Embracing Myself

I'm going to be honest here. Oftentimes, I have a hard time embracing my cultural roots.  I visited South Korea this past summer finding out a lot about my own culture and the people. I would sit on a ledge that looked down at the city of Seoul thinking, "wow, the culture that I only knew from my parents is a lot different than I expected." I compare South Korea's culture to America's culture and realize many differences as well as similarities. South Korea is considered one of the most homogeneous countries in the world, racially and linguistically. Korea has its own culture, language, cuisine and even dress. In any country you travel to, you notice there is a certain standard that everyone upholds to whether its in etiquette or in respect. Now, I'm not saying that everyone from South Korea acts like this or that. 

From my own perspective, people in South Korea dress modestly and well. How you dress is even shown as a sign of respect. You tend to see Koreans in Seoul dress as if they're going to an important dinner versus country woman and men in South Korea. In the United States, people don't follow a code of conformity but instead dress however they want. I've noticed that fashion in the United States dress on a variety of factors including location, venue, and demographic factors. From my personal views before my experience this past summer in South Korea, I only experienced different cultures through other people's own understanding. I didn't experience for myself what the world has to offer for me, culturally. 

Rippling Effect

For four years now I've been taking Japanese as a foreign language at school. I took one year of Spanish when I was in eighth grade, thinking that I would continue Spanish in high school. However, the summer before freshman year, one of my close friends who was a junior at the time was taking Japanese and she convinced me to take Japanese. I didn't know that the high school I was going to go to offered Japanese. So I looked into it and I decided after thinking for sometime that I would not continue Spanish and instead take up Japanese. I didn't know anything about Japanese except their influence in World War II. My parents discouraged me from taking Japanese, one of the reasons being that it won't be useful and that Spanish would be more beneficial for me. However, my interest in the Japanese language and many other factors led me to take my first step towards a journey that I never knew would make such a profound effect on my high school career. I will never forget my first day of Japanese. My freshman year, I had Japanese in my fifth period class on odd days. Sensei which means teacher in Japanese greeted me warmly at the doorway stating something in Japanese that I had no idea what it meant at the time.


"Konnichi-wa Sensei!" Those were the first words I heard as I stepped into Japanese class as a freshman. The words that were so foreign and weird to me at that time would be life changing and second nature to me. I didn't know it but that first step I took in that classroom would start me on a rewarding journey that I have never looked back at since. The foundation of the Japanese language has given me enthusiasm in all aspects of the language has helped me to open up many doors that I wouldn't have come across if I continued Spanish from middle school. One such door that opened up to me in a very significant way was the Virginia Summer Residential Japanese Governors Academy. The impact of this program has made a rippling effect on everything else I've done ever since. Through this program I furthered my language skills, learned even more about the culture, and worked with native speaking Japanese teachers who have helped me to be a more versatile student in Japanese. The skills and insight I gained from that experience have helped me teach my fellow classmates and help my teacher. The influence that my mother language has not only opened my eyes to the power of languages but it has also broadened my horizons of different cultures. Charlemagne once said "To have another language is to possess a second soul."  

What did it take?

What did it take to learn your mother tongue?


"It took a lot."


Simple as it may sound, learning my mother language and holding onto it in a country where they didn't speak my mother tongue was hard.

Let me break it down for you...


I'm a second generation Korean American that was born in the United States.



If you don't know what a second generation is exactly,


Second generation Americans are...

• the second generation of a family to be born in a particular country

OR

• the native-born child of naturalized parents.

As you may know from my previous blog posts, I was born NOT speaking English because my parents spoke Korean around me. I did not learn English until I began elementary school where I was in ESL until third grade. During that time, I had a hard time trying to learn English and all the other school subjects. My parents were working long hours and the family time that used to be filled with sounds of the Korean language decreased. And then also as you now, one day I just lost it. I lost my mother tongue and the identity that didn't seem important to me at the time.


I thought "hey, I don't need to know Korean cause I mean when will I need to use it? Okay, I guess when I am with my grandparents and other Koreans but even then I can still speak English..I mean at least I didn't lose it completely." For some time I held onto that belief but then it was that incident I mentioned earlier and other little things that changed my mind.


Many people don't realize this because people can't relate to a "mother language" because they are not from another country or ethnicity.



Oftentimes, the second generation don't know there own language mainly because of the following three reasons:
1. they were born in an English speaking environment
2. forget their mother language by the time they started school
OR
3. they were adopted



When I meet people who don't know their own mother language or they don't have the desire to know their mother language I truly feel sorry for them. At one point, I was like them, not having a care in the world and just trying to live life. Now for some people, its understandable but if they were adopted but for the people who chose to not learn it I have a few questions for you,


"what does it mean being a __ethnicity__ American or a __ethnicity__?"


"How will you talk to your own race?"


"Do you truly know who you are? Where you came from?"


Some people say "ignorance is bliss." But is it really?

Appearances

ASIAN, WHITE, BLACK....

These three words and more is how society categorizes people. Some may call these stereotypes or even racists remarks but for me a person is more than the color of their skin or how they look. It wasn't until I came up with this blog that I've thought of the how many different cultures and backgrounds people come from. Oftentimes, people don't take the time to appreciate people of different backgrounds and that's how categories like asian, white, and black came about. I'm not saying that these terms are considered offensive but when people use these words to hurt someone or offend them. The results can be detrimental mentally and even physically. I used to experience the effects of name calling when I was in elementary school and middle school where I was often teased for my looks. I always wondered "why can't I be white or black so no one would tease me for how I look?" Now that I look back at those times, I've come to realize the people that teased me weren't ready to accept people of different backgrounds. Different languages, cultures, and faces bring people together and I've seen the results. As a senior in high school, from time to time I've experienced some teasing from peers at school but instead of being hurt by such words. I take those words and I return with kindness and understanding. From understanding my mother language, I'm able to understand and accept people of different cultures. And so I ask my readers, are you open to different cultures? races?

Words from Above

In my first post, I explained how I came to personally understand my mother language. I knew from a very young age that I looked different and for some time spoke differently than most people. I tried to conform to other people and act as if I was like any other person. But I still have a hard time fitting in at times because I haven't found my niche yet. I'm still trying to find out who I am and who I want to be. Since I was born in the United States and not my mother country, I am considered a Second-Generation Korean. Sometimes, I wish I was born in South Korea because then I wouldn't feel so disconnected to my own kind. At times when I feel down, I tend to vent my anger toward my parents, asking them "Why, why didn't you stay in South Korea?" Before they answered my question, my father gave me a minute to calm down and without a blink of an eye simply said,

"To give you a better life, we wanted you and your siblings to live a better life than the life we lived in South Korea.

"If your mother and I stayed in South Korea, your mother wouldn't have been able to become a nurse or I, a dentist...we wouldn't have let alone been able to provide food and a nice home like this."

"_my name__, the opportunities that this country has to offer to every single citizen, regardless of race or gender is given to all who choose to pursue it."

And what my parents said is true, this country, this democracy in which we live in day by day provides every single person the choice to be whatever they want to be whether you're a boy from a poor family or an immigrant. This country has been and still is the land of opportunity and hope. I never realized how lucky I am to live in this country until I heard those words. My parents are living proof of that. For four years now, I've been taking Japanese at school. I've learned that Japan, a male-dominated society allows few or no opportunities to women in employment or even in treatment among the opposite gender. In other parts of the world, problems may not be like Japan but equality among social classes or even religion.

I'm still learning every day, what "mother language" means to me....

"Language is something that one can't live with or without. It is essentially the way a person communicates amongst one another."

My mother language is not only another language, it is my identity and my life.