Thursday, May 15, 2008

New Yoga Friend

I have a friend in yoga class now. Her name is Meg and she is Japanese. She is married to a Korean man that she met while working in Gibraltar. She speaks some Korean, but is much more comfortable in English so we chat before and after class. I asked her how/why Asians seem to use English names. I thought that people that work with foreigners do it so it is easier to communicate with foreigners and they don't have to listen to foreigners butchering the pronunciation of their names, but I have found in Korea that lots of people have a Western name and they do not speak English (or any other Western language) or interact with foreigners.

She said that her name, Meg, is a shortened, English version of her Japanese name, but that a lot of Koreans and Chinese are just picking names that they like. It is fashionable.

I know a lot more Japanese than Korean so I like to say a few words to her. Also, AFN Pacific has some Japanese phrases during programming breaks so I will try to pick them up so I can use them with her. June is study Korean month. Her English is excellent. I think she prefers to talk to me than the Koreans because she is confident in English, but not in Korean, yet. She will definitely give me a different perspective on Korean than I get from Americans.

2 comments:

Connie said...

Good to have a girlfriend to chat with :-) My friends and I just found a new nail salon in Maadi (4mos old) that looks like it belongs in a nice hotel downtown... whoo hoo! Time to be spoiled!

Mama Seoul said...

Enjoy yourselves!