Month: November 2021

Our class was lucky to have Professor Hepford as a visiting professor. It was enlightening to see her perspective from a professor who usually teaches English as a second language at Wesleyan. The professor provided us with numerous examples of how people who speak more than one language are in a better position as far as understanding multiculturalism than people who only speak one language. It was also eye-opening to see how the brain judges and stereotypes based on the accent they use. Those with accents are subjected to a lot of disadvantages simply because of their accents. I also learned how the brain grows as a new language is learned as well as the importance of learning another language. By the age of 10 the brain usually develops the ability to learn a new language. Before the brain is fully developed, it’s crucial to begin learning language at an early age.

I had a blast having a cultural interview with Omar. As a Korean American, Omar wanted to know more about my background as well as what shaped me as a person. Among the questions he asked was, “Do you consider Seattle more of a home or Seoul? This question made me take some time to think about myself. I couldn’t decide where I should call home. While I’ve lived in Korea for a longer period of time, I feel more comfortable in Seattle as I’ve lived there more recently. He thought it was very interesting that I lived in two countries as it’s a rare experience to live in two places. Additionally, he asked me how I feel about living in my third home in Connecticut. In response to their questions, I told them that it had been an interesting journey getting used to the new place and culture, but it was also a great opportunity for me to learn something new.

The life story of Demetrius that he told our class was very inspiring, and I think he was also very surprised to hear our stories. In the circle, we discussed our stories as well as our different struggles. Micro-racism was mentioned by some people and difficulties they encountered when they moved to a new country were also mentioned. We also talked about the importance of multicultural and intercultural education. You will understand how small the world you were living in and how much you can learn from people from different backgrounds when you experience new cultures and talk to people from different backgrounds. For example, when I lived in Korea I enjoyed watching news and reading newspapers, so I thought I was knowledgeable about a lot of cultures and things from around the world. However, when I moved to Seattle, I realized how little I knew about the world, and it was very eye opening to see how different people live in different cultures. Moreover, I have learned that the east coast and the west coast are very different, even though they are both parts of the same country. Demetrius’ speech once reminded me of the importance of intercultural education by connecting it to my own story.

Hearing about cultural dimensions and reading about how culture shapes people and how they think was very interesting. My fellow classmates and I were fortunate to have the opportunity to discuss cultural dimensions since having people from around the globe together is not something that happens often. The consensus among classmates is that culture will affect how people think, and how people think will influence culture. There is an inverse relationship. In the conversation, it was interesting to see that developed countries such as Western Europe or North America seem to have higher independence rates compared to developing countries. Since developing countries are constantly changing and tend to change as a group, they tend to have more collective power than developed countries. In contrast, developed countries tend to be more independent. During the discussion I also realized that the culture is continuously evolving. Korea’s culture has changed dramatically in the past 30 years, and people today think very differently than they did 30 years ago. You can apply this to food, clothes, homes, and even the way people speak.