hello, my friends.


the topic of this blog is: understanding and tolerance for those who do not speak your language.

first and foremost, the examples i will share are few and far between, however, the effect that these situations have on foreigners are great. the point of these examples is to demonstrate that despite intelligence, background, and culture, a person should not be judged based on native language.

1. i happened to be riding on the subway with a few friends a couple of weeks back. we were chatting and having a good time. i don’t think we were being terribly loud but i’m sure that we weren’t being quiet, either. the subway is very loud and so are the koreans that ride with us. while in the middle of a nice conversation, a woman came up to me and said, “maybe you should stop speaking so loudly.” she went on to say that we were very noisy and that we were bothering other patrons on the subway. didn’t we know this was a “public place”? i would like to point out that it is completely normal for an older person to tell a younger person what to do and for them to obey in korea. of course, this situation was annoying and not fun but at least the woman tried to be nice about asking us to be quiet.

The Problem: i’m pretty sure we were asked to be quiet simply because we were speaking english. i had a friend ask her students why someone would come up and say something to us. at first, the students were very shy but eventually one student did say, “teacher, sometimes koreans don’t like to hear english speakers.” also, the subway was very crowded and it is very possible (based on following examples) that people did not want to hear any english.

2. yesterday, jen, abby, and i went to see alice in wonderland. on our ride back to siji, we were chatting amongst ourselves. i will be the first to admit when i’m being loud and i’m frequently shushing friends on the subway because of example #1. however, there were only three of us and we were quietly talking about books. all of a sudden, a man reaches across the aisle to get our attention. the three of us look up and he’s saying, “um, in korea, speaking korean. english, no.” i think we all understand what this means. at one point, he reached over and grabbed my bag because we had ignored him. for the remainder of the ride, he kept trying to get our attention to tell us how wrong it was that we weren’t speaking korean.

The Problem: i am taking korean classes. i am actually making an effort to learn the language. i am interested in korean culture and would like to be able to speak to the folks who are native of this country. i don’t need to be told by someone that i should be speaking korean. i find that it is incredibly rude and offensive. i am an intelligent person and will, hopefully, speak korean soon. what this man didn’t know was that, sure, i could chat to him about how much something costs, whose is that, and if he had flash cards i could even name some of the things in korean but i can’t say anything important to him.

3. when i am walking down the street, it is not unusual for people to say, “hello”. that’s completely fine. most of the times, these ‘hellos’ come from adorable school children who are just excited to see someone different. it almost seems like a dare amongst the kids, who’s more willing to talk to the foreigner. however, sometimes i will be stopped by koreans for some ‘english practice’. some koreans live for this.

The Problem: it seems like there is a ‘catch 22’ for foreigners here. koreans really want to speak english to us but at the same time they want us to speak korean. if i refuse to speak english to someone, i feel bad and like i shouldn’t be rude. however, that’s what my job is: speaking english and teaching english. i don’t want to do that during my private time as well. the other problem is that they want us to speak korean to each other and them. i’m not sure how to know which language is appropriate when.



I’m writing this blog because I’m sure that most people who read it know me. It’s common knowledge that I’ve graduated high school and college. I received a minor in Spanish. So far, I’ve traveled to 10 different countries and tried to learn about their cultures. I’ve been taking Korean classes since the second week I arrived here. I’m not unintelligent. I’m not ignorant. I do speak English.

I find there are many people in the U.S. who are convinced that people should be speaking English. I think we need to take the time to remember that people think in their native language. I don’t think in Korean, I think in English. I don’t dream in Korean, I dream in English. My friends don’t speak Korean, they speak English.

I really like Korea. I like being here and I enjoy the people. However, I can leave this country if I want to. I don’t have to be here forever. Think about the people who have to move to a new country to start a new life. They are trying to do better for themselves and their families. They shouldn’t be judged and called stupid because they don’t speak English, Korean, or whatever the language happens to be.

I challenge you to think about the things I’ve written. Think about how it would be to be reprimanded for speaking they way you know how. Think about what it would be like to not be able to communicate. How difficult would it be for you? How long would you be able to tolerate it?

I’m sure there will be people that disagree with me. I know that everyone has their own opinions. I’m not asking for agreement. I’m simply asking for contemplation and an attempt at understanding what this might be like.



the next blog will not be this serious, i promise. it’s just something that I felt I needed to share.

lacey.