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)