INTERVIEW 'Why study English? Use Google Translate?'

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Yoo Su-youn, CEO of U-Star

Cover of Yoo Su-youn's "Reset"

English holds great importance in Korea's public and private education and it is common for private English tutors to rise to stardom. Yoo Su-youn, CEO of English institute U-Star English and one of the most popular TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) tutors in Korea, is no exception.

Yoo is known for succeeding on her own.

"I teach five hours a day from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. In the afternoon, I record videos for online courses. I could reuse previous lecture videos, but I prefer recording new videos every month to keep up with the trends," Yoo said.

She has been lecturing TOEIC for 17 years and became a TV celebrity who earns about 2 billion won ($1.7 million) a year. She has published a handful of TOEIC preparation books and self-help books and garnered positive reviews, but her latest release, "Reset," gives the direction of English study in a broader sense.

"My previous books centered on immediate resolutions,” Yoo said. “Readers want to get a high score on imminent TOEIC tests or need answers for their personal problems. This book is more of an answer to an insistent question I receive _ how are you so good at English? 'Reset' suggests ideal ways to learn English, which I was not able to follow through on."

Yoo points out that the key to learning another language comes from having one's own logic, as learning English is not about memorization.

"It's not just about translating Korean into English,” she said. “If you don't have content in Korean, you can never speak well in English. Young Koreans these days have no opinions for themselves. They cannot organize their thoughts logically and thus cannot express their ideas in another language because they don't have any opinions or ideas."

Yoo said changing times should be reflected in English education.

"When I was young, there were only a few ways to experience overseas culture and we had to just memorize to study English. However, now is the era of globalization _ youngsters go to English kindergarten, watch American television series and see how the world goes by through the internet. English education should be different for this globalized generation.”

The title of the book "Reset" comes from her suggestion to change the perception of foreign language education in the era when Google Translate automatically translates numerous languages with the click of a button.

"There is good software to supplement translation such as smartphone applications and dictionaries,” Yoo said. “So we have to change the hardware _ yourself. So I named the book to encourage 'resetting' yourself."

She said Google Translate is enough for basic conversation for leisure purposes.

"However, when you present in English or participate in a business meeting, your partner does not wait for you to run Google Translate,” Yoo said. “If you want to make money through speaking English, you have to study further."