Grading celebrities speaking in Korean (Part 2)

I grade some of your favorite non-native celebrities speaking in Korean… again! This video features Toby Stephens, Jackie Chan, Daniel Dae Kim, and Steven Yeun. I’ll grade them on how well they did, how they can improve, and everything between.
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Part 1 is here: • Grading celebrities sp...
Intro: 00:00
Toby Stephens ("Die Another Day"): 0:57
Jackie Chan: 5:10
Daniel Dae Kim ("Lost"): 13:44
Steven Yeun ("Burning"): 18:04
Music by Kevin MacLeod: “MJS Strings,” and “Brightly Fancy.” (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)

[@chloebaumstark7992]

Honestly, a lot of the mistakes Jackie Chan made make a lot of sense if the way he learned Korean was by speaking with others, primarily his friends and girlfriend at the time.

[@doubledubss]

I mean. It's Jackie Chan. Who would dare to pick a fight with him?

[@smilinarosy558]

Exactly 😂😂😂

[@user-zi5mw1wj6e]

que chuck norris joke here

[@elchrystGU]

I feel like I'm watching a video on "How not to sound like a Foreigner when Speaking Korean" because I'm learning so much from your nitpicking haha

[@NHJDT]

I moved to the US when I was 7 and when I lived in CA I had Korean friends so we spoke Korean. Then we moved to NE and eventually only spoke English. I grew up being a passive Korean listener but never learn to read, write, or further my speaking. Didn't go to church and I was the only Korean in school. Fast forward 40 years, my son started learning Korean because he became a BTS fan so now I'm finally learning with him. I watch gobilly and talktomeinkorean. Very good explanations

[@MariDT03]

The first guy speaks Korean with a Russian accent 🤔 lol

[@MandiLou41493]

That's what I said!!!

[@fawadances1689]

I came to comment the same thing!1

[@simon.i3119]

It's really amusing to be honest

[@AlexaOleksa]

Ahahahahaha😆 as native russian speaker i see what you mean. But for me he sounded like record played backwards 😆

[@tasa98]

Baalkan😏

[@user-ef7hh1ed3j]

Steven is fluent in Korean, and he has an old Seoul accent. I think it would be from his parent. Many of Korean American have this accent.

[@RayMak]

Love how you speak Korean omg...

[@katiesaccount1]

I just want you to know, we always watch the same videos and I see your comments EVERYWHERE. Have a nice day :)

[@jjain.127]

@@katiesaccount1 SAMEE

[@chauccy]

9:50 Cantonese is a tonal language that vowels aren't too important to convey the meaning of a word. ㅗ and ㅓ sound the same to us Cantonese speakers. I still can't tell the difference between "man" and "men" to be honest lol.

[@FC-eh7ll]

English is one of my native languages, but tbh I don’t think there’s a difference between “man” and “men” when speaking. People will be able to tell which you are referring to from context. Ok but then again right as I’m writing this now... Maybe the mouth is a little more open when pronouncing “man”. Haha any other native English speakers wish to add their input here?

[@davidfrischknecht8261]

@@FC-eh7ll American English is my only native language, and I use different vowels in "man" and "men". I pronounce "man" and "can" with the same vowel. I pronounce "men" and "pen" with the same vowel. I was born and raised in northern New Jersey.

[@thequestion1671]

Not defending the movie, but if I went all the way to change my appearance to infiltrate, some organization id stick to English or whatever language I happen to be using to infiltrate as to stay in character and not blow my cover!!

[@theekingkai]

Theres really not like a huge difference when pronouncing "man" and "men" in english, cuz men is just a plural way of saying man, so your totally fine

[@FC-eh7ll]

@@davidfrischknecht8261 Yeah I guess that means the mouth is slightly more open for “man” then, and perhaps the word is dragged out a little bit longer than “men” is. Haha I tried out the examples you gave and it seems to be that

[@grantjames3736]

Wow, 역시 Jackie Chan sounds pretty dang good. Simple sentences but very natural. The James Bond guy had some really good lines but I agree, parts of it were rushed and harder to hear. You should break down the speech of some 외국인 celebrities as well. Ones that actually speak Korean.

[@user-zr7xm5ud9o]

Wow see you again here !! Thank for teaching before!!

[@JLynnEchelon]

I convinced that I was going crazy because I didn't hear 최송합니다 at all until Billy pointed out exactly where it was.

[@junyoungjung6363]

Who could have thought that Jackie Chan could speak Korean! Omg my childhood Star is the coolest ♡

[@blammmed]

he's been on happy together lol. he's also friends with siwon from super junior

[@goodmorgen]

@@blammmed omg really?!?!?!?!

[@blammmed]

@@goodmorgen yup !!

[@dickidsrip5262]

he lived there for 2 years in the 70´s

[@user-jc1xl5lj1t]

18:30 Hold up Billy has a child? Aw I didn't know he was a father--so sweet! And he uses Korean with him oh my gosh!

[@AKADriver]

16:04 Daniel Dae Kim's reaction is all of us after that line

[@by.almaha4193]

In which season is this scene

[@ssssundae]

This is *so* late, but speaking as someone who was English-Korean bilingual until the age of 4-5, like your kid, and who entirely stopped speaking it at that age... yeah, I'm entirely a native English speaker and only really consider myself a heritage Korean listener, since my understanding is quite good but until started studying again as an adult, I basically couldn't speak at all.

[@GoBillyKorean]

Don't blame yourself though. The only way you could still be fluent is if you were pushed to speak it from a young age continually. Most parents don't do that, because it's not easy outside of Korea or outside of a Korean community. It takes a lot of work, and I'm trying to do it with my kid.

[@ssssundae]

@@GoBillyKorean that’s so kind of you :) Your kid is 1000% going to thank you later if he isn’t already!

[@Reyshy]

Jackie Chan is the epitome of a well rounded, utterly talented, extremely hardworking person.

[@paiger.3055]

Jackie Chan is actually a polyglot and speaks 4 languages fluently (Cantonese, Mandarin, English, and American sign language)! He is also conversational in 4 or so other languages (including Korean)

[@donnahuck1744]

I learned Spanish as a preschooler (airforce brat), then only english until 29 yrs. Then took up Spanish again. The accent and cadence was mine almost immediately once again. The amount of dejavue while living in Spain was amazing. The language was not lost.

[@johneyon5257]

i think it will vary with the person - i disagree with Go Billy - i don't think there is a universal rule - that everyone will have difficulty if they quit the environment at age 5

[@JoJonesMUA]

Thank you for continuing this series so quickly! I sincerely enjoy these! I think we all value your evaluations.

[@cherylschaeffer7832]

Definitely continue this series. Great job!

[@alma_nium]

As a Korean, this video was very interesting and funny 😂😂 Thank you for always attaching both Eng and Kor subs..!!👍👍

[@KirkKiyosadaTome]

Absolutely loved this video. It was especially interesting to watch the scenes from Lost, as I wasn't learning Korean whatsoever during the times I watched it on TV. Thanks, Billy! 고마워요!

[@amiraberdouk3897]

Whenever I watch Korean interviews of Jackie Chan using 반말, I never thought of it as a mistake cos I just see him as everyone's grandfather

[@paris2______]

I feel you 👏🏾👏🏾lol

[@jennifertorres1632]

Can you explain why the guy said the way jackie spoke can be seen as "rude" ? because the way I see he is older than the girl so it's ok not to be polite, am i wrong?

[@paris2______]

@@jennifertorres1632 I'm assuming because he is the interviewee so his position is "lower" than that of the hosts

[@amiraberdouk3897]

@@jennifertorres1632 Korean has different levels of formality in speech depending on who you're talking to. It's the same in French like if you were talking to a strange you're not familiar with you would use formal language. The same goes for Korean, since Jackie Chan isn't very familiar with the interviewers it can be seen as rude to use more casual language but I think they don't really mind because they know he isn't fluent and all :))

[@jennifertorres1632]

thank you for the answer😊, definitely korean is a difficult language, formal and informal way to talk, what situations use any of those, wait it's just hard 😥

[@aldanamancinelli4923]

I'm really enjoying these videos! I hope you continue making them!

[@tasa98]

Jackie Chan was also on running man few years back that would've been great material probably

[@xnng]

I came just to watch one part for a certain actor but stayed throughout the entire thing! really great vid :)

[@derpderp9281]

I really like this series you are doing! This 007 movie was really weird, I laughed at this part

[@spawncampe]

Steven Yeun said he lived a couple months in Korea right before filming Burning to prepare and perfect his Korean to sound most natural. It's impressive b/c his roles prior in Korean movies, he would play a character that is an expat like he is IRL, but in this movie he plays a full Korean speaking perfect Korean, but the character travels a lot so he has some odd mannerisms for a Korean, which is similar to expats

[@Hackbridge1963]

I enjoyed these videos, as they are pointers for other languages.

[@jangsy33]

Awesome analysis Billy!…I wanted to comment on the last part of Daniel Dae Kim’s scene where he says everything is going to be ok. His mouth tightens up at the start of this final sentence, forcing him to move his lips more to get the words out, peeking at “kwenchanulkuya”...

[@hongsokoh4460]

As a native korean, all of the celebrities in this clip did quite a good job, actually better than i expected Especially steve yeon's korean was perfect and natural

[@latenightswipe]

I'm a Korean-American re-learning my Korean from GO! Billy and I'm completely okay with that. 선생님 감사합니다!

[@tiffunnystraykidsnoona7694]

BILLY, Can we suggest idols who learned korean as a foreign language for the next part?? ♡

[@lovestay3379]

Can you rate lee felix’s korean? He is a australian member of the kpop group straykids

[@hadassah6563]

and jaaake from enhypen when he has more content lol.

[@corgisrule21]

I was wondering about Mark (NCT) and Jackson Wang (GOT7) p...they sound good to me, but what do i know? 😂😂

[@lovestay3379]

@@hadassah6563 but like he grew up in a korean speaking house hold

[@lovestay3379]

@@corgisrule21 yeah, honestly all of the foreign members

[@hadassah6563]

@@lovestay3379 I've heard his older Korean. It was baaad

[@WorldReserveCurrency]

I hear a Busan accent in Daniel Dae Kim... kinda sounds like one of my friends with parents from Busan but raised here. I think your assessments are amazing.... I feel like my korean level is probably at Steven Yun's level and he had to really work to sound natural.

[@themihi6953]

It'll be really interesting if you could review Lee Felix's korean Thanks for the vid btw! Great series so far!

[@menear]

considering your extreme enthusiasm for the black panther scene in the last video, even though all of these clips in this video are much better than that (imo) you are not as excited anymore. i guess you are used to non koreans speaking korean so well :D

[@stargirl7646]

As a beginning Korean learner here in Korea, the thought of going on TV and having to speak all in Korean... AHH! 😱

[@troyschulz2318]

2:40 You're (mostly) right. Kenneth Tsang (who plays Gustav Graves' father) is from Hong Kong, and Rick Yune (Zao) is Korean-American, though I believe he's spent a significant amount of time in South Korea.

[@user-zr7xm5ud9o]

This part is so funny Good job billy

[@jarellemason7291]

Now this is what I call a cool video

[@Someone-ce6dk]

Here for the Steven, got hooked on him since the walking dead... he was a sick in the series ❤️

[@doublemoon7720]

Will he be looking at TWICE's Sana speaking korean?

[@doublemoon7720]

I was waiting for the part 2 just because I thought he would do it😭

[@davidfrischknecht8261]

I know she has trouble saying the Korean word for "butt". Here's a clip from her appearance on "Happy Together" talking about it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i2SaqGmIppJkjdk

[@azertytores]

And Momo ^^

[@doublemoon7720]

@@davidfrischknecht8261 i know that too

[@doublemoon7720]

@@azertytores actually TWICE whole foreign line's korean speaking is just perfect but Sana's makes me amazed

[@bonkbong5692]

Funny thing is, Toby's Korean is good but it slightly sounds like Gyeongsang dialect and it's hilarious. Imagine there is a North Korean villian who speaks in Alabama accent

[@amandabaus6513]

Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan speaks Korean in the film Happy New Year. Not sure how correct it is but it made me happy to see two of my favorite things blended together:).

[@darkless60]

Yeun spoke Korean in his family growing up... And theres a video on KZbin of him from 2013 speaking it with his friends

[@jessiejames7642]

Great video :) Burning is so underrated.

[@pichaelthompson]

Damn. You’re analysis is amazing. I’m nowhere near fluent. I can understand like 70% and speak like 20%, but I completely agree with you about Daniel Dae Kim. That “모두 다” really sounded unnatural. And Steven Yuen was almost perfect until that “왔어요” at the end. It was just a bit off when I heard it. But hey, I can’t judge, I’m a native born Texan. Keep up the great content!

[@Mons_vlogs]

I also noticed when he said 아버님 he pronounced it as 아부님

[@Mons_vlogs]

OMG! I can't believe you liked my comment. Thank you . I started my korean learning with the help of your book "Go Billy korean" . 🙂😀

[@derpderp9281]

lol I'm really early this time! I'll watch it now!!

[@user-nc5yc9es6j]

I wouldn't be able to tell if steven yeon lived abroad with the given scene. His Korean is just perfect.

[@user-zr7xm5ud9o]

근데 한국어는 능숙하게 구사해도 한국정서는 잘 모르는거 같더군요 욱일기 사진을 올리지않나 전 반일안하지만요 ㅋ

[@user-nc5yc9es6j]

@@user-zr7xm5ud9o Well,, He might have been unaware of such a thing cause he lived abroad. But apart from it, His Korean sounds like a native speaker both in terms of pronunciation and intonation. But he must have practised to sound like a native speaker since it's a movie scene. so, i'm not gonna judge if he's fluent or not unless i see him speak Korean casually.

[@HenryThong]

You should grade Jamie Chung's Korean in Lovecraft Country!

[@gogowillkillyou]

I would love to hear an analysis of the Seventeen members! 4 are non-native Korean speakers: Joshua, Jun, Minghao, and Vernon.

[@스윕]

와 우연히 보게됐는데 분석이 진짜 놀랍네요 ㅎㅎ

[@JimeMurillo]

Wow¡ can I reccomend you analyzing Lay Zhang's Korean ??

[@jiminswriter4209]

One has to distinguish between accents and less common ways of speaking. Steven Yeun may not end his sentences with a definite sound, but that is not what gives him away. It is the slight airiness of his pronunciation at times that sounds a little off. It is very slight (2%). He sounds very close to a native speaker in the movie.

[@MinatoNamikazeChan]

I feel jackie for 또 and 떠 I have problems with 도(too, also) and 더 (more) for example if I speak to a korean friend and want to say I like that too I am afraid she thinks I like that more she speaks really good german though so we could clear up a misunderstanding

[@manu-rn2fu]

i am an avid fan of lost and have watched it before and after learning some korean. what i can say is daniel is not bad it's just that some of the translations for the lines are a bit awkward, and the fact that his wife calls him 진수 씨 when they're married makes me cringe every time they have a scene together lol

[@GoBillyKorean]

It's not common for a husband/wife to use 씨, but it's not wrong. Some couples do that.

[@Trash-tw6fi]

0:43 if i didnt see this clip i would never have understood why the korean singer george made a whole vid of himself saying that phrase over and over hhhh its so funny even without the context

[@seveonxx]

I love steven smmm

[@evilutionltd]

Toby Stephens actually went on to voice James Bond many times on radio plays.

[@clement2780]

what do they say? native vs ancestral vs foreign

[@hm.05]

I really love Jackie Chan!! 🥺 He's amazing!!!

[@newchannel7523]

What about EXP Edition?

[@daebakday6981]

That would be interesting - to analyze specifically the Korean of Korean North American artists/idols who grew up in the US/Can. and English is basically their mother tongue, like Eric Nam, Day6's Jae, Seventeen's Joshua or Vernon, Red Velvet's Wendy etc etc

[@ohnoajae]

Agreed that it would be cool to see an analysis of the “western”-raised Koreans’ English, but just wanted to point out that Vernon moved to Seoul when he was five, so Korean is much more natural to him than his English. Even when he speaks English now, you can almost see the wheels turning as he translates things from Korean to English (this happens mostly in interviews, his casual conversational English is just fine)

[@daebakday6981]

@@ohnoajae totally good point 👍

[@abc_xyz_123]

Please do Jackson from Got7

[@user-zr7xm5ud9o]

How many times taken to speak korean like billy ? maybe a lot ~~~~~~~~~~ My eng is suck ㅜ.ㅜ

[@simon.i3119]

You username tho...

[@stellal3592]

Practice! You need to speak with English speakers. It helps a lot.

[@user-jh5fo2ps2f]

can you rate Joe Taslim from the movie 검객 pllsssss

[@twiceseventeen]

Steven Yeun doesnt really have accent but he cant speak Korean that well. It's weird but hes one of those cases that went to America early and slowly lost fluency growing up but retained most of his accent.

[@luf4rall]

I'm the same way with my native language Cantonese.

[@d-crunchfans1061]

He should check out Lucas from NCT

[@soojinshoot]

빌리씨~ 한국어에 대한 이해가 탁월하세요.

[@zarinskie]

can you give review on the Lady Unicorn from Adventure Time cartoon?:D

[@AKADriver]

Nikki Yang (voice of Lady Rainicorn and Beemo) is a native speaker who moved to the US as an adult :) Her parts are great examples to listen to and subtly funny if you can understand. Lady even uses honorifics appropriate to the situation, she speaks 존댓말 to Princess Bubblegum.

[@Lovediplomatie]

For the use of 야 by jackie chan, i interpreted it as intentional because he was teasing him by calling him a kid (아이), so that he used 반말according to the point he was making

[@GoBillyKorean]

Yes, but it would still be inappropriate to tease someone in that way. Korean politeness levels are quite strict without any extra context to the clip. Since we can tell they weren't close friends and didn't know each other, it wouldn't be appropriate.

[@Lovediplomatie]

@@GoBillyKorean 감사합니다 선생님 !

[@ceebeedub177]

I'd be damned glad if I could speak another language with or without an accent

[@turipgn1598]

What about Sandra Oh speaking Korean in The Chair?

[@azdawn264]

NCT is a 23-member kpop group with 13 foreign members from all over the world(Japan, China, America, Canada, etc) Not all of them are fluent in Korean but they are learning. They sometimes struggle communicating because of the variety of languages they speak. I think it would be cool if you analyzed their Korean :)

[@gobluebro]

Thanks for another fun video billy! Just wanted to point out there is a slight error on the subtitles for "이제 다 끝났으니까" is written "이제 대" starting from 14:03 etc. You confirm it is 다 in writing at 17:19

[@GoBillyKorean]

Yeah, it's a typo.

[@sofiasalsabila9264]

This is pretty interesting tbh lol

[@by.almaha4193]

I want the paper towel scene movie name 😂😂

[@GoBillyKorean]

That was the TV show Lost.

[@mayaan773]

Could you review ViVi from Loona's Korean? She's from Hong Kong and when she first debuted she was still learning but her Korean has come so far throughout the years

[@johneyon5257]

re recovering a language from childhood - i had a coworker whose family came to america from norway when he was 3 - so he didn't speak norwegian after that - that's what he told me - well - he had recently visited norway - at first he couldn't understand anything and relied on english (many norwegians speak english) - then much to his surprise - after a couple days - he started speaking norwegian despite some 20 years absence from the language - it had been lying dormant - and suddenly came to life - not sure at what level - many korean-americans are said to talk like children when they go to korea and speak the language i have a nephew who was a korean adoptee - i met him when he arrived at age 5 - he was babbling in korean - he has since lost that language - i tried to convince him to get into a korean-speaking environment - it might revive - frankly - he didn't seemed interested

[@chloe8387]

apparently jojo siwa speaks korean (learning it for 5 years i think?) i wish there was a video omg it'd be so interesting, and then she could be in this series lmao

[@PongoXBongo]

From what I've gathered watching Korean shows (like variety/talk shows, not dramas), what may come off as rude from natives is often taken as playful and "novel" from non-natives. Sort of playing up the stereotype of the super-friendly, "open minded" foreigner. As long as it's not intentionally rude, it seems to be ok (at least until you learn the proper manner)

[@theekingkai]

On the Daniel Dae Kin part, wher you comments where he should be more audible and more air filled with words...uhm yea that was a dramatic and emotional scene, he was supposed to talk a bit breathy to give the scene more character 😅

[@GoBillyKorean]

I'm referring to his pronunciation though, not him speaking louder.

[@adinatovalandon3230]

I thought that in the James Bond movie that he didn't speak formally enough... But I honestly don't know...

[@raeccoonn]

Can you rate Lee Felix's or Bang Chan's Korean? They are Australian members of Kpop group Straykids

[@palomac4408]

Felix and Chan's cases are not exactly the same, from what I know Chan was already bilingual before Stray kids but Felix wasn't fluent at all at the begining (I'm not a stay but my friends are) But yes it would be interesting

[@hatuushitsha802]

wait holy shit I didn’t know jackie chan could speak korean

[@xJamiexBee]

13:39 lol

[@ionebae9157]

Daniel Dae Kim pronounces "다" weird in "모두 다 괜찮을거야." The 아 vowel sound is really noticeably off, more noticeable probably because the rest of it sounds pretty decent. I remember when Lost came out, Koreans made so much fun of his Korean but I always thought people were overly critical. To me it sounds perfectly comprehensible and mostly correct, although the inflection of his sentences doesn't sound native.

[@GoBillyKorean]

I think the criticism was mostly from his first episode in the pilot episode of Lost, not from his Korean in the rest of the series (which is much better). He improved a ton by re-learning his Korean.

[@tavadash]

You should do Gong Yoo

[@anneselina1266]

:DDDD "Why?"...."I don't even remember" :DDD

[@zahraahussain351]

Can you please check out felix from stray kids speaking korean

[@drearnerz]

발음이 정말 좋으시네요ㄷㄷ

[@simon.i3119]

Billy has a kid... wut i didnt know lol

[@mehditila7424]

❤️❤️❤️

[@anikadev8324]

I didn't know Jackie Chan spoke Korean

[@user-uw6nu2cy5y]

I think he pronounces "제가" incorrectly. It sounds like "jigga" or sth 😂

[@lee.0232]

In fact, I actually almost thought that he was speaking Mandarin Chinese

[@winniemaereact1391]

When?

[@PongoXBongo]

Daniel Dae Kim is a serious sort of guy and a lot of those types, regardless of language, tend to speak more intentionally (emphasizing each syllable). Also, you likely wouldn't speak at full volume to someone in an emotional, bedside setting like that.

[@Jl_-uc5vw]

PLEASE DO SANA FROM TWICE !!!!

[@jeff__w]

18:30 “My kid right now is five years old and I could imagine that, if he stopped using Korean today, fast forward 15 years in the future, 20 years, there’s not really a good chance that he would remember much of it.” I have a theory that, in cases like that, people forget the _vocabulary_ but still unconsciously retain some of the ability to _sound_ native (or, at least, more native) and the ability to discriminate more easily between sounds that non-native speakers might have difficulty hearing. It’s as if the neural pathways for those abilities are still intact even if the declarative memory for words and phrases is lost. Years ago, I took a class (in Cantonese, not Korean) and one student had spoken Cantonese till the age of five and then forgot it (she said) through disuse. The teacher always remarked that, when she spoke, she sounded perfectly native. Toby Stephens 1:31 To me, a non-native speaker of Korean, it sounds as if Stephens is mushing his syllables together in a way that native speakers wouldn’t, as if he’s operating on the theory that “fast” will be mistaken for “fluent” and, if he says his sentence fast enough, we won’t catch his mistakes. But I suspect there’s a “pattern” of which syllables “collapse” (if at all) in the rapid or relaxed native speech of _any_ language and Stephens doesn’t seem to be following the sort of pattern that a native speaker of Korean would (at least to my non-native ear).

[@kori228]

this is me in Cantonese, can't remember any vocab but my pronunciation is crystal clear

[@jeff__w]

@@kori228 Someone really ought to study that. I'm really curious if it’s true or not and, if it is, why.

[@yumisy111]

i came to the US when i was 1 years old and somehow retained my korean :D my older brother spoke to my parents in korean so i guess i just copied him

[@berrynmerry]

next do ginny & georgia korean scenes