How important is learning the language of your birth country?

  As a Korean adoptee, I cannot count the number of times when not knowing the Korean language hindered me in some capacity.  Much of this has to do with the fact that I visit Korea regularly and spend a great deal of time with members of the Korean community in Southern California.

 I think the answer to this question is obvious for most adoptees when they are younger.  They will try to fit in with their peers and this means staying away from Korean stuff.  Why should they learn Korean when none of their friends speak it and it’s not used at home?  I think it would be incredibly difficult for any adoptee to learn Korean while growing up.  Language is not like riding a bicycle.  If you don’t use it frequently, you will quickly forget anything you learn.  I remember going to Korean school and finding it very easy to learn the basics of the language only to forget them the next day.

 Later in life, I learned to appreciate my cultural background more.  I had wishful thoughts of knowing Korean so I could communicate better or be more involved with various Korean community events.  I know it is important to know the language of your birth country — its’ value cannot be measured.  I wished I had learned the Korean language while growing up.  But, I also have to face reality.  Reality tells me that it is extremely difficult at best for any Korean adoptee to learn the Korean language.  Reality tells me that most young adoptees will not want to learn the Korean language while growing up.  Reality tells me that even if young adoptees go to Korean language class, they will more than likely forget most of what they learn since it is not used at home or spoken among their peers.

 Despite these difficulties, a few parents try to get their children to learn the Korean language.  Some even take classes themselves to practice with their kids.  I have to commend these incredibly brave parents.  No matter what the results of your efforts will be, your kids will appreciate your efforts when they are grown up — even if they are complaining as you drag them to class.

~Thomas C. Manvydas

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 Personally, I didn’t find it important to learn the language of my birth-country until I went back as a student and it was a component of our curriculum.  As I began to study the language, I felt this odd pressure (probably self-induced) to learn faster, have better pronunciation and a larger vocabulary than my fellow students—who consequently were not Vietnamese or adopted.  Ironically, once I developed an elementary ability to speak the language, I rarely used it.

 This oddity rang true again when I spent an entire summer in an intensive language program.  Upon completion of the program, I got a job working in Vietnam and expected that I would use the language often.  I didn’t.  It became tiresome explaining to people why I could barely speak Vietnamese and after several occasions when I was asked, in English, if I was from Singapore or Malaysia, I started to answer yes.  It saved me the trouble of explaining myself for the millionth time.

 I went through a phase of “needing” to learn Vietnamese, but I no longer feel that need.  I think it was part of the process I went through to create a mental hand bag, in which I could carry my understanding of Vietnamese culture, and thereby validate, mostly to myself, that I am Vietnamese.  Admittedly perhaps a hybrid of sorts.

~Jessica Medinger

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 Since I was adopted at age eleven, I already spoke Korean.  However, within two years of my adoption, I couldn’t speak it anymore.  It has always been my dream to learn to speak Korean again, and last fall, I had an opportunity to study in Korea for a semester.  It was a lot easier for me to retain the language than the adoptees who were adopted as infants, due to the fact that I once knew the language.  During this time, I realized that learning Korean gave me so much more than I had ever imagined. 

 Speaking Korean gave me an opportunity to explore the Korean part of me, which cannot be replaced by anything else.  Interacting with Koreans in daily bases ranged from simply asking for directions to ordering food at restaurants, to making friends.  Most of all, it opened up an avenue to exchange ideas and experiences. 

 While I was studying in Korea, I desperately wanted to fit into this country, where I am from and people looked like me.  Sadly at first, I realized that I was more foreign in Korea than in the US.  However, the more language I learned, which in turn allowed me to explore the culture and the people more, the more I became proud of my heritage.  In the end, I decided that they were a part of me—a part of me that I am proud of, even if they saw me as a foreigner.  Even with my broken Korean, I discovered a very special part of me that I will never let go and re-learning the language was an integral part of this discovery.

~Ashlee Young-Soo Lewis