Language learning

Many people have expressed surprise that I am taking Korean along with Lance while in Seoul. These are not people who have ever actually heard me speak in Korean. Let me try to explain more about my level of proficiency in Korean.

Like many Korean-Americans, I grew up hearing more Korean than I spoke, so my passive understanding was much better than my active ability. I managed to become much better at Korean by studying it in college and in Seoul after college. And because of my training, I'm pretty knowledgeable about Korean linguistically.

However, my fluency is still terrible. If you were to talk to me in Korean, you would think that I had barely started learning the language. Since I look like a normal Korean person, but I don't sound like one, I tend to get weird looks and questions, so I've generally avoided speaking Korean when I could. As a result, of course, I speak extraordinarily poorly given how much Korean I can understand.

Of course living in Seoul forces one to speak Korean more. I'm finding that being here with Lance is working out very nicely. The reason we are here is for him to learn Korean. I'm essentially just here for the ride. So when we go out, he's the one who does the ordering, because he's the one who needs the practice. Frequently I have to intervene because the conversation gets a little too hard for Lance. I find these situations where I have to speak Korean a lot less stressful than I would have in the past. For one thing, when I'm by myself I can just decide to avoid a situation that I think will be too difficult. But I don't want Lance to miss out on something just because I'm afraid of sounding foolish, so I'm more willing to try things when I'm with him. Also, Lance provides me some cover. When people see me with Lance, I feel like people will realize that I'm not a normal Korean person, and they won't be too surprised when I don't sound quite right. Finally, I'm finding myself to be fairly competent when we're out and about, and that feels pretty good.

So I'm at the Language Institute and working on my Korean. It's a little hard to be sure I've been placed into the right level, since I think my level varies so much in the different skill areas. And I'm torn between wanting to improve and to get my money's worth, and not wanting to work too hard. We'll see how it works out.