Audio Essay Response

When I first thought about this assignment, I was afraid to share about my inability to speak Korean fluently or even read and write in Korean. However, after listening to everyone’s essays I realized that I’m not the only one with this problem. About half of the class has/had a difficulty communicating in their native language while the other half had a difficulty communicating in English. For example, in Gary’s audio he says that as he got better in English he became worse in Chinese. I can relate to this experience as I have memories of my past where I knew fluent Korean. I was able to pronounce words that I find difficult today when I was young. But as I learned English I forgot some Korean like how Gary forgot some Chinese.
On the other hand, I can only experience Jenny’s story about how she has to translate for her parents with my imagination. My parents speak English fluently, so they never did have me translate things for them. I wonder if it is troublesome to be translating for your parents every time. I wonder if I could have done the same if my parents did not know English.
Lastly, Maria’s story about how she was able to translate for a new student in her school struck me hard. In my elementary school, there was an ESL student who spoke Korean and had difficulty communicating in English. However, unlike Maria, I turned a blind eye to his problems. I feel uncomfortable using my Korean in the public. I also knew that this one-time thing would become a thing I have to do until I graduate since this school didn’t have a Korean translator. Maybe if I knew how to speak Korean more fluently I would have helped him.
Although I did not enjoy the audio part, I found this assignment interesting and learned a lot about the different language barriers that exist or existed in the class. I was able to connect to some stories while other stories were something that I could only understand by putting myself in the shoes of someone else. There was a common regret of not learning the native languages in the audio essays. I too regret not learning Korean and I frequently question if it’s too late.