The International Appeal

It has been a while since I posted something on CB. I have been working mad hours in South Korea and haven't had much time to do anything other than eating or sleeping. I have been noticing an increase in popularity as of recent and most of my questions and comments have been via Facebook. So, I'll make this one extra special.

Any who, I want to talk about "the international appeal." What exactly consists of this image? This is really a response to this article and I want to address somethings.

It has been almost 5 years since the US economy has plummeted and there is this call for international appeal. People are suddenly trying to do what I have done 5 years ago. It's great. I have to say there is an interesting parallel with the failure that is the US economy and its juxtaposition to my success. Part of the failure that is the US in my humble opinion, is its notion that English should be the only language embraced and there should be no support signs in any other language.

I think this notion is preposterous and the very fact that these signs exist are to help the foreign patron. I think Americans themselves do not want to admit that they are afraid of misunderstandings.

With the Internet and applications this whole notion that language support should be isolated to a singular language is a very dangerous notion of isolationism. Isolationism is part of the problem we faced in the 1930s in the United States and is the mindset that ones culture is better than another's. With technology being at the advanced state that it is, there should be little to no problems with communication:

However, there still are many foreigners that go to another country and make absolutely no effort to understand the customs of that country. Then when they try to act American in another country they are surprised they are ridiculed and are insulted for their behavior. And employers can sift through a stack of applicants and see which candidate has actually received a cultural exchange that actually has some merit versus someone who just partied it up.

If you are reading this article and are thinking about going to another country. While it isn't mandatory that you intermediate or advanced proficiency in a language, people should at least get a basic level. After all, most people who seek to get the "international appeal" stay in their host country for at least 3 months to one year. Why would anyone want to burden their hosts with their ability to communicate is beyond me. While one should enjoy themselves in a country, they should exercise a level of prudence with their hosts. In other words, err on the side of caution. There is no real need to act like an arrogant Anglophone. There will be times and places to party, but I honestly believe people shouldn't treat their trip abroad as one giant hoopla.

However, I think part of the problem is that many Americans do not know how to obtain the "international appeal" mainly due to an inherent ignorance in America. We are often taught that the English language is the most superior language and no one should bother trying to learn another language. Sadly, most of the people I have bypassed in the job market have were monolingual and monocultural.

It only takes a few months to reach an intermediate level of proficiency in a language and there are misconceptions about the amount of time you have to put forth. Sadly, this also falls on their current American generation and this cultural promotion that laziness and anti-intellectualism is suddenly the "in" thing. When people make mistakes in a language they are often criticized as being incompetent, too. If there are people who believe they do not have the time to make the effort to reach even a beginner level of proficiency in a language, they should at least make the effort to learn some facets about the target countries culture. I understand and am aware that not everyone has the time to study,

but at least take the time to figure out what is okay and what isn't. Trust me, if you were to take just 20-30 minutes of your day to learn something about the country your going to visit or work in, it will save you from insurmountable unforeseen headaches in the future. When you the prospective graduate are choosing to embark on one of the most incredible journeys of your life, how do your wish to remember it? Do you want it to be a fruitful one, ripe with experience and growth as a human being or do you want to be the person who happens on the blunt end of every misconception and misunderstanding? Just ask yourself is it necessary to actually travel abroad. If you have a hard time adjusting to different people and cultures, you might want to actually take baby steps prior to going over to another country. While I do not really care for Lonely Planet books, you can browse them to get a general overview of the country you plan on visiting. You will thank yourself later for doing so.

To wrap things up, the "international appeal" on a individual level and a national level is obtainable. It will take many years of effort on a national level, but on the the individual level, the person needs to evaluate themselves to see if they are a reputable candidate for their host country. If they like working countries like Japan and Korea might be possible places to go or if they want some free time in their days to do other things besides work, they probably should consider Germany or the Netherlands. But ultimately, work abroad should provide an experience with interacting with other cultures. Having international appeal is "win-win" for everyone. I honestly wish the future prospective college students and future leaders the best of luck. It has been a crazy, yet fulfilling ride for me.

Re: The 4 Worst Things About Writing for the Internet

Hey everybody. This is Charles once again getting it in. I was satisfying another Facebook addiction phase when I came upon this article at http://cracked.com . While I am a fan of Cracked, Daniel O' Brian wrote a article that would probably get under a lot of writers skin. First off, if you are writing on the internet trying to just make ends meet doing articles about blogs, your not really going to get anywhere. Trust me, I didn't start making any money off of blogs. Because if I did, I would starve to death. That's the truth.

If you expect to make ant money on there internet, two of the simplest ways is A) having a marketable product and B) having a huge fanbase prior to making something. For example, celebrities are already successful, so when they make blogs they are instant hits. They already have the following and they already have their target audience. My blog probably only has around a few hundred followers and just so we're clear out of those followers only 2% of them will leave actual comments. The other 98% will either tell me in person, not tell me, or are bots trying to spam me. And... that's just what it is.

Now the whole thing about his articles being ripped off also touched a nerve with me. I have been doing this as a hobby for years. I tried to do on a pro level, but without a blogging army or team, competition is really cut-throat. I was making articles with Blogger News Network before this. My job was to comment on news paper articles and review different products. However, I searched my own articles to discover that  on of them was stolen by another website called Sheeple (probably changed the content around and threw dirt on my craft). I wasn't getting paid enough for the amount of effort I was putting out so I decided not to do it anymore. What Daniel O' Brian is talking about here makes a lot of sense from a writer's perspective. The only way bloggers can come up really is with viral content from a large fanbase. No one these days really is knee deep into frugality and I have way more popularity on my Korean blog because I use comedy and target a wider audience. Plus I have loyal fan base through Facebook. That being said, the best way to come up on writing skills is to network with writers and target a large fan base.

It's an unfortunate reaction to have, but it's true. Publishing on the Internet means you run the risk of having your work seen but also stolen by millions and millions of people, all the time, every day, forever. Even if we got this guy's blog shut down, I guarantee you three more blogs would take its place, all of them piloted by writers who have no problem stealing other peoples' material, because starting a blog and stealing are two very easy things to do. To a lot of folks, the Internet is still just the Wild West, lawless and open, and full of shockingly filthy people. There are no rules, and if anyone's caught doing something wrong, the go-to excuse of "Relax, man, it's just the Internet" isn't stale enough yet that people won't still casually throw it around. And maybe the Internet will always be this way, with fickle audiences, impossible-to-please commenters, distractingly endless $%^&**#$, and shameless plagiarists. - Daniel O' Brian: Cracked Comedy Writer


 

And that was more eloquetly phrased than I could have put it. Please remember that this is the truth about blogging in general. There are plenty of people that want to rip off your ideas. One so called friend took it upon himself to write a book copying many of the ideas on this blog. In hip hop, the person who steals someone else's rhyme structure and flow is known as a "biter". I would like to dub these people who do the same thing with blogs as "writer biters."

That being said, Daniel O' Brian claims that the pros outweigh the cons. If you are persistent and find a responsive audience; they do. If you can get thousands of people to read just your blog out of the billions of other blogs; they do. I think I have been lucky to get the hundred or so people to keep reading per month. I think it is that alone that keeps me writing. It is a passion that only grows everyday. I have written work in a lot of different genres. Fiction, Non-fiction, poerty, you name it. As I near my 200th post I have noticed my style has evolved with the times and has continued to stay fresh. Being creative and innovative is what keeps a blog alive. Also putting in the time to write good material is key to consistently creating success for you and your blog. 

That was my reply. I'm out! CB

Korean Dental Vacation???

Hello. thought I'd make a quick post about dental vacations. It seems to be the in thing these days. I came to Korea to fix my teeth and earn some money. Why did I come to Korea for Dental Work? Well it only costs about $4,000 for all of my dental work combined. In the United States it would have cost you much more.

How many people just shrug off the fact that they have dental problems and decide there is nothing they can do about it? Many. They would just opt for dentures and a extraction. However, I did some research into this. (I wanted to fix my teeth without going broke.) Mexico and Korea have far less cheaper dental cost than most other countries. Poland I think also has affordable dental (but the price of the rooms were outrageous). This is why I went to Korea: a) I was tired of paying rent, b) I actually wanted to use my college degree instead of selling electronics for a living, and c) my teeth looked like a Fallout bomb shelter.

Perhaps I should post this in Incheon Charles , but I think it has just a little more to do with frugality than Korea as a whole. Anywho, if you can save a least $10,000 for dental work you can have wonderful results if you decide to go out of the United States. Dental work in the US, is just too expensive. 30-40K for an operation (not including cometic dentitry) is just too much to pay. If you pay that much, you eccentially are signing a licence to get ripped off. The reason why it is so expensive is the exorbant loans and insurance costs that US dentists have to bear.

I need to get my implant and crown so I will end here.

Later