With me, learning Korean is more than just fun! Diplomats to K-culture fans are with me for reasons.

Find out more about Heejin

• 1) Do you speak this language fluently because of your origins or because a teacher inspired you to learn?

  Korean is my mother tongue. On top of that, I hold MA in teaching Korean as a foreign language to become a professional Korean language tutor.

• 2) Can you name a living, historical or fictional character that you think is the emblematic representative of the language's culture?

  King Sejong the great. He created Hangeul - Korean alphabet for his people. Korean (language) was used to borrow Chinese characters in written format. Chinese characters were used in novels and most commoners were illiterate as learning Chinese characters was extremely difficult. Therefore King Sejong created Hangeul - consisting of 14 consonants, and 10 vowels so everyone could read and write easily.

• 3) Is there a typical word, phrase, tradition or behavior in the language that you particularly like?

  Onomatopoeia, mimetic words are very well developed in the Korean language and an onomatopoeic word could have stronger/lesser context by using the same syllable form but replacing it with a different vowel set. Lots of poems and essays are written with Onomatopoeia, and mimetic words trick and enrich their content.

• 4) Why does speaking this language matter to you?

  Its uniqueness. Every language is the essence of its culture, and so does Korean. The Korean language is mostly spoken by Korean ethnic groups only. I believe homogenous ethnicity has been influential to Korean language and driving its development in an authentic way.

• 5) What is the main difficulty in learning this language and what can help the process of learning?

  The main difficulty for English learner who wants to learn Korean is grammar difference. English and Korean belong to different language group and the distance between each language are far and a big challenge for new learners.
  To overcome the challenge I always compare/show the grammar differences between both languages and try to give many examples from various sources such as K-pop, Youtube clips, to kid's fairytale books so my students could absorb it easily.

• 6) Provide a valuable anecdote related to your language learning or your days at school.

  Some pronunciation mistakes change their original meaning and sometimes it goes completely different (in the wrong way).
  In Korean, 년(nyon) is a homonym that has 1. year and 2. bitch meaning.
  One day, my student used 년 in the wrong way and changed the whole meaning of the sentence to negative. She soon realised the mistake and laughed to tears.

• 7) How has travel or a specific trip helped you to increase your skill and knowledge of the language?

  I happen to live few different countries and it has been the greatest teaching asset in my life. Being a language learner or a culture observer in each country taught me how to be in others' shoes and respect the language goal of my students.

• 8) What makes you a Superprof in language?

  Great students. Most of my students in Superprof are long-term studying people. Some of them are with me from the beginning I joined Superprof. They are positive, passionate, focused, and eager to learn and I truly respect their passion to learn.