American Fluent in Korean Sign Language

James Russell Shaw is more fluent in Korean sign language than the spoken language. The 29-year-old American is studying at a sign language center, currently at the advanced level.

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His right hand is covered with Korean words. "I wrote the words down on my hand so I could memorize them while riding on the subway, but people thought those letters were gangster tattoos", Shaw says.

If he cannot recall a Korean word while talking, he uses sign language to remember it, and he uses his hands while he speaks. "It's easier for me to talk this way", he says.

Shaw stayed in China before developing an interest in Korea. Majoring in history at Coker College in South Carolina, he became interested in Asia and saved up money to study in China while serving in the reserve army from 2001 to 2007. He studied Chinese and Asian history at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou for a year and a half but found himself with more Korean friends than Chinese ones there. "I became enamored of the easy-going and affectionate nature of Koreans and came to Korea in 2008", he recalls.

Shaw was introduced to Korean sign language by chance while visiting a Catholic church in northern Seoul when a woman there caught his attention. She was not born deaf but lost her hearing after an accident while she was a university student. "She was learning how to speak all over again using sign language and she looked like she was fighting against the world. I wanted to be her friend", Shaw says.

The two learned sign language at the church every weekend for three months. "Using gestures to express yourself is done all over the world, so Korean sign language is actually easier to learn than spoken Korean", he says.