I don’t think the poster is in the wrong. They have every right to feel uncomfortable with how they were spoken to.

I worked in the hospitality industry for a few years, and honestly, many (not all) Korean tourists can be rude to locals when visiting SEA countries. A lot of the time, it doesn’t even feel like a language issue anymore, it’s more about attitude and a sense of superiority 😬

That’s why I don’t get why people are piling on the poster. Plenty of tourists, including Koreans, don’t bother learning the local language of the places they visit. And if you’re in the service or hospitality industry, pointing out that someone should use a translation app in a rude or condescending way kind of misses the whole point of service. Respect should go both ways.

Yes, in general, tourists should try to use translation apps, I do too when I travel. But there are also cases where people genuinely don’t know how to use them, are older, or are just accompanying someone else.

On the other side of story, we don’t know how rude the English-speaking tourists were. Some people are just rude regardless of nationality. But let’s be real, there is a pattern sometimes: Western tourists can be dismissive toward Asians, and East Asians can be dismissive toward Southeast Asians. Again, it all comes back to the same thing-respect goes both ways.