Is it just me that was confused by the Han Hyun Min article about him not knowing any basic english?

[HATEmeCUZyouAINTme]

So about the Han Hyun Min guy. I was very confused when I read the nb article and comments. So appaprently the guy is Nigerian-Korean and people assumed he'd know english and some other people got mad that people assumed that and I'm so confused.

 

Under normal circumstances, the guy IS supposed to know english. I, for one, find it very weird if he lives with his Nigerian parent and doesn't know how to read/speak basic english.

 

People went on to say that not every foreigner is half American and I'm      cuz that analogy is is the exact same thing. Everyone in Nigeria speaks english even more than their selective cultural languages except you're 90>, uneducated or live in the muslim-majority Northern area. It's the language for everything; school, work, entertainment, media. Most young people are not even fluent in their native languages. 

 

This is like imagining Somi not being able to read/speak english. Wouldn't that be weird?

 

How does he communicate with his Nigerian half of his family then? Uncles? Aunts? Cousins? 

 

[baekhyyn]

Careful you'll be called racist by OH users

[skcebl]

Does his Nigerian parent not speak Korean? Somi's dad knows how to speak Korean, he just decided to teach her English.

[chiirbii]

We don't know the fine details of his family and how they operate. It's rude to assume English is something that MUST have been part of his day to day life growing up.

[soman]

I tried to address this in the nb article but all i got were negs..

 

Like okay he lives in korea so he speaks korean, he doesnt have perfect grammar, he doesnt know complicated words, completely understandable, but he doesnt even get really basic english is kinda? I thought english is an international language that is taught in korean schools

[checkandmate]

It's like second generation immigrants who live in places like Canada or the US, lots of them don't have a full grasp of their mother tongue, and for people who are mixed it's sometimes even worse. And yes, that might lead to them not being able to communicate with a part of their family.

[Faces]

i think the problem was the dramatic reaction it got, not the fact itself that they were confused

[RUNCH RANDA]

he speaks korean at home

was born and raised in korea

when would he have the opportunity to speak english 

 

reminds me of a few italian friends of mine living in my country

their parents never spoke italian around them or let them learn it cause they didnt want it to affect their english 

[HATEmeCUZyouAINTme]

We don't know the fine details of his family and how they operate. It's rude to assume English is something that MUST have been part of his day to day life growing up.

How is it rude to assume that he speaks the same language as his father? 

[ruppi]

As someone who is a first generation immigrant but came to my country while still very very young, I don't speak my mother tongue aswell as my parents. My german in fact is way better than my arabic. I'm not sure how well my children will be ever able to talk in arabic, since mine isn't perfect and I will probably end up using german more than arabic when I'm talking to them. In han hyun mins case only one of his parents is nigeran and he his second generation immigrant. I can totally see why he is not good at speaking english.

[Deâ„“phina]

Your portrayal of the linguistic situation is at odds with what I know from many Nigerian friends, both born here or there. A lot speak with their family in igbo or yoruba or the other languages. 

 

English in Nigeria sounds to me like an English in Singapore situation. 

[Aneira3019]

Not all asian americans can speak their parents or grandparents native language, it's the same with him.

[sakurahanabira]

I'm going to copy paste what I said in the NB thread:

 

if the mom (Korean) doesn't know English but only the dad (Nigerian) does, then the dad would've likely only used Korean to speak to his wife and their son thus leading Hyun Min to not know any English. If the dad presumably knows English (and we don't know if he does) but doesn't use it at home, then that's why Hyun Min wouldn't know English.

Also just because one parent is a certain race/ethnicity doesn't mean the child can speak their language. For example, Jpop singer Crystal Kay is half-Korean, half-black, but she doesn't know any Korean at all.

 

But anyway you'd think he'd pick up on at least some English since English is taught in Korean schools since elementary and he grew up in Itaewon which has a lot of English speaking expats.

[youtrieditduh]

We don't know the fine details of his family and how they operate. It's rude to assume English is something that MUST have been part of his day to day life growing up.

right

how do we know the relationship with his Nigerian side of the family, He has been raised in korea his whole life I think

I have a friend who is half Italian , and he doesn't have a relationship with his italian side of the family and doesn't speak italian and it used to annoy him af  when people asked him if he spoke italian cuz he was raised with another language

[indigo]

How is it rude to assume that he speaks the same language as his father? 

 

Because his father might not have been involved in his life growing up.

 

Lots of half kids don't have involved fathers. They either completely abandon them or they live and work in a different country. 

[chiirbii]

How is it rude to assume that he speaks the same language as his father? 

On a personal level, it's not overtly rude, but the whole problem was with how the show framed him not being able to speak English. The other people on the show and their reaction was OTT. It's just... othering, for the poor boy, who's just a Korean boy. They're assuming a lot about him (that he speaks English, that he's somehow different from other boys his age) just because his father is black.

[Oodles]

He is born and raised in South Korea. And he admitted in numerous interviews that he doesn't know much about his Nigerian culture. In others he only talks about his mother and how she always assured him but he doesn't go in depth so...

[HATEmeCUZyouAINTme]

As someone who is a first generation immigrant but came to my country while still very very young, I don't speak my mother tongue aswell as my parents. My german in fact is way better than my arabic. I'm not sure how well my children will be ever able to talk in arabic, since mine isn't perfect and I will probably end up using german more than arabic when I'm talking to them. In han hyun mins case only one of his parents is nigeran and he his second generation immigrant. I can totally see why he is not good at speaking english.

but you still know basic parts of the language. You can prob at least say hello in it. 

 

Your portrayal of the linguistic situation is at odds with what I know from many Nigerian friends, both born here or there. A lot speak with their family in igbo or yoruba or the other languages. 

 

English in Nigeria sounds to me like an English in Singapore situation. 

I don't know about the Singaporean situation but English in Nigeria is like english in America.

You're not even allowed to converse in your native language in some schools.

Because his father might not have been involved in his life growing up.

 

Lots of half kids don't have involved fathers. They either completely abandon them or they live and work in a different country. 

I get that but that like saying it's rude to ask people about their parents because you're not sure if they live together.

 

Also where are you getting this from? I've never seen a mixed kid without a father especially African mixed kids.

[TaeGiElitist]

I'm nigerian and most Nigerians are thought english in school. I live in the UK now though. I think he identifies more with the korean side.

[mirurun]

there are plenty of biracial koreans and japanese people who never learn english. it's more common than you think

[Tabula X]

i think the problem was the dramatic reaction it got, not the fact itself that they were confused

 

This. It was mostly their over the top reactions, plus implying that he's somehow less or sth just because he doesn't speak it.

 

Anyhow, sometimes parents choose to teach their mixed children only one language, sometimes one culture is more dominant in mixed families, but usually it's got to do with where they live as that's what children will use the most.

 

I mean, I know friends whose parents are also immigrants, like mine and literally do not understand a lot and don't speak more than ''hi, how are you, thank you'' in their parents' language because they weren't raised with it. Actually, I noticed this with lots of friends from different backgrounds. Perhaps it's also got to do with how patriotic/nationalistic/homogenous a country is.. no stats to back it up, but to me it seems easier to learn and use another language when the country you live in is more diverse and open to other cultures/ globalization, etc.  

 

Another thing to perhaps consider is (certainly not to assume), whether his father and father's family are still part of the same family. We don't know if his mom and dad broke up or have gotten a divorce or anything.

[pooh_bear]

Well he is born, raised and currently live in Korea so idg why people would assume he knows English. I feel the only reason some idols can speak simple English is because they learned it during their trainee period and that's just speaking reading is another thing. If I remember this correctly I read that English isn't required or a regular subject in a lot of schools, like an elective

 

This reminds me of Crystal Kay, she's a half korean/half black j-pop singer but she can't speak much or any Korean

[ruppi]

but you still know basic parts of the language. You can prob at least say hello in it. 

 

I don't know about the Singaporen situation but English in Nigeria is like english in America

 

I get that but that like saying it's rude to ask people about their parents because you're not sure if they live together.

 

Also where are you getting this from? I've never seen a mixed kid with a father especially African mixed kids.

Yes but in my case both of my parents speak the language and they did not speak any other language when we immigrated. They had no choice but to talk to me in arabic (and I still manged to only  learn broken arabic). If han hyun mins father knows korean, maybe both his parents decided to communicate only in korean? I mean can you imagine them sitting at the dinner table and switching languages when all of them can just use korean? Sometimes mixed parents teach their kids both languages and sometimes they don't.

[tide]

im like 90% sure i read an article that implied his father was not involved in his life, but i can't remember correctly.

 

even if he was, as someone else mentioned above, he lives in a korean context and his mom likely doesn't know how to speak english, so his father probably wouldn't converse with him in english.

 

lee michelle's father didn't raise her, so she also doesn't know any englsih.

[gillyweeds]

my most popular guess for why he doesn't know English: His parents might have wanted him to focus on learning Korean. This is something that immigrant parents do a lot because when you're raised bilingual, it takes you longer to master both languages. With his skin color, he was already predisposed to be discriminated against so maybe his parents worked to give him Korean language skills so that he could fit in in that way