By Hannah
The first part of my gap year I spent in Shanghai, China to get better at Mandarin Chinese. The second part of my gap year I spent in Seoul, South Korea to get better at Korean. The move to Korea was a lot less scary than my move to Shanghai. For one, I had already been a couple of times during my childhood to visit relatives. And on top of that, my parents had come with me since both me and my sister would be studying in Korea at the same time, so they decided to also come and stay with relatives so we would all be in Korea together. A few of my friends also happened to be studying in Korea during this time. Unlike my time in Shanghai, I was much less nervous about starting language school at Yonsei University. Although my friends and family lived elsewhere—my friends and sister in Incheon and my parents in Busan—I
already had a community in Korea.
But to my surprise, making friends came fairly easily and quickly. On my very first day while I was moving in, I made friends with someone on the elevator. And then, during my placement test, I made another friend. And then during my first day of class, I made some more friends then. And then that day after class, I went to the convenience store in my school building, and I made some more friends there. And then those friends introduced me to their friends. And soon enough, I had multiple groups of friends here. But again, unlike China, making friends was not a big priority for me here.
I am passionate about learning Mandarin, but my reasons for learning Korean are far more personal and important to me. A huge reason as to why I came here to study Korean was so I could develop a closer relationship with my family and heritage. In Korean, there’s this word: 교포. It refers to native Koreans that live in regions outside of Korea, or “Overseas Koreans”. While the meaning itself is neutral, it can occasionally have negative connotations, being used to indicate someone as “less Korean” or not a “real” Korean. When I was younger visiting Korea, I remember taxi drivers, store clerks, or other random people would ask why I couldn’t speak properly, and my parents would have to explain to them that I grew up in America. The connotation was always that as a Korean, I should be able to speak the language, so why wasn’t I able to?
I remember, only about two weeks into the program, I had called my mom. Usually when speaking to my parents, I use a mix of both Korean and English, having to rely on English to close the gaps between the cut up strings of my Korean sentences. But when I called my mom, for the first time, I was able to fully talk in Korean. I felt pretty proud of myself, as I could feel that I had made progress. And my mom noticed too, as she delightedly exclaimed how my Korean had already improved a lot. The same thing happened when I called my dad. He said my words seemed to come out smoother and that my pronunciation had improved. They seemed so happy about it. And so, so was I. So much so I felt like crying.
My dad has always been a super proud Korean. He loves talking about Korean history and how Korea has overcome so much. From an impoverished country, to one of the world’s top economies, all without abundant natural resources to rely on. He talks about Korean culture, on how K-pop and K-dramas have become a world phenomenon (he’s the one who got me into K- pop actually). About the hard working nature of Korean people that made the country what it is.
My mom and I aren’t very close. As I grew up, we would get into petty arguments a lot. I’ve always felt like we’ve had a hard time understanding each other. One night when we were visiting my aunt, I remember she had admitted to her sister how she felt sorry she couldn’t speak better English so we could have more fun together or be able to talk deeply with each other.
When I reflect on my Korean semester, I think back to the reason I came here in the first place. I’m super grateful to the people that I met, I always am. The cafes here are cute, there’s always something new to explore, and don’t get me wrong, the nightlife is fun. But more importantly, I am so glad I spent time in my gap year here and that I studied hard so that I was able to improve my Korean. For dad, my mom, and my heritage.
Undoubtedly, my Korean still isn’t perfect. I can hold a conversation, communicate to people what I need and want, and get around just fine. But still, sometimes I’ll have to ask people to repeat themselves a few times, or ask what a word means every now and then. And I still get the occasional questioning from taxi drivers on why my Korean doesn’t sound natural.
I feel like my time here was cut too short. But I plan to continue to study hard and keep getting better at Korean.
For my parents who support me, I have felt like this is the least I could do to grow closer to them. This post is for them.
