ⓒYonhap News Agency.
Yesterday, I participated in KOTRA's Buy Korea 2009 as an English interpreter. As it was a very well-advertised and important event for the Korean economy (not to mention the impact of president's visit!) I had been preparing and looking forward to it not idly. But to cut a long story short, I was, yet again, very disappointed with Korea's capabilities and standards of managing and hosting such an event.
Why do I say 'yet again'? Because I have already been let down by the imperfect, unprepared, spontaneous, and non-professional level of management in various workplaces in Korea. Especially for limited-time events like English Camps, the various institutions who directly host the event spend so much energy and time on alluring and buying off, for the forefront, big brand names (TV channels, names of famous schools, etc.) that they either are completely out of resources for the actual thing, or seem to think they need not put any more effort into it after that.
Which is why, when I was first hired as a TA and part-time teacher for an English Camp, I found myself suddenly thrown into a classroom full of expectant students without any previous experience of standing up alone in front of a class, let alone a clear lesson plan. Now, folks, this was no volunteer work. These kids' parents had paid, for about 3 or 4 weeks, what I had paid to my university just previously for the whole Spring semester, and still they did not get even an organized teaching plan or weekend recreation plan. Often, the kids were crammed into the auditorium to be shown a movie that had just finished downloading minutes before, so that the teachers could get some rest. Of course, this was done all in the name of 'English listening practice'. And this kind of attitude was no different for any of the big English Camps that I worked for after that, or for any companies I worked for either.
\Maybe I am speaking too narrowly from my own direct experience, but Buy Korea 2009 gave me a bitter flash-back moment of those days. The foreign buyer that I had been assigned to had come to Korea to meet some Korean suppliers of textiles(cloths) for bridal wear (such as wedding dresses) and office uniforms (hospital uniforms, restaurant staff uniforms, etc.). But the clients KOTRA had scheduled business meetings with us completely missed the mark. They either dealt in finished clothes or completely different types of textiles (such as span textiles for casual wear or leather PU for seat covers and sofas, even 100% waterproof tent material!). So instead of comparing and choosing the price and quality from the 12 suppliers, we just had our fingers crossed that they next meeting would be with a textile dealer. In the end, it was almost a total waste of time for both the foreign buyer and Korean suppliers.
The main reason for this unfortunate waste of everyone's time was, firstly, because the buyer's information in the 'partcipatants' catalogue was quite wrong (written down as 'bridal accessories', which is quite distant from 'bridal wear textiles', as in satin, chiffon, silk, etc. Also, even if the information had been correct, it would not have mattered much, as the suppliers had not been clearly informed of who their potential buyers were. In fact, they had received mysterious phone calls from KOTRA saying they had fized a schedule for them, with little else information, and so were as disappointed as the rest of us.
ⓒYonhap News Agency. Only I can see myself!
That was the big mistake. There were also medium sized mistakes, such as the lack of training for the staff, especially the interpreters. Although this was the responsibility of hired companies to provide good interpreters, it doesn't take a genius to know that out of the 700 interpreters that turn up at the rate they were paying, half were bound to be quite inexperienced in the art of business negotiation. In my opinion, KOTRA, which hires thousands or interpreters every year, should have a list of important terms and sentences for business transactions by now. Even with the great variety of areas of business, the basic terms and sentences, and also the process of negotiation, has a distinct pattern. I know there are lots of business English and other languages books out there, but it is quite irresponsible to be so passive about training, after all, the main route of communication between Korea and the rest of the world.
I will not even go into the small mistakes, such as the wrong national flag that was stuck high on our booth that provided much annoyance from my client and puzzlement from the visitors. (But just imagine that you went to a business meeting in a foreign country, and they stuck the wrong flag for your country? Not good at all.) Yes, these mistakes are the responsibility of the sourced companies. Yes, KOTRA was hosting a very large event, probably very difficult to manage. But I cannot help but think it could have been of a much higher standard, with just a little more effort from passionate involvement of the staff. The amount of time they spent on look spic-and-span for the event could have offended one less participant or disappointed one less person. And that is what I think is lacking in Korea - endeavours for perfection, passion to make things just a little bit better than the required standard. Without this, I cannot imagnine any reality improving for the better.
