What are the negatives in living in South Korea?

定居韩国有什么弊端？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Sonam Gupta

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What are exactly 6 reasons that people should not live in South Korea?

人们不该定居韩国的6个原因是什么？

If you are vegetarian. Frankly speaking getting pure vegetarian is actually impossible as french fries have beef fat or pizza sauce have pork fat.

If you are somebody who loves to interact with locals. Language is a big barrier if you are social person. Even if they know English, they are very shy of speaking it.

Not getting a job. Visa rules are pretty strict and getting a part time job is not at all easy.

如果你是素食主义者，坦率地说，想要做到100%纯素其实并不现实，因为炸薯条含有牛油，披萨酱含有猪油。

如果你喜欢跟当地人互动，如果你是一个社交达人，语言会是一个很大的障碍。就算他们会说英语，他们也羞于用英语表达。

工作很难找。签证规定非常严格，想找兼职工作也极其不易。

If you hate traffic. Seoul, the capital is very crowded place and even with a good infrastructure, traffic situation is really bad. If you love to go to long drives or love to travel, you will spend a lot of time in road.    

Not getting good cotton clothes. Koreans don't like ironing and they don't wear cotton. They don't even have cotton bedsheets.

Annoying neighbour. You would hear people with kids always get complains of noise from somebody living below them in an apartment. It's quite annoying as the kids can't really enjoy in their house.

如果你讨厌交通堵塞。韩国首都首尔是一个非常拥堵的城市，虽然基础设施很好，交通状况还是很糟糕。如果你喜欢长途驾驶或喜欢旅行，你会在路上耗费大量时间。

买不到好的棉质衣服。韩国人不喜欢熨烫衣服，也不穿棉质衣服。他们甚至都不用棉质床单。

讨人厌的邻居。有孩子的家庭总会接到楼下住户的投诉。太烦人了，孩子们在家里也不能开心玩耍。

Haena

No country can have only good things. The same is true of Korea. From now on, I will talk about the negative aspects of living in Korea that I felt as a Korean student.

天下没有哪个国家是完美无瑕的。韩国也是如此。作为一名韩国学生，现在我来聊聊在韩国生活的负面感受吧。

First, it is a problem of Korean education. This is the part I felt the most as a high school student in Korea. The fundamental cause of the educational problem was that in the mid to late 1950s, when the Korean government was established, the average educational background of the Republic of Korea was extremely low because the majority of the Korean people had no knowledge.

首先说说韩国教育的问题。这是我在韩国读高中时感触最深的部分。韩国教育问题的根本原因在于，韩国政府成立于50年代中后期，当时大多数韩国人都没有教育背景，韩国民众的受教育程度极低。

For this reason, parents at the time wanted to feel vicarious satisfaction from their children with the studies they could not do at the time. As a result, the idea of sending one's own children to college spread, and the education in Korea turned into a uniform entrance examination-oriented education. Parents force their children to study too hard and go to a better university. Some students who suffered from this pressure sometimes decide to commit suicide. In fact, Korea's student suicide rate ranks first in the OECD. In Korea, there is an atmosphere that takes it for granted to go to college, and many students who are talented in other fields other than studying are receiving poor reviews.

出于这个原因，家长们就希望他们的孩子好好读书，弥补他们自己无法求学的遗憾。所以家长们都希望把自己的孩子送进大学，韩国的教育变成了统一的应试教育。家长逼迫孩子努力学习，考入好大学。有些学生不堪压力，选择轻生。韩国学生的自杀率在经合组织中排名第一。在韩国，人人都认为上大学是理所当然的，即便在学习之外的领域才华出众也会招致批评。

Second, patriarchy and male-centered culture. In Korea, traditionally, the consciousness of Confucian patriarchy was not strong. The patriarchal system, which is now embedded in the perception of Koreans, has passed through many eras and finally, Japan's patriarchal system was mixed during the Japanese colonial period. The representative evils that women experienced in the past due to patriarchy are the preference for boys. In the past, men were given the majority of responsibility because men had frequent outside activities. Therefore, it was mostly men who could enter government posts or advance to high positions.

第二，父权制和以男性为中心的文化氛围。在韩国，历史上儒家家长制的意识并不强烈。如今在韩国人观念中根深蒂固的父权制度其实经历了多个时代的变迁，最终在日本殖民时期深受日本父权制度的影响。韩国女性因父权制而遭受的代表性折磨是重男轻女的行为。过去，男子因为经常外出活动，承担了大部分的家庭责任。所以，能够担任政府职位或晋升到高级职位的大多是男性。

Therefore, it was naturally up to men to succeed the family. Women had to give birth to a male heir. As a result, the deteriorated idea of preference for boys caused very bad social situations such as abortion for girls. Currently, women can also live in society and engage in for-profit activities, and that problem has been greatly alleviated. However, you can still meet many people in Korea who have this idea.

由此人们自然认为应该由男子来延续家族。女子必须生出男性继承人。结果，越来越严重的重男轻女观念导致了非常恶劣的社会状况，如选择性堕胎。目前，妇女的社会地位有所提高，也开始从事营利性活动，这一问题已经大大缓解。但韩国还是有不少持有这种想法的人。

Third, fear of war. Currently, South Korea is in a truce with North Korea. The war is not over yet. Since North Korea owns nuclear weapons, even if reunified, we will have fears of an explosion at any time.

So far, I have introduced negative things when I lived in Korea. I've only talked about negative things, but I have never regretted being born in Korea. There are far more positives than negatives. I love our country, and I will continue to do so. I hope you don't look at Korea too negatively.

第三，对战争的恐惧。目前，韩国与朝鲜处于休战状态，但战争并未停息。因为朝鲜拥有核武器，即使朝鲜半岛统一，我们也时刻担惊受怕。

综上，我介绍了韩国生活的黑暗面。虽然我说的都是负面的事，但我从不后悔过自己出生在韩国。韩国的优点远远多于缺点。我爱我们的国家，永远不变。我希望你们也不要太过消极地看待韩国。

Jonathan Park

Most of the students tries to go to college, because the average wage is higher for a college graduate than a high school graduate. This thing makes excessive learning including a lot of after-school activities.

Working adults, aren’t happy either. Average labour time in OECD countries is 1692Hr, but that in South Korea is 2071Hr, which takes second places(Based on 2017 data).

All of these creates a mental problem called ‘Depression’, which raises the suicide rate of the whole country. For that reason, South Korea has one of the highest rate of suicide in OECD countries.

大多数韩国学生都想上大学，因为韩国大学毕业生的平均工资要高于高中毕业生。这种压力让学生们拼尽全力，课后也会参加很多补习。

参加工作的成年人也不开心。经合组织国家的平均劳动时间为1692小时，但韩国人的平均劳动时间达到了2071小时，排名第二(根据2017年的统计数据)。

这些社会现象造成了精神方面的问题—抑郁症，导致韩国自杀率居高不下。韩国因此成为经合组织国家中自杀率最高的国家之一。

Residential Problem is a huge issue in South Korea for a long time. Except for the upper classes, most of the citizens live on a lease or rent basis, which price depends on the density of the city. Total population density of South Korea isn’t very high, Seoul & Incheon, the capital city of South Korea reaches 16700 People per Square Kilometer, which makes Seoul & Incheon the most dense city in the World. This makes higher prices of living cost.

Implicit Racism is rising after foreign workers from southeast countries has been increased. They discriminate them with wage, labor time, etc. Also, the illegal foreign workers are treated worse. I still cannot understand this because they were once poor as they did long time ago…

长期以来，住房问题一直都是韩国社会的一大问题。除了上层阶级，大多数市民都是租房生活，房租取决于城市的人口密度。韩国的总人口密度并不是很高，但首尔和仁川的人口密度达到了每平方公里16700人，这使得首尔和仁川成为全球人口密度最高的城市，生活成本很高。

随着东南亚外国劳工的增多，隐性种族主义也开始抬头。韩国人会在工资、劳动时间等方面歧视外国劳工。非法外籍劳工的待遇就更差了。我至今无法理解这一点，因为他们自己很早之前也曾经穷困过…

Ratnakar Sadasyula

I lived in South Korea for a year, its a beautiful country, made some great friends, has a lovely outdoors, rich history. But like most other countries, does have it’s own negatives too. Again this is more as an outsider perspective.

Language problem- You have to know Korean, period, even in a broken form will do. Most Koreans still can’t speak in English, notwithstanding the plethora of English coaching classes, and the fact that English Language Teachers are regarded highly. It can be quite a problem in the initial stage, where you really can’t communicate well.

我在韩国住了一年，韩国是一个美丽的国度，我在韩国结交了一些很好的朋友，参加了很多户外活动。但跟大多数国家一样，韩国也有自己的不足。以下是我作为外人的看法。

语言问题—你必须掌握韩语，就算水平稀烂也可以。虽然韩国有很多英语辅导班，英语老师地位很高，但大多数韩国人还是不会说英语。最开始你真的很难跟当地人沟通，这可能会是一个很大的问题。

Tough for vegetarians- I am not a vegetarian , I do eat meat. But even then some of the stuff, spooked me out. At best I could have fish and pork, but others were just not my taste. I did try squid once, found it awfully tasting, never touched it again. And there is no concept of vegetarianism here. If you ask for vegetarian food, it’s assumed, that some vegetable stuff, along with meat.

Drinking problem- Koreans do drink a lot, parties, home, official functions, pubs, in fact it’s pretty much a social thing. Problem is many really do not know how to hold a drink either. To be fair, this is not just a Korean thing, prevalent in most parts of the world. Quite common to see people getting sozzled up, throwing up, passed out on sidewalks, both male and female.

对素食者来说，吃饭是个难题——我不是素食主义者，我是吃肉的。但即便如此，有些东西还是把我吓到了。我最多只能接受鱼肉和猪肉，其他的都不合我的口味。我试吃过一次鱿鱼，发现味道太可怕了，我再也没碰过鱿鱼。韩国人也没有素食主义的概念。如果你点素食，人们会默认上一些蔬菜和搭配的肉类。

喝酒的问题—韩国人经常喝酒，聚会、在家、正式场合、酒吧等等，都把喝酒当做一种社交活动。问题是很多韩国人不知道如何控制酒量。公平一点说，这不是韩国独有的事情，在大多数国家也都很普遍。经常能在人行道上看到喝醉、呕吐、昏睡的人，无论男女都有。

Work Culture- My client was an old style Korean company, and had to work at their office. In one word, the atmosphere was chaotic. Coming from an American MNC where professionalism was expected, here it was kinda free for all. 12–13 hours per day was the normal, most of my colleagues could not speak English well, so had to use a translator. And it was pretty much a Lost in Translation case, as what they expected was something else. Add to it, no concept of scheduling. I asked a colleague, about the deadline, he took out his calendar and marked a random date on it. But more than anything, they had this feeling that Korean employees were the best, and others were not as productive as them. Something that was repeatedly emphasized in meetings too, it was not even subtle. I believe though this is the case mostly with old style Korean firms, companies like Samsung, LG have a more professional work culture.

工作文化—我的客户是一家传统的韩国公司，必须去他们的办公室办公。整体来说，公司总是乱糟糟的。我在美国跨国公司工作，大家都很看重专业精神，但韩国人则很混乱。每天工作12-13个小时是常态，我的大多数同事都不会说英语，我们必须通过翻译来沟通。这很像《迷失东京》的剧情，他们想的跟我完全不一样。他们也没有日程规划的概念。我问同事截止日期，他就随手拿出日历圈出一个日期。最重要的是，他们总觉得韩国员工是全世界最好的，其他员工的工作效率都不如他们。他们在会议上也会反复强调这一点，毫不客气。我觉得这种情况主要发生在传统的韩国公司，三星、LG这类公司的工作文化会更专业一些。

Somewhat racist- I did have some wonderful Korean friends, and they are really some of the most friendly, hospitable people you can ever meet, very helpful too. But there is also a bit of racist attitudes, not overtly but in other ways. White people are more favored than others. The way they reach out to white people, is much different from how they would react with a non White or Black person. Its not in your face racism, but you can feel it in a more subtle way.

多少有点种族歧视—我也有一些很棒的韩国朋友，他们真的是你能遇到的最友好、最好客的人，非常乐于助人。但有些韩国人还有有点种族主义倾向，他们不会公然表现，但会以其他方式流露出来。韩国人更喜欢白人。他们和白人打交道的方式跟他们和非白人或黑人的方式大不相同。他们的种族歧视不会表现在脸上，但还是可以通过微妙的方式感受到。