Emigration: details, info and chat

[fluffybiscuits]

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gene...s-south-korea/

Good info on South Korea. Anyone with an English speaking degree can find an English teaching job there now. There's a growing Irish community, with several GAA clubs in Seoul and across the country. This looks to be very exciting for anyone who'd like to see some of Asia. The GAA and Irish clubs regularly organize travel as well around neighbouring countries-which is a great way to meet Irish already there(for advice etc), other nationalities, and the Koreans themselves. Sounds exciting for anyone graduating this year. The interesting thing was Irish numbers there have doubled in recent years. One of the better written articles in Generation emigration, though not much info on local customs, food and culture, or on where to learn a small bit of the native language.

My friend has a son over there and he loves it over there. Cost of living is very reasonable, he gets his accommodation paid for and plus a wage so he is saving a hell of a lot of money! Food is meant to be fantastic

[Slim Buddha]

24 hours in Wellington now. Trip took 46 hours in total with delays in LA and (consequently) Auckland. Love it! Must have walked 15 miles today all around the town centre & waterfront, up the shopping strip to the Parliament, then took the cable car up the hill to the Botanic Gardens, walked all the way to Zealandia nature reserve and back, got loads of great photos. 21 degrees and sunny, place has a great relaxed vibe to it, people are chilled, polite and friendly but not in that annoying fake American Customer Service way, loads and loads of bars, restaurants, cafes, lots of places to go see and do Stuff, the whole bay is spectacular looking...if the job works out I can see myself being here for a while

I was ill for some time, Sidey, and missed this when it happened 6 weeks ago but I am delighted to hear that you made it to NZ and wish you all the very best.

[fluffybiscuits]

Just been looking at linkedin, fairly decent site for making contacts.

[Apjp]

My friend has a son over there and he loves it over there. Cost of living is very reasonable, he gets his accommodation paid for and plus a wage so he is saving a hell of a lot of money! Food is meant to be fantastic

I want to study and travel round Europe, but it's well in me mind that you need money, and I am already voluntarily teaching English here in France. Korea, with nice weather and lovely food, and lovely people, could be a place to save up for a year or two whilst working well, and still keeping the GAA going in ye. The thought of not having to hide money from banks, the govt of the country, or invest it in tinned food for the coming doomsday, would be nice as well. Sounds very like NZ or OZ-the place to spend some time living and working right now. I'll be graduating in 15 months, so you kinda get thinking.

[fluffybiscuits]

I want to study and travel round Europe, but it's well in me mind that you need money, and I am already voluntarily teaching English here in France. Korea, with nice weather and lovely food, and lovely people, could be a place to save up for a year or two whilst working well, and still keeping the GAA going in ye. The thought of not having to hide money from banks, the govt of the country, or invest it in tinned food for the coming doomsday, would be nice as well. Sounds very like NZ or OZ-the place to spend some time living and working right now. I'll be graduating in 15 months, so you kinda get thinking.

I read the Korea Central website and just put out some feelers.One thing goes against me, I only have two third levels certs and no degree so that goes against me. Someone like you is very well positioned mate to get a job teaching English. You have the experience and you have the linguistic skills .

[Apjp]

I read the Korea Central website and just put out some feelers.One thing goes against me, I only have two third levels certs and no degree so that goes against me. Someone like you is very well positioned mate to get a job teaching English. You have the experience and you have the linguistic skills .

I hope so. Unless you could do an evening degree at home by getting advanced entry via your certs, and put it off a few years? Is there still a back to education allowance back there?

[fluffybiscuits]

I hope so. Unless you could do an evening degree at home by getting advanced entry via your certs, and put it off a few years? Is there still a back to education allowance back there?

There is indeed but as I am working full time Im not entitled to them. To qualify I would have to be long term unemployed as far as I am aware. Currently I have a qualification and am working in health and safety. I suppose I could build on that in terms of improving but alas the courses cost a couple of grand and Im all maxed out on loans!

[Apjp]

There was an article in the Irish Times today about Benny Wilson, an Irishman who left Ireland 8 years ago. He was 21 years old and only spoke English. He became fluent in Spanish when after six months in Spain doing nothing but studying he actually tried to speak more than just ola and gracias. He has since learned 20 languages all in the space of so many months each(he says roughly 3 each), and he believes, discovered how to learn them. His website is http://www.fluentin3months.com/ . He recently gave a TED talk on the subject(sometime last year) and he said that the problem with many languages and how they are taught, particularly Irish, is that we never learn to speak them, which is the first thing you are meant to do with any language.

I am reluctant to say anymore, but his advice is very simple but it seems very relevant. His blog gets about 300'000 hits a month making it the most popular language learning blog in the world. This reminds me of the wise words of a mister C. Sullivan on these boards;maybe the best of us get up and go and escape the self destruction of Irish society.

I have only looked at his blog this week, but I have found that since I started actually speaking German last september with numerous German and austrian friends, my German has improved enormously to a reasonable conversational level. So, naturally I was told by my Romanian born German teacher that I was no good at writing in German, and that I should consider giving it up(that was last November). I have since changed to an evening class with an Austrian teacher and applied all language learning for German to less stressful situations not based on exams, but on communicating. Even my reading is now at a good basic level, although I can speak a fair bit better.

Surely we do be learning languages by actually living them? In the summer, I plan on going to the Gaeltacht in Donegal for a month, and spending a month in Poland to improve my basic Polish as well as spending some time in Germany visiting friends. I think a permanent thread on languages, and language learning might be handy.

Having gained what might be around B1-C2(post conversational, but not fluent just yet, still has problems with pronunciation and native accent) level in French speaking level in the last 6 months despite hardly knowing more than a few sentences in the first few days and weeks, and in the last 3 months having gained a very reasonable level of Spoken and aural German for someone whose only German country visits were 2 trips to Switzerland(I am probably around B2 in spoken German and just post elementary in reading and writing), I find he's right: speaking is the most important thing. I'm lucky in that I am surrounded by German and French speakers everyday, with my only problem switching between the two(it takes roughly about 10 seconds and you often turn to a French person speaking German and vice versa).

The most important advice he seems to give is make mistakes, and don't be afraid to use words from English when thinking what to say in a Latin language as many words are the same(thousands of them) or near the same in different languages within the Latin and Germanic groups.

[fluffybiscuits]

There was an article in the Irish Times today about Benny Wilson, an Irishman who left Ireland 8 years ago. He was 21 years old and only spoke English. He became fluent in Spanish when after six months in Spain doing nothing but studying he actually tried to speak more than just ola and gracias. He has since learned 20 languages all in the space of so many months each(he says roughly 3 each), and he believes, discovered how to learn them. His website is http://www.fluentin3months.com/ . He recently gave a TED talk on the subject(sometime last year) and he said that the problem with many languages and how they are taught, particularly Irish, is that we never learn to speak them, which is the first thing you are meant to do with any language.

I am reluctant to say anymore, but his advice is very simple but it seems very relevant. His blog gets about 300'000 hits a month making it the most popular language learning blog in the world. This reminds me of the wise words of a mister C. Sullivan on these boards;maybe the best of us get up and go and escape the self destruction of Irish society.

I have only looked at his blog this week, but I have found that since I started actually speaking German last september with numerous German and austrian friends, my German has improved enormously to a reasonable conversational level. So, naturally I was told by my Romanian born German teacher that I was no good at writing in German, and that I should consider giving it up(that was last November). I have since changed to an evening class with an Austrian teacher and applied all language learning for German to less stressful situations not based on exams, but on communicating. Even my reading is now at a good basic level, although I can speak a fair bit better.

Surely we do be learning languages by actually living them? In the summer, I plan on going to the Gaeltacht in Donegal for a month, and spending a month in Poland to improve my basic Polish as well as spending some time in Germany visiting friends. I think a permanent thread on languages, and language learning might be handy.

Having gained what might be around B1-C2(post conversational, but not fluent just yet, still has problems with pronunciation and native accent) level in French speaking level in the last 6 months despite hardly knowing more than a few sentences in the first few days and weeks, and in the last 3 months having gained a very reasonable level of Spoken and aural German for someone whose only German country visits were 2 trips to Switzerland(I am probably around B2 in spoken German and just post elementary in reading and writing), I find he's right: speaking is the most important thing. I'm lucky in that I am surrounded by German and French speakers everyday, with my only problem switching between the two(it takes roughly about 10 seconds and you often turn to a French person speaking German and vice versa).

The most important advice he seems to give is make mistakes, and don't be afraid to use words from English when thinking what to say in a Latin language as many words are the same(thousands of them) or near the same in different languages within the Latin and Germanic groups.

Man that is one great resource he has there and certainly a lot of links worth learning on. Picked up on his point about learning the languages, he is rusty on some languages which he has not spent time speaking as a result of losing them. It must mean that when we learn our vernacular tongue , any subsequent languages learnt must be acquired. You see to have a flair Apjp for picking them up, more so than me! I speak French reasonably well and some German but as you said about picking up languages I find myself picking up Spanish as my house mate is Spanish and the last year I have had so much contact with them that I have picked up a good bit but only very basics. Keep me informed of how you are getting on with the language learning

[DCon]

Just been looking at linkedin, fairly decent site for making contacts.

it's a useful site

especially if you were looking at a specific company. it will tell you if you have any friends, friends of friends or friends of friends of friends working there

[Apjp]

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gene...eamon-gilmore/

I was thinking of bumping this thread with something which may spin off a thread of its' own. Credit to the people on here who clearly avoid the Merrion Street Times.

Eamon Gilmore has delivered this address to emigrants before he heads off on a junket to Canada to pretend he cares. I was stunned at the amount of gullible replies commending him for doing so on the page. I myself left 2-3 replies saying that he should stop betraying Irish people and give emigrants the vote if he really cares so much about the Global Irish.

I've been living abroad for 7 months now, and although I am coming home in the summer to finish my college degree next year I know that when I probably end up emigrating I wouldn't like my new home to be visited by such a traitor on our national holiday. If he came to Paris this year I'd try and egg him to be honest. People like him only represent the worst of Irish people-the gombeens and the gullible complicity of many who elect them.

[antiestablishmentarian]

Gilmore and the parish-pumper junket-jumpers should be boycotted and shamed into staying at home. They are an absolute disgrace. Of course they are delighted that those with a bit of radicalism or who have no vested interest in maintaining the status quo are going or gone, it means they can happily continue plundering the exchequer until the ECB pulls the plug, by which time they can whisk themselves off to their spiritual home, the Cayman Islands.

[Count Bobulescu]

Any students still planning to work in the US this summer on a J-1 visa beware. Do not apply or accept a warehouse job, they've been pulled from the program.

The U.S. won't let foreign students work in warehouses. "The State Department, responding to a wave of complaints from foreign students about abuses under a summer cultural exchange program, issued new rules on Friday significantly revising the types of jobs the students can do, prohibiting them from most warehouse, construction, manufacturing and food-processing work. The rules are the most extensive changes the State Department has made to its largest cultural exchange program since several hundred foreign students protested last summer at a plant in Pennsylvania...The five-decade-old Summer Work Travel Program brings more than 100,000 foreign university students here each year to work for up to three months and then travel for a month. The program, which uses a visa known as J-1, is designed to give students who are not from wealthy backgrounds a chance to experience the United States. The students’ trips are arranged by American sponsoring agencies that find jobs and housing for them." Julia Preston in The New York Times.

[Dr. FIVE]

Unlucky Seanie

[C. Flower]

Unlucky Seanie

Molly Malone, reportedly (RTE Morning Ireland) being forced to emigrate to Australia.

Packed and ready to go, apparently.

http://www.worldirish.com/listening-...ly-malone-1020