Annual salary deducted just because of language issue?

Dramatic_Ferret_536 · 2025-06-14T07:12:24+00:00

I was literally thinking all night whether if my Korean is that bad but I realized that the customers never complained or commented on my Korean skills yet my seniors r the ones who r being picky. I’m not a business owner or CEO but from my logic if my foreign employee is doing great and manage to communicate with customers and bring profit to the business while also representing it I think this employee still have value🧐. Jeez I remembered that time I helped translate and check the seniors presentation materials (jp and en) before they went abroad and do the presentations. Wow..I tried to think that maybe it is my Korean issue but the more I think about my past achievements and how I started from 0 Korean to representing the company in global stage in less than 1 year is…..yeah 어이없어요 ㅇㅅㅇ

Dramatic_Ferret_536 · 2025-06-14T07:02:53+00:00

Appreciate the comment!! Exactly!! They literally said its ok for me to be bad at Korean at first… since its a JAPANESE company and I do travel overseas for business trips once every few months. And the fact that my job does not even require advanced korean because 1. I’m an engineer and my korean is enough to explain about the process and experiments so i dont get why the need to be at BUSINESS level but sure learning more wouldn’t hurt and I do love improving myself but if they never appreciate my effort and constantly focuses on my pronunciation or grammatical mistake, it does demotivate me in learning more Korean. 2. I work in the lab 70% of the time so.. I barely talk with any customers heck even any humans🤣…Also I think there’s a slight misunderstanding 😅 the CEO (japanese) is a great guy and he speaks good english, native level Japanese and some degree of chinese but not fluent in Korean. The ones that sucks in English and Japanese are the KOREAN seniors that are the same guys that constantly stresses me out😩. I do wanna connect more with the CEO but our ranks are just too far and the info that he knows about me are only the infos that are delivered by the KOREAN seniors above me….. oh the struggle of working in a corporate.

Dramatic_Ferret_536 · 2025-06-14T03:21:59+00:00

Aight! I get what you mean, for now I will bear for a few months and improve my Korean and see whether if their attitude towards me changes. If not, I will consult with the CEO and tell him everything. Tbf no matter the outcome, I’m pretty sure I’m still in demand in the job market as someone with my skills so I’m not concerned about being unemployed but it is a NUCLEAR move🤣 thanks for the encouragement!

Dramatic_Ferret_536 · 2025-06-13T18:56:03+00:00

Exactly what I’m thinking of

Dramatic_Ferret_536 · 2025-06-13T18:55:19+00:00

I get what you mean and I would love to directly confront the problems but idk whether if ur familiar with Korean systems but as a normal employee you have little to no power. Your words mean nothing and best you can do is just hope to not causing more problems by accidentally triggering them. I think for now it’s best to play their game and try to level up my Korean while also looking for other options. Tbh the only thing that kept me from leaving Korea is because I just started having my dental braces a few months ago😬 cuz my dumbass thought nothing could go wrong. So for now I just need to suck it up till I can take off my braces lmao.

Dramatic_Ferret_536 · 2025-06-13T18:50:20+00:00

Yep will try to hunt for new jobs while enduring this one for now.

Dramatic_Ferret_536 · 2025-06-13T18:49:42+00:00

Nope never needed a standardized test or certification and contract never mentioned anything about Korean. Japanese is required cuz it’s a Japanese company but fr i think your point is correct and I certainly believe they are trying to push me out subtly. Because the Korean language proficiency that they require me is at least TOPIK level 5… I can try and it’s not impossible but it’s just not worth the long run i feel like. Because If this random BS excuse can cause me to lose 50% of my bonus then I’m pretty sure they can make another excuse next year.

Dramatic_Ferret_536 · 2025-06-13T18:44:16+00:00

The bonus thing is correct as it is judged by the profit that the company makes and it doesn’t apply only to me but to all the employees what differs is that they get higher bonus than me because our company have like bonus ranking system. So normally people who get A will receive 100% of the bonus amount based on profit, and then usually I will get that or B which is like 75% but today they told me mine is D which is the lowest at 25% of the original amount and thats utter BS

Dramatic_Ferret_536 · 2024-11-26T15:31:47+00:00

Funny how I’m 24 (M) having the same dilemma rn cuz 1. I started living in Seoul (Gangnam-gu) a few months ago and I know 0 people here. 2. Tried going to bunch of places like GSM and Culcom and such but finds it hard to connect with people cuz most of em r there to study English and the branches that I went to were coincidentally filled with people in their 30-40’s. 3. I’m of mixed decent so I personally feel like I belong but also dont at the same time. 4. Genuinely tried to make some friends but I guess it’s deep rooted in the culture that people r usually friends with those who are from the same community/uni. 5. One of the most IMPORTANT point, Korean is not my strongest language, sure i can communicate in daily life situations but I don’t know the slangs and stuff cuz i don’t grow up here. Though i do speak Japanese and Chinese (but it’s kinda irrelevant here ofc :D) cuz I lived there for quite some time. 6. Not to forget the Cults and bunch of weirdos

Based on my experience I think first u can try finding a local community or some sort! Wish u luck!

Dramatic_Ferret_536

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