Just Show Me Pictures! Expats Dealing with Language Barriers (Part 1)

Updates: a) Eating in Korea is more difficult than I imagined… and while my food vocabulary grows in Korea, my pointed nose doesn’t. Sometimes I can’t even get first base with the smell and this turns me off to cooking my own food as well; b) I’ve been taking regular weekend/day escape trips outside the city (Seoul, Busan, Jinhae, Cheongdo, Geongju) to snap back into GrrrlTraveler mode vs resident mode and because, I suspect, my not liking it here has nothing to do with Korea; c) I finally told my co-teacher how I feel about her, why and how it’s hindered my enthusiasm to this country and to working with her!

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I’ve decided to add a short blog series,  titled “Just Show Me Pictures!” about battling language barriers and culture shock in Korea. It’s suspected that generally, 90% of all expats suffer culture shock and depression while living abroad because  the familiar is replaced by the foreign and you must live and endure, a compromised lifestyle for a lengthy duration. Language obstacles are the beast which only adds to this frustration.

Think of a deep-sea diver, holding his/her breath underwater but must do so for a sustained period before coming up. Immersed in foreign surroundings, you battle the exasperation of having to do everything “in foreign“. Your unfamiliar surroundings swallow you whole with its language, customs and its own way of dealing with basic necessities in life. And when you finally get to speak English (as a native English teacher or NET) your speech becomes  an exercise in delivering the most elementary phrases, sloooowly and with pauses between every 3 words (so that you can give listeners time to catch up) . A sense of displacement and a distorted reality enters this “dream turned nightmare”. Frustration and helplessness compound and for most expats, seeking the familiar is a search for sanity.

For dinner, just serve me English.

When you live in a country, devoid of the English alphabet, you crave the sight of English!  Call it a hunger. You crave translation services. When the gates of heaven open and you finally see it -E.N.G.L.I.S.H.-  the floodgates to familiar breath release; and you’ll realize how much you’ve taken your native tongue for granted. When I visited Seoul for a weekend, I saw some English store signs in an artsy neighborhood and practically squealed-  “OMG- they have store signs with English!!!” Sounds dramatic, but English storefront signs feel rare in Korea and this simple thing helped me to feel some sanity. Chain restaurants like Bennigans, Burger King, Starbucks, etc…  attract those who might ordinarily turn their anti-establishment noses up and this is not because the food is good.  It is because it’s  served with a familiar slice of American-English pie.

Here is a small bit from my first day Introductions (via ppt presentation) to my Teaching English to Teachers Class. I used my own obstacles and frustrations with learning Korean as an example for challenges and frustrations they may feel learning English! Enjoy!

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I spent a week+ wondering why my new Korean shampoo felt funky. I discovered I had bought conditioner.

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Fini!