Koreans who come to U.S. as children face language, cultural barriers

Posted on : 2007-04-19 15:36 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
More help needs to be in place for emigrating families, say community leaders

The so-called 1.5 generation of Korean-Americans, or those that emigrated from their birthplace while children, sometimes struggle over their identity because they emigrated to a foreign land in the midst of their formative years. The sudden cultural and language gap only aggravates the situation.

The 1.5 generation are so named because they fall somewhere between the first generation, who has gone to the U.S. as adults, and the second generation, who are born and raised entirely in the United States.

The first obstacle facing them is language. Gina Lee, 28, who emigrated to the U.S. when she was a freshman in high school, talked about the stress which she experienced while studying.

She said that "I felt difficulty when I solved math questions at school, because I had to talk about them in English, which I was not familiar with." "I was also very stressed since I didn’t have any friends to share my dificulties in school life with, even as I was constantly scrambling to catch up on my studies," she recounted.

Lee Gong-hui, 23, another member of the 1.5 generation, said, "I saw my ethnic Korean friends hang around only with their Korean friends due to the language barrier, but in that case, it seemed that they were having more trouble adjusting to their new environment."

Once they start to speak English more fluently, that crisis passes, members of the 1.5 generation said. However, the sense of isolation due to being dropped into a different culture does not easily disappear. Lee Sim, 21, a college student who went to the U.S. as a middle schooler, said, "At first, I adapted myself to American society to a degree that I forgot Korean culture. Upon entering college, however, we tend to associate with students of the same nationality. We have overcome the problems of language or culture in our own way, but we seek solidarity with persons of our same background," added Lee.

Yun Jeong-won, a teacher at a public elementary school in New York, said, "Those who came to the States as children before they are 10 years old tend to become easily accustomed to the new culture, but others experience trouble in adapting themselves to their new society."

The parents of the 1.5 generation also suffer from many problems in their new environment. Han Suk-hui, a Korean resident in the U.S. with two young daughters, sighed, saying, "I have to earn a living now, so I can’t be together with them all the time." Han, who operates a store at a market located in the outskirts of Los Angeles, leaves home at 8 a.m. and returns at 9 p.m. She seldom finds time to talk with her daughters.

Connie Jeong, a mother of a high school student, said, "Since my children speak English, we can’t communicate with each other. As a result, I can only say simple words to them, such as, ‘eat, sleep, and study.’ It is same everywhere that adolescent children tend to stray, but we are uneasy here in the U.S. because they can easily obtain guns and drugs."

Another problem is that immigrant families cannot easily resolve such situations. There are consultation centers for domestic problems in each state and counselors in each school, but few Korean parents or youths use them. Jeong Yeong-suk, a leader of the Korean-American Association of Houston, Texas, said, "Korean parents tend to try to cover up their children’s problems and try to solve the problems themselves instead." In most cases, they seek help of school counselors only after they receive a call from school due to their children getting into trouble.

"There was a proposal to establish a committee to solve the problems of Korean immigrant families, but we have not been able to set it up due to the lack of human resources and funding. We are going to ask for the support of the South Korean government," said Park Yeong-seok, a leader of the Korean-American Association of Georgia.

Lee Jong-o, director of a consulting agency for Korean immigrants, advised, "Immigrants with adolescent children should get advice from persons experienced in such a shift, because their children may encounter problems adapting to the new culture."

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

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