Interview with Mr. Hyunwoo Sun

                                       By Honorary Reporter Mina Borjian from Iran

 As you know anything can happen and according to Mr. Hyunwoo Sun: ‘Anything is possible” 

                                                        so on the other hand means: ‘Impossible’ says “I’m possible” - Audrey Hepburn

The article includes a brief description of the life of” Mr.Hyunwoo Sun” Whom foreigners say they have opened their second lives since they met, along with a Q&A interview about his start point, the path he chose, which inspired him to start “ Talk to Me in Korean (TTMIK) “ a Korean language learning service available in over 190 countries…Over 10 million total website visitors and what challenges did he face getting started, what did he do as CEO of “TTMIK” and how did he manage to create such a successful global language learning community.

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  Now let’s know more about him, his experiences to start the way, how he succeeded and 

  how he made job opportunities, and cultural marriages popular in Korea and other countries.

     Seon Hyun-woo

 The CEO of ‘Talk to Me in Korean (TTMIK),’ a Korean language education service. He is teaching foreigners Korean in an easy and fun way. Simply put, ‘Talk to Me in Korean’ is an online Korean language school that teaches Korean to people around the world.” Seon, who majored in French Language and Literature at ‘Korea University, is said to have shown talent in foreign languages. When he was in his third year of high school, he won first prize in the national high school English proficiency competition and received the Minister of Education Award. He entered the Department of Western Language and Literature at Korea University as a special talent holder of a foreign language. He wants to try a new language.  (jobsN 임헌진)

• From street dancing to launching the world's largest Korean language learning platform

Hyunwoo is the CEO of G9 Languages when he created it together with 2 other friends in 2009. Under this company, you can avail a lot of services, some of which are already very familiar to you. The Talk To Me in Korean (TTMIK) http://TalkToMeInKorean.com/, is a venue for people who want to study the Korean language online, especially for those who can't come to Korea for the time being. It has a very friendly and creative approach to teaching. (kimipakchwe)

He started doing B-Boy in his freshie year (1999) in college. A proud member of KU Dance, he used to join small competitions and performed in various dance concerts.  He is also well-known for his talks on Korean modern history at different venues like EPIK, where his students are English native speakers who will be teaching English in Korea. He is also into photography http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyunwoosun and vlogging http://youtube.com/ever4one.

“When I entered high school, there was a native teacher. I wanted to talk, but when I stood in front of him, I couldn't stop talking. She studied English throughout middle school, but she was very disappointed in herself thinking, ‘What did I learn during that time? I made up my mind to speak in English whenever I meet a foreigner in the future. From then on, I studied English for 5-6 hours a day. Every time she met and talked to a native speaker at school, she studied harder because she wanted to show that ‘my English has improved this much’.

While learning English, she naturally became interested in English-speaking culture. It seemed to broaden my view of the world. I wanted to experience various cultures, so I went to a meeting with foreigners. I also started studying other languages as well as English. Currently, 6 languages are available. Conversation is possible in Korean, English, French, Spanish, and Japanese. I can speak Chinese enough to travel abroad. I am currently learning Greek, Indonesian, and Italian.” (jobsN 임헌진)

Start an interview by Ms. Mina Borjian with Mr. Hyunwoo Sun, co-founder and CEO of ‘G9’ ( 주식회사 지나인)  which operates the online Korean education platform  

‘ Talk To Me In Korean.com’ 

(This interview was conducted through the Zoom app at 10 am KST)

1. Where did this story begin? 

First of all, in college or even before college I was always interested in languages and how languages can be acquired, learned and I was also interested in many other things but just as a natural process if there was something that I didn’t know how to do, I wanted to break it down, I wanted to analyze it and tackle the small steps that actually make up the entire experience so it was not easy to learn a new language or another language or the third language. It was not easy to take up break dancing but I just wanted to grow and learn so I did it anyway. And naturally, when I was making a lot of international friends from many other countries, I saw them struggling with the Korean language which is my mother tongue so naturally it’s easy for me to speak it and teach it. So, I decided to help them learn this new thing that they were struggling with. So, I like learning and I enjoy helping other people learn so creating ‘Talk To Me In Korean ‘was a very natural process for me. It was not all easy but it was something that naturally happened. 

1-1 What prompted you to start "Talk to me in Korean" and what challenges did you face when you started?

It all started from interacting with my personal friends who were trying to learn more about the Korean language (I mean these friends that I had, were already in Korea, but still they had a lot of difficulty finding the necessary information that they wanted to find on the internet. So, I want it to be the person who provided all the information but I didn’t want to answer all questions in person because it would be repeated many times so I started compiling a lot of information online but then I needed a system, I needed a systematic approach so I didn’t want to write one blog post today, another blog post today and then, keep going on like that. So that’s how I started ‘TTMIK’. I wanted to help my friends learn about Korea and more specifically learn the Korean language through a systematic approach like: (you learn this first; oh, you don’t know that? Learn this one first and then go to the next level). So, the whole curriculum was built like that.

1-2 Has there ever been a time when you think you have failed or decided to give up? (If yes, what motivated you to continue and not give up?)

I've never felt like that, that we have failed. I mean there were many failed attempts, failed projects, so we tried many things so ‘Talk To Me In Korean’ has been existing the whole time, and during the years we tried this project, this many projects, another one, another one and we decided to close many of the projects because they didn’t work for me. But I didn’t, I never felt like we failed just because of those little attempts. So yeah, and the hardest time for me was at first because this whole industry of teaching Korean online didn’t even exist almost, so people were so new to this and we were very new to it. We didn’t know how to, we didn’t have a business model planned on paper, written down somewhere, and we didn’t have investors. So, at first, it was a big challenge but gradually, you know, we continued creating content and a lot of people found out about us. So that’s how it went.

1-3  “Talk to Me in Korean” has gained a significant following worldwide. How did you manage to create such a successful global language-learning community?  how were your advertising methods for different countries? 

So, we are not spending a lot of money or we’re not using a lot of resources in advertising, we do some advertising, just a very minimal amount, just to see how advertising works, but I think the number one reason that we were able to reach a lot of people was that we were focusing on ‘Korean’ only. So, if you look up language learning services and apps you have Duolingo, Busuu, what else like so many other services that will teach you like twenty languages, twenty-five languages, fourteen languages, and if you look at their content, the whole gamified platform is great, the apps are good, they are enjoyable to use but again, the content needs more depth. So, we just focus on Korean and that’s, I think, how we were able to reach many people.

1-4 “Talk to Me in Korean” offers a variety of resources, including books, podcasts, and online courses. How do you ensure the quality and effectiveness of these resources for learners?

So, to ensure the quality of our recurses for learners, we actually spend a lot of time, researching discussing, and thinking about how to best present a piece of content and we also highly emphasize systematic approaches. So, if you go on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, there are so many videos that you can watch these days like:( let me teach you five words, let me teach you ten words today). They are good, and they are fun to watch but if you keep watching these videos like teaching 3 words today, learn how to say this and this, like we did that 10 years ago, but eventually you will need a system, you will need a curriculum to actually learn and speak Korean like you (Mina) do now. In order to ensure quality, we engage in thoughtful deliberation concerning the system's intricacies. This involves considering various aspects such as the process of acquiring new vocabulary, determining subsequent steps from that point onward, as well as the progression to higher levels of linguistic complexity. Additionally, we contemplate the structuring of extended sentences, exemplifying the meticulous approach taken.

1-5 In your opinion, what are some common challenges or misconceptions people have when learning Korean and how does "Talk to me in Korean" solve these challenges?

A prevalent error observed among a considerable number of individuals engaged in the pursuit of learning the Korean language is the misconception that rapid mastery is achievable. This misperception often arises from their enjoyment of diverse Korean dramas, movies, and other forms of content. Consequently, they form the intention to embark on the learning journey with the anticipation of expeditious results. However, upon the lapse of six months, they find themselves lacking the anticipated fluency, leading to frustration and prompting a substantial portion of these individuals to discontinue their learning endeavors. That’s one mistake that many people make. Another mistake people make is that they think it’ll take too long. They think

it’ll be impossible to learn. So, you have to remember that it takes time, it will take probably many years, at least 2 or 3 years until you become conversational so you have to take your time but then it won’t take forever either. It will not take 30 years. You will be able to have conversations sooner than you think. 

In order to solve this problem, we also provide many study tips and much content on how to learn languages so that people will not have unnecessary fears but also not unrealistic hopes either. 

1-6 “Talk to me in Korean” has a strong online community where learners can connect and practice with each other. How important is community building in language learning, and how do you foster a supportive environment for learners?

Well, we actually wish we could do more than what we are doing now. We have several platforms where people can connect with each other: social media and discord, and through our, you know, comments; but at the end of the day, to think about language learning, you spend or the majority of your learning will happen when you are alone. So, let’s say you have a community, you can talk with people but then you are not learning, you are just taking what you learned. So, you have to enjoy 95% of the time that you’re learning, which you do on your own, by yourself. So, community building is important but at the same time, we want people to feel like they have improved in the time that they spent by themselves. So that they can share, what they learned with other people. So maybe I think it’s just all related to the content so because we have a systematic curriculum, you just have to follow the curriculum (learn this and then learn another one, and then practice with other people. So, now that you asked that question, I realized that community building is also related to curriculums. The importance of good curriculums.

1-7  As the CEO of “Talk to Me in Korean”, what is your long-term vision for the company? Are there any new initiatives or expansions on the horizon?

Well, there are definitely a lot of things that we are actually working on right now, I can’t tell you everything but we have many more plans for the future and basically, we are going in the direction of expanding the learners’ experience. So, when you learn one language it doesn’t stop there, you want to do more things in the language, right? So, we hope that we will be able to offer more services where learners can do more things in Korean. That’s all that I can say right now, but just teaching the Korean language we know how to do it and we will have to continue doing that but we want to offer things that people can do in Korean too.   

1-8 Is there any plan such as giving scholarships, holding language training courses, or cultural experiences in person for the members of the “Talk to me in Korean” family?

We aspire to engage in a multitude of activities; however, inherent limitations invariably impede our efforts. Given our extensive global network of learners, it becomes implausible to facilitate personal interactions with each individual. Furthermore, the absence of our presence in certain activities may compromise the quality of the experience. Although we ardently desire to convene numerous gatherings, the pragmatic reality dictated otherwise, evidenced by the mere occurrence of two gatherings within the past year. Consequently, the execution of such endeavors proves exceedingly challenging. As a result, our predominant focus will likely persist in the realm of online activities. While it is conceivable that other organizations may offer a more robust array of offline courses, we remain circumspect in our approach to this avenue. The prospect of scholarships, albeit a consideration for our future trajectory, remains contingent upon the expansion of our scope. Acknowledging that we currently possess our own obligations to fulfill, we aspire to allocate our resources more expansively to the community subsequent to their fulfillment.

1-9 What is your advice or suggestion for those who have just started this path and probably decide to achieve great success in the future?

I think when something becomes successful and you see it online, it is very easy to copy the business and create similar content and we definitely see a lot of content that’s similar to TTMIK’s content and then we are not against it but customers or people who use your service will be able to tell, you know, whether it’s your original content or not. So, find something that you are really good at, and something that you are talented in and continue building more and more on it, and then you will be able to find something that is uniquely yours. So, I see a lot of trends in content creation too, but you don’t want to follow all the trends or you know, follow one trend if it’s not your own style. 

So, follow your own style. 

1-10 How do you differentiate your language training company from competitors in the market? What unique approaches or methodologies do you employ?

  I think you really need to understand your customers and what their situation is like, what their problems are so that you can solve the problems for them. So, what differentiates us from other companies is that we really understand how languages are learned, and how difficult language learning is, because our whole team is full of people who learned to speak another language on their own, including myself. So, I know what learners are curious about and what they will be curious about after they learn this. So, again it’s back to the curriculum; we have a strong curriculum and even apart from the essential courses we have, whenever we build a new course, we always think about what our customers want, our learners want, so yeah, and also another thing is when you look at other language learning services, they are not many faces that you can recognize with ‘TTMIK’. Everybody who studies with ‘TTMIK’ knows me; they know my voice, and they know how I teach; but if you study with other services, I mean the other services have more users of course, but I guess they are all like passive learners and that’s good too but do you know who made this curriculum? Do you know who made this app? Right? And when they, when people learn they can imagine our faces, the teachers’ faces, because we are doing this remotely, right?! And I think, I might be wrong, but I think that is one strength that we have.

1-11 Can you share any success stories or testimonials from students who have used your language programs?

 How do you assess the impact of your programs on your personal and professional life? 

So, I’ve always believed that if you learn a language, it’ll change your life; but at the same time if you learn a language beyond a certain level, I mean if you learn the basics that’s also already going to change your life, but if you become intermediate or advanced, if you can speak it professionally, it’ll really change your life. 

I don’t have specific examples but I’ve met hundreds and thousands of people who became a different person or found a different career, a better career, because they speak Korean really well or they are living in Korea already and they started learning, and they are making more money, they are doing enjoyable activities so, it’s not only us that can do that, any successful language learner will experience the same things; but we are just happy that we can help people learn Korean successfully. So, as long as you continue learning you will have some success, right? So, we want to help people continue learning.

“Thank you, dear Mr.Hyunwoo, Allow me to express my sincerest gratitude for this opportunity you have given me.”

For more information check these links too:

http://HyunwooSun.com/
http://www.facebook.com/ever4one

So now we know where it started and how Mr.Hyunwoo Sun became successful.

“Now realized that if we really have a goal or dream and want to achieve it, we will do it with effort and perseverance, without any excuses.” 

If you are curious about something and want to make a suggestion about the topic of the next article,

 I would be happy if you could contact me via the email below.

   Thank you  

mb.lotuslady@gmail.com