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South Koreans view of Filipinos
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What do South Koreans think about Filipinos?
diggetydan
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What do South Koreans think about Filipinos?
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I have been teaching Korean students for more than a decade now and I have been asking them what they think about Filipinos. Here are their answers: 1. Filipinos are a bunch of friendly people. They see the smiles of the everyday Filipino on the streets, in elevators, at public markets, in business meetings, inside pub houses, among others. Many of my students come to the Philippines because they feel Filipinos are easy to get along with; they are non-threatening and are highly hospitable. One even said most Koreans would not smile in the elevator when someone gets in but they are forced to when a Filipino smiles at them first. 2. Filipinos are religious and spiritual. South Koreans are witnesses to our many religious sites. There are shrines, churches and religious icons and artifacts in numerous tourist destinations. They see thousands march to the churches during Sunday and the Philippine laws follow the moral teachings of Christianity. Filipinos observe Christian holidays such as Christmas, the holy week and many of their Catholic schools are closed on certain special occasions in honor of Mary, the Mother of Christ. 3. Filipinos are lazy and do not value time. Though quality jobs are scarce in the country, Koreans see those Filipinos who loiter on the streets as lazy individuals. They think if you do not find a job to feed your family and yourself, you are lazy. Perhaps, the truth is that the hot weather prevents many Filipinos from taking grueling jobs outdoors such as in building construction and in field sales. As I also mentioned, there is a lack of quality jobs in this country which makes many Filipinos linger as jobless people; they would rather stay at home than work for companies which pay them meager income and with unfavorable working conditions. Another thing is that Koreans think Filipinos are always late. Yes, many Filipinos are always late at work but this does not make them lazy. The traffic situation along EDSA and all over Metro Manila is almost like a legendary characteristic of this country. Many come to work 1 to 2 hours later than their appointed time because of this. My home used to be a 15-minute drive to my office where I taught Koreans. Now, it has increased to about a 30-minute travel time. I figure this will get worse and will be an hour of commute in 10 years. 4. Filipino women are easy to get. The Philippines may be a Third World country but it does not follow that most of its Filipino women are just after the foreigners' money. Since I have taught adult South Koreans, many of their men frequent our local night clubs and see that the women there are fighting one another for their attention. One of them even mentioned that he dated one of these girls for only $10. While life is hard for most Filipino women, many of them look for foreign men who qualify as would-be lifetime partners and do not count the amount in their fat bank accounts. 5. Filipinos are resilient despite their problems and are very positive about life. There have been countless natural calamities in this country and none of them ever got to make it tumble and fall. Filipinos bend wherever the wind takes them. Evidenced by their sunny disposition and positive outlook in life, Filipinos generally brave whatever crisis comes along their way. Maybe, unlike many South Koreans who take things very seriously, a quality that is probably attributable to their country's rapid economic development, Filipinos live one day at a time, worrying not about their towering concerns and believing that God will do the rest.
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Given below is not a typical answer but comes from a Korean female high school student who had studied in the Philippines since she was in elementary school. She speaks Korean and very good English but never learned much of the Filipino or Tagalog language. Other Koreans with a similar experience as her are not as observant or detailed but unlike her, they've also managed to become fluent in Tagalog during their stay in the Philippines. That might be a reason for her perspective which, by the way, I think is spot on. She said that one major aspect of Filipinos is that they are unpredictable and that this makes them "scary." She says Filipinos have a changeable temperament that can shift from one mood so quickly to another without warning. Being a foreigner, she is not able to detect, observe, or follow whatever might trigger a sudden change in mood or demeanor in a single Filipino or a group of them. She says she has also observed crowds of Filipinos change moods from indifferent to happy, angry, sad, reverent, or rowdy in the space of several minutes. Since she couldn't understand what they were talking about, she was unable to predict what would happen next or what might happen in similar situations elsewhere or at another time. However, she says that if one waits long enough, the mood would eventually change from an ugly one to a comfortable or an enjoyable one, and vice-versa. She also observes that while one part of a crowd may be rambunctious, another group of people could be indifferent to them and just be laughing their heads off. I agreed with her observations and added that Filipinos do have a tendency to jump from one emotional extreme to another, without spending much time in one mood before going on to the next unpredictable mood. Most Filipinos would prefer to spend most of their time feeling good and contented but they're not used to controlling what they "should" feel like and are willing to just go with the flow and to let things slide depending on what they think or feel is going on around them. Most are non-confrontational until a breaking point is reached; after that there's no holding them back from all-out attack.