The Flaw of a “Parched Tongue” in Modern Society

Posting on behalf of Daniel Lee:

In Ho Su Kim’s The Parched Tongue, the author powerfully expresses her viewpoints and opinions on the importance of obtaining am education in the United States. To be even more specific, the importance of learning the English language in today’s modern society. Because I am a Korean American, this reading was received in a very personal way. In the reading, Kim discusses her struggle with learning the English language. She speaks of how her classmates chuckle at her accent as she attempts to read several English sentences. To Kim, a person who spoke English properly was viewed as more civilized due to a proper modern day education. This sort of prejudice exists even within the Korean education system and language. In the reading she writes:

Living in the Southern part, we all have the Jeolla accent.

Every time our regional accent comes out accidentally

You got discipline by the teacher

But every time, the standard Korean accent is too foreign to us.



Moving from Jeolla to Kyungsang Province

We learned that we should not speak Jeolla accent. (35)

To speak in a southern accent in Korea gives the impression that you are not as well educated as an individual from the city. For this reason, to speak with a southern accent in Korea is very much frowned upon in the classrooms and business environment. This type of idea has been absorbed as an ideal in today’s society. Kim says that the English language is a “global language” (37) that is directly connected to “prosperity and modernity.” (37)

I do know of many foreign exchange students who battle with the pressure and embarrassment of not being able to speak English fluently in the classroom. All of these students seem to share the same ultimate goal of learning to speak the language, in the hopes of guaranteeing a more prosperous and promising future. In many ways, this idea of America being some kind of wondrous “promise land” still exists today. Kim writes, “The power of English is the guarantee for your success. The ability or speak English is directly tied to the power of America.” () The constant use of the word “power” in this passage shows the mindset of the author’s clouded perception of this country. Kim later also reveals her desire to directly be a part of the American society during her youth. At one point she mentions the way in which she envies the very lips of a classmate who is able to speak “beautiful” English. Ironically, she even speaks of her envy towards the orphan children that are adopted by American families, promising that child a wonderful future in a land filled with wealthy and kind people. In the author’s mind, there seems to be a romanticized vision of life in America. I believe that the author is very much torn between the pride of her own heritage and her fabricated vision of America, which was structured and framed through the education system in her own country.