Learning English is rough journey
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By Lee Hyon-soo
For Koreans, learning English is a long, tough journey. Having taken that journey myself, I would like to share my experience with my compatriots who are struggling to master English.
I worked hard to learn English in middle and high schools in Seoul. But English was taught as a subject to study rather than a living language. My English lessons were focused on grammar and reading comprehension as the single most important objective of English education in school was to enable students to earn high scores on college entrance examinations where spoken English was completely ignored.
The upshot was that I was unable to carry on simple conversations in English when I graduated from high school. So I set out to learn spoken English as soon as I entered college. Not only did I take many English conversation courses taught by native speakers, but I eagerly sought opportunities to practice speaking English with them on a one-on-one basis. I devoted more study time to English than to my major subject, business administration. My four years of hard work paid off. By the time I graduated from college, I was able to converse in English, albeit in a halting manner.
My English ability enabled me to land a job at an American bank in Seoul. While I worked for this bank, I polished up on my spoken English by rubbing shoulders with my American co-workers. I was also able to hone my English writing skills considerably because I had to write everything in English at work.
With five years of banking experience under my belt, I summoned up the courage to try my luck in the advanced financial market of North America. And I managed to obtain a job offer from a major Canadian bank without setting foot on Canadian soil (how I pulled it off is fodder for another article).
Upon arriving in Canada, English became my everyday language. My proficiency in English was good enough for me to do my job, but I found myself uncomfortable in dealing with my Canadian colleagues in informal situations where they spoke fast and colloquially. I was unable to fully take part in their casual multiparty conversations, and I felt that I was an odd man out.
In an effort to get used to the way Canadians spoke, I made time to socialize with them after work. I also watched Canadian TV programs earnestly and read English books voraciously. I particularly found situation comedies on TV and contemporary English novels to be most helpful.
Regrettably I did not learn to speak English well while I was young, and as a consequence, I had to exert more efforts in my later years to make up for lost ground.
Granted, the English education system in Korean schools leaves much to be desired. But that is no excuse for one’s inability to speak English. If one wants to be fluent in English, one should take it upon oneself to find a way to achieve one’s goal. That is what I have done. Where there’s a will, there’s a way – as the saying goes.
My efforts to improve my command of English continue to this date. But judging from the fact that English does not yet come naturally to me, I may be a slower learner. Or probably I am still paying the price for the inadequate English education that I received in my youth.
The writer is a retired international banker who lives in Toronto, Canada. His other writings are posted on https://blog.daum.net/tom_hslee.