Polyglot Spreads Hangeul Around World Via Video-Sharing Site
Sun Hyun-woo
Can a person speak English like a native speaker without studying abroad or attending a foreign-language school? Sun Hyun-woo, who hosts a radio program on learning English every morning on EBS Radio, is living proof that it is possible.
But Sun, who runs the website "TalkToMeInEnglish," is clearly something of a linguist. He also speaks French and Japanese well, is conversant in Spanish and Chinese, and can write in Italian and Indonesian. Including his mother tongue, he has eight languages at his command.
Despite that, it is not his foreign-language skills that is gaining him fame these days. Rather, he is entering the spotlight for promoting and spreading Korean around the world through his website "TalkToMeInKorean." Sun set it up in 2008 and it is now reaching people in 190 countries. Some 1.7 million people have now visited the site, with 400,000 to 500,000 using it each month to improve their Korean language or written Hangeul skills.
"There are a lot of people who study Korean through our website for two hours every day," said Sun.
"I made many foreign friends and ethnic Koreans since attending university, and they all had the same kind of questions about Korea. It was getting tiresome to answer them over and over, so I created a blog," said Sun. "I also uploaded practical information on how to rent a room or order a meal, but people weren't so keen to read these posts, so I started making video clips and podcasts from 2008."
"I set up a company because I thought it'd be too much work to do everything by myself, so I allowed users to freely share their video clips on my site -- and it took off," he added.
The video clips on the site reflect current issues and viewers' interests. It receives hundreds of emails, letters, and cards everyday from people thanking it for helping them learn Korean in a fun way, and asking the meaning of words or expressions they've heard in Korean TV dramas. Sun said he makes sure to use those questions as material for his site.
Sun is also communicating with people around the world via YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. "There are so many things that I want to do," he said. "I wake up every morning regretting that I didn't set my alarm earlier."
But Sun, who runs the website "TalkToMeInEnglish," is clearly something of a linguist. He also speaks French and Japanese well, is conversant in Spanish and Chinese, and can write in Italian and Indonesian. Including his mother tongue, he has eight languages at his command.
Despite that, it is not his foreign-language skills that is gaining him fame these days. Rather, he is entering the spotlight for promoting and spreading Korean around the world through his website "TalkToMeInKorean." Sun set it up in 2008 and it is now reaching people in 190 countries. Some 1.7 million people have now visited the site, with 400,000 to 500,000 using it each month to improve their Korean language or written Hangeul skills.
"There are a lot of people who study Korean through our website for two hours every day," said Sun.
"I made many foreign friends and ethnic Koreans since attending university, and they all had the same kind of questions about Korea. It was getting tiresome to answer them over and over, so I created a blog," said Sun. "I also uploaded practical information on how to rent a room or order a meal, but people weren't so keen to read these posts, so I started making video clips and podcasts from 2008."
"I set up a company because I thought it'd be too much work to do everything by myself, so I allowed users to freely share their video clips on my site -- and it took off," he added.
The video clips on the site reflect current issues and viewers' interests. It receives hundreds of emails, letters, and cards everyday from people thanking it for helping them learn Korean in a fun way, and asking the meaning of words or expressions they've heard in Korean TV dramas. Sun said he makes sure to use those questions as material for his site.
Sun is also communicating with people around the world via YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. "There are so many things that I want to do," he said. "I wake up every morning regretting that I didn't set my alarm earlier."
englishnews@chosun.com / Jul. 22, 2013 08:25 KST
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