Adcantage to stay in touch with people from same country

When people leave there homeland, and start to live in a foreign country such as USA, they need some help from others to fit into new environment. Some would think that it would be nice to get help from natives than people from their own country because natives would know more about their homeland more, and it would help you to progress in speaking English. In my opinion, however, it would be more beneficial to have relationships with people from your own country than to be with natives only. They would understand your situation better since they had been through same or similar situation before, and you can get essential information more easily because you can talk in your mother language. Moreover, you can feel relax and comfort because you can share similar feeling and culture between people from same nation.

People from same country are very eager to help new comers because they knew that it would be very hard for the new comers to things such as find a place to live, buy a car, and pay bills. They might keep ask you that you have any problems so far, and try to help you to check what to do next. Americans are very friendly, and willing to help you when you ask, but they would not come and ask if you have any problems. In my case, I stayed in American house temporarily until I found my place to live when I arrived in Newark, Delaware. As a new comer, I expected some kinds of hospitable care from the host, but there was not any. After I finished everything all by myself, I noticed that Americans would expect you to do by yourself because you are grown up, and it is your business, not theirs. In the orientation, I met a Korean guy who arrived here one year early than I do; he keep asking me is there anything that he could help for me even it was our first met.

Furthermore, it would be much easier to obtain essential information from people from your country because they can explain to you in your language, and they would tell you about additional information such as what to prepare. For example, when I registered the classes, I counseled with my advisor to select the courses. Since I am a transferred student, I was not so sure which classes to take at that time, but unfortunately my advisor was not sure either. Students from my school in Korea knew a lot about registration, so he helped me a lot.

Use of Nonverbal Communication in U.S and Korea

According to Professor Albert Mehrabian,a Psychology professor of the University of California, people use 55% of nonverbal communication methods in conversation whereas they only use 7% of verbal one. From his research, it is revealed that nonverbal communication is used widely during conversation. People in Korea and USA use similar nonverbal communications, however they have different meanings.

Koreans do not stare at people’s eyes during conversation. They usually look down especially when they talk to older people or their boss. It is a culture based gesture that they look down to show they are agreeing with or to show of their respectfulness. It is a sign of being rude if someone stare or maintain eye contact. On the other hand, it is a sign of no confidence or unfaithfulness if someone looks down in conversation in U.S. For example, students in U.S. make eye contact talking to professors. It is a meaning of confidence and respect. Otherwise in Korea, professor may think that it is very rude attitude if students make eye contact all the time during conversation.

Americans seem to exaggerate or overreact when they talk. Americans use hand and leg gestures to imitate things that they want to explain. In fact, it is more helpful for listeners to understand. However, in Korea, people may think it is very frivolous if people use too many gestures. Korean tries to explain in verbal way because it can be a symbol of high education and also, there are more expressions for sounds, smell, colors than that of English.

There are similarities between Korea and U.S. in body space. Since Korea is very small and dense, people are less likely to care about personal space than American. But if people talk in very close distance, it would be unpleasant or uncomfortable in Korea too. Koreans usually maintain about 3~4 meters when they talk.

Hey this is all "me"!!

Before I had been to U.S, I was a very normal child who was shy and waiting to be asked or greeted. After I came back from U.S, I step down one year as a sophomore in the middle school while my peers are juniors. I remembered the first day of reinstatement in Korean middle school. I sit at the very end of the row and stay silent and waiting for someone come and talk to me. I was anxious to tell them of my life in U.S. But nobody acted as I expect. I was new and one year older than classmates. So I tried to change myself as a self-confident and comfortable person who smiles all the time and joke a lot.

From that time, I always smile and tried to be showed as a person who is very easy to talk to. Now I’m twenty five and I realize that smile and wit and humor are one of the best tools to give a good impression. Look back on myself to determine whether I am successful, I think I was usually successful to portray myself as “cool guy”. However, the “cool guy” is not only “me”. I would be in a sad mood, or depressed. Some of my friends surprised if I’m in a bad mood and say “What happened to you, you do not look like you”. But that is “me” as well. Sometimes I feel like I’m wearing a smiling mask to disguise as a cool guy, but eventually I find out that every single mask inside me is just me.

Generation Gaps In Language

In the story of Amy Tan, she found the difference in learning language between immigrant family and native family. Children who are born in immigrant family may suffer from learning correct expression in situation. Since she was worn in Chinese family, she believes it affected result on her IQ test and SAT.

My country, Korea is considered as a one nation country. It is rare to find immigrant family but we do have gaps in using language between different generations. Compare to father’s generation, people in my age use more broken and shorten Korean due to the effects of internet. Language used in internet is more shortened for fast typing. For example, “매덩(Mae-Dung)” is a abbreviation of “매력 덩어리(Mae ryuk Dung uh ri)” meaning “a cluster of attractiveness”. But usually old people do not understand shortened words. This phenomenon spreads widely among the youngsters so that communication between generations gets worse.

Selecting words can be changed depending on situations. In Korean, there are many words to indicate one meaning. For example there are many words which have meaning of “you”. In formal situation such as conference, Korean select more respectful words such as “당신(Dangshin)” or “귀하(Kye-ha)” to indicate each other. However, in informal situation such as gathering of old friends, “너(Nu)” or “야(Ya)” which means “you”, will be used to call each other.

About myself [Part 1]

Hi, my name Jung ho Kim. I'm from South Korea. I'm 25 years old. I was born in Dae-gu which is the third largest city in Korea. It is placed in southern part of Korea. I grew up there and lived with my family until 20. There are 5 members in my family, grandmother, father, mother, older sister and me. After I graduated high school, I moved to Seoul, the capital of Korea, to go to university. I had lived in Seoul for about 5 years. I like to play baseball and basketball. I was a big fan of NBA and Michael Jordan is my favorite player. My major is accounting and I hope to become a professor in Korea.