CAMP CARROLL, South Korea – As he stepped up to the podium, Cpt. Roland C. Pitts prepared his papers to give his speech. He took a deep breath and held up some documents for the crowd to see.
“What I’m showing you is the PCS orders bringing me to Korea,” Pitts said not in English, but in Korean.
From there, Pitts continued with his speech to talk about his love for South Korean culture, and how much he respects Korean Augmentation to the United States Army, or KATUSAs. Pitts’ speech was among nine other speeches from U.S. Soldiers during the Area IV 17th Annual Korean-English Speech Contest Sept. 12 at Camp Henry.
Pitts, a Jacksonville, Florida native, said his desire to learn the Korean language started as soon as he stepped foot on Korean soil.
“I remember getting off the airplane in February (2017) at Incheon (International Airport) and I heard Korean,” said Pitts, currently the S-1 administrative section officer-in-charge for Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Sustainment Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.” I didn’t know what they (Koreans) were saying, and I saw the signs and said well I’m here for two years. I can try to figure it out to understand things better.”
Pitts’ process to learn Korean was solely based on trial and error. When he would practice with the gate guards or the KATUSAs in his shop, he would get either strange looks, laughs or stern corrections on his speech. One thing that really helped Pitts learn was watching Korean shows with no English subtitles.
“When I first started, I got a book,” Pitts said. “That was a little hard for me. So what I started doing was listening to Koreans talk, but they talk so fast I couldn’t understand it. So then I said, let me watch Korean dramas and other TV shows. You have a general idea of what’s going on, then over time you start picking up on words.”
In a few short months, Pitt’s proficiency of the Korean language, including the written alphabet called Hangul, improved so much that his peers at work jokingly called him “The Hangul Whisperer.” He went from asking KATUSAs in his shop how their day was, to complex things like telling them to go to the brigade headquarters, get an award, get it signed and come back. Pitts has even had full conversations in Korean and not even realized it.
“I remember this guy came to my apartment to change the water filter. He was talking to me, asking me questions and he spoke very little English, but I understood what he was saying,” said Pitts. “He was saying he had to come back in three months, and asked when is a good day to come back. I didn’t even realize it, but I was telling him let’s try December. He opens his calendar to December and says ‘What about Monday?’ It’s full on Korean and it didn’t even hit me until I was like, man, these ad hoc lessons are paying off.”
When he’s not watching his favorite South Korean movie “The Chaser,” Pitts practices his Korean daily with KAUTSAs. Over time, Pitts realized that language is essential to building relationships with his Korean counterparts.
“What connects people? It’s not skin color, it’s not the same unit. What really connects people is thinking; do you sound like me? Do you talk like me? If we learn the language, all this is going to do is strengthen our alliance. It lets the KAUTSAs know that I’m trying to understand you and your language,” he said.
With the help of his KATUSAs and the support from his command team, all of Pitts’ hard work paid off when he was announced the Grand Prize Winner of the Korean Speech competition for Area IV. He will be competing at the Annual 8th Army Speech Contest in U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan in mid-October.
Pitts, who describes himself as a humble person, gave all the credit to the KATUSAs who helped him practice his speech. With their help, Pitts said he went from not knowing the difference between hearing Japanese, Chinese or Korean, to a level of competing.
“What I wrote about was exactly why I came here: the KATUSAs. They’re really smart people. So it felt great to win, but I think it was a representation of the KATUSAs helping out and the command team’s support, not just on the task at hand. I just happened to be that conduit,” Pitts said.
To this day Pitts has never taken a Korean language class. Everything he learned comes from his sheer determination to be in the “know” as far as the Korean language.
“I want to tell people you can do anything you put your mind to. I’m not saying don’t take classes, but I was determined to learn, and that small spark got me going. Of course I want to win, not because I want to be awesome, but that’s how we build relationships,” he said.
In the future Pitts hopes to be a Foreign Area Officer. Right now, he says he will continue his proficiency in the Korean language.
“Win, lose or draw I did enough to make myself happy and hopefully me learning a little bit might inspire somebody,” said Pitts. “Language is important to get the message across because they think, you talk like me, you sound like me, so you’re a part of me. That is a huge thing when you try to build alliances and relationships. That’s the goal.”
| Date Taken: | 01.04.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 01.04.2018 00:47 |
| Story ID: | 261294 |
| Location: | DAEGU, 27, KR |
| Web Views: | 44 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Bridging the gap through Language, by MSG Terysa King, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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