💬 Listening Between the Words

I took this photo at El Matador Beach in Malibu, where a group of gulls gathered in the golden light. Their wings caught the sun as they moved and called to one another, wild, unposed, and beautifully alive in the fading day.

There are moments in interpretation when the words themselves are only a small part of what needs to be understood. A sentence might travel from one language to another, but the true meaning lives in the spaces around it, the pause before speaking, the shift in tone, the breath someone takes when their heart feels heavy.

In my work, I’ve learned that listening is not just a skill.
It is a way of being.

Across languages, Korean, English, Japanese, Mandarin, we find different rhythms of expression. Some cultures speak directly. Others soften their words. Some rely on silence as a way to show respect. Others fill silence to ease tension. But underneath all these patterns, people carry emotions that often reveal more than the sentences they say out loud.

I try to listen for those things.

• The hesitation that tells me someone is worried.

• The kindness hidden in a phrase that sounds formal.

• The frustration behind a polite request.

• The relief in someone’s voice when they finally feel understood.

It reminds me of the way tea ceremony trains the senses.
In the tea room, you don’t just see the bowl, you feel the warmth, notice the texture, and sense the intention behind each movement.
You learn to pay attention to what is subtle, quiet, and easily missed.

Language has its own quiet layers.

Interpretation, for me, is not simply transferring words between people; it is honoring the intention behind them. It is carrying not only the meaning, but also the emotion and spirit of the speaker. It is helping two people meet each other with honesty and clarity, even when they come from completely different worlds.

When we listen between the words, we discover something deeper:

that communication is not an exchange of sentences, but a meeting of human beings

And in those moments, just like in the tea room, presence becomes the bridge that allows understanding to flow.