To keep with the times, Dongdaemun merchants learning Chinese

Posted on : 2016-04-28 16:32 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Short programs allow merchants to learn useful expressions without being aware from their stores for long
Kim Yeong-shin (second from the left) takes Chinese language lessons at her scarf store in Dongdaemun Pyeonghwa Market
Kim Yeong-shin (second from the left) takes Chinese language lessons at her scarf store in Dongdaemun Pyeonghwa Market

“Repeat after me: ‘Huanying guanglin.’ (‘Welcome.’) ‘Hen shihe ni.’ (‘It really suits you.’) ‘Qing man zou.’ (‘Take care.’)”

It was the afternoon of Apr. 26, and the sound of sentences spoken in Chinese rang out from a store in Seoul’s Dongdaemun Pyeonghwa Market.

“I can’t do it,” grimaced Kim Yeong-shin, the 60-year-old proprietor of the scarf shop Bomulseom.

“When learning Chinese, tones are always hard. Look at my hand and try to follow along: ‘Qing man zou,’” smiled teacher Kim Ji-yoon, 24.

Dongdaemun merchants have been hard at work studying Mandarin ahead of the four-day Labor Day holiday in China from Apr. 30 to May 2. Having enjoyed a windfall from the 100,000 Chinese tourists who visited South Korea during last year’s holiday, the shopkeepers were in full preparation mode. And with the Dongdaemun Future Creation Foundation - an effort supported by Doosan - launching a Chinese education program with teachers visiting local merchants at their stores in late April, the response has been particularly strong. A total of 823 stores in area malls have applied for instruction.

For the program, sales materials in Chinese are distributed and merchants are encouraged to practice pronunciation and taught important expressions. The instruction is brief - lasting just ten minutes or so - but has been welcomed by the merchants, who are reluctant to leave their stores unattended for too long.

“Every year at this time, Dongdaemun feels more like China than Korea,” said Kim Yeong-shin, who has been working at Pyeonghwa Market for over nine years. “That’s how many Chinese visitors we get. It‘s tough to do business if you don’t know any Chinese.”

Even during non-holiday periods, the Chinese tourists have long been a bigger presence than local shoppers.

“This is our second stop in South Korea, after Jeju Island,” said a 64-year-old surnamed Tang from China’s Jiangsu Province, who was visiting as part of a group tour with family members.

“The Dongdaemun malls have a lot of products geared to Chinese tastes, so it’s a satisfying shopping experience,” Tang said.

Yang Seong-mo, 28, sells menswear at the Doota fashion mall.

“About seven out of every ten customers are Chinese,” Yang said. “If you speak Chinese, you can approach the customers more actively, and you can sell more.”

The largest fashion malls that are heavily frequented by younger customers often have employees who are Korean-Chinese or speak fluent Mandarin. But sellers at traditional wholesale markets have had a tougher time meeting their Chinese-speaking needs. And with the wholesale markets operating on a 24-hour schedule, it is difficult for merchants to find the time to attend a school for formal study.

Another scarf seller at Pyeonghwa Market, 42-year-old Seo Hong-joon, recalled experiencing frustrations due to his lack of Chinese abilities.

“They wanted me to deliver an item to a hotel at a certain time, but the conversation was a struggle,” Seo said. “Finally, I decided I couldn‘t explain over the phone, so I took the item and went to the hotel room to hand it over myself.”

“I imagine a lot of merchants will want to apply if they can study Chinese without leaving their stores unattended,” he added.

There are a number of phrases the merchants particularly want to master, including “no discounts,” “fixed price,” and compliments.

“One thing you have to watch out for in Chinese is that while in Korean we say that something is a ‘20% discount,’ in Chinese you have to say it’s ‘80% of the fixed price,’” explained Cho Yoon-yeong, a 22-year-old university student and assistant Chinese teacher.

“Seeing these sellers studying Chinese so diligently really made me sense how globalized Dongdaemun has become,” Cho added.

Once the education programs are complete, the Dongdaemun Foundation plans to hold a user satisfaction survey to develop future programs for merchants.

By Kim Mi-young, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

 

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