Natural Korean Conversation with 태웅쌤 | 이렇게 귀하신 분이 ①

Hello, everyone who came to Didi's Korean Podcast. Nice to meet you. Today, we have a special planned podcast that invites guests and talks with them. We've prepared the first episode with such a precious person. You can test your listening skills without subtitles. If you need subtitles, please turn on the subtitles on YouTube and watch them until the end. Today's first guest is Taeyong, who runs the Comprehensible Input Korean channel. Taeyong is making a lot of videos on YouTube that are comprehensible. I'm going to talk to Taeyong about a lot of things from now on. Yes, then please enjoy. Hello. Nice to meet you. Did you work today? No, I don't have any work these days. Oh, really? Are you a Korean teacher now? I'm not taking a class right now. The last class was canceled last July. I was abroad and came back, so I'm not taking a full-time class right now. When did you start teaching Korean? I got my license about three years ago. Oh, it hasn't been long. Yes, it hasn't been long. I'm not a person who's been preparing to be a Korean teacher for a long time. I just happened to do it, so I'm doing YouTube. How did it happen? When I was in my mid-20s, I was thinking a lot about what to do. I don't have a dream or passion. One of the things I liked was going to many countries and going to new places. I like to talk to people who are different from me. I thought it would be nice to be able to work while living abroad, so I thought about what would happen. I thought it would be easy for Koreans to be a Korean teacher. My mother's sister was a Korean teacher in Poland. I went on a trip and saw how my aunt lived in Poland. I thought, This is the life I want. So I've been studying hard since then, getting a license, and taking classes. Can I call you Taewoong? Yes, you can call me whatever you want. Do you want to work abroad? Or do you have a country you want to go to while traveling the world? I don't have a country I want to go to. When I thought I should be a Korean teacher, I stayed in one country for about two years. I stayed in another country for about a year and two years. Life is long. I wanted to live in many countries for a long time. But I think it's because I've had a lot of hard experiences in Bangladesh. Was it hard to live abroad? Or was it hard to work? It was hard to live abroad. There are many interesting things about other cultures, but sometimes it's hard to get along with them. What was bad about Bangladesh? Bangladesh is a country with an overwhelming number of Muslim believers. According to Islamic law, you can't eat pork. I wasn't a big fan of pork. But it was hard because there was something I couldn't eat. Oh, food. Yes, the food was very different. And in that country, 11 months out of 12 months is summer. Really? Yes, but I couldn't wear short pants outside in the summer. Oh, really? Yes, I didn't know, but it was like that. I was told that I shouldn't show my legs like that. It was hard for foreigners to wear long pants in the heat. I see. Can you wear short sleeves? I can wear short sleeves. Oh, really? There are a few Korean teachers around me. Someone said he went to Thailand. He said he really liked Thailand. My dream is to open a Korean language academy in Thailand. Oh, really? Why? Before the COVID-19, my sister and my sister-in-law were going to live in Thailand for a month. My sister-in-law was so busy that I was the only one left, so I lived in Thailand for a month for free. I lived in Chiang Mai for a month, and the neighborhood was so pretty and the people were so kind. I think there are a lot of people who want to learn Korean. I thought it would be good to open a Korean language academy here. The people are nice, the food is good, and the weather is nice. That's right. The weather was nice, too. I've seen a few of your videos on YouTube. I think you usually play games. Do you like games? No, I don't like it. I started playing games because of YouTube. Don't you usually play games? No, I don't play games at all. When I started my channel, I tried to talk a lot. I tried to talk about myself a lot. But when I thought about four stories, there was no story to tell. Pain of creation And when I tried to do what I actually did, I didn't have much fun. I didn't have much to talk about. I thought a lot about what kind of content to do. I'm doing YouTube under the name of Comprehensible Input. In other words, I have to listen to what I'm saying while I'm watching what's going on. I thought there was a limit to pictures or drawings. I thought it was hard to draw a picture on a blackboard or take a picture and explain it. I thought it was hard to express movements or abstract emotions. So I was thinking about how to make a content that has a movement, a movement, and a context. I like watching YouTube, so I'm watching it while I'm resting. I was playing a game. Yes, you do it often. Yes. I didn't know when I was playing games like Hearthstone or League of Legends. I happened to see a game with a story that I played a lot on YouTube. I thought, there's a story, there's a lot of visual data, and I don't have to worry about copyright. So I was able to focus on game content a lot. How did you start Comprehensible Input? Have you ever studied a foreign language or taught it in that way? Actually, I don't have one. YouTube itself is a big experiment for me. So I always ask people when I'm live. But everyone, is this really helpful? That's what I ask. I'm not sure yet. But I thought the traditional way of teaching was not effective. But now that I'm a Korean teacher, I'm doing this as a job. And if I get paid to teach someone a foreign language, I think I should do it right. So I thought, how do people learn foreign languages well? I searched a lot on YouTube and the Internet. I went to the library and read a lot of books. And then I found Comprehensible Input. After that, I thought, oh, this is it. There's a famous video on Comprehensible Input. Do you know the one where you give a lecture in German? The one with Stephen Krashen? Yes, that's right. After watching that, I realized that it would be helpful. So I'm doing a podcast right now. I think Comprehensible Input is very important. I think Comprehensible has its own level. There's a source for beginners, and there's a source for intermediate students. In the past, Dr. Stephen Krashen said that there should be Comprehensible Input. But in the most recent video, he said that there should be Optimal Input. So Comprehensible Input is an element of Optimal Input. It's a personality. It has to be Comprehensible. And it has to be at the level of the learner. And it has to be fun. And it has to be rich in vocabulary and content. That's what I'm talking about. So just because it's Comprehensible doesn't mean it's Effective Input. But I agree with that very much. Like I asked, did you learn a foreign language with Comprehensible? I tried to learn Spanish like that. I tried to learn Japanese with Comprehensible Input. I tried to learn Thai with Comprehensible Input. Actually, I failed. As I said before, I decided to be a Korean teacher because I wanted to work while traveling abroad. I'm not a language geek. I'm not interested in learning a foreign language. So I don't have enough motivation. I don't have the power to keep doing this. Drawing a cute picture and teaching a foreign language. Showing pictures of various colors of clothes and explaining them in an easy language. I can't watch more than five videos. Because I feel bored. When I study a foreign language, I don't watch cartoons that kids watch. Because it's not fun for me to watch. So even if I don't understand everything, I watch movies, dramas, and animations without subtitles. I think it's most important to maintain interest when studying a foreign language. Do you keep getting interested even if you don't understand without subtitles? Yes. So I thought I'd watch it even if I didn't understand it. But it's not fun because I can't understand it. Oh, I see. I might have seen something too difficult. I think the drama is a little difficult. Should I watch a cartoon or animation? You speak English very well. How did you study English? I don't think it's possible to learn English from Korean classes. Actually, I'm not good at English. I think I'm good at pretending to be good at English. When I was a student, I studied English very hard. But it was a Korean SAT. I did a lot of reading and listening to get good grades. But I didn't get good grades. Oh, really? It was so difficult at the time. After that, when I was 20 years old, I became interested in making music. As a hobby, I started producing songs and beat making. At that time, my favorite producer and DJ, a Swedish artist, I saw him writing a song on his laptop. So I thought I could do well if I wrote a song that he wrote. So I bought the program. Actually, the program was only available on MacBook. Did you buy a MacBook? Yes, I bought a MacBook and worked part-time at a sauna for a few months. Oh, really? I bought a MacBook for two months. At that time, there were no Koreans using the program. There was no Korean manual. There was no way to learn on the Internet. There was no way to learn in Korean. So I practiced English while listening to and reading YouTube videos of making songs. The funny thing is that English was literally just a tool at the time. I didn't study English because I wanted to study English. I wanted to use this program well, so I studied English because I needed it. Since then, English has become very comfortable. Since then, I've been watching a lot of American dramas. One of the most memorable dramas was Silicon Valley on HBO. A lot of nerds started Silicon Valley. It's really fun. I can't wait to see the new season. At that time, I couldn't translate into Korean quickly. So I downloaded English subtitles illegally. I just watched it. I think that's when I took a step forward. I moved from manual to tutorial English to sitcom English. I moved to real-life conversation English. After that, when I was 23 years old, I went on a backpacking trip to Tokyo. There's a place called Golden Gai in Shinjuku, Tokyo. It's not a man's Gai. It's called Gai. It's a neighborhood where small alleys have been maintained for a long time. All the alleys are small bars where only 8 to 10 people can enter. It looked so attractive, so I went there at night. There were about 7 chairs. At first, I was the only one in the bar. I was just talking to the bartender. A couple from England came into the bar. The bartender and I are a couple from England. There were four people in that small space, so the four of us were just talking. It was the first time in my life that I had a meaningful conversation with foreigners. The couple was so kind. I made a mistake in English, and the bartender wasn't good at English. The bartender and I cheered me on for being good at English. I tried to understand what he was trying to say. I felt like I was having a great time. Then two American friends came in. One of them looked like Drew Barrymore. I thought, Is he really Drew Barrymore? He asked me why I was looking at him. I asked him if he was an English actor. He was so happy. I asked him where he was from, and he said he was going to buy me a drink. We had a great time together. After that, I had a meaningful conversation in English. It was so much fun. I think I'm doing as much as I'm doing on YouTube now because I'm actively talking about it when I have a chance to go on a trip or make a foreign friend in Korea. I thought reading the manual or watching the TV show was part of the comprehensible input. So I tried to provide as much comprehensible input as possible on YouTube. As I said earlier, I practiced a lot of profanity in high school. I practiced a lot of profanity in high school. I think that helped me a lot. But at that time, I was a student, so I had no choice but to do it. The teacher pushed me a lot, so I could do it for a long time. I'm not sure if it's effective. I know that there are many people who want to learn a foreign language and have a lot of interest in foreign language. But I think there are many people who are not as persistent as me. So for those people, I have a pressure to make a comprehensible input that is fun to watch. Because I'm not a comprehensible input. You're doing it as a super-target. Yes, I'm trying to do that kind of series. I was wondering if there was anything difficult about doing that. Because I'm sure there's something frustrating about it. I wonder if you're not frustrated. I don't think it's going to be easy. I haven't been able to upload videos for months because of that difficulty and frustration. I have to make a video for beginners. The complete beginners have limited vocabulary. The scope of understanding is small. I have to make comprehensible input with a limited material within that scope. I'm trying to make it so that people who don't have patience can watch it. So I took a break from YouTube for a while and came back with the Complete Beginner series. I've been doing this and that. But I don't know what to do next. I think unpacking was really good. Some of my subscribers asked me to do it like Taeyong. I didn't know there was such a thing. I've played a game before. Do you know To the Moon? Yes, I know. It's a touching story game. I don't play games either. It's not fun because it's not a game. It's not fun when I play it, and it's not fun when people watch it. That's when I played the game. Is the game worth playing? My subscribers asked me to play To the Moon, so I bought it. It took me five hours to play it. I think some people are sick of it. I played a scary and thrilling game for eight hours. I saw it. You played it for a long time, and I was surprised. 11 hours? I played live for 12 and a half hours. But YouTube cut it. It was cut to 11 hours and 55 minutes. How did you come up with such a plan? I was surprised. Subscribers are divided into regions. Because of the time difference? Sometimes it's easy to see people on the American continent. Sometimes it's easy to see people in Asia, Europe, and Africa. I always play games at the same time, so I always miss people. So I thought I'd play it for 12 hours. It was fun. Was it okay? It was fun, but it was hard in the evening. My throat hurts. When I play live, my throat hurts even if I talk for two hours. If you're bored when you play games later, If you call me, I'll join you. There's a game called A Way Out. It's a game where two people escape from a prison. It's a two-player game. It's a game played by Chimchakman and Joo Ho-min. It's a very well-made game. Really? It's a game where two people escape from a prison. Shall we escape? If you're interested, I bought it. You didn't have a team. Yes. If one person buys it, the other person can just pass it. All right. Thank you. Do I have to be good at games? If you're not good at it, it's fun. Really? It's not fun if you're too good at it. Thank you for your precious time. Thank you. Can I not tell you that I learned Bangla? Yes, it's okay. I think I've already told you enough. If I have a chance next time... All right. Did you prepare anything? No, I just thought about it. All right. Thank you. Enjoy your meal. Thank you. How was it, everyone? I was so nervous. I think I can do better if I do it again from the beginning. Thank you for watching my first collaboration video. As I said in the conversation, Taeyong is doing a 12-hour live broadcast. And I'm thinking a lot about comprehensible learning. If you think this is the right way to learn, I think it would be nice if you could visit Taeyong's channel. I invited a guest for the first time today. How was it? If it was fun, please let me know in the comments. Thank you for listening to the Korean podcast today. I'll be back with a live podcast next week. Have a good day and a good night. Bye.