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Win Hlaing: The Power of Communication 

WIN HLAING

“Communication is the key to prevent cultural conflicts,” Win Hlaing states boldly. He now works as head of the Foreigner Crime Patrol at Bupyeong Station and owns a Myanmar restaurant in Incheon. He has lived longer in Korea than in his native Myanmar. He credits his successful settlement here not only to his adaptive nature, but also to his efforts to communicate with and accept people from different cultural backgrounds. We interviewed Mr.Win to learn about his take on successful cross-cultural communication.

Q. Please briefly introduce yourself. 

Hello, I am Win Hlaing. I currently live in Korea, but I am originally from the city of Mandalay in Myanmar. Before coming to Korea, I lived with my parents and siblings. I currently own a small Myanmar restaurant in Bupyeong. People from Myanmar regularly meet up here, and my restaurant has become a popular meeting place for them.

Q. We heard that you work at the Foreigner Crime Patrol. What exactly do you do there?

I work as head of the Foreigner Crime Patrol. We work with the police at Bupyeong Station to prevent cases of cultural conflict and keep the neighborhood safe. For example, a person from Myanmar once went into the streets with his top off. A neighbor saw this and reported it to the police. In Myanmar, where it gets very hot, it is pretty natural for men to walk around topless, but this is not the case in Korea. I came to intervene and explained the cultural differences to both the neighbor and the person from Myanmar.

Q. We’ve heard that you used to work as an announcer for MWTV, or Migrant Workers TV. Please tell us what you did there and how you got involved with this project.

Migrant workers in Korea often struggle because of the language barrier. It’s pretty common to misunderstand situations when you cannot understand the local language. Therefore, I translated Korean news into Burmese, with topics ranging from social and political issues to cultural and other major news. I really hope this helped both the people from Myanmar as well as society as a whole.

Q. Is there any aspect of Korean culture that you especially like? And how about your native country’s culture?

One thing about Korean culture that I like is the level of respect people have for their elders. We have a similar type of elderly respect in Myanmar, but it’s not on the same level as here in Korea. On the other hand, what I like about Myanmar culture is people’s patience and dedication. Regardless of what line of work they are in, people usually take great care in their work, and they seem particularly patient, too.

Q. You have been in Korea for 27 years now. Out of all the things you did to promote cross-cultural exchanges between Myanmar and Korea, what was your favorite and most memorable experience and why?

I consider all of it memorable, but working as interpreter was probably the most memorable thing of all. I helped a Myanmar friend, for example, who couldn’t get medical treatment because of his language barrier. There were also many instances where I stepped in to help solve different workplace conflicts caused by people’s language barrier. I have since retired from being an interpreter, but I still help people out from time to time.

Q. We've also heard that you helped out a woman, who goes by the name Fani, who couldn't officially register her children. Helping out a stranger is not an easy thing to do. Please tell us how you came to help them, and if you don’t mind, please also tell us how they are doing now.

My wife and I felt a strong kinship to Fani and her kids, and seeing how dedicated she was to her children inspired me to help her out. I find it extremely irresponsible that Fani’s husband abandoned his children. Even wild animals have the common sense to take care of their offspring. Thankfully, Fani and her family found a help center for foreigners that helped them out. The children are now in preschool and from time to time they visit my restaurant.

Q. When you first arrived in Korea, did you struggle because of the cultural differences? If you had to give any advice to newcomers to Korea, what would it be?

I guess the biggest difficulty was the language barrier. The first thing I had to do to survive was to learn Korean. I believe that the first step to understanding a different culture is to learn the local language. As I started to get more fluent in Korean, my problems began to fade away one by one. If I were to offer any advice, it would be to study Korean.

Q. You seem quite fond of facing new challenges. Is there anything new you want to try to accomplish in the near future?

Like I said, I currently own a Myanmar restaurant, but in the future, I would like to expand it and include Asian cuisine in general. It’s my dream to run a place where customers can try dishes from Myanmar, Korea, China, India, Taiwan, and Viet Nam. That way, people from different cultures and countries could sit in one place and enjoy each other’s company. There’s still a lot ahead of me to realize this dream, but I work every day to make it happen.

Q. The ASEAN Culture House is an organization that helps facilitate cross-cultural communication between people from Korea and the 10 ASEAN countries such as Myanmar. As a person from Myanmar, is there anything particular that you would like to see done at the ASEAN Culture House?

I believe what they are doing is very noble. Cross-cultural understanding is imperative in improving each nation’s socio-economic and political matters. All I ask for is for them to continue their good work.

Q. There are many ASEAN people who work in Korea or other foreign countries. Do you have any words of encouragement for them?

There is a saying, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Yet, even if you want to follow the local culture, it can be very difficult if you don’t know the language. I believe that it is very important to learn the local language if you want to successfully settle in a different country. If you know how to speak the language, it’s easier to make new friends and build relationships that will further your cultural understanding. However, the most important thing of all is knowing to respect and accept different cultures.