Learning a Foreign Language - Essay Example

Yong Kim’s struggles in learning English as a third language almost align with challenges that I have experienced specifically contributed by the language barrier.

In his quest to be an English writer, Yong Kim had to overcome the language barrier by devoting himself to the task that lay ahead of him coupled with varied discouragements, for instance, from one of his roommates (Spack, 42). This is similar to my experience except that mine was to study Korean, which is one of the many languages that I have never been able to be fluent in before deciding to try it. Since, I grew up in four countries, which are Egypt, France, Holland, and Sweden. My father used to work for United Nation and every two or four years we had to relocate from one state to another besides other countries, which we temporarily stayed for approximately a half to year period. They include Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Kenya, Japan, and ext. hence, growing up in an unstable environment despite too many people seemed to be fun because every time I had to readjust to my new environment though I attended international schools.

Presently, I cannot say that I am fluent in any language even my native one, which is Arabic. When I say fluent, I imply 100% speaking, reading, and writing. This is because, for instance, when I started focusing on French while I was in France, suddenly my father would come and tell us to be ready for after three months we are relocating to the Netherland for him to attend a new mission in that region. Then, when I started learning Dutch, my father would come again and cite that we are moving to Sweden. Therefore, all these scenarios at that time coupled with extremely short periods of staying in a certain region posed an immense challenge in learning a particular language effectively. However, some may argue children are capable of learning extremely fast but this was not my case and it turned out to be stressful to me. Since I was not able to focus on a single subject despite my entire family being in a situation where we got the chance to reside as well as visit more than twenty countries. The worst part encompassed that I did not have an identity evident from certain incidences that I experienced and prompted me to think of learning my Korean language as well as certain languages that are essential in aiding me to live as a cosmopolitan citizen. This was after reading “A Book-Writing Venture” by Kim Yong that relayed what he encountered language barrier and managed to overcome it via studying English to the extent of writing a book in it. A remarkable incidence that I can remember vividly happened to me three years ago in Korea, which prompted me to decide to study Korean language after reading Kim Yong’s book who is a Korean too. I felt that I had the same experience with him in terms of language but the only difference is that he was struggling with English in America and mine was Korean in Korea.

My life’s story started in 2009 after getting a scholarship from the Korean government to study in Korea as an exchange student between San Jose state university in California and Kyung Hee University in Suwon in South Korea. A part of the scholarship was to teach Math and science for 15 hrs a week to elementary school students. I stayed in Korea for approximately 14 months, which was a good experience but the first 3 months were hectic due to the language barrier. Since, most Koreans do not speak English even those who are fluent in it as they are shy, whereas some are good in writing only. Therefore, this posed a great challenge, especially when interacting with other citizens and inquiring about various essential services, like where and what to eat. Hence, prompting me to study Korean despite initially not being interested because it seemed difficult, as the language did not have Latin alphabets. The most remarkable incident was when I fell seek during the night where I encountered difficulty in explaining myself to the people close in the nearby 24/7 store, to the taxi, and eventually nurses in the hospital while receiving treatment.

Similar to Kim Yong’s experience in America, I decided to learn the Korean language regardless of all difficulties. Since, there earlier, “….language problem that I was attacking loomed larger and larger as I began to learn more” (Spack, 42). This was by registering for a language class where I got a tutor besides buying many books and CDs, which enabled me to start conversing in Korean with my students, friends as well as classmates.  This is similar to Yong Kim who, “….borrowed a record of Anthony Vivaldi’s…from the library and played over and over that day not even stopping to eat” (Spack, 42). In about four months, I was able to read 80% of Korean after changing the attitude I had regarding Korean alphabets that I presumed earlier to be difficult in comprehending. Presently, I am capable of reading all signs in streets besides undertaking varied activities easily without experiencing much language difficulties as before. From that experience, I learned nothing is unattainable to me if only I dedicate myself to achieving it.