How immigrants are redefining 'American' in Southern California

Is it a language problem, or something else? A son of immigrants explores the generational divide

In a nuanced piece for KPCC's Off-Ramp airing tomorrow, intern James Kim tackles what underlies his difficulty in communicating with his Korean immigrant parents.

On the surface, it's a language issue, since Kim isn't fluent in Korean. But as he interviews his parents with the help of an interpreter, he learns there's more to it. He writes:

Growing up, I remembered that my Korean was actually pretty good. My mom said that I "spoke Korean very well for seven years."

This has made my relationship with my parents difficult to cultivate. We always are easily irritated with each other because we constantly misunderstand what each of us is saying. We can hardly explain a movie"s plot line to one another, let alone express what we"re going through. The only time I talk with my parents is when I"m asking them "what"s for dinner?"

I wanted to try and fix this problem by taking the first initial step; that is to figure out if my condition is common or not.

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