We’re reproducing Mizar5′s comment at the Marmots Open Thread (comment #22), because it highlights the differences between Engrish and English beautifully!  Right on target, Mizar5!

“What I’m sure most English teachers must realize by now, or should (not that I speak for them, rather I speak from the Korean perspective is that Engrish occupies an interesting niche in Korean culture that is wholely unrelated to communication.

I call it Engrish to illustrate that very specific cultural aspect.

Status.

As I have explained before, at Samsung, we are all given a handbook of guidelines for writing reports. A certain percentage of phrases have to be in English, a certain percentage in Chinese. Japanese carries little weight.

In oral discussion, an Engrish phrases makes one appear erudite. The actual Engrish phrases typically make no sense whatsoever to a native speaker, who would normally have no idea what they mean. The pretense of the speaker is that he is representing something esoteric that only he is privy to.

Outside the corporation, a smattering of Engrish makes one appear worldly and is mandatory for the wife of a manager.

Engrish is far superior to English in that it allows one to retain one’s Korean identity and place in the machine that is Korean society. Mere English would serve no purpose.

I suppose a part of the ongoing gripe of EFL teachers is the realization that they are being had. Nobody is really interested in them as individuals or what they have to offer. Foreigners are deliberately marginalized so that Koreans can benchmark, ie. pick and choose, change and adopt (bastardize) into Engrish, which is the real prize, and take creative licenses with what they’ve been taught while misrepresenting this as worldy knowledge.

It’s a game in which everyone is fooling one another, and while everybody knows that they’re scamming others, people live in a perpetual state of envy of those who are scamming them.

That, and not race, is why white Americans are preferred to Korean Americans. It serves no purpose for the teacher to understand Korean language and culture. A good talking head is a half dead talking head.”

…

Similar Posts:

• Blogs | Teaching in Korea Perspective
• Shifting Demographics for Teachers in Korea
• ETS Test Assesses English Teacher Skills
• 10 Reasons Why Teaching in Korea Works