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“Thanks to My Fluent Local Language, I Achieved My Dream”

“Are you asking me if I'm tired? I can be patient because I have a future dream to achieve.”

At the Shilla Hotel in Suzhou city, Jiangsu, China on December 25. Senior Lee Jae-hyeong (26), majoring in Chinese language and literature at Dong-eui University, was guiding guests in his fluent Chinese in front of the hotel’s main gate. It was a hectic moment, but a smile never left his face.

Lee said, “At the beginning, I went through quite a troublesome time with Chinese employees because of cultural differences, but now we get along well. Whenever I get lonely and have difficulties, I get over those worries by thinking of my future status.”

In circumstances where domestic employment gets worse and worse, young men from the Busan region work hard in a far away country, China. Some students belonging to the ‘Dong-eui University Intern Delegation for Overseas Employment’ are part of the group. Some 36 students left for China last September and worked for 23 different businesses. The delegation worked hard for four months and, finally, 30 interns are employed as regular workers at the disbanding ceremony on December 22.

However, these people had to pull through some tough procedures until they succeeded with their employment. Speaking fluent Chinese is just a beginning. It is not easy to maintain an attitude of not giving up despite difficult jobs and making sure to have a positive and open attitude.

There was no exception for coordinators Lee Chang-im, Lee Geun-hyeong, and Kim Eun-jeong at ‘Yeah Medical Center’ in Shanghai, China. The coordinators took language courses for a year in China last year and passed the ‘Intensive Program for Overseas Internship’ that was organized by Dong-eui University starting last April for five months. They drilled themselves with intensive Chinese and English, completed analyzing the present condition of China, and fully armed their mental states for employment abroad.

Lee Chang-im said ambitiously, “I just finished the internship that is merely one step ahead to my future. I am worried that I have to show more of me sooner or later, but I am planning to take challenges, like I am getting more knowledge for my development.”



Positively, the agony of students working abroad is an issue. Compared to Korea, China has some serious problems with the level of wages and it is always a burden to compete with increasing numbers of local highly qualified human resources.
At monthly magazine ‘Good Morning Shanghai’, new comer as regular journalist Park Jeong-im said, “Employees receive quite a large amount of wages considering the fact they are Koreans rather than Chinese people, but it is only 600,000 won to 800,000 won. Living in China with such an amount of money would not be inconvenient, but it is unlikely that one can save money for measures to go back to Korea for good.”
/ 입력시간: 2006. 12.27. 08:47