When my wife and I first had children (child actually since you have to start somewhere) we decided to try to raise her by speaking Korean to her at home. This worked for a while, her first spoken words were in Korean (although I can’t remember exactly what they were -shame-). She probably said 마마, I’ll have to look this up in her baby book now…

Some of her first sentences were in Korean as well. I think that my parents were frustrated and amused at her bilingualness. Once her socialization expanded beyond our immediate family her Korean language use decreased to the point that after beginning school she hardly spoke it at all. Now, as a teenager, she is trying to regain her Korean ability.

With our younger two children we have tried to expose them to Korean in a more immersive manner. They spend about a month each year in Korea with their extended family where they learn such useful phrases as:

하지마, 먹어/안먹어, 안돼, 내거야, 만지지 마, 이리 와, 네, 야. Lots of useful phrases…

My oldest, 나래, says that her favorite phrase that she learned this past trip was “어이~, 내 사람아,” a well used phrase of my mother-in-law. Her current favorite phrase in English is “anywho,” which she picked up from watching “Palace (궁).” The phrase “좌우당간” (左右當間 I think) was translated as “anywho” and was a new one for me as well as my wife. I think this is an example of how language can  change.

My youngest daughter often calls me 어빠 instead of 아빠 but she is very proud of the Korean that she knows and tends to use it whenever possible. Because of our recent trip to Korea and the excellent work of Koreanclass101 we are speaking Korean much more at home now.

좌우당간, 새해 복 많이 받으세오!