The Pitfalls of Telling Jokes to Non-native English Speakers Part 1
By Heejeong Haas | July 18, 2007
I talked about speaking simple phrases such as “thank you” and “nice to meet you” in Korean.
Today, I would like to talk about one common mistake being made in cross-cultural settings which I also witnessed at the conference and have witnessed numerous times in business meetings with American and Korean businessmen.
The key authority of the organization was about to give a speech to about 70 people mainly consisting of different nationalities. He started his speech with an Irish joke as many American speakers would typically do. At this, all the interpreters in the room gasped. I could see that some interpreters handled it well, and some newly-experienced ones had a face of “there we go again”. I knew exactly why those interpreters gasped. I also knew exactly why only a few attendees laughed. I turned around to the Korean official’s interpreter who was dumbfounded and told her not to say anything, instead I told the Korean official as follows:
“He told a joke. We will tell you later what the joke is about.”
Then both the Korean official and interpreter laughed.
So, was his joke rude? No, certainly not. It was funny to me, and funny to other interpreters. Did he say it in a plain, not-so-funny way? Oh no, he was a top notch speaker all right. Then why would I say such a thing to the offical?
I will talk about this in my next blog entry, but in the meantime, I want you to think about it why. And no, it is not because Koreans or other nationalities do not have sense of humor.
And before you go, please read the following joke that was once popular in Korea.
There was a dumb farm boy named Man-deuk. In the middle of a night, a thief broke in and said to Man-deuk, “Shut up and don’t move.” At the thief’s threat, Man-deuk sprung up and ran to the chicken coop and hit all the chickens to death and ran to the kitchen and took the rice bag and ran back to the room then put the rice bag over his head.
Isn’t it just hilarious? Yes, you are thinking “What?”
That was exactly the reaction other nationalities showed to his Irish joke.
See you in my next blog post.
Heejeong Haas
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The Importance of Knowing Basic Korean Phrases When Dealing With Korean Business Partners
By Heejeong Haas | July 15, 2007
Not too long ago, I was in an international conference held by a major charity organization for 1 week. Many officials from all over the world attended the conference with their own consultants and interpreters provided by the organization. As with any major international conferences, there were at least a minimum of ten different languages spoken in each meeting throughout the conference. I will give you a feel of it by giving you a little example: One night, I was in a dinner meeting and sat with six officials from 6 different countries with their spouses and their interpreters. So how do you communicate in such a setting? Say, the Korean official speaks in his native tongue, his interpreter interprets him into English, and as the interpreter speaks in English, other five rest interpreters interpret the English into their own native tongue all at the same time to their assigned officials (and there is also a special name for this interpreting mode; it’s called whispering). To anybody who has never experienced such a setting, it can be overwhelming and intimidating, but exciting and amazing as well. There was a very pleasant surprise I experienced from all the major officials in the conference.
Every single official no matter what the nationality could speak at least one phrase or two in many different languages to simply say, “hello”, “thank you” and “nice to meet you”. Not a big deal? One could say that. But now imagine you remember these phrases in about 10 to 15 different languages and especially in one of those very exotic African or Asian languages. Yes, that takes a certain amount of effort and determination that you would like to get across other person to communicate. Every time they exchanged a little phrase in each other’s native tongue, they had a smile and automatically built that warm and mutual understanding of why they were there.
In business meetings, we tend to think that everybody understands and knows how to say “thank you” and “hello” and “nice to meet you” in English as English has become a universal business language. I have seen only a few executive members making the effort to learn how to say those phrases in Korean for their Korean business partners. Speaking these little phrases in Korean for your Korean business partners can boost your image and earn ultimate respect. It shows them how much you care and respect them and their culture. You will also see this pleasantly surprised smile on their face as Koreans generally are under the impression that the Korean language is way too difficult for any foreigners to learn (there is a good reason why they think this way, but I will go on about this one later).
Business negotiations often get rough and hostile; if you can add something to make the situation a little smoother as simple as this, why not try? It certainly doesn’t cost you money, but the result is priceless.
So, try practicing these phrases:
- Hello or Hi: “An-nyoung-ha-se-yo.”
- Thank you: “Gam-sa-ham-ni-da.” Or “Go-mab-seum-ni-da”
- Nice to meet you: “Man-na-su-ban-gab-seum-ni-da.” Or simply “Ban-gab-seum-ni-da.”
- You are welcome: “Chun-ma-ne-yo.”
Next time when you talk to your Korean business partner, say these in Korean and see if they are pleasantly surprised or not.
Good luck!
Heejeong Haas
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The Korean Business Blog is Ready for Posting
By Heejeong Haas | July 12, 2007
Three months have passed since I launched my blog along with my new website. I am fully aware of the fact that I haven’t made a single blog post since the introductory post in April. In my defense, however, during the past three months I found myself wishing that I had 48 hours a day just to finish one more email or one more small project. However the past three months were the most valuable and amazing time I ever experienced personally and professionally for many different reasons. I experienced tremendous growth, and I appreciate all the support, help, and kindness I received from those who care about me—yeah, you know who you are.
To be honest, I was contemplating a great deal what to write about and how I am supposed to sound like. Since there are just too many things to talk about I was feeling rather lost among all different things I could talk about. On top of that, I didn’t know that writing a blog post periodically requires a certain discipline and diligence. I finally got a wake up call and decided first to write things from my personal experience to ease my pain and to just be myself. There are many pundits and experts who write about theoretical aspect of problems in cross-cultural and intercultural communications and negotiations. Since I don’t only offer consulting service but also I participate in a real negotiations and meeting processes as a communication facilitator, I thought that my real-world experience will help my blog readers in a way different than those experts. Please ask me any questions or make any comments you have in your mind. I would love to meet you all and think about and provide solutions for your concerns.
So, now, it is mid July, and I am taking a new vow to write a blog post periodically. At least, I should never let it go without posting anything for 3 months like this.
So, let’s explore all different aspects of Korean culture, Korean business culture, and other things that may occur when we do business with Korean business partners.
Are you ready? I am.
Heejeong Haas
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Practical Advice for Doing Business with Korea
By Heejeong Haas | April 27, 2007
Hi, my name is Heejeong Haas, the founder and principle consultant of Queen of Seoul. This blog will help you learn and understand about Korean culture in general and Korean business culture in specific. From learning and understanding this, you will be able to adapt your understanding and knowledge to your own business practices starting from negotiation to having a meeting with your partner. The ultimate goal of this blog, just like Queen of Seoul’s founding spirit, is to help American companies that do business with Korea or try to enter the Korean market to be successful through a cultural understanding.
Knowing and understanding cultural difference is a crucial element in today’s business atmosphere. The world is getting smaller and smaller with globalization and let alone business, it is impacting every single aspect of our lives. Especially in such night-and-day cultures as America and Korea, understanding and respecting the cultural differences will not only save your deal and money, it also helps you connect with your business partner on a human level.
Here are some general topics you will see in this blog:
- Doing business with Koreans
- Language of Korean and English
- Cultural differences between America and Korea
- Business culture
- How to have effective communication with your Korean business partner
- Localization, Translation, and Interpretation
- And a lot more fun, serious, and exciting stuff….
And here is a list of things I want from my readers:
- Please do not leave an offensive message, if you have to vent out, please email me personally.
- This blog is for everybody to read and reap benefit from it. Please drop me a note that you were here, and somehow my blog helped you. Your feedback will lighten up my day.
- I am here to help American companies and others who are in a difficult situation due to a cultural difference—Ask me any questions regarding Korea. I will see what I can do for you. Also, if you have any suggestions, please let me know.
I look forward to meeting with all of you through my blog.
Best,
Heejeong Haas
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