->

[kimpossible]

Don't give up, TB. Hang in there.

It's a tough, tough sitch and I think it's tougher than what I have to face but I can relate on some level. I have family that I can barely speak Japanese with. If I'm in Japan it gets a lot easier, it comes back but if I try to do it cold I'm dead in the water.

And... and... I go to a lot of functions where I am the only non-Chinese there and most ppl aren't ABC but fob. I do the best I can but there are times when it isn't enough. Some people talk down to me and once a girl made fun of me struggling in Mandarin. The most I can do is apologize and say, yeah I suck. I know.

Hang in there. See if there are any other ppl learning (there has to be some) and study in between. Eventually you will pick some up.

I'll tell you more embarrassing stories if it will help. :)

[wylin]

dam korean fobs!

seriously that sux when ur clueless among people who refuse to speak english

[SunWuKong]

TB, yeah you should hang in there! Think of it this way, it's discouraging but what a great opportunity to learn Korean!

[kasia]

during college, i went to a hong kong student union meeting with a taiwanese friend. they spoke cantonese the entire time and my friend couldn't understand. we were being immature and giggling b/c of this (or for no good reason), and when he raised his hand to ask if they could translate, the president said, "if you can't speak chinese, maybe you shouldn't be here."

yes we left....

at our school, tb, there was a ksa and a kasa (korean AMERICAN) student association. try to see if your campus has one. there's also asu (asian student union.) :)

[Green_Jade]

My school had a KSA before I started, I believe it dissolved long before.... For some odd reason, there are very few non fob Koreans at my school, actually not an odd reason, rather, Rochester Institute of Tech isn't regarded as "good" school by Korean Americans..actually many don't even know it so... since they dont know it it = bad school.

All's well, because of such a small percentage of asians, I get nice amouts of grants and such. :)

But I dont like the fact that fobs of any nationalities hang out only with eachother and speak their language all the time... Have they forgotten they are in a US school? and classes are in English... I feel bad for my friends who has to do group work with fobs. Esp. ones that learned curses first and curse at inapporiate times... like during a presentations... 'sigh'

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by artzygrrl@Sep 18 2002, 11:18 PM
My school had a KSA before I started, I believe it dissolved long before.... For some odd reason, there are very few non fob Koreans at my school, actually not an odd reason, rather, Rochester Institute of Tech isn't regarded as "good" school by Korean Americans..actually many don't even know it so... since they dont know it it = bad school.

All's well, because of such a small percentage of asians, I get nice amouts of grants and such. :)

But I dont like the fact that fobs of any nationalities hang out only with eachother and speak their language all the time... Have they forgotten they are in a US school? and classes are in English... I feel bad for my friends who has to do group work with fobs. Esp. ones that learned curses first and curse at inapporiate times... like during a presentations... 'sigh'
hahhah they curse in their native language during a presentation?? that's funny as hell. i should do that.

[achtungbaby]

Ahhh, college Korean student organizations...:)

I had some tough times with most Koreanized student organizations. I was always cool with them having a group where the more fobby-folk could get together to congregate, because while I didn't know most of them from campus, I knew a lot of fobby Koreans from church, and it's tough living in a white world that you're struggling to understand. From their perspective, they're being forced to speak in English a majority of the time, and just want to chill in Korean other times.

Most of the groups I tried campaigning to during elections and that sorta thing hated me:P I never introduced myself in Korean, which in hindsight, was probably the more respectful thing to do. I found out later through my cousin that they thought I was an arrogant ass. But it's all good, I ain't mad at 'em:)

Anyway, KSA really varies according to school. At some (where there are less Koreans), it's usually the type of group that you described, TB. At others, like UCI or UCLA, it's a total party club...

Are there any other Korean clubs on campus? 'Cuz I'll be honest and straight up: unless you learn more Korean, they're not going to be the type to take the initiative and try and make you feel more welcome...:(

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Originally posted by tapestrybabe@Sep 18 2002, 11:46 PM
Yeah, so i just came back from the Korean Student Association meeting at my school. Ummmm... yeah, the meeting was spoken MOSTLY in Korean. It was the very first meeting of the school year... and yeah, we all had to go around the table and introduce ourselves.... and errr... I was THE ONLY ONE that introduced myself in English-- and i was the SECOND one to introduce myself..... My name is TJ, I'm 30, a fine arts major, a grad student... and I DON'T understand any Korean and I dont speak it. I just joined this meeting today cuz i saw a flier on campus about it... and i wanted to check it all out. And yeah, while there were some 20 odd ppl in that room.... EVERYONE ELSE introduced themselves in Korean-- even the few pple who knew how to speak english fluently, spoke in Korean anyways. The president of the club.... he translated a few stuff in english... but just a few things. For the MAJORITY he spoke Korean.

Anyways, after the meeting was over.. this one korean guy... he spoke to me... asking me why i dont know any korean. I just explained cuz i have white parents thats why.... and he went on saying how everyone speaks in korean in the club, cuz thats the language they all feel most comfortable speaking. And some ppl dont know how to speak english that well.... But anyways, he was telling me... that since that i dont speak it... i may not feel so comfortable attending the meetings. But i'm always welcome to attend anyways. Now shit, whats the point of attending the meeting if EVERYONE is gonna be communicating in Korean?! I mean, dont you think there should be accomodations for ppl like me who only speak english?? I mean, its not as if were in the middle of Ktown or anything... but its MONTCLAIR!!!! And its a Korean AMERICAN club... which should also mean, Korean Americans like ME.... and not just exlusively those Korean Americans who just feel more comfortable speaking Korean...

Me, i may consider participating more.... thats if more ppl are willing to ACTUALLY speak english...
Not to be too blunt, but I believe you said they're a ksa, not a k_A_sa. (many schools had both. mine used to until the KASA ended up with too many obsessed leftist-activists on the board, which scared most people away to the KSA, who threw better parties and actually ran a profit from term-to-term).

you found out that you don't fit in with them, among other things because of language difficulties. neither your nor their fault, so it's not so good to try to assign blame. If they want to conduct the meeting in korean, or english, or portuguese, or swahili --- they should make the decision that best expresses their goals as an organization - in this case, they're oriented towards Korean foreign students, so they speak the language in which Korean foreign students are most comfortable.

I spoke no cantonese when I entered high school. i had a similar experience to yours at my first Hong Kong Students Association meeting (which my friend dragged me along to). but i didn't blame the other members of the association for not adapting to my needs. there were 25 of them and one of me. I took advantage of the opportunity to learn cantonese, even though it was embarassing and some fellow members looked down on me.

Originally posted by artzygrrl@Sep 19 2002, 04:18 AM
But I dont like the fact that fobs of any nationalities hang out only with eachother and speak their language all the time... Have they forgotten they are in a US school? and classes are in English...
no worse than most American exchange students overseas. you know how awkward it is to be hanging out with people when you can't express yourself fully and have to listen actively to every word to catch the meaning of a sentence? your biggest worry is that the people you're with will conclude that the reason you're quiet, don't laugh at jokes, make strange comments at strange times, etc., is because you're a strange person, rather than remembering that you're operating in a second language in an unfamiliar environment.



<!--EDIT|AliBabaIncorporated|Sep 19 2002, 12:27 PM-->

[tapestrybabe]

Originally posted by AliBabaIncorporated@Sep 19 2002, 08:26 AM
Not to be too blunt, but I believe you said they're a ksa, not a k_A_sa. (many schools had both. mine used to until the KASA ended up with too many obsessed leftist-activists on the board, which scared most people away to the KSA, who threw better parties and actually ran a profit from term-to-term).

you found out that you don't fit in with them, among other things because of language difficulties. neither your nor their fault, so it's not so good to try to assign blame. If they want to conduct the meeting in korean, or english, or portuguese, or swahili --- they should make the decision that best expresses their goals as an organization - in this case, they're oriented towards Korean foreign students, so they speak the language in which Korean foreign students are most comfortable.


Yeah, i said KSA. But i remember on the flier it said something like all korean american students are welcome to join their first meeting-- which gave me the impression it was a korean american club. Me, i've never really joined any asian organizations in the past at school... so, this is really my first time... and i'm now becoming aware of the different names such as-- ksa, kasa, asu...

Anyhow.. when it comes to my campus... ksa is really the ONLY asian organization on my campus. There is no kasa and asu. And i think this club is fairly new.. just a few years old. So like, here is my impression of what i think the club is all about. One of their main aims being... is there focus on freshmans... and especially i guess making the korean fob students feel welcome to the campus. They are having like a freshman orientation picnic in Oct for all the new korean students...which is gonna be held here in Palisades Park... a town well known for its korean community. Also, i kinda view the club as some kind of support group-- such as exchanging names of recommended professors to one another... which is what they did at the first meeting. And its a social club-- througout the year they plan events like skiing, camping... and so forth-- which is what appealed me the most. i wanna be able to take part in all that...

Anyhow, this being the ONLY asian club on campus... i think they have the potential in being able to just expand on it... I mean, it being a fairly new club.. they are asking for any new suggestions and looking for different ways to attract more members. And i think being able to bridge that gap... between the so called fobs and ppl like me... l think is one of the ways... is that like an impossible idea, or what??

But like... i have no idea what the majority of students actually felt about me during the meeting... since i was the ONLY one who introduced myself in english... i hope they didnt feel i was stuck up or anything. Cuz gosh, there were some HOT looking Korean guys there. And i had a person suggest that maybe i can ask one of the cute looking guys to help tutor me w/ my korean or be a translator during the meetings... which isn't a half bad idea... haha ^_^

But anyways, i feel all calm now over the situation. On an individual basis.. i think i am able to talk to the ppl. Cuz i got to the meeting early.. and i talked to the president and the other leaders.. and they were really friendly. Even the guy who talked to me afterwards, i was able to have a friendly conversation with him. it was really DURING the meeting when i felt like... what am i really doing here??

Me, i plan on sticking with it for a little while. They wanna be able to make a campus KSA sign... which i plan on helping out with... and yeah, i'll see where things lead from there...



<!--EDIT|tapestrybabe|Sep 19 2002, 10:31 AM-->

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by tapestrybabe@Sep 19 2002, 09:01 AM
Me, i plan on sticking with it for a little while. They wanna be able to make a campus KSA sign... which i plan on helping out with... and yeah, i'll see where things lead from there...
yeah that's great! the best way to learn a language is if you're forced to!

[tapestrybabe]

Originally posted by AliBabaIncorporated@Sep 19 2002, 08:26 AM
Originally posted by artzygrrl@Sep 19 2002, 04:18 AM
But I dont like the fact that fobs of any nationalities hang out only with eachother and speak their language all the time... Have they forgotten they are in a US school? and classes are in English...
no worse than most American exchange students overseas. you know how awkward it is to be hanging out with people when you can't express yourself fully and have to listen actively to every word to catch the meaning of a sentence?
yeah, but sometimes like me... someone who tries to reaches out to make other korean friends... i think its kinda unfair for them not to make the effort to speak english to me.... cuz its not as if they dont know how... quite a few of them spoke english very well... but refused... like i was being scorned for not knowing korean... which is what irked me the most while i attended the meeting... Sure, you can say they have the right to conduct the meeting how ever they want... and i can show some effort in learning from them... but it goes BOTH WAYS when it comes to making that effort in communicating....



<!--EDIT|tapestrybabe|Sep 19 2002, 05:19 PM-->

[deez nuts]

Well I for one admire you for sticking with it. But hey if some folks don't want you there because you don't speak Korean, fug them.

Perhaps you should read SunWuKung's article about Lobster Man and maybe dress up as Lobster girl for the next meeting. J/K, trying to cheer ya up.

[kimpossible]

Originally posted by tapestrybabe@Sep 19 2002, 01:18 PM

yeah, but sometimes like me... someone who tries to reaches out to make other korean friends... i think its kinda unfair for them not to make the effort to speak english to me.... cuz its not as if they dont know how... quite a few of them spoke english very well... but refused... like i was being scorned for not knowing korean... which is what irked me the most while i attended the meeting... Sure, you can say they have the right to conduct the meeting how ever they want... and i can show some effort in learning from them... but it goes BOTH WAYS when it comes to making that effort in communicating....
Okay, time for more embarrassing stories.

*I've attended Chinese class before with Taiwanese elementary school kids. The chairs were too damn small

*My friends' kids correct my Mandarin and ask their parents why I speak funny. I consider the kids good teachers. They're honest about my speech and don't worry about being impolite when correcting me

And look at it this way: I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. Hanging out at Chinese functions and desperately trying to learn Mandarin makes me look like a wannabe, whether or not I even have the choice of attending said functions. Not learning Mandarin makes me look like a dumb, pain in the ass foreigner.

At least you're Korean. It's logical to other people why you're there and why you want to learn the language.

[raacluse]

It'll be interesting to find out how things develop, if the KSA meetings start using more English... A problematic tendency for some Korean groups is to only speak Korean.

It's understandeable for Korean students to want to hold the meetings in Korean, but it does shut out others who may want to participate.

Let me share a kinda reverse situation that I just observed. A couple days ago, I attended an open afterhours meeting of Asian American progressives. (i.e., left-leaning types -- not that I'm terribly politically active nor do I subscribe to all their views)

There were a couple people from something called the Korean American Community Center. After the meeting, one of them said it was strange hearing themselves speaking English. She said it was like hearing them speak lines in a script, words spoken by characters in a play. Because they always speak in Korean at their meetings.

[tapestrybabe]

http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?jo...ad=74663#t74663 (http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?journal=tapestrybabe&itemid=82599&thread=74663#t74663)

i had written this same ksa frustration rant in my journal.. and the link above is a small discussion that also took place--



<!--EDIT|tapestrybabe|Sep 20 2002, 01:16 PM-->

[kasia]

hey! why don't you start your own organization? with only a ksa on campus, i'm sure other non-korean asians would be interested. :)

[tapestrybabe]

Originally posted by kasia@Sep 21 2002, 01:56 AM
hey! why don't you start your own organization? with only a ksa on campus, i'm sure other non-korean asians would be interested. :)
Gosh, that sounds really interesting. Like i can make my own asian organization where everyone would feel welcome. yet, i feel i wouldnt want to be competing against ksa... cuz their club seems pretty tight with their already existing members... perhaps maybe be more like partners.... altho, i never really lead a club before... let alone create a whole new club on my own.... but gosh, that idea sounds really interesting... its got me really thinking.... gosh, what an exciting great idea...

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by tapestrybabe@Sep 21 2002, 03:45 AM
Originally posted by kasia@Sep 21 2002, 01:56 AM
hey! &nbsp;why don't you start your own organization? &nbsp;with only a ksa on campus, i'm sure other non-korean asians would be interested. &nbsp; :)
Gosh, that sounds really interesting. Like i can make my own asian organization where everyone would feel welcome. yet, i feel i wouldnt want to be competing against ksa... cuz their club seems pretty tight with their already existing members... perhaps maybe be more like partners.... altho, i never really lead a club before... let alone create a whole new club on my own.... but gosh, that idea sounds really interesting... its got me really thinking.... gosh, what an exciting great idea...
nah, you wouldn't be competing against KSA unless you purposely plan meetings and events to coincide with KSA's meetings and events.

[tapestrybabe]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Sep 21 2002, 04:53 AM
Originally posted by tapestrybabe@Sep 21 2002, 03:45 AM
Originally posted by kasia@Sep 21 2002, 01:56 AM
hey! why don't you start your own organization? with only a ksa on campus, i'm sure other non-korean asians would be interested. :)
Gosh, that sounds really interesting. Like i can make my own asian organization where everyone would feel welcome. yet, i feel i wouldnt want to be competing against ksa... cuz their club seems pretty tight with their already existing members... perhaps maybe be more like partners.... altho, i never really lead a club before... let alone create a whole new club on my own.... but gosh, that idea sounds really interesting... its got me really thinking.... gosh, what an exciting great idea...
nah, you wouldn't be competing against KSA unless you purposely plan meetings and events to coincide with KSA's meetings and events.
its like past 4am. and i'm serious, being able to create my own oganization sounds like a very exciting idea!! i can see all the possibilities... especially, if i am able to work with the ksa organization as kinda like partners... And the thoughts of me actually creating a whole new club on my own, like being a founder of a club, and than actually leading it, or better yet, being President of it... Gosh, that just sounds so much way more exciting than having to actually look for a job...



<!--EDIT|tapestrybabe|Sep 21 2002, 05:42 AM-->

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by tapestrybabe@Sep 21 2002, 04:38 AM
Originally posted by SunWuKung@Sep 21 2002, 04:53 AM
Originally posted by tapestrybabe@Sep 21 2002, 03:45 AM
Originally posted by kasia@Sep 21 2002, 01:56 AM
hey! why don't you start your own organization? with only a ksa on campus, i'm sure other non-korean asians would be interested. :)
Gosh, that sounds really interesting. Like i can make my own asian organization where everyone would feel welcome. yet, i feel i wouldnt want to be competing against ksa... cuz their club seems pretty tight with their already existing members... perhaps maybe be more like partners.... altho, i never really lead a club before... let alone create a whole new club on my own.... but gosh, that idea sounds really interesting... its got me really thinking.... gosh, what an exciting great idea...
nah, you wouldn't be competing against KSA unless you purposely plan meetings and events to coincide with KSA's meetings and events.
its like past 4am. and i'm serious, being able to create my own oganization sounds like a very exciting idea!! i can see all the possibilities... especially, if i am able to work with the ksa organization as kinda like partners... And the thoughts of me actually creating a whole new club on my own, like being a founder of a club, and than actually leading it, or better yet, being President of it... Gosh, that just sounds so much way more exciting than having to actually look for a job...
hahhahhah!!! anything is more exciting than looking for a job! that includes watching Jerry Springer. :huh:

[Green_Jade]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Sep 19 2002, 02:25 PM
Originally posted by artzygrrl@Sep 18 2002, 11:18 PM
My school had a KSA before I started, I believe it dissolved long before.... &nbsp;For some odd reason, there are very few non fob Koreans at my school, actually not an odd reason, rather, Rochester Institute of Tech isn't regarded as "good" school by Korean Americans..actually many don't even know it so... since they dont know it it = bad school. &nbsp; &nbsp;

All's well, because of such a small percentage of asians, I get nice amouts of grants and such. :) &nbsp;

But I dont like the fact that fobs of any nationalities hang out only with eachother and speak their language all the time... &nbsp;Have they forgotten they are in a US school? and classes are in English... &nbsp;I feel bad for my friends who has to do group work with fobs. &nbsp;Esp. ones that learned curses first and curse at inapporiate times... like during a presentations... 'sigh'
hahhah they curse in their native language during a presentation?? that's funny as hell. i should do that.
no no... they said fuck, shit and all that stuff...

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by artzygrrl@Sep 21 2002, 10:18 PM
Originally posted by SunWuKung@Sep 19 2002, 02:25 PM
Originally posted by artzygrrl@Sep 18 2002, 11:18 PM
My school had a KSA before I started, I believe it dissolved long before.... For some odd reason, there are very few non fob Koreans at my school, actually not an odd reason, rather, Rochester Institute of Tech isn't regarded as "good" school by Korean Americans..actually many don't even know it so... since they dont know it it = bad school.

All's well, because of such a small percentage of asians, I get nice amouts of grants and such. :)

But I dont like the fact that fobs of any nationalities hang out only with eachother and speak their language all the time... Have they forgotten they are in a US school? and classes are in English... I feel bad for my friends who has to do group work with fobs. Esp. ones that learned curses first and curse at inapporiate times... like during a presentations... 'sigh'
hahhah they curse in their native language during a presentation?? that's funny as hell. i should do that.
no no... they said fuck, shit and all that stuff...
oh english curses?? hahhah i think maybe that's even funnier... i'm picturing some fob making a presentation and then saying fuck or shit.

[Green_Jade]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Sep 22 2002, 01:20 PM
Originally posted by artzygrrl@Sep 21 2002, 10:18 PM
Originally posted by SunWuKung@Sep 19 2002, 02:25 PM
Originally posted by artzygrrl@Sep 18 2002, 11:18 PM
My school had a KSA before I started, I believe it dissolved long before.... For some odd reason, there are very few non fob Koreans at my school, actually not an odd reason, rather, Rochester Institute of Tech isn't regarded as "good" school by Korean Americans..actually many don't even know it so... since they dont know it it = bad school.

All's well, because of such a small percentage of asians, I get nice amouts of grants and such. :)

But I dont like the fact that fobs of any nationalities hang out only with eachother and speak their language all the time... Have they forgotten they are in a US school? and classes are in English... I feel bad for my friends who has to do group work with fobs. Esp. ones that learned curses first and curse at inapporiate times... like during a presentations... 'sigh'
hahhah they curse in their native language during a presentation?? that's funny as hell. i should do that.
no no... they said fuck, shit and all that stuff...
oh english curses?? hahhah i think maybe that's even funnier... i'm picturing some fob making a presentation and then saying fuck or shit.
yeah.. it'd be funny, they'd sutter along with the presentation..and mess up,..than say in perfect pronouncation... "Fucking Shit!"

ah, just imagine the people being presented to..hah