Member-only story
I didn’t become fluent, but what I learned was far more valuable
A few years ago, I decided to invest in a Korean language immersion class. As a Korean-American, I have long felt embarrassed for not being fluent in my native tongue.
My family immigrated to America when I was 2-years old. As typical of Asian immigrant families, my parents quickly pushed me to assimilate into American culture.
To my parents’ credit, they dragged me to Korean school every weekend for years. But I was never interested as a child, and it didn’t take long for my English-speaking skills to eclipse my Korean. I can speak and understand Korean, but my vocabulary is stunted at a pitiful 5th-grade level.
A more significant reason I felt compelled to take on this challenge was to communicate with my mother better. My mother’s English is stronger than my Korean, and we’ve developed a hybrid “Konglish” over the years.
For my 3-month intensive study, I focused on conversational Korean only — no reading or writing. My instructor was a young Korean woman who lived in New Jersey. My journey began with a two-week immersion where my instructor and I spoke strictly in Korean for eight hours a day. After those two weeks, we met for two hours via video three times a week.
