Hugh runs into this problem sometimes where he says something in English and is not understood because he hasn’t used the Konglish version of what he is trying to say. It doesn’t matter if his English was correct if they can’t actually understand him. My problem is going back to Australia and using Konglish words like English.

He also sometimes uses Australian English which can further confuse people. Instead of using the American English of “take out” he will say “take awayyyyyy” in Aussie English. Some people understand it, but some don’t.

Here is the second part of the interview with Typhoon who has been living with my parents out in rural Australia. I filmed a little bit of him every time I went back home.

To just expand on what he was talking about in regards to other Koreans: It’s something that frustrates my husband a lot too. Many Koreans go back to Korea and tell others, “Don’t go to Australia. I didn’t learn any English there. It’s not a good place to learn English.” The reality usually is that these people went straight into the Korean community, got a job with only Koreans, lived with Koreans and only met Koreans. That’s fine if that’s what they want to do, but not so good for improving English, which is usually their goal. Having large Korean communities in Australia is a great thing, but can also mean that some Koreans don’t ever step outside of their comfort zone. The same thing happens in The Philippines. Many people go there to learn English but instead just party with other Koreans and not go to English class. Bit hard to learn English that way! Typhoon wants to encourage others to try new things and step outside of their comfort zone.

What Typhoon and his girlfriend did was travel to a more rural part of Australia right away, which is why they made lots of Australian friends, experienced different things and why Typhoon plays soccer on Australian teams.

We are hoping to do a few more interviews like this with other Koreans that are living in Australia.