“Pain killer”

I am writing in English this blog for someone who may wonder what 15 years of an immigrant's English skill like.

English language is found to be easier than you think. I rather say it was easier than English we learnt back in school from South Korea.

If you experience English speaking countries, you will find people do not use difficult words at all. There might be a word you don’t understand here and there.

When I just came to Australia, I did not know what ‘pain killer’ was. I meant the English word ‘painkiller’. For my joint inflammation, I wanted to buy a painkiller over the counter.

The word I found from Korean English dictionary was something else that I can not remember anymore. I brought that word on memo to the chemist and asked what I was after. However, they did not have a clue what I was looking for.(This happened around 2005, before I had a smartphone.)

It took a while to learn the word ‘painkiller’ from there. Whenever join pain attacks, I had to swallow that pain for a few years without a painkiller. My joint pain lasts 3-4 days and that pain is quite severe. But a painkiller kills the pain in 30 minutes as soon as it kicks in.

Long story short. Painkiller! How easy word it is. Many people who want to speak English fluently, try to memorise difficult words. I am sure 3 years in middle school, you already learned English words you can use everyday.

Fluent English speaking is not coming from how many words you know. It is more about where to put words you already learnt.