I believe there is a firm difference between being comfortable in speaking a language and actually being educated about the language. In other words, personally, I have always been a considerably proficient speaker, writer, and listener in Korean. I have grown up listening to Korean pop and watching traditional Korean soap operas which both enabled to keep my mother tongue in constant use. Although I have practiced Korean all throughout my life, and can confidently say that I can speak Korean in the comfort of my own home, I cannot say that I can use Korean confidently or comfortably in a professional workplace environment.
This spring semester, I will be working with my language partner and close friend, Jenna Lee. Currently, we had a quick meeting discussing about what I wanted to accomplish through this course with her and also talk about our schedules and when we can find a time to meet each week. After the first meeting, we decided to meet every week on Tuesday from five p.m. and 7 p.m. Since we already developed a close relationship while attending Richmond, I believe we can avoid any awkward, uncomfortable tension and I can really be comfortable to ask her any questions.
For this semester, I hope to work on many different things. For instance, like I stated above, I would like to learn and speak the “professional language” of Korean where I can hopefully use it in the workplace in the future. Since I am a business administration major with a concentration in marketing and I hope to work in the Korean economy after I graduate, I believe learning Korean, especially Korean used in the workplace is vital for me to succeed in the future.
First, I let Jenna know that I would like to be a better listener of Korean news and media. Ever since I was young, I would always see my parents listening to Korean MBC news, however, although I knew the announcers were speaking in Korean, I still could not comprehend any of the information they were reporting. Back then, however, I was not interested in Korea’s economy nor their political standing, however, presently, I understand that being able to comprehend and interpret the data and information said in the news reportings are highly significant. With my partner, I hope to be able to listen to many recordings/videos of Korean news and ultimately be able to understand (even 80%) of what they are saying. Additionally, I hope to work on my writing skills especially for scholarly writings. Currently, I am a proficient Korean texter. I can write and use acronyms correctly and know of slang, however, I am far from perfect in terms of writing at an academic level. More specifically, I am still confused on how spacing works in Korean grammar since I have never officially learned Korean before. I know that the spacing happens after some nouns or phrases, but I am very confused on which nouns and predicates to use it in. With Jenna, I hope to become better at determining where to space my sentences/words.
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