'Learning English has saved my life'
By Jung Min-ho
Comedian Kim Young-chul
No business is as cynical as show business as comedian Kim Young-chul learned the hard way.
One moment, the public was falling all over Kim’s celebrity impersonations and self-deprecating humor. They were treating him like last year’s milk the next.
While many celebrities struggle to cope with the Darwinist nature of the entertainment industry, which sucks them into a system that is instantly ready to spit them out, Kim found an unlikely object of passion to keep him upright when things were going south: English.
Kim said he first started reading English-language books around 1999, at a time when calls from television producers were becoming few and far between. A decade later, Kim, now 38, has firmly reestablished himself in the limelight as the country’s only comedian who doubles as a college English lecturer. He also gets significant income from his hot-selling books that share his personal experience of studying English.
``English saved my life,’’ Kim said matter-of-factly in a recent interview with The Korea Times.
``I sometimes ask myself `what would have happened if I didn’t study English?’ and that is not a delightful thought at all. Picking up those English books were clearly the best choice I have ever made in my life.’’
Kim’s passion for English has grown to a point where some claim it’s preventing him from fully realizing his potential as a comedian. Kim claims those people don’t know what they’re talking about.
``Perhaps, they have a point. But English opened my eyes to so many other opportunities I had never seen before and really broadened my viewpoint of the world,’’ he said.
``Now I see a more promising future within me. All this wouldn’t have been possible without the first step I took 10 years ago.’’
Kim recently published his seventh book, “Begin, Now,” after publishing four books on English conversations and Korean translations of Brian Tracy’s ``Kiss that Frog’’ and Deepak Malhotra’s ``I Moved Your Cheese.’’
``I would like to encourage all people to take the first step toward realizing whatever they are dreaming about, right now,’’ Kim said.
``Of course, as a breadwinner nearing 30, there were a lot of reasons for me to not take a risk. But I was right to take it. Of course, there were people who buttonholed me from the start, saying that I should learn to discard my heavy Gyeonsang Province accent and learn how to speak like Seoul people before even considering English. Of course, if I allowed them to get into my mind, I wouldn’t be here.’’
Kim’s English ability is respectable enough to make him a part-time lecturer at Seoul’s Yonsei University and Korea University. When asked about the best way to learn English, Kim replied, ``Reading is the best way. The things you learn about life in the books are bonuses.’’
“When audio books came out, I thought it was a revolutionary item for people like me who didn’t enjoy reading much. But I soon came to realize that some things only can be learned from texts,” Kim said.
“Renowned author Shin Kyung-sook also said her secret to write well is lots of reading, which, I believe, is a stale but truthful answer.”
What makes a good communicator is knowledge the person has, therefore, without the “input,” mastering a language is a far-fetched idea, he said.
Attributing his sense of humor to a great deal of reading, Kim added he is considering replacing his new 4G smartphone with a 2G phone to spare more time for reading paper books and newspapers.
Kim said he disbelieves there are any “secrets” to learning English, in what appeared to be a jab at books with titles such as “Happens Within a Month” or “Sudden Miraculous Change.”
“Learning a language takes time no matter how smart you are. On the flip side, as long as you try persistently, anyone can learn it,” Kim said. “In this era of globalization, English is something you have to live with. Thus, it is important to have fun with it because it will be a long race.”
Although it is positive to “think big” in terms of setting a goal, Kim advised people not to get stressed out too much over how far they are from reaching that goal.
“The whole point is to learn in the process. Comedian Lee Kyung-kyu’s movie ‘A Bloody Battle for Revenge’ commercially failed but the story still sells in talk shows and his TV programs,” Kim said.
As Kim repeatedly said on many TV programs, his dream is to become a global comedian “like Jim Carrey.” That dream is still ongoing.
He recently had a phone conversation with a manager of Korea-born Hollywood actress Kim Yun-jin, who gained international fame with the show, “Lost.”
“The manager said stand-up comedy is even difficult for native speakers. Saying my English is just ‘pretty good,’ he asked me to try harder if I am serious about the dream,” Kim said. “And I will.”
Despite all the other opportunities opening up for him, thanks to his English proficiency, Kim said he does not want to lose his roots as a comedian.
“If I lose the title of comedian, it feels like everything that I have will just slither away,” Kim said. “Now, I just want to be a funny guy who can speak English well.”