ABCs to Fluency

By Robin Rhee

Whenever a government wants to initiate a sweeping change in society, it often decides to throw a large amount of money at the targeted area. It seems this is the current trend in Korea when it comes to English fluency.

There has been a recent flurry of activity to recruit native English teachers, talk of immersion programs and special high schools. It should be noted that not all English teachers are created equal. Just as there is standard Hangul, there is also standard English ― whether it be American or British.

I once met a group of men who had a common bond. They were teenagers during the Korean War. Their families had fled from Seoul to Daegu, then on to Busan. Most of their high school classes had been conducted in army tents.

They were all fluent in English, without the benefit of hagwon, tutors, native English teachers or special schools. They had become professional men, both in Korea and abroad. What was the key to their success?

Perhaps it was, and is, as simple as ABC.

A stands for attitude. Students, both young and old, have to want to speak English. If they embark on the long and arduous road to fluency because their parents or bosses have told them they must, most will fail.

They can learn every grammar rule known to the English speaking world and mark the correct answer to every multiple choice question on a test, but still act like a deer in a car's headlights when asked to respond to simple questions.

We often forget how and why we learned our native language. We needed to make our needs and wants understood. It all began with unintelligible sounds and advanced to single words, then sentences. We made mistakes. Our elders laughed. We tried again and again until we got it right. It took many years until we were fluent. Indeed, we continue to learn the nuances and intricacies of our native language.

We ask questions when we don't understand. Mastering a second language has to be an interactive endeavor.

B stands for brains. We're not talking about IQ, rather the ability to construct a viable plan of action.

Koreans are fortunate to have all of the tools available to build a self-guided immersion: newspapers, weekly news magazines, a new radio station, television, movies, music with English lyrics and Western literature galore at the Kyobo Book Store.

Set up a study group with like-minded individuals. Record yourself speaking English. Work hard to perfect the sounds not found in the Korean language.

C stands for commitment. Remember how long it took for you to learn your own language? There is no shortcut to learning a new language. There will be periods of rapid progress, followed by plateaus of frustration and discouragement. Keep a journal. Re-reading your entries will remind you of the progress you have already made and encourage you to go on.

A young violin virtuoso was once asked how it came about that he had been invited to play at Carnegie Hall. He thought for a moment, grinned and replied, ``Practice, practice, practice." The same words hold the key to reaching English fluency.

The writer is a former weekly columnist for The Korea Times and currently resides in Centerville, Ohio. She can be reached at rrkoram@aol.com.