NYで韓国生活 / My Evil Korean Twin
Hi, everyone. This is a belated introduction of my Evil Korean Twin. I'm rather lazy today so I just jot down only my spec here.
[Spec]
- At least within three or four generations back, there is no one who lived in Korean in my family tree.
- Married with 1.5-th generation of Korean immigrant, Princess. Living with in-laws (father, mother, brother) -- including myself, Princess, Little Princess (2.5 yrs old), we have 6 members. I really look like Masuo-san in Sazae-san.
- Speak Korean to father- and mother-in-law. English to borhther-in-law. Mixture of Korean and English to Princess. The native language of Little Princess is Korean for now. Nobody really speaks Japanese there.
- Learned Korean at a university club. Read one small conversation book which covers most of grammar. I have almost the same size of vocabulary now as what I had learned back then (no significant increase for 10+ years).
- I'm good at writing (as I can avoid the situation that I have to use unknown words).
- I can CREATE a Korean word from Japanese vocabulary. (See how in the next entry)
- I'm poor at reading (as I cannot avoid the situation that I have to read unknown words).
- I can understand 80% of what they say in TV drama.
- I can understand <5% in TV news.
- I learned Catechism in Korean (I was converted due to marriage). Later on, as I started attending English Mass, half of catholic vocabulary were replaced with English.
- Please don't force me to work as an interpreter between Korean and English speakers. I feel very challenged in terms of my identity...
Cheers,
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PS,
I got a good question from MST102-san (Thanks!).
"How long did it take for me to get comfortable with speaking in Korean?"
To answer your question (memory-challenging...), I would say I took about 6 months to finish studying a small conversation book which contained 18 chapters. Now, you will need to put yourself in the circle of your Korean friends (for both giving yourself to speak Korean and giving yourself the opportunity to listen to what they are talking to each other (more natural Korean conversation)). Also equally important is how you increase your Korean vocabulary.
In my case, after a month later since I started hanging around with my Korean friends in NY, I felt comfortable with communicating with them in the mix of Korean and English.
Hope that answers your question.
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さて、遅ればせながら自己紹介の残りの半分です。なんとなくパワー不足なのでスペックのみ。
[スペック]
- 少なくとも３代４代くらいは、私の家系の中に韓国人はいない。
- 韓国系移民1.5世の姫と結婚、姫父、姫母、姫兄と一つ屋根の下で暮らす。私、姫、小姫(2.5歳)を加え、総勢6人家族のマスオさん状態。
- 姫父、姫母には韓国語、姫には韓国語と英語のちゃんぽん。姫兄とは英語で話す。小姫の母国語は韓国語。日本語の立場なし。
- 日本の大学で韓国語学習のサークルに入り、独学で小さな会話集を制覇。現在の語彙量は当時とほとんど変わりがない。
- 書くのは得意（知らない単語は回避できるから）。
- 知らない単語を日本語から作ることができる。
- 読むのは苦手（知らない単語を回避できないから）。
- テレビドラマは80％くらい理解できる。
- ニュースは撃沈。
- カソリックの教理は韓国語で受けた、後に英語のミサに出席するようになり、半分くらいは英語に入れ替わる。
- お願いだから、韓英、英韓の通訳には駆り出さないでください。実に理不尽です。
ちあーす
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追記
MST102さんのリクエスト「どれくらいの期間で韓国語に不自由しなくなったかも希望します！」に答えて、
細かいところよく覚えていないのですが、会話集が18課くらいまであって、半年くらいで制覇したんじゃないかと思います。そこから先は実際に韓国人の輪の中に入っていくこと(自分に話す機会を与えるのと、韓国人同士の会話を聞く機会を与える)、語彙をどう増やしていくかにかかってきます。
私はニューヨークに来てから実際に韓国人と話すようになりましたが、1ヶ月くらいでとりあえず英語とのちゃんぽんで言いたいことは伝えられるようになったと記憶しています。
