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Example #1: https://youtu.be/9BNN4tlBy-g?t=209

A group of people are sitting around a table in a North Korean pizzeria. An American white female says: "Picante". The (very charming and beautiful) female guide immediately corrects her, saying the correct way to say it. The first becomes visibly annoyed by this, as the guide does a motion with her finger to her mouth which seems to mean something along the lines of: "Sorry for pointing it out, but it was wrong, so it had to be said!"

In the same video, at a different place ( https://youtu.be/9BNN4tlBy-g?t=372 ), the same guide again talks about how they are supposed to say "karaoke" in an Asian manner rather than the "Western" version that they supposedly used. (That part didn't make it into the video.) She repeats the correct version and goes: "OK?!" and laugh it off as she shifts focus to the karaoke singers.

You might say that this is just one individual in a single video, but I've noticed this a lot, also for South Korean females who live-stream and whatnot. I also once had a Korean female teacher, and it seems like they frequently are into languages and teaching them out and doing it very thoroughly.

Don't get me wrong: I love this about them. It makes them even more charming and attractive to me than they already were before I realized this. I just wonder why this is. It doesn't seem to be just about preserving Korean language/culture, because they seem to care as much if it's English or any other "Western" language.

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    As a native Korean speaker, that doesn't match my experience. There are people of all ages and genders that will (or will not) correct other people's grammar. BTW, in English, it's usually considered not polite to use "female" as a noun for a person...
    – jick
    Apr 18, 2020 at 17:12
  • This question in addition to being explicitly sexist is irrelevant to the study of Korean and thus undeserving of any academic merit.
    – user13229973
    Oct 18, 2022 at 3:07

2 Answers 2

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Women in general are more language-oriented around the world.

For Koreans, there's also a sense of pride regarding language.

Of course, there's a balance to be struck between teaching proper grammar and not discouraging students.

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I would assume that in this particular situation, the guide feels that teaching correct pronunciation (or what she feels to be correct) is helpful, or a kindness.

In general, pronunciation in Korean is quite important - if you mangle your pronunciation, you aren't going to be understood. So people might quite often feel the need to help you out by teaching you correct pronunciation. The same probably goes for grammar.

As to why it might be females who do it more, I'm not sure, but perhaps (as in many cultures) they tend to be the more caring/nurturing gender!

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