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The story of English study of Lee Sung-Deuk who is an alumni of PKNU and also the exclusive interpreter for the mayor of Busan.
- Graduated English language and literature department of Pukyong National University → Entered Korean-English interpretation and translation department of Seoul University of Foreign Studies at the top of the department and graduated with honor → Received granted master's degree of simultaneous interpretation for international conference → Being selected as the exclusive interpreter for the mayor of Busan.
 The 'special case' of Lee Sung-Deuk (39 years old, 95" in English language and literature department, dororok@korea.kr) could be helpful for those people who are worrying about how they can improve their English.
He is currently a public official in the international affair division in Busan city hall. His work is interpreting exclusively for the mayor and deputy mayor of Busan and supporting translation and interpretation work of the entire department of city hall.
However, it is a surprising fact that he mastered English by himself without any English institution or visiting abroad for studying English.
To get some information about his way to study English, reporters of Pukyong Today visited Busan city hall on October 25th.
To say the conclusion first, his two ways to study English are shadowing and copying.
‘Shadowing’ means listening to native speakers' conversation and just copying it like a shadow. He said that he recorded an EBS Radio Morning Special (from 8 to 9 in the morning) and did shadowing when he was in university. He used this technique for one hour when he was recording, one hour when he was going to school, and one hour when he was going back home, so he spent a total of three hours shadowing. He listened and repeated the sentences in the recording restlessly.
He said that at first it was very hard to listen even to one sentence, but he could listen to more than one sentence from the beginning by the third month. When he was shadowing, he felt like he was improving four times in an year, and he could listen very well by the end of the year.
He even has the habit of shadowing now when he listens to CNN GPS Program hosted by Fareed Zakaria who is thechief editor of the Times. He said that the program uses easy but noble English, so he downloads it with a Podcast on his smart phone and shadows it. ABC news and Arirang TV news are also his favorite programs to shadow.
‘Copying’ means that he copies some papers by hand. He read and copied the Korea Herald, which is an English Newspaper, for one or two hours whilst he was shadowing. The way to copy is to read and memorize a sentence from the newspaper and write it on blank paper without looking at the original sentence. He felt like his English writing level had improved and gentrified after one year of training by copying good writer's style. These days he copies columns of the New York Times.
 He mentioned that he got used to English writing and listening through shadowing and copying. Recording and listening to ten pages from the English dictionary 'Word Smart' every day for two months provided a good base for his English ability.
After following the story of his history, we could tell how much he loves English. The key to master English is his efforts with specific practice and patience over a long time. His passionate love of English enabled him to master it.
He has loved English since he was a high school student in the German language department in Pusan Foreign Language High School. His eagerness to learn English was not based on getting a job, but purely based on his desire to master the English language. This enabled him to focus on studying English simply and honestly, using shadowing and copying techniques. When he was a freshman in university, he received the top TOEIC score among students in the humanities and social science department, and his pronunciation was so natural that his professors asked him if he had lived abroad.
As soon as he graduated from Pukyong National University, he entered a non-profit special corporation, but he quit the job because it didn’t suit him. After that, he prepared to enter a translation and interpretation graduate school for his dream of being an interpreter. While he was working in a headhunting company, he prepared to enter the graduate school. He finally made it and entered the Korean-English interpretation and translation department of Seoul University of Foreign Studies and graduated with honors at the top of the department.
There are three interpretation and translation graduate schools in Seoul: Seoul University of Foreign Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and Ewha Women's University. The students who entered the graduate school of Seoul University of Foreign Studies at the same time as Mr. Lee had brilliant English skills. They were overseas Koreans from America, England, and Australia or they were students who had graduated from high-level universities in Seoul including SKY universities (Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University.) Due to the fact that the members were brilliant, the competition to enter the graduate school was very hard. He was accepted after three tries.
He graduated from graduate school at the top of his class, even though he hadn't studied abroad. He said he should study alone in Seoul while his wife and daughter stayed in Busan, so he studied so hard from seven in the morning to midnight.
 His accomplishment is special when we see that the total number of master degree graduates of simultaneous interpretation for international conferences from the three graduate schools in Seoul is only fifteen, and most of them are women. So, even though he is a man, and he didn't graduate from a Seoul university, and he is older than most other students and he had never lived abroad, he successfully received the degree which was only given to two students out of forty four. The other person who got the degree was a patent agent who graduated from the department of chemistry of Seoul National University.
He mentioned that he wants to be a good role model for his juniors who want to achieve their goal with English. "Four years of university life is really important. If you try with any method for two hours in a day and you can persevere for six months, you will see your English skills improve. If you do in this way more time, you could find your own way to be better English speaker" Mr. Lee said.
He is one of three English translators in Busan city hall. He started working there last March, and he has worked hard as the exclusive interpreter of the mayor of Busan, Hur Nam-sik, in various international events such as the Busan International Film Festival.
He looks happy. He said he loves to work with what he loves and feels confident that he is contributing to Busan's development.
Being an interpreter doesn't mean that all they have to do is English. They need to know a range of vocabulary of various professional fields such as medical, financing, IT, society, culture, and law and they need to be keen toward domestic and international issues.
"I think that my competitors are not just the people around me, but people everywhere in the world, so I never stop learning about new knowledge of different fields," the alumni said with the hope that he wants to contribute more to Busan's translation and interpretation field.<Pukyong Today>
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