Communication
Since immigrant women are new to Korean, it takes some time for them to speak Korean well. And in real life, they were experiencing many linguistic difficulties in terms of intonation and word meaning that were different from their native language. In general, most migrant women reported no major difficulties in basic language skills necessary for communication. However, since most of the participants learned Korean at an immigrant school for a short period, this linguistic problem became a core confusion factor.
It’s naturally easy for my husband to order sashimi or steak at a Korean restaurant, but I don’t know the proper words yet. It’s gotten a little better these days, but it’s still difficult to order in Korean. (participant 10)
On the other hand, it was found that migrants experience a lot of confusion unless they use the correct words in the process of communicating with other people. In particular, it was found that communication was very difficult due to the custom of speaking Korean oppositely. In addition, it was emphasized that the participants had difficulty translating into their native country and at the same time had difficulties communicating properly with others due to the recent presence of many foreign words in Korea and the sudden formation of new words.
English and loanwords are difficult. When I went to school, we did not learn English. Since a lot of English is used here when I work, it was uncomfortable because I cannot understand and I cannot follow words that I have not heard before. Words that I hear for the first time are difficult. (participant 1) I served at a restaurant. It was a Western-style restaurant where they serve steak, juice, and cocktails. At first, you don’t know anything. The different kinds of steak and spaghetti were things I hadn’t heard of often in China and there, it’s all written in Chinese. (Omitted) But experiencing it here, ’Wow, what do I do with all these foreign words?’ was the biggest problem. (participant 3)
In addition, they used code-switching in verbal communication. For example, while they tried to learn the parts of Korean that they don’t know while at work in Korea, some of them used their mother tongue in other daily situations. Also, they experienced times when their way of speaking, different from that of Koreans, provided a reason for discrimination and some would receive education in the Korean language to better adapt to Korean life.
I learned Korean again for about two months in China but it wasn’t easy since I keep using Chinese at home. So I watched Korean dramas when I was in China. That was when I started to watch dramas. From 2004. I used Chinese at home, too. My grandfather used Chinese, too since he works as a government employee. I always spoke in Chinese since I had to socially. When I first started to learn the language I wondered ‘Why I am here?’ Not in my classes but when I was attending a Korean language academy. (participant 1) I sometimes use Vietnamese when it is more comfortable. When I used Vietnamese, people next to me would tell me not to and I thought ‘what’s the matter if a Vietnamese person uses Vietnamese but as I continue to live here I understand why. (participant 4)