Fascinating. I had an ethnic Korean student from Uzbekistan who grew up speaking Russian (knew no Uzbek language), learned English in school, and came to Korea to study in college and learned Korean. She achieved native speaker level in three languages. I excused her from the final exam so she could take a job as a translator/interpreter at an international conference. Awesome.
Yes, but it's a little different, because Uzbeks look like a mix between Europeans and Asians, so being Asian there is not the same as being Asian-looking in Russia, despite the fact that there are a lot of Asian-looking people in Russia (ethnic groups from some of the republics in Russia). I also know a girl who is from Uzbekistan, her mother is Russian, her father is Korean, and she doesn't speak Uzbek at all, but that's not a problem there.
I am a Korean Kazakh and no one except ethnic Kazakhs speak Kazakh. Its the same in all Central Asian countries, Russian is used as the medium for inter ethnic communication and everyone speaks their native language at home
I'm Korean-American but studied in Russia and speak Russian. People don't realize how diverse Russia is with many ethnic groups. There were Koreans in Russia before there were Koreans in America. Your background is rich and you are blessed with such a multi-dimensional identity.
I have had very similar experiences! I'm a Russian Korean too, living in the UK and it's very complicated explaining to people what that means, and why Russian is my first language and why i don't speak Korean :') Culturally complicated too because of upbringing but it is what it is. Great video ! Was surprised at how much I could relate to :)
I'm exactly the same! I'm a Russian born Korean who lives in Scotland but when I speak English I have an American accent which just adds a layer of confusion haha
@@anastasiatsoy7156 omg wait that’s like me! i was born in portugal but i’m russian, i live in the uk and when people ask me if i’m american because of my accent they get really confused because i have to explain to them-
@@ZoyatheRussianKorean You are not Russian and you will never be you are Americans Koreans born on New York and you go Russia as you go to Hong Kong and Far East Countries to build underground networks of terrorism for the CIA to cost civil unrest. Hear this you are not welcome on Russia and Far East Countries and China and North Korea and the global South stay on South Korea go to your colonial imperialist anglo NATO west.
Zoya the Russian Korean it is a beautiful language for sure, I am a Lao-Canadian learning Russian but the problem is when there’s no Russian around, you can’t practice it and lose the language.
@@Anatoli8888 I'm from Russia too. I'm studying in school with learning two foreign languages. I choose Korean. I have classmates who are Russian Korean and they learn Korean too, cuz modern generation almost don't know Korean((
Wow, as a 45 year old Korean American guy I am so impressed with your awareness and fairness with people's ignorance. It's not their fault and it's always a teaching moment for all. I also moved around a lot and it does give you good perspective early on. I am also so fascinated with the Korean diaspora. It's very unique.
Thanks for watching and your comment! Yeah, getting offended too easily doesn't pay off in the long run haha. Plus, most people ask different questions out of their genuine curiosity, so it's better to just take it easy. If they don't, well, it's on them.
By the way, Korean Americans think Koryo Saram are the coolest. Anyone who meets a Korean from Russia is like finding a leprechaun/unicorn. You are the coolest and your history goes back hundreds of years. So cool!
Not all Russian Koreans are Koryo Saram, actually. The term 'Koryo Saram' generally refers exclusively to those Koreans that had migrated from Northern Korea to the Russian Far East to escape Japanese colonial policies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and who were then deported to Central Asia in the late 1930's. There's another group of Russian Koreans with a wholly different history - the Sakhalin Koreans, who are descended mainly from Southern Koreans who were used as manual laborers by the Japanese and were sent to toil in the Karafuto Prefecture, currently the Sakhalin Oblast of Russia. They didn't have Japanese citizenship and thus weren't eligible for the repatriation processes enacted by Japan in the early 1950's (while ethnic Japanese and Ainu were). Therefore, they stayed on the island under Soviet rule and only started going back to South Korea since the 1990's. The author of this video is also, I believe, a Sakhalin Korean, since she said that she was born on Sakhalin.
@@aheroisamongus308 I grew up in Kaluga (small city near Moscow). I never faced any racism in USA, but maybe it was so subtle that it didn't register with me. In Russia it was quite straight forward, but nothing too bad.
I am Russian Japanese. Ethically Japanese but 100% Russian. Born and raised in Russian for the better half of my life before I moved to Singapore. And yes it is extremely difficult to explain to people but I guess for a multicultural society in Singapore, it seems easier to integrate. I would say better than my time in the UK.
@@notpokorp948 no, we have so many asians here, like Kyrgyz, Yakut, Buryat, some tatars look very asian. If someone would see Korean or Japanese they would think he’s one of Russian asians.
Waah. I'm an ethnic Rusyn/Russian, but from CNY, but I grew up with Japanese (and my Japanese is better than my Russian xt,t) My Eurasian friends describe me as "Japanese" x.x Also, my surname looks incredibly Japanese so bc I speak Japanese naturally and my mannerisms and name seem Japanese, in Japan or with Japanese I often get pegged as "ha-fu" which I often just give up explaining I'm Russian but from NY and go with, okay, "ha-fu desu" it's an interesting parallel!! )))also, there's a half-turkish half-japanese youtuber name Rin your name brings to mind, but maybe I'm just watching too much of her channel (she reminds me of a combination of me and my Kazakh friend who studied in Turkey and NY)
Божее, ты так хорошо разговариваешь на английском)))), деже без акцента, приятный голооос)))я тоже учу английский и надеюсь когда-то я тоже могу так разговаривать
@@brisenocturne1441 She doesn't, but she did slip on one word, no big whoop. Happens to me sometimes. У нее нет акцента, но проскользнулась одно слово с акцентом, ничего страшного. У меня бывает тоже.
I'm a Chinese learning Russian and have been asked if I'm Russian after saying one word of Russian. Yet I've lived in Canada almost all my life and people still think I don't speak English.
I am Russian from Uzbekistan while it was still USSR. Decent presence of Koreans there, my great grandfather was even Korean. Surprised about your experience in Moscow as I always assumed that if we see an Asian we would assume a ethnic Korean who is from “here” like you described in your native city, I guess just shows how big former USSR and current Russia is by having huge demographical diversity from region to region. P.S - how did you not mention Victor Tsoi in this video???
This was so funny to watch! I am also a Russian-Korean, and have had all of these experiences in Russia, Korea, and the U.S. Thanks for sharing. I feel seen.
Как житель Москвы говорю, что мы не обращаем внимания уже на азиатов. так как половина страны находится в Азии и это нормально, что все разные. Много народов, много соседних стран, кто посещает или переехал. Это нормально, Это жизнь! Главное чтобы люди были хорошие, а какой цвет кожи, глаз, нации или религия-это не важно же)
My Uber driver was a Korean-Chinese dude who was born and raised in Northeastern China and moved to the states a few years ago. We really related on so many random cultural things even though I am Korean-American. Now I am in this weird rabbit hole of looking up different experiences of people of the diaspora lol. Loved this video!
Я из Молдовы тоже знаю русский, но всем похеру, я живу в Румынии, все румыны разговаривают на румынском. Мне понадобилось 7 лет чтобы довести свой испорченный румынский из Молдовы чтобы все на меня не смотрели как на русского шпиона. Сейчас уже почти не пaлюсь. А на русском мне говорить неским. Разве что вот коменты пишу для кореянки
"If you're starting get bothered with such kind of things (rudeness adressed to you), then you really won't go very far" That is really wise words, I learned enough from your video. By the way, I like that you've shown some dialog scenes with funny moments in this vlog, thats cute and interesting) Thank you for the video! By the way, I've heard that local korean people have some difficulties with distinguishing european people. One russian guy that studied in South Korea said that he was always mixed up by the local people with another european guy who also had long hair and a beard but was way shorter and looked totally different. It's kind of ironic) Did you noticed such things by local people in South Korea?
Thanks for your comment! Yes, in Korea there is some confusion over different kinds of foreigners, but I think that happens in most other countries, too. 😅
@@ZoyatheRussianKorean Totally agree, especially its true for me. Its strange but me as an asian guy (kazakh), can't even say which nationality another kazakh guy belongs to even though we're in the same ethnicity. Sometimes I have difficulties with deciding whether to talk to a stranger in my native language or in russian or even in english) Once I adressed to someone in english (in english speaking facility) but at the end it appeared to be that he's also native kazakh like me😂 I felt sorry for that. Really, ethnic kazakh people could look way too different
@@hookedj7184 I totally understand your experience! Sometimes you just have to guess. :) Some people get offended when I guess wrong, but I personally think there's nothing to be offended about. Better to guess but start a conversation than not to guess and say nothing at all.
Лично для меня как для русского - корейцы "свои" так сказать) Это как татары, настолько долго и давно друг с другом живем что я позиционирую их как "русских" ) Мир, дружба )
Me as an American Korean i can relate. We have an American exceptionalism mentality that I didnt even know I had until i started traveling to other countries. I def: subbed. This is a cool channel. Awesome personality you have
Очень хорошее видео. Правда, английский плохо воспринимаю на слух, потому не всё было понятно, но шутки зашли на отлично! Хочется поставить ещё один лайк за хорошее чувство юмора :)
Hey Zoya, i was watching some "what do Russian people think..." videos and happened to find your channel. I'm an ethnic Korean-Canadian and American, but my dad was born in Sakhalin too. I've been trying to learn about Korean-Sakhalin people more and your videos are very helpful! Hard to find any content about Korean-Russians, I still have so many questions, anyhow subbed!
I felt great when visiting Kazakhstan. It really felt great to see other people that look just like me. I am Kazakh from Tashkent. Uzbeks look a bit different from Kazakhs, they look more like Persian, and Kazakh look more mongoloid.
What can be better than Zoya in a totally new video? Right, two of them!! ... and here I am pretending to know english, a moldavian spy in russian interwebs ..
same situation!! i am ethnically korean, born in uzbekistan (koryo saram), and was living there for the first years. my first language is russian. but then my parents moved to germany, so now my mentality is mixed between german/russian/usbek/korean
조야님의 이야기 너무 재미있게 들었어요. 저는 뻬쩨르부르크에서 5년정도 살았던 적이 있는데 러시아에서 고려인2세 혹은 3세들은 어떻게 생활을 했는지 혹은 러시아인들 사이에서 어떤 관계로 지내왔는지 궁금한적이 많았는데 조야님의 이야기들을 들으니 많이 이해할수 있을거 같습니다. 무척이나 흥미로운 이야기들 얘기해주셔서 감사합니다. 영어도 굉장히 잘하시고 상황연기까지 영상으로 찍어 보여줘서 아주 재미있게 봤습니다~
I'm Korean-Chinese living in New Zealand. Found this video when I was searching for the keywords "Ethnic Korean". Thanks for sharing the story. I'm 100% ethnic Korean(4th generation), born and grew up in northeast China. Korean was my mother language, studied in Korean language schools in China. Spoken Chinese natively since 20 years old, Resided in New Zealand for 7 years now, I believe many people have similar stories
HOLYYYY SHIT THIS IS SO FUCKING RELATABLE!! I am also Russian-Korean, same story as you but I never visited korea (I live in the US currently). Ive never met other Russian koreans outside my family circle. 6:30 is super relatable lmaoooo
Со скетчей посмеялся) Бывал в таких ситуациях. У меня средне-азиатская внешность пополам с скандинавской. То есть ядреный микс. Ну и плюс пожил в свое время в разных странах. Могу говорить на разных языках. Мой друг иногда говорит: Я не знаю как с тобой вести себя. Азиатский викинг блин.
I’ve had similar experiences in the US as an Asian American (Chinese/Manchu/Korean) . I’ve been asked if I was an immigrant or foreigner despite being born here lmao.
Having to share your experiences is just great, same thing happens to me like really often, my face looks like someone from Asia, i speak English, but I'm Ethnically European, LMAO
Ok . I'm intrigued how the youtube algorithm works..... .... I adore Bald and Bankrupt ( Englishman travelling around places of the former USSR ) , I trying to learning Russian , into K-pop, Travelling Korea & Korean language, into cultures stuff...and it lead me to your channel on the suggested Feed...... Hmmm.....
I had some similar experiences. I'm not Korean or Russian but I am Vietnamese-Ukrainian living in the US. It's get pretty confusing for people when I speak Ukrainian to my parents and have explain the difference between Russian and Ukrainian to friends.
Very interesting and entertaining to listen to you. I can totally relate to everything you said and I also agree with your conclusions. I also never felt like a victim anywhere and have had a great and successful life and career in many countries. Somehow ended up back in my homeland Korea and the 봉투 situation came up for me too lol!!
I can relate to your identity crisis. I was born in Malaysia (ethnic Malay majority), but I am of Chinese ethnicity (5th generation). However, I didn't learn Mandarin in my childhood. Then, my family moved to Australia and became Australian citizens, in a white majority country. Then, I moved to France for work, an English speaker struggling to learn and communicate in French. I have like 4 layers of identity complexity. My worst experience was going to a Chinese restaurant in France. There I was, outwardly looking like a Chinese, speaking English, unable to speak Mandarin or French. I got judgemental stares from the restaurant staff. An ethnic Chinese who can't speak Mandarin, or French in France.
Hi, I'm also Russian Korean born in Uzbekistan and speaking Russian, not really knowing Uzbek language and just in the process of learning Korean, whiiiich, supposed to be my native language, but... Nice to meet you.
Not many people are aware of Koryo Saram. Even I wasn't aware of them until I was reading up on the history of Russia. Thank you for sharing your experience. I can relate to your experience with your struggles with the Korean language. I can't even speak it that well, and huge relate to the panic right there. Anyways, thanks for sharing.
Truer words were never spoken “Just because your a minority doesn’t mean you have to be a victim”. We need to get this message out more. Thank you for sharing your story.
i am so happy finding you, actually someone to relate to. my mother is also from Sahalin, but i was born and raised in Saint P. Learned english on my own. so i am a russian korean speaking english.
1995-In Seoul I was studying Korean at Sogang university, beginning Korean class and we had a classmate from Sakhalin, a Korean-Russian, she couldn't speak English at all or Korean...luckily we learned quickly and were able to speak to her! My Korean American friend made a girlfriend with a girl from there also and married her, she was a trip, TOTALLY RUSSIAN....but looked Korean, TOUGH CHICK!!! She would smoke outside and everyone would stare at her as in those days Korean girls NEVER would smoke outside, different time then, but not a lot has changed in Korea. peace to you.
There's a sad history to many ethnic Koreans in Sakhalin. They were taken there by the Japanese colonialists to work as forced laborers and abandoned when WWII ended. The Russians didn't bother to send them back.
I'm a Slavic-American (Slovak-American mom and Czech-American dad) who entered Russian Studies in university but found my stride in aerospace journalism, writing my thesis in aviation security after the downing of two Korean civilian airliners by the Soviets (KAL flights 902 and 7) . I spent 7 years in Japan running my own school and twice visited S. Korea. I also began an afternoon school with a Korean missionary. It led me to a deeper understanding Asian politics and even the players. I loved your skits! There was a lot of hope when I was young that Perestroika would lead to a healthy relationship between East and West. Vladimir Putin's embrace of religion was first seen as a positive after years suppression. Bush even mentioned the idea of Russia joining NATO after 9/11 when Putin visited Crawford ranch. It sounds probable that my wife and I suffered way more discrimination in Los Angeles than you did in Russia. We suffered at the hands the Japanese company I worked at also by the massive American law firm they hired to create unimaginable trouble for ourselves and our country.
О, у меня девушка-кореянка, и так я узнал о существовании русских корейцев. Она из Казахстана, но сути дела это не меняет) Начал посматривать англоязычный корейский ютуб - теперь рад и за то, что эта тема освещена на ютубе и с русской стороны)
Корейцы разные. Они из разных провинций и с разным временным отрывом. Узбекистанские и казахстанские-другие. У них и кухня,и язык отличаются. И эти группы между собой не дружат.
Similar situation, I'm Buryat, a Mongol whose ancestors were absorbed by Imperial Russia in 1700s, and by the time of Soviet rule they were very Russified. Cause of the revolution, my grandparents left Russia with the "Whites" to Manchuria which became Manchukuo so I have a Japanese grandparent too. My father's side of the family are Buryat and Russian Jewsh descent. They left China to Canada, where I was raised, then we came to US. So besides being Buryat, Jewish, Japanese and part Chinese, my first language was Russian but by the time kindergarten came I spoke Mandarin, only to then speak English in Canada and US... Now being multiethnic, with being someone whose ancestry is *in* Russia but Asian, then being American whose *most* fluent language is English... Now if I tell them any part of that... Americans especially can't wrap their head around this. Like you I'm used to people scratching their head 🤣
I married a Finn, it is funny 'cause she looks Russian and whenever we order food from the local Russian food place, I order in Russian *with* an English-Speaker accent, but they'd look her the whole time. One time I ordered pelmeni, they did the same thing and just asked my wife "You speak Russian?" She said "No", they replied "You sure?" hahaha. The reverse happens in Asian places but my wife actually took Mandarin classes and know more words than I do any day haha. #WhenYouDefyStereotypes
@@FlavumSignum Hey, I’m half Mongolian, half Japanese. I moved to Japan a few years ago and everyone thinks I should be Japanese but I don’t speak fluently. They notice I’m a foreigner. I studying Japanese a lot these days. But like, Idk, I may leave Japan. They don’t really accept different people.
I got a chuckle out of the skits! My own family background is all over the map: On Dad's side most of Northern Europe made whoopee before heading to America on a fast ship but in the main doesn't register on me in the visual sense unless you count height. Mom's side: I had one great-grandmother who was Ukrainian, another set of great-grandparents whose relatives likely hailed from southeastern Russia but were shunted over into the Pale of Settlement, and a great-grandfather who was in all probability Polish although his passport said German. The upshot is--the Russians think I'm Russian (I am functionally illiterate in Russian!), most Americans think I'm some flavor of European or perhaps Asian, and I remember one occasion where some visitors from Canada thought I was Quebeçoise. All very confusing, but one learns to deal. I'm glad to have found your channel!
Хотелось бы услышать интересные истории про тебя! Кстати, I am Mongolian Kazakh who studied in Moscow for 6 year. Right now, I am living in Kazakhstan. Так, что у нас похожая история вроде)))
im a Turkish-Russian who was born in the US. my grandpa was born and raised in Krasnoyarsk but moved to turkey after meeting my grandma. then, my dad was born. my grandpa became very close friends with a turk that he worked with. his friend had a daughter, so naturally the kids clicked together and became my mom and dad lol.
I can feel the same as a son to mixed family (half Armenian and half jewish). My mother and also my grandmother experienced the same thing when they came to visit their Armenian relatives in Moscow . They were racially abused only because of their Armenian origin being Called( чёрные- black skinned people)!!!!!! I think its a big Shame when such a country like Russia which has 130 ethnic minorites makes these ones to feel like they don't have anything in common with Russia. That is too funny because we as a family speak Russian at home , watch TV shows mostly in Russian and also celebrate the New year (every year😜) .
I'm sorry to hear about your family's experience in Russia. It's pretty common though, I have to admit. And you're right, it is a shame. Still, rather than judging the people based on their first reactions, I try to just think of my Russian friends and those who don't behave like those strangers to me. В любом случае, с наступающим и всего самого наилучшего! 🎄✨🎉
I can relate. My parents were Laotian immigrants, but I was born in Germany living in the states now. So when I get those micro aggressive questions “where are you from?” And I tell them Germany, it really throws them off 😂.
У нас в стране тоже много корейцев и я немного не соглашусь, что вы перенимаете на 100% местную ментальность. У вас есть своя целостность как группы людей, внутри социальная поддержка, традиции, взгляды, вы очень сплоченный народ, даже скажу высокоинтеллектуальный. У меня было несколько подружек кореянок и они все были неземными, намного лучше местных.
Oh man, this was hilarious. Figured let me search Russian Korean, was not disappointed. Always wondered about this since my father grew up near the N.K Boarder yet i moved the US when i was young. Was always fascinated by Korean people that spoke Russian. For some reason, I get more surprised when dark skin people speak it more than an Asian race, I thought people would be used to it since we have so many Asian ethnicities that do speak the language....
I was born in Russia, proper white Slavic orthodox Christian, was raised in Britain and then emigrated to Russia when I was an adult :P Then I got drafted into the army after 2 months and they were like 'angliya blyad' and all this nonsense got into a fight pretty quickly with one guy who couldn't shutup, but hey mostly it was alright Didn't help that I spoke Russian with a heavy accent Anyway I'm adapted now, speak Russian just fine now and love it here But also I'm just a different person now. Россия меняет людей
It's an old comment, but I'm curious as to what made you go back? I was born in Moscow but grew-up in Canada. And although my Russian is fluent, I don't think I would find it easy to blend in. Всего хорошего!
Zoya, what generation Soviet Korean are you? Also, would you say that Russian Far East and "European/Slavic" Russia (i.e. Moscow and St. Petersburg) is very culturally and demographically different? (you mentioned that Sakhalin is very different from Moscow). It's weird to me that Vladivostok which is less than a two hour flight from Seoul is filled with Slavic Russians despite being so far east of Europe and close to Asian countries.
Hi! 👋🏼 I'm a third generation. 👍🏼 As for your second question, while there are certainly many significant differences between the Eastern, Mid, and Western Russia, I think the mentality and culture is pretty much the same across the board. The Sakhalin difference I was talking about mainly pertained to the Koreans there as opposed to Koreans in other former Soviet territories. 🙂
Zoya, do you ever get questions like, do Russians like you live in an igloo? For me, whilst I was at Michigan, I did get questions like, so do Malaysians live on trees?
I mean the girl can’t even speak Korean well. How do you become a part of an ethnic group when you can’t speak their language? This is just the sad reality of being an immigrant child. We don’t have a home anywhere. A lot of second gen American kids of immigrants feel like this., there’s even a name for young Latinos who aren’t fluent in Spanish. The “no sabo” kids,. .. We just aren’t really accepted anywhere
I love this. I'm half French half Russian, live in France, am fluent in English just like my mom and speak Russian at an intermediate level (and also Spanish) and I'm kinda learning Korean on my own...
I'm also from Sakhalin! Born and raised there, now living in UK for around 8 years :) Was interesting to hear your story I'd love to hear how did you move in Korea and what you're doing there (was it for job/partner/etc?)
This video is very intresting and also is intresting that you are korean but you were born and raised in russia and that makes me very happy cuz this is very a rare phenomenon like i guess ther is just a few people like you also love your videos.
I couldn't believe that when I met a Korean guy. but he actually looked exactly like a Russian😱I couldn't believe that when I saw a Korean, he looked exactly like a Russian. I just can't believe this is really existed. I am just amazed how beautiful you people are..... Just wow. we wanted to travel sakha for sure....
I know how you feel:)I’m an ethnic Korean in China .But for me, Chinese is my first language.l love my ethnicity and learning korean language now.It is also difficult to me :)
Im a Hmong-American and my first language was English even tho my family speaks both Hmong and English. But us Hmong people living in the U.S is very common.
What’s Sakhalin like? I live in Hong Kong and in summer it’s hot and humid. In fact it’s hot & humid throughout Asia. Except, from weather reports, Sakhalin. True? Also, do people in южно-Сахалинск speak much English? Much Korean (my wife speaks Korean)?
Well, you learned to speak English perfectly so that’s going to happen with Korean too, I guess. I’m Dutch, living in Brazil and I have big problems with Portuguese. Learning a language gets very difficult when you get older. I love Koreans, whether they are Russian or Korean and Korean barbeque is one of my favorit dinners worldwide!
