Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa in mini-controversy after telling SK diplomats their English proficiency is "totally substandard." She instructed the Foreign Ministry to draft concrete plans to improve English skills of all employees, not just diplomats news.joins.com/article/229702…
Some in Foreign Ministry think Kang's just not being realistic. Kang's English skills are impressive but there're reasons for that. She used to be a translator and hosted "Learning English Broadcast" on Korean radio. But she has no background in diplomacy google.com/imgres?imgurl=…
Here's Kang at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore with foreign ministers Kono and Wang Yi. Arguably she's more articulate than Christine Lagarde. But it's not realistic to have this level of English proficiency in a non-English speaking country
Here's full story on Kang's English and how her English became so good. Her father used to be TV/Radio broadcaster for VoA and was stationed in Washington for ~3 years. That was in 1964 when Kang was 8 or 9: in short, Kang had childhood exposure to English
google.com/imgres?imgurl=…
google.com/imgres?imgurl=…
Like father, like daughter. Kang started her career in radio. But her English pronunciation was so good her voice was used to announce subway stops for Seoul metro. This is Kang's actual voice: "Next stop is Dongdaemun. You can transfer to Green #2 Line"
Here's an actual collection of Kang's subway PA broadcast: "This stop is Sadang, Sadang. The last station. You can transfer to Green #2 Line. Thank you."
Seoul Metro may still be using Kang's voice. Pretty sure heard that same voice last week! (LOL)
Seoul Metro may still be using Kang's voice. Pretty sure heard that same voice last week! (LOL)
