Jim's Korea

This was another linguisitc challenge.

The first challenge was my perception of alien. In modern TV and movie culture, an alien appears as a green being from outerspace but in reality, the word refers to a person from another country. For English-speakers, the nuance of this word may genearate images of UFOs but for Koreans, it usually refers to a foreigner. In fact, the term appears on my foreigner's ID card.

The second linguistic hurdle was connected to the woman's English-speaking ability. When I told her that I'm Canadian, she did not know how to respond linguistically. Speaking English is difficult for many Koreans but speaking on the phone without the advantage of visual input is 100 times more problematic. In this case, the woman's only option was to hang up and end the conversation.