원어민도 놀라게 한 영어 공부법! 영어에 미쳤더니 인생이 바뀌었어요!

Does Suneung actually measure real English ability? Today I'll be interviewing people who use English daily but got a low score on Suneung. Let's hear their stories.

This is Jenny. I used to work as a nurse in a hospital. I'm also a video creator. Actually, my boyfriend has a nursing license to Australia, so we are planning to go to Australia together.

My name is Austin, in Korea Hyunbinju, and I'm working related to importing and exporting.

I'm Hyunseung Kim. I'm global event planner. I help people from different countries organize the event like conference and hackathon.

It was a quite long time ago for me, but I got sadunggeum on the suneung.

Like, is that a good score, bad score?

I think it was bad score for me. And yeah, and I needed a better score to enter the nursing department.

I think it's maybe between 4 and 5 grade, I guess. It's 20 years ago.

Okay. Oh no, I'm scared.

No, no, it could be the 5, clearly. When I'm nervous, I'm sweating a lot, so it's not about temperatures.

Okay, okay.

I went to TEC High School. I honestly don't remember the score, but quite low score.

Quite low?

It was difficult for me too. Last year Hong and I took the test. He did better than I did.

I got 6K Haksu B.

Actually, I wasn't surprised about that because I didn't study English hard, but I felt like a bit disappointed.

I think my My grade is exactly what I expected because I was not a hardworking student when I was in high school.

Not really. I think the score just shows how I prepared for the exam, not my real potential.

It depends on how we define the English ability. If we can define the English ability is to communicate with a foreigner, my grade is Probably much lower than that because I cannot speak at all with a foreigner when I was in high school. So 5th grade is, I think, is good for me.

Maybe at the time I thought test is just test. It doesn't show how well talk.

Actually, I'm not really into English studying at that time. I was trying to memorize vocabulary and grammar for the test. Not on real communication. Yeah.

So I always memorize the vocabulary and test every day, and I do the test paper every day.

I think Korean English education is only for the score and paper.

I think we focus too much on just tests, and so we didn't practice speaking and listening enough.

If I felt some fun in English, I would study much better. I met some teacher who taught us pop song. The pop song name was "Bad Case of Loving You." Oh yeah, Bon Jovi, right? Do you know that song?

Bad case of loving you.

Yeah, so I was so much fun with that song and I still remember that song. So if I met that teacher much more younger, then I think I found more fun in English.

First of all, I changed the language setting on my phone to English, and I also try to listen to podcasts in English every day. Whenever I get the chance, I speak with natives.

At the company, I always use Messenger and email with the buyers.

Most of the time is writing email to the client and video call.

Do you have to use English every single day?

I have to, kind of, first.

English really opened up a lot of opportunities for me, and I also got to meet a lot of people from different countries.

You're going to Australia to be a nurse. That's like medical English. That's really amazing. That is next-level English, being able to talk to patients and doctors in English. So you should be Be proud of yourself for that.

Going Australia in working holiday and go Hong Kong for exchange program. So that kind of experience made me like now.

I got more confidence. I can meet different culture people.

For sure, weird conversations. Actually, I didn't have many chances to use in English, but I realized that actually using English in daily conversations is most important thing.

When I was in Australia, I met some Taiwanese girl and we have a relationship. So at the time we fought a lot, so I was struggle to win in that argument. So that's why I study English so hard. So at that time I think my English is improved a lot.

I guess you had the motivation, I gotta win this fight.

I work at the start-up field, so I tried to watch the related drama.

I feel like I watched one. What was that one we watched?

Silicon Valley.

Oh yeah, did you watch it? I love that show.

When I feel like I can understand all of the context in English, just like Korean, and yeah, when I speak with natives, I could understand jokes, even jokes in English, and I felt like we We're sharing emotions.

Humor is really hard to understand. Not even just the language, but the culture.

Yeah, that's true. When I was in exchange program in Hong Kong, we clubbing a lot. When I'm drunk, my English going very well, but after I'm sober, my English was gone.

So that's the secret.

At the club, my English was best.

So go to the club, drink a few beers, problem solved.

Yeah, right.

Pro tip.

When I guided friends and family to the different country, I will solve the problem or communication with them. At the time, I just felt—

You should be proud of yourself. Pat yourself on the back. That's not easy.

Try to watch your free-roam.

Thank you. Thank you. I didn't tell her to say that.

When I take The bus. I try to listen to podcasts and I really enjoy theory balance.

Try to incorporate it into your life in simple ways. Yeah.

I think spending a lot of time with some friend who can communicate only in English.

2015, I got invitation from the some global investor company. They invite me as an ambassador Korea. I really wanted to be, but I didn't have confidence. Forced to study, prepare. After that, I continuously work as an ambassador in Korea.

I wish I had focused more on just speaking and listening, not on the test.

Like memorizing.

Yeah, I hate it.

Maybe like practice real life conversation. Textbook is not real life. It was not fun. If I learn the English like in the movie or song, that would be much more helpful to improve the English.

Something you're interested in?

Yeah, sure, sure. Hip-hop music lyric, sometimes it's dirty, but anyway, it's kind of fun.

I'm gonna finish with just 3 words.

"Joryzima." What's that mean?

You don't have to be scared when you are speaking English.

Ah, okay. Be brave, guys. You can do it. I think a lot of people are nervous talking to foreigners. How can they overcome that?

Yeah, I always try to think they are also just human. True.

That's a good mindset. I think a lot of people, they're scared of making mistakes. I think we're probably the hardest on ourselves. Other people don't care if you make a mistake.

Like I said, at first you need to find something you can enjoy. In English. Thankfully, these days so many content you can find easily on YouTube or Netflix, and you can learn English much easier. Nowadays we can use ChatGPT. They are very good teacher and they correct my pronunciation and my grammar. Sometimes I tell them some dirty lyrics.

I was participate a lot of event. It's It's really difficult to make a conversation with new people. Other people felt the same. Just have confidence and just try. That's the only way. Just go.

Just go for it.

Don't let the score define your ability. It's just one step in your English journey. Keep learning and stay confident.

My mistake is also my skill. So don't worry about the mistaking and just keep doing what you do.

You can do it!

You got this!

Fighting!