Sangmin: First Meeting

I sat on a couch inside Union Grounds and pulled out my phone to send a text:

I’m waiting inside Union Grounds. What are you wearing so I can know who you are?

Moments later, my phone buzzed with a reply:

I’m wearing a Texas Rangers baseball cap. I will be there soon.

Soon, a young, skinny Korean man walked in, indeed wearing a Texas Rangers baseball cap. His name is Sangmin. He is from Korea, living in the United States for a few months to learn English.

“This is my last vacation,” he told me with a laugh.

Like most first-time conversations, we began by getting to know each other. We talked about his home in Korea, his family, and his schooling. He told me life in America is much different from Korea. He described how Korea is more dependent on public transportation unlike America, which is more dependent on cars. He also jokingly described how much easier it was to talk to customer service in Korea; there aren’t any automated answers and buttons to press like in America!

But if he were to choose between Korea and America, Sangmin said Korea is still home. After learning English in the U.S., he plans to go back home and find a career in engineering.

However, what struck me about Sangmin was his determination to learn English and his openness to exploring a culture that was not his own. Before coming to TCU, he had previously gone to UT Arlington. He said there were many Koreans at UTA—and that was a problem! Whenever he hung out with his Korean friends, they spoke Korean. Sangmin didn’t want to speak in the language he was comfortable with. He wanted to immerse himself with English-speakers. Hence, he transferred to TCU.

Sangmin had only been in the U.S. for a few months, but I was surprised at how well he understood and spoke English. While not perfect, Sangmin was generally good at keeping a conversation. He told me his biggest struggle was subject-verb agreement, because in Korean language, the object comes before the subject and verb.

At times, Sangmin would pause to think of the right word or the right way to express what he wanted to say. He told me a story about how, at one point in his life, his parents enrolled him in piano lessons until they discovered that he did not have the “intelligence” to play piano. I believe he meant to use the word “talent” rather than “intelligence,” but I was glad that he resorted to pulling out a somewhat similar word to express what he was meaning.

He reminds me of my days when I was studying Spanish—when I would struggle to find the correct word and strategically work my way around saying what I needed to say. Sangmin has an advantage over me, however: immersion. Sangmin has the blessing of being fully immersed in a culture that forces him to speak English, and that’s why he’s able to learn so much so quickly.

Meeting with Sangmin was a metalinguistic experience for me. Our meeting allowed me to reflect on the language learning process and have a better insight into culture and humanity. Although we speak different languages, we share the same ideas, feelings, and experiences. I’m looking forward to our next meeting to see what new lessons we’ll learn.