I get it now.
I completely understand how people who don't speak English feel, when surrounded by loud, obnoxious English-speakers, who are oblivious to being in the presence of those who don't understand a word they're saying.
Everyday at lunch-time, I sit at a table full of Korean teachers. Women who use the hour to vent, laugh, gossip and chat... in Korean. I have eaten with them every day since I started working at this school. Initially, it was difficult for me to ignore the banter. And because I didn't understand it, all I heard was loud noise as I ate my lunch.
This week, something happened. As I sat in my regular spot at the lunch table and ate my kimchi, I noticed that I'd drifted off into my own world. I no longer heard the teachers chatting in Korean. It was silent (in my head, at least). I quickly realized that the chatter had all along been some kind of white noise... that I'd become used to. So much so that I didn't hear Mrs. K ask me a question about my weekend plans.
I have quickly come to understand how lost non-English speakers must feel, when surrounded by these words almost everywhere. At least this is me, in Seoul. I know I can go back to Canada or to other English-speaking countries and be just fine.
At lunch, after I snapped back into reality, I quickly counted my blessings for having English as my first language... and for the ability to drown out the white noise.
xo
SC
Image courtesy of CartoonStock.com
THANK YOU for this great entry. I thought I was the only one. Whenever I sat with other teachers, I was in my own world because I couldn't understand a single word they were saying, which earned me a reputation for being unsociable. Only the English head co-teacher seems to understand what was going on.
ReplyDelete(This is also why I'm considering going to Hong Kong during my vacation time -- not only to visit some relatives who I haven't seen for a while, but also to get some relief in a place where I actually speak and understand the language, albeit only with 75% fluency.)
I've been meaning to write a blog entry about how we, as English speakers, tend to take our language for granted. I did a Shanghai layover en route to Seoul from Vancouver and noticed just how important English is in the world.