Language Learning

I work at a school with several MLL (Multi Language Learner) students. It always amazes me when I put children in their cars and they instantly switch to speaking a different language. Their parents are equally, or even more, impressive. Many of the parents came to America at some point during their early adulthood, some not speaking any English. Even so, they show up to conferences, communicate with their child's teachers, do their best to communicate even though English is not their first language. I would be so intimidated if I was in that position. 

Learning a second language is hard! Really hard. Long ago I told myself that if I ever traveled to Korea again, I would learn some of the language first. The language barrier on our last two trips was huge. We couldn't read any of the signs. Many people were unable to speak any English. Once we went in a taxi prepared with a note to direct the driver. Even so, the barrier was so big, we had to get right out of the taxi and find a different way to reach our destination. We learned to look for people who were 30 or younger as they were the likeliest to speak English. But even then, it wasn't guaranteed. We made two trips to Korea spending a total of 14 days there, but all I learned was Ahn-yeong-hah-sae-yo (Hello) and Kahm-sah-ham-ni-dah (thank you).

Since our last trip I have made several attempts to learn Korean but have continued to give up. I tried an online program called Talk to Me in Korean, I tried Duolingo, and I had a short stint with a private online tutor. I gave up each time. Once a neighbor taught me the Korean alphabet (Hangul) which proved to be the easiest part of the whole process. Hangul is a phonetic alphabet that is very easy to learn. Turns out that is about the only easy part of Korean. At least for me.

Now that we have a trip planned and the days are quickly ticking by, I have been motivated to once again try to learn Korean. This time I'm using Rosetta Stone, a program that is available for free through KDL. At first it felt like I was just learning useless phrases. I practiced matching pictures to phrases like, "The man is cooking", "The woman is reading", "The car is red", on and on. I am now on Unit 4. Even though I still feel like I am learning several useless vocabulary words and phrases (Am I really going to have to say, "The television is broken"???), I am starting to feel a little bit of progress. But man, is it tough. I have to focus and concentrate so hard, and even then I feel like I'm forgetting things day after day. Even so, I'm keeping my nose to the grindstone.

The upcoming trip is motivating me to keep learning. I can't wait for the day when I am with my family somewhere in Seoul entering a store needing help from a clerk. What expression will cross the clerk's face when he realizes that the only person in the family who can speak Korean is the white girl?