Beginner’s Mind”,초심
“Why are you learning Korean? You.” This question haunts me. As a second generation Korean-American who learned how to speak Korean by osmosis from my Korean mother’s small conversations and language leaks amongst her family and friends, I am insecure about my “Korean-ness”. Our stereotypical society expects me to know about Korean culture, food, and the language. Meanwhile, I have my mom on speed dial whenever I get “lost in translation”.
My de facto boundaries are defined by an irony of two separate identities that unite who I am as a person: I am an internal minority in Korea, and an external minority anywhere else in the world. Not quite blending in, I have an undesired language boundary when in South Korea because I am far from fluent. While living in and visiting South Korea, I felt like an imposter— a foreigner who embodies a local appearance. Moreover, in the United States, where I now live, I have this enduring boundary built by broken questions like, “Where are you from?”
In an attempt to conquer these so-called cultural boundaries, I want to improve my knowledge of all things Korean. A friend once said to me, “Your ‘East meets West’ isn’t getting along.” I appreciate and love Korean culture and traditions, but my “American-ness” is imprinted upon me. As funny as it is imagining myself in a hanbok 한복 (traditional, east) paired with jeans (modern, west), my idea of balancing my East and West is arming myself with knowledge about all things Korean. I want to polish that bridge by sharing what I know. But most importantly, I want to meet like-minded individuals who are learning or want to learn Korean; this would be a relief to my identity crisis.
I wanted to tell you my story, in hopes that you too would share yours.
My story: I am a beginner.
In a sea of “been there done that” ambiance, I am adopting the Buddhist concept of a “Beginner’s Mind” 초심, or the transliteration “chosim”. Note: the Hangeul word 초심 translates into the English word “beginner”. With 초심, there is eagerness, open-mindedness, and an absence of preconceptions when learning. As a beginner, there are many possibilities! For me, to build upon the innate Korean “things” I know from my family and from living in and visiting South Korea, I needed to get back to basics—a blank slate.
Are you a beginner too? Are you willing to ignore what others say about learning Korean—that its complex grammar is difficult to grasp, or that it is one of the most difficult languages to master, etc. Quite the contrary, I learned the Hangeul alphabet in two days! Easily learning how to write and pronounce Hangeul consonants and vowels encouraged me to look up the words I was reading aloud. It is a game for me, building on my vocabulary and constructing small sentences, etc.
My question for you is, “Why are you learning Korean?” You.” Each person has a reason for wanting to learn a language. It’s fascinating to me, to know why you want to learn Korean!
I would love to connect with you on Twitter: twitter.com/lindasauce. I am working on various blog entries related to Korean culture and the language. If there is a specific topic you are interested in—e.g., wanting a translation of a K-pop song, looking for Korean products outside of Korea, Korean language resources, etc.—please comment, and I will write about it.
