Is "Koreanish" a word?
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Not officially. "Konglish" is the word most foreigners use when they see "butchered" English. "Konglish" can also mean a mixture of Korean and English, such as what is used by many people coming from households of mixed Korean and Western heritage. But there isn't a great word for what foreigners do to the Korean language when they live in Korea... until now. Korean + English = Koreanish. Plus, the 'ish really captures they way people might first speak a language when learning it. Or that's the idea, anyway.
why did you make this website?
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Well, actually this website is part of a class project. You might see terms on here such as "genre," "discourse," or "rhetorical situation." I decided to make a website on the discourse community of expats living in Korea. It's a unique group, with it's own language and culture (and it's own rhetorical situation, of course). Once I started this site, however, I thought it would be fun and informative to keep it going. I will probably keep updating it as long as I have something relevant about Korea to say, and certainly I'll show it to my friends.
What is a discourse community?
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Defining "discourse community is a little difficult, but you could say (in the most "lay" of terms) that it is a group of people who share a common situation. This is the community part. The discourse part is that these people who are in the same situation speak in a specific way, with highly specialized language that may be hard or impossible for outsiders to understand. The term "discourse community" might sound fancy, but chances are you are a member of more than a few yourself. Do you like cars--fixing motors, reading car magazines, going to car trade shows? Chances are you are part of an automotive discourse community. Or maybe you have some specific information/like talking about _______ with other people; pokemon, tennis, horror movies, xbox, Jane Austen, diving, etc. Discourse communities have their own genres, conventions, etc.
Who forms the the Expat community?
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Well, the dumb answer is "expats," and some Koreans. The longer answer is a bit more complicated. A majority of the members of the South Korean expat community are English teachers (see Opportunities). Most of these are from America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, or the U.K. There is also a sizable population of people from India, Pakistan, and Nepal that work in the engineering and I.T. fields (it seems a bit like a stereotype, but these really are the jobs Korean immigration looks for when admitting people into Korea from these countries), and numerous Chinese and Japanese immigrants who are just trying something different. On a given day, it isn't hard to find Germans, Peruvians, or Egyptians in many of Korea's foreign districts. You just have to know where to look.
Who is the author?
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I'd prefer to be a little anonymous, so I'm not going to state my name. I am, however, an individual who lived in South Korea and taught there. I am not an expert on Korean culture, and my own Korean speaking ability could be a lot better. However, I do know the ins and outs of expat life in South Korea, particularly in Seoul, and I like to travel throughout the world.