Bridging Cultures through Language

Senior Samuel Kim, a secondary education and Spanish double major, wrote about his experience as an exchange student for the Language and Linguistics Department’s fall newsletter:
“I was born in Germany to my Korean missionary parents who raised me to speak German. Until I was about 16 I didn’t even know how to express myself in Korean beyond simple survival phrases like “Dad, what are we doing?” or “Mom, I’m starving!” My friends were mainly Germans, and I considered myself one of them. Hence, I avoided being with Korean-Korean people, who would speak Korean nonstop, asking many questions and exposing my lack of knowledge of Korean.
“When I was a junior in high school, I came to the U.S. as an exchange student and had a shocking experience. Suddenly I was no longer considered German but rather a small, confused-looking Korean kid with a funny heavy German accent.
"Because of that experience, I started learning Korean. At home my parents and I began to communicate exclusively in Korean. By using Korean I got closer to my parents and came to know my extended family in Korea on a much more intimate level than I had before. Language has been an important bridge that connected me to my family and my heritage.
“What I experienced and observed last semester as the intern with Gordon in Lynn at the Community Minority Cultural Center is similar. Every Saturday we would go into Lynn to teach English as a Second Language to recent immigrants from diverse places like Peru, Haiti and Ukraine. However, rather than us just teaching them, they would teach us as well, sharing their rich life experiences and their attitude of immersing themselves in a completely different cultural setting as they seek to learn a new language.
“Learning Korean has been an important part of connecting with my family. Similarly, learning English has been important for the people at the CMCC to grow roots in the U.S. and to connect to a new society. When we make efforts to communicate with our family and neighbors in whatever language, we are able to connect with them and cherish the diversity of our world. That is why I am passionate about learning more languages and helping others do so as well. At Gordon College I am majoring in Spanish and secondary education. My dream is to support and establish Christian international schools around the world.”