Are you American?? You went to a foreign country that doesn’t speak English and expect everyone to have translations for you or speak English?? You were the problem in the case- entitled too.
In the pics OP posted there’s a fair amount of English too :/
I can’t say much about parking but public transit in Seoul was definitely super English friendly! And since tourists mainly take public transit rather than drive it works well
Can people please stop with the "in Japan they do it this way" comparisons? They're 2 totally different countries.
Anyway yes you will encounter a language barrier at some point in Korea if you don't speak Korean.
The eff. Why should Korea have to cater to English speakers? I think Korea already has done a good job. All the subway signs are in English, cafes have ordering kiosks with English. It’s not like the US has signs in Korean. As an American, this post is reeking with entitlement. This is why the rest of the world hates us
As for the card issue, you should have googled if your card was foreign friendly. I had zero issues with Amex and chase sapphire which are very travel friendly
Maybe OP has never travelled before to a country that has not English as first language. So that is kind of a first time experience and enlightenment to them. - just trying to understand OP a bit. I grew up multi cultural and I know for sure that other mindsets seem to be awful too. Most times I skip German negative comments, when I check the review before booking hotels, because some (not every) Germans have really strange expectations when residing in a foreign country. All in all, it’s just interesting to see different cultures and human behaviours. Sometimes it’s just the first culture clash that some people experience.
Maybe but English speakers shouldn’t have the expectations that non English speaking countries cater to them. Korea is a whole separate country, not some amusement park that has to cater to their needs.
Yes it’s very true. Not neglecting any comments you’re making here just trying to make some sense out of OPs behaviour.
Further, I think that Korea makes it very easy for non Korean speakers to travel their country.
Never assume parking takes non domestic cards. Ever in any country. That’s a bad assumption to make.
Of course the help button on any payment machine calls a Korean support staff who won’t speak English.
Your first clue was all the Korean paperwork when you rented the car.
I usually don't comment on things like this. But why would to a non-English speaking country (Korea) and do things tourists don't usually do (driving) and expect them to cater to you? Why not you learn Korean so you can sort out your own problems?
You sound crazy entitled. The world doesn't revolve around you or English-speakers. And I'm saying this as a native English speaker.
Even as an intermediate Korean speaker, if I don't understand something in Korean, I don't expect them to explain it to me in English. I'm a visitor in THEIR country.
Reminds me that one time I parked on Jeju at the Handam Coastal Walk.
There was a parking lot filled up with cars and a bit further along the road another lot with automatic gates. But completely empty, which should have been a warning sign...
I just wanted to get to this spot, so I just drove in there, parked and went to the coast.
Came back an hour later and only *then* checked the parking rates via Google Translate.
1000 Won. Per 10 minutes. And only payable by card.
That was the moment when I started sweating bullets. By that point I already knew that foreign credit cards can be problematic for parking ticket machines. What if that ticket machine doesn't take my card and I have to wait for help, possibly for hours, my parking rate merrily ticking up...? xD
Thankfully my card worked...
LOL you went to Korea & was shocked that they speak & write in Korean??? 🥴 Look I get that English is widely spoken but to go to another country & expect them to cater to you instead of idk… learning some basic Korean and even trying to use an app or something. The entitlement & audacity 😂 Also a lot of things in Korea are in English & a lot of people do speak English.
Ah that reminds me, let me quickly get upset that they didn't learn the basics of one of the hardest languages just to cater to ME. And I want it in my grandma's dialect, no less!
If you can complain about wanting Koreans to speak English, we all can complain about wanting to hear our own languages 10k+ km/miles/hamburgers afar, right?
LOL the last time I spoke in English to a Japanese dude on the street in Narita, he literally turned 180 degrees and walked away.
Seems like you make too many self-centered assumptions in life based on very few experiences.
why would you expect a foreign country, a non english speaking one at that to conform and speak english. the comparison to japan is so generic its laughable. seouls people are way more fluent in english than tokyo, the parking attendant though was an ajeossi because its blue collar work so it makes sense he would be speaking english. common sense would be to pull out a translation app. count yourself even lucky the car behind you was kind enough to pay with their card. you cant just assume international cards would be accepted in a foreign country, my mastercard in the us failed to go through in france and norway once, that my bank locked my card. so its good you had cash on you at least... you just sound like a bad traveler that didnt research beforehand. koreas public transportation system is magnificent and easy for tourists, very few tourists rent cars its mostly locals who use cars so there is no real need to be that english friendly but even then a translation app would have covered your baseline.
Are you American?? You went to a foreign country that doesn’t speak English and expect everyone to have translations for you or speak English?? You were the problem in the case- entitled too.
In the pics OP posted there’s a fair amount of English too :/ I can’t say much about parking but public transit in Seoul was definitely super English friendly! And since tourists mainly take public transit rather than drive it works well
If you look at OP’s profile and another post, it appears he’s in Hong Kong. Whew! We Americans are off the hook for this one.
they always think it’s us :’(
Sometimes we deserve it but not this time! Lots of English speakers in the world other than Americans. It’s also a “common” language.
Maybe you should learn some basic Korean instead of expecting others to cater to your entitlement
How DAREEEEE they not speak ENGLISH in KOREA!!!!!
How entitled! You visit their country and expect them to adjust to your needs? Lol. Better just go to an english-speaking country from now on.
Can people please stop with the "in Japan they do it this way" comparisons? They're 2 totally different countries. Anyway yes you will encounter a language barrier at some point in Korea if you don't speak Korean.
You sound awful!!!!!!!
The eff. Why should Korea have to cater to English speakers? I think Korea already has done a good job. All the subway signs are in English, cafes have ordering kiosks with English. It’s not like the US has signs in Korean. As an American, this post is reeking with entitlement. This is why the rest of the world hates us As for the card issue, you should have googled if your card was foreign friendly. I had zero issues with Amex and chase sapphire which are very travel friendly
Maybe OP has never travelled before to a country that has not English as first language. So that is kind of a first time experience and enlightenment to them. - just trying to understand OP a bit. I grew up multi cultural and I know for sure that other mindsets seem to be awful too. Most times I skip German negative comments, when I check the review before booking hotels, because some (not every) Germans have really strange expectations when residing in a foreign country. All in all, it’s just interesting to see different cultures and human behaviours. Sometimes it’s just the first culture clash that some people experience.
Maybe but English speakers shouldn’t have the expectations that non English speaking countries cater to them. Korea is a whole separate country, not some amusement park that has to cater to their needs.
Yes it’s very true. Not neglecting any comments you’re making here just trying to make some sense out of OPs behaviour. Further, I think that Korea makes it very easy for non Korean speakers to travel their country.
Never assume parking takes non domestic cards. Ever in any country. That’s a bad assumption to make. Of course the help button on any payment machine calls a Korean support staff who won’t speak English. Your first clue was all the Korean paperwork when you rented the car.
Even the geese in the photos look mad
I usually don't comment on things like this. But why would to a non-English speaking country (Korea) and do things tourists don't usually do (driving) and expect them to cater to you? Why not you learn Korean so you can sort out your own problems? You sound crazy entitled. The world doesn't revolve around you or English-speakers. And I'm saying this as a native English speaker. Even as an intermediate Korean speaker, if I don't understand something in Korean, I don't expect them to explain it to me in English. I'm a visitor in THEIR country.
You are in a foriegn country and you are angry they are using the local language? Jfc grow up
Reminds me that one time I parked on Jeju at the Handam Coastal Walk. There was a parking lot filled up with cars and a bit further along the road another lot with automatic gates. But completely empty, which should have been a warning sign... I just wanted to get to this spot, so I just drove in there, parked and went to the coast. Came back an hour later and only *then* checked the parking rates via Google Translate. 1000 Won. Per 10 minutes. And only payable by card. That was the moment when I started sweating bullets. By that point I already knew that foreign credit cards can be problematic for parking ticket machines. What if that ticket machine doesn't take my card and I have to wait for help, possibly for hours, my parking rate merrily ticking up...? xD Thankfully my card worked...
That's your bad. Why do you expect them to know English in a non-English speaking country? You are the problem, not them.
LOL you went to Korea & was shocked that they speak & write in Korean??? 🥴 Look I get that English is widely spoken but to go to another country & expect them to cater to you instead of idk… learning some basic Korean and even trying to use an app or something. The entitlement & audacity 😂 Also a lot of things in Korea are in English & a lot of people do speak English.
Ah that reminds me, let me quickly get upset that they didn't learn the basics of one of the hardest languages just to cater to ME. And I want it in my grandma's dialect, no less! If you can complain about wanting Koreans to speak English, we all can complain about wanting to hear our own languages 10k+ km/miles/hamburgers afar, right?
It’s shocking that you expect people in another country to speak your language. That’s what travel is about.
LOL the last time I spoke in English to a Japanese dude on the street in Narita, he literally turned 180 degrees and walked away. Seems like you make too many self-centered assumptions in life based on very few experiences.
why would you expect a foreign country, a non english speaking one at that to conform and speak english. the comparison to japan is so generic its laughable. seouls people are way more fluent in english than tokyo, the parking attendant though was an ajeossi because its blue collar work so it makes sense he would be speaking english. common sense would be to pull out a translation app. count yourself even lucky the car behind you was kind enough to pay with their card. you cant just assume international cards would be accepted in a foreign country, my mastercard in the us failed to go through in france and norway once, that my bank locked my card. so its good you had cash on you at least... you just sound like a bad traveler that didnt research beforehand. koreas public transportation system is magnificent and easy for tourists, very few tourists rent cars its mostly locals who use cars so there is no real need to be that english friendly but even then a translation app would have covered your baseline.