korea

Lost for words

He didn’t need words to guide the cars.

There were two odd things happening today. When I waited for the subway, an elderly Korean woman started talking to me (in Korean) showing me some news (also in Korean) about a culture event (in Korea). I said (in English and some gestures) that I can’t understand her. Which didn’t stop her still continuing talking in Korean! It was like she assumed that if you continue talking in Korean, a switch in the foreigner’s brain will suddenly turn on and he/she will start understanding (and talking) in Korean. Now that would be scary! I calmed her down by writing down the web address on my iPod…

No way out for me today…

Later that day, when I was sitting in line 3 back to my hotel, a young woman sat down on the seat opposite to me. Guess what she did? Yup, she started talking enthusiastically to me in Korean! I could tell her in four different languages that I don’t know what she is talking about, but Korean is not among them. Fortunately, she left early. Phew!

Mia Jaap

Journalist, developer and passionate about Japanese and Korean language. Japan is my #1 country for travelling, penguins my favourite animals.

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