Beyond Words: Why Learning a Language is a Radical Act of Kindness

It was a rainy Friday afternoon. I was in a rather grumpy mood after spending 20 minutes tearing through my cabinet looking for a laptop charger that works in Korea — one I swear I put there just a few weeks ago.

Then, at the airport, I lined up at the tax-free souvenir shop cashier with Nagasaki castella for my dad. And I heard, in fluent Korean:

“탑승권 보여주시겠어요?”
(Could you show me your boarding pass?)

It was a young Japanese guy, early 20s. I responded in Korean, but he noticed I was paying with PayPay and asked,

“페이페이로 결제하시면 일본에 사시나봐요?”
(If you’re paying with PayPay, you must be living in Japan?)

“선물용이시면 봉투 추가로 드릴까요?”
(If it’s a gift, would you like an extra bag?)

And it didn’t stop there. Between that register and seat 33J, three more Asiana Airlines staff greeted me in fluent Korean. All three had Japanese names. One of them actually started in English, then switched to Korean the moment she noticed my passport.

In that one-hour span, those short greetings — the easy back and forth in Korean — quietly brightened my whole day. Being approached in your own language abroad, by locals no less, felt like receiving small gifts each time.

I think it’s because someone who learned your language didn’t just memorize words. They spent real time trying to understand your culture. And honestly, how much do we need that eagerness to understand each other right now.
All the more reason for me to keep honing my Japanese and Chinese.

(Though, considering my Korean has been mistaken for sounding Japanese on more than one occasion… maybe Korean should be on that list too.)