My Darling! My Darling!

After three years as a legal secretary in one of the top law firms in Penang, I decided to work as a Personal Assistant in a Korean construction company, Keang Nam Enterprises, which was then building the Penang International Airport.

As a secretary, it was not easy for me to memorise the names of so many Korean staff. Patsy the nurse with my assistant, Bonny and I were the only three local ladies working in the company, and to make matters worse, the Koreans had similar surnames. There were six Mr. Lee, ten Mr. Kim, three Mr. Young, five Mr. Yin, two Mr. Han, three Mr. Yun, four Mr. Park and two Mr. Hong! The Malaysian support staff just addressed them as Chief Engineer Kim, Project Director Lee, etc. As secretary, I had to know their names in full. When I asked the youngest staff, a junior engineer, Mr. Han for his full name, he said, "Han Your Bor. Just call me Your Bor ... can already."

I used mnemonics to help me remember the various names of the staff. "Han Your Bor - your bor.... your wife (bor is wife in Hokkien dialect).

A month later, a phone call came for Mr. Han. Usually he was out at the site, but that day, he hapapened to be in the office. Hence I called out to him, "Your Bor! Your Bor! Your telephone call!" Mr. Han grinned from ear to ear, looking so pleased with himself, while the other staff looked flababergasted and soon burst out laughing! I continued with my work when Mr. Lee Kun Soo, our civil engineer, came to me and said, "Please call me Your Bor too, Miss Kam. I'll tbe the happiest man." Just then, Chief Architect Mr. Kim, came to me and said, "Poor Miss Kam, you've been tricked... Mr. Han's name is Jung Kil, not Your Bor which means my darling in Korean!" Gosh! I had been calling Mr. Han "My darling" since I started work a month ago!

I decided then that I would start to learn some Korean language so that none of the staff could trick me again. Little did I realise how difficult Korean is to learn.
I remember telling second brother after the first few days at work that I found the Koreans somewhat forceful in their speech.... they talked with animation and verbosity. In French, good night is "Bonuit"; in Mandarin, it is "Wan Ahn"; in Malay it is "Selamat malam"; but in Korean it is "Ahn Nyong Hee Ju Mi Sip Si Yo!" Gosh! By the time you finish your sentence, your addressee would have fallen asleep!

One day, Mr. Lee Kun Soo came to me and said, "Miss Kam, let me teach you this sentence ... very beautiful one... Na nun sarang ham ni da mi chi ge. It means you are very nice and polite. I was skeptical about being tricked again and asked one of the staff, Mr. Yin and he said, "The sentence means, "I love you crazily!"

Seeing that I was so eager to learn Korean, one of the staff bought me a "Teach Yourself Korean" book with English translation. I would study and memorise the voculary and phrases and try to use them the following day.

"Yun Sang Seang Nim. Iri onora!" (Mr. Yun, please come here) My project personnel
manager, Mr. Yun corrected, me and said the phrase "iri onora" can only be used when you call your cat/dog or grandchild. From senior or elderly to junior.! Hence, whenever my students complained that English is a difficult language, I asked them to try Korean!

How nice if we only had one language in the world. But then, life would not be so colorful and interesting. I also realised that although I could not speak much Korean and the Koreans were also limited in their English Language, we know of one language in common - love. Love indeed is an international language that the world understands. Papa had always taught us to love and respect others, regardless of race, language or religion. The Koreans knew that as a local staff, I was concerned about their welfare, for when the nurse, Patsy was on leave, I took upon myself to help clean and wrap up their wounds during an injury or minor accident at the site, even though I was somewhat sequeamish at the sight of blood!

I was overwhelmed when they voted me as best secretary in South East Asia and rewarded me with a free trip to Korea!

Gan Chau