Memoie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Memoie - Essay Example In his quest to be an English writer, Yong Kim had to overcome the language barrier by devoting himself to the task that lay ahead him coupled with varied discouragements, for instance, from one of his roommate (Spack 42). This is similar to my experience except that mine was to study Korean, which one of the many languages that I have never been able to be fluent before deciding to try it. Since, I grew up in four countries, which are Egypt, France, Holland, and Sweden. My father used to work for United Nation and every two or four years we had to relocate from state to another besides other countries, which we temporarily stayed for approximately half to year period. They include Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Kenya, Japan and ext. hence, growing up in unstable environment despite to many people seeming to be a fun because every time I had to readjust to my new environment though I attended international schools. Presently, I cannot say that I am fluent in any language even my native one, which is Arabic. When I say fluent, I imply 100% speaking, reading and writing. This is because, for instance, when I started focusing in French while I was France, suddenly my father would come and tell us to be ready for after three months we are relocating to the Netherland for him to attend a new mission that region. Then, when I started learning Dutch, my father would come again and cite that we are moving to Sweden. Therefore, all these scenarios at that time coupled with extremely short periods of staying in certain region posed an immense challenge in learning a particular language effectively. However, some may argue children are capable of learning extremely fast but this was not my case and it turned out to be stressful to me. Since, I was not able to focus on a single subject despite my entire family being in a situation that we got the chance residing as well as visiting more than twenty countries. The worst part of encompassed that I did not have an identi ty evident from certain incidences that I experienced and prompted me think of learning my Korean language as well as certain languages that are essential in aiding me to live as a cosmopolitan citizen. This was after reading â€Å"A Book-Writing Venture† by Kim Yong that relayed what he encountered language barrier and managed to overcome it via studying English to the extent of writing a book in it. A remarkable incidence that I can remember vividly happened to me three years ago in Korea, which prompted me decide to study Korea language after reading Kim Yong’s book who is a Korean too. I felt that I had the same experience with him in terms of language but the only difference is that he was struggling with English in America and mine was Korean in Korea. My life’s story started in 2009 after getting a scholarship from the Korean government to study in Korea as an exchange student between San Jose state university in California and Kyung Hee University in Suw on in South Korea. A part of the scholarship was to teach Math and science for 15 hrs a week to the elementary school students. I stayed in Korea for approximately 14 months, which was a good experience but the first 3 months were hectic due to language barrier. Since, most Koreans do not speak English even those who are fluent in it as they are shy, whereas some are good in