This made me laugh. This sums it up some days: Do you speak English?
Just imagine that the two guys are Korean.
On Friday, two English teachers that I have been teaching with FOR FIVE MONTHS told me that they are nervous and afraid to talk to me... (it came up in conversation - people aren't usually that direct!) so I've spent all weekend trying to figure out if it's me or if it's them, or if it's a combination of both... I can understand fear of native speakers, but it's not like I laugh or make them feel stupid (not intentionally).
Although funny enough, on Friday at school, I tried out a new Korean verb I've been working, the word for "to be cute", I put together my little sentence (on the fly! WOOT!) and the (non-English) teacher to whom I said "Cute blouse!" smiled at me, giggling, and said to another teacher passing by "Katrina blah blah blah "gyopda" and then they BOTH giggled! So, I spent the day trying to figure out if I used the word properly or not... I did, I pronounced it fine, I guess the idea of me speaking Korean is just _that_ funny. Ok, to me too... I have software that records me saying phrases to compare against native speaker samples, and it makes me giggle too...
But, I tell this story because it's by no means the first time this has happened, yet I continue to try to speak this language - and English teachers who are capable of (and have done) simultaneous translation for me (when I'm teaching...) are afraid to speak to me. I know it's not about level, but still... what am I doing that makes them so uncomfortable?
So please, watch the video! (and Liz, tell me if this isn't your life too!)
(Suggestions are welcome. Anyone with feedback is welcome to post about how uncomfortable I make people, or how intimidating I am, but constructive comments only, please!)
Also, to fledgling language learners out there, Declan's Korean HakGyo program is ROCKING my world... it's a lot of vocab in each lesson, but the grammar is great - well paced and well-explained... let me know if you're interested, I bought a license... (you have to be able to read/write hanguel to use the program - no romanizations)
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1 comment:
ok. love it. totally representative of life here. on that note, i don't think that YOU are the reason they don't speak english. i try to think of it like this:
when i was a kid i went to french immersion school. i spoke french every day at school with no problem (well, after a while) but as soon as i would be required to use it outside of that context i froze. i just couldn't. i knew that i could speak french, but i just didn't want to sound stupid to the french people around me. this became even more true AFTER i moved to quebec - i had a funny accent. i was petrified of speaking french to an actual french person. i know it sounds stupid, and these are not children, but grown adults, but i think it's the same... ?
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