One day I'll fly away... (maybe!)

[stormsandsins]

So I've been fairly cryptic on twitter for the last couple of weeks... like... "totally not a forward-moving career move, but a very nice personal experience builder. I MIGHT WORK OVERSEAS NEXT YEAR OMG" ( source), and many other tweets before that hinting at my struggle with undecisiveness and fear of being shot down and fear of the unknown (I'm

Comments

[stormsandsins]

So do I :) And yes I definitely agree that it's a nice experience to have. I love travelling and cultural histories so... yay

[aperfectsong]

My college roommate was from South Korea, just around Seoul. I lived with her for 4 years (and the last year, another one of her Korean friends lived with us too). But sadly, I didn't learn Korean, despite having heard it really frequently. I was too busy learning Spanish & French!

That's really exciting though. My boyfriend and I are sort of planning to teach English in Chile next year, after his apartment lease goes up. =)

[stormsandsins]

It does demand quite a bit of your attention to decipher. French and English borrow a lot from each other due to England and France's proximity and the Norman rule, and Spanish is fairly similar to French since they were both born out of Latin roots. I didn't have to work too hard to learn English (I'm self-taught, mostly) and I got the basics down pat within a summer. But Korean? Well it's a whole 'nother story. There's no reference here. I mean, I know most Asian languages borrow from Chinese (the old "alphabets", at least) but... that's not gonna help from a Western perspective! I'm slowly learning some words here and there but as for sentence structure... it's a bit similar to German, in a way.

Nice! My sister worked in Chile (Santiago) for a year with her then-boyfriend. She loved it :)

[stormsandsins]

Yay! I'll work towards getting all my required documentation after my trip, but it is so exciting I couldn't really sit still after my interview. Things are moving!

[kerosinkanister]

Wow, that's really exciting! I hope it all works out of you. :) I know how much you like Korean pop-culture now. :P

And the trip looks like you'll be hitting a lot of great places.

[sireesanwar]

I think it is a neat opportunity and I don't even understand the thought process of you losing your French. Even if you become rusty, who really cares. Just so long as you accomplish what you want and enjoy it.

[stormsandsins]

You have to understand that the language issue in Quebec is a very hot debate. Lots of francophones here feel threatened by the other provinces and argue that the government doesn't care for us as a separate "nation" from the rest of the country. That's why nationalists still run rampant even years after the province voted "no" on separation and why some people feel that learning and working in English is debasing yourself as a French Quebecker.

I do feel rusty even now, but like I said in the italicised French bit, the world is very small if you only speak a language that's spoken in very few countries... So, yeah, I don't care if it means I'm able to enrich myself culturally.

[sireesanwar]

I get it. I mean I understand the idea behind wanting to keep your language but it isn't like they are France and it is the national language. It is a little narrow minded that they think like that. Honestly, I think that you being bilingual and then going to Korea and forcing yourself to learn that language too is wonderful. It's more than some French Quebeckers I'm thinking.

I'm actually with them on not wanting you to lose it. I kind of hate that my grandfather lost his Armenian and didn't pass it on to any of his kids and then the grandkids. I wish we could speak it and learning now... gosh it is hard. I mean I can understand a lot of slow Spanish but it would be nice if I knew my families language. It is just about making sure you keep the knowledge you have, to me... and then keep learning.

[stormsandsins]

Ahhh but French is the official language in Quebec, so I get that they are trying to protect it (and forcing newcomers to learn it is nice because either way why did they choose Quebec if they didn't want the language thing attached to it? heh) but they're being very narrow-minded from a global point of view.

You have my mum to thank for me loving languages like I do :)

I realise that my "I don't care" sounded a bit like I didn't care if I lost my French. Noooo... I just mean I don't care about people here judging me :P I don't want to lose my French, it's my identity and I didn't slave away learning its complexities so it could amount to nothing in the long run. But like you said, I'm just trying to keep learning. I've really missed school this past year because in a way I think I'm a scholar at heart.

... How brilliant is it that I'd be returning to school to teach ESL and would also be learning a new language? Niiiiice :D

BTW I think there are some ESL programs recruiting in Armenia. Dunno how safe/legit they are but it might