Overcoming the language barrier
Clarksville resident who came to U.S. as teen works with county on protecting Korean community from scams, settling disputes
A fter helping Montgomery County launch a language-friendly consumer hotline in March, Young Ran Smith knew what she needed to do next.
The Clarksville resident and community activist, who immigrated to America from South Korea more than 40 years ago, began urging Howard County to provide a similar service to help its Korean-speaking residents avoid scams and resolve disputes.
Nearly a year later Smith, president of the Howard County chapter of the League of Korean Americans of Maryland, joined with County Executive Allan H. Kittleman on Feb. 1 to signing a memorandum of understanding creating a bilingual hotline for county residents who speak Korean.
The agreement, known as the Korean Language-Friendly Initiative, creates a dedicated phone line to be manned by volunteers from the league every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Available to the county’s 20,000 Korean Americans, the number — 410-313-3820 — was set to be activated this past Thursday.
Howard County’s consumer protection office will also combine forces with its counterpart in Montgomery County, where 15 percent of 1 million residents are Korean-American, in submitting monthly articles on consumer news to Korean newspapers and in sharing advertising costs.
Using the newly unveiled outreach effort as a template, Rebecca Bowman, administrator of Howard County’s Office of Consumer Protection, said she is already working to set up a second dedicated line for Spanish-speaking residents.
“Young was instrumental in getting this done,” Bowman said of the partnership.
“She’s energetic and well connected in the Korean community, and I have high hopes for this.”
For her part, Smith is thrilled to be helping her fellow Korean-Americans.
When she retired in 2000 from a 23-year career in information technology with the American Association of Retired Persons, she decided to volunteer more within the Korean community.
But she soon realized she was facing an issue she hadn’t anticipated: She was no longer proficient in Korean after having lived in America since 1976.
“I came here with my family when I was 16, and it was really hard,” she said of moving from Seoul to York, Pa. At that time, she started the 10th grade without knowing much English.
It was ironic to her to discover decades later that she was facing a language barrier See LANGUAGE, page 6
The Clarksville resident and community activist, who immigrated to America from South Korea more than 40 years ago, began urging Howard County to provide a similar service to help its Korean-speaking residents avoid scams and resolve disputes.
Nearly a year later Smith, president of the Howard County chapter of the League of Korean Americans of Maryland, joined with County Executive Allan H. Kittleman on Feb. 1 to signing a memorandum of understanding creating a bilingual hotline for county residents who speak Korean.
The agreement, known as the Korean Language-Friendly Initiative, creates a dedicated phone line to be manned by volunteers from the league every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Available to the county’s 20,000 Korean Americans, the number — 410-313-3820 — was set to be activated this past Thursday.
Howard County’s consumer protection office will also combine forces with its counterpart in Montgomery County, where 15 percent of 1 million residents are Korean-American, in submitting monthly articles on consumer news to Korean newspapers and in sharing advertising costs.
Using the newly unveiled outreach effort as a template, Rebecca Bowman, administrator of Howard County’s Office of Consumer Protection, said she is already working to set up a second dedicated line for Spanish-speaking residents.
“Young was instrumental in getting this done,” Bowman said of the partnership.
“She’s energetic and well connected in the Korean community, and I have high hopes for this.”
For her part, Smith is thrilled to be helping her fellow Korean-Americans.
When she retired in 2000 from a 23-year career in information technology with the American Association of Retired Persons, she decided to volunteer more within the Korean community.
But she soon realized she was facing an issue she hadn’t anticipated: She was no longer proficient in Korean after having lived in America since 1976.
“I came here with my family when I was 16, and it was really hard,” she said of moving from Seoul to York, Pa. At that time, she started the 10th grade without knowing much English.
It was ironic to her to discover decades later that she was facing a language barrier See LANGUAGE, page 6
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