Jeon Hyung Min 200704216

 Narrative Essay

 

Jeon Hyung Min 200704216

 

                           Are Korean Sports Heroes Really Fluent in English?

 

             One of the areas where Korean media often gets it wrong is people's linguistic skills. Recently, there was a newspaper story about a girl who graduated top of the class from a university. The newspaper said she is gifted with languages and is fluent in four languages. This is as absurd as to say that there is a pianist who also wonderfully plays the violin, viola and cello. It simply can't be done. The same goes for sport stars. When a Korean athlete wins an important international competition and gives an interview in English with foreign reporters, soon stories appear in the Korean media about how he or she spoke flawless English. When listening to the actual tapes, however, they are often just good enough to express some basic ideas.

             A case in point is Yuna Kim, one of the most popular figure skaters in Korea. After winning the world championship, she had interviews with foreign journalists in fluent English. Her English skills attracted favorable attention from Korean media. One newspaper reported that her English teacher was her mom, who had made her listen to English tapes from an early age, three to four hours a day while moving to and from the training spot. Now it sounds like the mom's dedication and the English tapes are the secret of Yuna's fluent English. Are they?

             What about other Korean sports stars who speak good enough English to have interviews? Like famous soccer player Jisung Park, golf star Seri Park and Olympics gold medal winning swimmer Taehwan Park? Did they also listen to English tapes as kids? What they have in common is not a dedicated mom or English tapes but the confidence that comes from outstanding achievement in each field.

             They mostly talk about what condition they were in during the game. For example, what was difficult, what was easy and how they hope they will continue to do well in the future. Thank you. That's about it. There shouldn't be much difficulty saying these things. However, the Korean media keeps producing exaggerated stories about celebrities speaking such wonderful English.

             Our world-beating sports heros are not as flawless in English as when they compete on the field. Sometimes they win competitions and say a few words in English. That's all. Their English is not so good enough to cause feelings of inferiority and envy in Korea's stressed students and parents. Decent English skills are seriously difficult to acquire and many Korean students struggle to have a good command of English. Never underestimate the mastery of English.