Interview with Talk to Me in Korean’s CEO, Sun Hyun-woo 

By William Urbanski 

Pretty much anyone who has come to Korea and studied the language knows about Talk to Me in Korean (TTMIK): the learning platform that breaks down complicated parts of the language into easily digestible tidbits of knowledge. To say that TTMIK has been successful is a bit of an understatement; the YouTube channel alone has more than 1.6 million subscribers. 

Sun Hyun-woo, who was born and raised in Gwangju, is a familiar face to the Korean-learning community, as he has appeared in countless TTMIK videos and is also the CEO. In early October, he gave a couple of talks at the GIC that coincided with GIC Community Week. Those who were lucky enough to attend got excellent tips on how to become more effective language learners. 

The Gwangju News was lucky enough to be able to ask Sun a couple of questions about the past, present, and future of TTMIK, as well as about some other things that the managing editor had been wondering about. 

William Urbanski (WU): A lot of foreigners, especially English teachers, come to Korea with the notion that Korean is not an important international language, and that it is also extremely difficult. As a result, they generally do not learn much Korean, and it is common to find people who have lived here for a long time and have trouble stringing a sentence together. In short, why should people learn Korean? 

Sun Hyun-woo: Learning a new language has a profound positive influence on your life and your perspective of the world around you. So, if you have any kind of opportunity to acquire and use a new language, I believe you need to absolutely make the most of it. Although Korea happens to be a country where it is fairly “possible” to live without speaking the local language, that will make your experiences very limited. If anyone has a reason to visit or live in Korea, or is interested in Korean pop culture, learning Korean will be one of the best decisions you will make in your life, especially if it is very different from your own native language.  

WU: TTMIK has been quite successful and is very well known among the foreign community. What do you think sets it apart from other learning platforms? 

Sun Hyun-woo: We have gone through and witnessed various phases in the development of Korean education over the years. At first, our main competitive advantage was that we were a young group of content creators who were experimenting with a lot of new ideas and pumping out a ton of resources to fill the gap between traditional academic resources and more casual materials. Now, I believe we have established ourselves as a team that offers both: a systematic curriculum and social-media-friendly content. There are few other teachers or organizations that can offer the same.  

WU: Starting any business and especially one in the extremely competitive education market in Korea is difficult and comes with many challenges. Why did you decide to start TTMIK? Also, what educational gap was it trying to fill? 

Sun Hyun-woo: I really only had one goal in the beginning, which was to create and offer great Korean learning resources for everyone. Out of all the people in the world who wanted to learn Korean, only a fraction of them were able to actually enroll themselves in a class or come to Korea. Most other people had almost no systematic resources available online. So that is why we started building as much content as possible, even though we did not have a tech team or barely any capital at first. I firmly believed that if our content was good, everything else would be sorted out naturally.  

WU: When learning European languages like French, German, or Italian, there is a plethora of books and learning resources. But it seems that Korean learning materials are a little harder to come by. What are your thoughts on this? 

Sun Hyun-woo: 2022 and 2023 have seen a huge increase in the number of Korean language content creators on TikTok and Instagram. So, it is hard to say now that there are “less” Korean learning materials online anymore compared to other languages, but when it comes to systematic resources and curriculums, there is still a large gap to fill. Our team is working on several new projects right now to solve this problem in better ways. I cannot wait to share the news with everyone soon.  

WU: Recently, TTMIK underwent a pretty major change. Now all the learning materials are only available by subscription. Why do you think this was an important and necessary change to make to the platform? 

Sun Hyun-woo: We have always been happy to offer free learning resources for everyone, but we wanted to upgrade our curriculum and platform to make them much better. After careful consideration, this was an inevitable change we had to make, but we still have a ton of free resources available on our YouTube channel. Also, we have some great visions for much better Korean education, and our transition into a paid-only platform is enabling us to make that become a reality sooner. Thankfully, the vast majority of all of our customers were very supportive of this decision.  

WU: Practically everyone who gets serious about studying Korean eventually takes the TOPIK. What do you think about this exam in general, and is it a good metric to gauge a person’s Korean ability? 

Sun Hyun-woo: With any language, there is bound to be a gap between someone’s test scores and their actual verbal or written fluency in the target language. But I think studying for the TOPIK can be a great way for learner to focus on a clear goal and make the necessary efforts. Also, the TOPIK passages can be a lot of fun as reading materials, too. So, as long as you are also learning Korean through other methods and not just exclusively studying for the TOPIK, I think everyone should give it a try!  

WU: As a Canadian, I find it quite interesting that you actually majored in French at university. Do you manage to keep up with your French at all, and if so, how do you do that here in Korea? 

Sun Hyun-woo: I do not get to speak French very often here in Korea, but just exposing myself to French movies or literature helps me maintain it to a degree. I try to read a French novel every now and then and also watch one or two episodes of French TV shows each week. It is always a lot of fun and makes me very happy.  

WU: How would you say that coming from Gwangju has shaped you as an individual?   

Sun Hyun-woo: This would certainly not apply to everyone, but sometime in my early childhood, although I only spoke Korean, I realized that the people on TV spoke with a different accent from everyone around me in Gwangju. I also realized that my relatives in Busan also spoke in a different dialect. I think this opened my eyes, or more precisely my ears, to the fact that there are different dialects in Korea and, more broadly, people around the world speak vastly different languages. This made me interested in learning to speak English as my second language and expanding my horizons. Being born in Gwangju also gave me a desire for exploring, because although Gwangju is a fairly large city, I always knew that I would eventually venture out to Seoul and have more diverse experiences.   

WU: Are there any spots in Gwangju that are special or memorable to you? Can you explain why? 

Sun Hyun-woo: My family moved to Bongseon-dong when I was ten years old, and my parents still live there. That area is special to me because I have been able to witness the changes Gwangju has gone through over the years right in front of my eyes in Bongseon-dong. What was once a freshly built neighborhood at the edge of the city is now the center of traffic in the Nam-gu District and also a hub for private institutes.  

WU: What are your future plans for TTMIK? What can people expect from the website in 2024? 

Sun Hyun-woo: Now that we have completed transitioning to a paid-only platform, our customers expect more from us, and we will certainly deliver! We have more resources coming in 2024, but more importantly, more diverse ways for people to learn Korean! 

The Author 

William Urbanski is the managing editor of the Gwangju News. Once upon a time, he passed the TOPIK Level 3.