Hi! I'm Sun Hyun-woo and I do lots of things, but my main activity is to teach Korean to people around the world through the web site 'TalkToMeInKorean.com'. I am also very active on YouTube, as well as on many other social media channels. I am very easy to find and reach on the Internet, so if this interview is useful for you, don't hesitate to send me an email or a tweet!
 

 
The opportunity of the web site ‘TalkToMeInKorean.com’

I established the web site‘TalkToMeInKorean.com in 2009. When the internet started to emerge in 2005, I left my e-mail address and posted the sentence on bulletin boards of several international communities, "If you want to know about Korea, you can send an e-mail to me". Then, I received many e-mails, and many foreigners wrote comments about their curiosity of my YouTube channel. At first, I replied to every e-mail, but I realized that most questions from e-mails were quite similar to comments on my YouTube page. I thought that making the web site to post materials about Korea for foreigners was better than sending the same e-mails repeatedly. At first, I started a blog, and then I made the web site that foreigners can use to study the Korean language. The web site was famous enough for 400,000 foreign visitors to visit.

 

The reasons why I run 'TalkToMeInKorean.com' and one more thing that I want to announce

I think that the activities by Seo Kyoung-duk, the first Korean PR expert, and Kim Jang-hoon, a Korean supporter, are wonderful. However, I want to make a break through about publicity activities on Korea. I want to teach foreigners when they have any questions about our country.
The reason why I introduce Korea and Korean to foreigners is not from patriotism or pride. I started this activity from other reasons.
First of all, I agonized about what I am good at. I thought that I knew 100% about our country and language. After that, I felt confident about teaching about Korea and Korean language to foreigners. Then, I gained pride in return about treading the path of virtue.
By running 'TalkToMeInKorean.com', I try to let foreigners know that Korean isn't difficult. Many foreigners think Korean is difficult to study. When foreign visitors upload some videos of speaking Korean, I try to share it with many foreigners to encourage them. This video could help people hope that, if they study hard, they can be good Korean speakers.
 

 
B-boying and English have a lot in common for him

When I was young, I couldn't speak English well. However, I studied hard during high school, and I was the winner of an English language competition. Since then, I became more confident with  whatever I learned. When I was a freshman in 1999, I made some friends who were good at trampoline. They looked cool and I thought I would learn trampoline English if I studied it as hard as I studied English. I enthusiastically began to learn B-boying after joining the B-boy club.
I think that B-boying and foreign languages have a lot in common. The capacities for both of them won't improve in a day. Their capacities must be developed by continuing their efforts. A B-boy shoots a scene of B-boying and then checks his posture; the study of a foreign language is the same. People who study foreign language also have to find what the problems are through continuous self-monitoring. If some people studying foreign language have difficulty with pronunciation, they have to record and listen to their voices. In addition, they have to ask people around them about correct pronunciation.
 
The Way to Study Foreign Language

First of all, I think when you learn a foreign language, the most important thing is that you have to think about what you want to say. Just following a curriculum of a private language school is not a good way to learn because you just practice easy expressions such as "I will take this" or "Where is the restroom?". First, you need to organize your ideas and look for help in internet community and book or from your friends who know it.
I hope everyone realizes that if you study something very hard, then there is only one successful result. If you know the meaning of this expression 'step by step', then you probably understand what I'm talking about. It's the same for learning a foreign language.
You need motivation for yourself to learn a foreign language effectively. People tend to prepare for job interviews and competitions with enthusiasm because they aim at being No. 1 in the competition or getting jobs. Therefore, I suggest you find your rationale of why you want to learn a foreign language. Otherwise, you clearly don't have to study it. Your simple desire to be good at a foreign language is not enough. For example, a dream to backpack by yourself or to understand what Japanese people are talking about might be good motivation for learning a foreign language that will help you to concentrate on study.
 
To CBNU Students

Even though university students can do anything they want to do, numerous students easily give up on their big goals which they had set up for their future. I hope that they will think and plan more concretely. For example, if somebody longs for a world tour, he or she has to make a plan of its expense such as the cost of  the airplane ticket and lodging, but they also need to plan how to make money for it.
I often hear that an older alumnus of my alma mater says that he is too busy to do anything while he has his job. It means that when students graduate and get a job, it's just the beginning of hell with no personal time. Therefore, they have to find how to enjoy their campus lives during university as long as they can.