Stars Who Speak English Very Well

[Guest Tommygurluhm]

I'm not sure if anyone mentioned him but Sung Shi Kyung. English conversations were one of his hobbies. He does it pretty well at that. Stephanie from CSJH used to live in the States as well. Oh yeah, Lee Da Hae. I heard her on Sang Sang Plus.

[slapmyselfsilly84]

Out of those I've heard I can only attest to the fluency of English from Lee Byung-hun, Lee Seo-jin and Jung Ryeo-won. I heard one of the Korean celebrities interviewing Mariah Carey in one of the shows for MTV. Maybe it was Brian Joo, I think. Very fluent as well. I think Korean celebrities are less well-known for their prowess in English as compared to their Hong Kong counterparts such as Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, who speak English like they were born with it. Though I must say, Rain seems to be coming through with his command of English.

Edited to say: I have not one idea what Kim Rae Won and Lee Jung Jin were trying to say in LSIH. Same goes for Hyun Bin in MNIKSS. Simply put, they should have gone back to school for English? Kidding! Thankfully, their talents are way bigger and better than their command of English.

[willenette]

Out of those I've heard I can only attest to the fluency of English from Lee Byung-hun, Lee Seo-jin and Jung Ryeo-won. I heard one of the Korean celebrities interviewing Mariah Carey in one of the shows for MTV. Maybe it was Brian Joo, I think. Very fluent as well. I think Korean celebrities are less well-known for their prowess in English as compared to their Hong Kong counterparts such as Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, who speak English like they were born with it. Though I must say, Rain seems to be coming through with his command of English.

Edited to say: I have not one idea what Kim Rae Won and Lee Jung Jin were trying to say in LSIH. Same goes for Hyun Bin in MNIKSS. Simply put, they should have gone back to school for English? Kidding! Thankfully, their talents are way bigger and better than their command of English.

Hi slapmyselfsilly84 - HyunBin is learning an English language right now. : :blush:

[Guest purehonesty012]

ERU~ he speaks english well~ and park kyung liM, han ye seul, chae ye jin,

TABLO, tasha, a lot of celebs. are from america

[Far^away]

i think Eric can speak well too.

Eru, Brian of course, crown J, Jung Ryeo won with slight Aussie accent, Lee Seo Jin, Tablo... hmm... Kim Min is very fluent!

[Guest kellybag]

Out of those I've heard I can only attest to the fluency of English from Lee Byung-hun, Lee Seo-jin and Jung Ryeo-won. I heard one of the Korean celebrities interviewing Mariah Carey in one of the shows for MTV. Maybe it was Brian Joo, I think. Very fluent as well. I think Korean celebrities are less well-known for their prowess in English as compared to their Hong Kong counterparts such as Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, who speak English like they were born with it. Though I must say, Rain seems to be coming through with his command of English.

Edited to say: I have not one idea what Kim Rae Won and Lee Jung Jin were trying to say in LSIH. Same goes for Hyun Bin in MNIKSS. Simply put, they should have gone back to school for English? Kidding! Thankfully, their talents are way bigger and better than their command of English.

supposedly most ppl in hong kong were taught english as a second language and english is usually used in the business world...thats why HK claim themselves to be an "international city" which in reality is not quite so..the average kid does not converse well at all altho they prob would write better then they would speaking it...just my humble opinion of course but having said that there are a lot of ppl here who do speak good english, as most of them would have studied abroad and or who have attended international schools

[slapmyselfsilly84]

Hi slapmyselfsilly84 - HyunBin is learning an English language right now. : :blush:

Hey willenette! You can call me Azzie. Anyway, I'm glad that there are more Korean celebrities picking up English because I think they must have realised the make-up of their fan base is no longer just Koreans but also people like myself and many others here in Soompi. I guess it helps them to get closer to their fans abroad. And I'm sure Hyun Bin will be able to speak English very well very soon and I presume that you'll be one of them who will be delighted at this, eh?

supposedly most ppl in hong kong were taught english as a second language and english is usually used in the business world...thats why HK claim themselves to be an "international city" which in reality is not quite so..the average kid does not converse well at all altho they prob would write better then they would speaking it...just my humble opinion of course but having said that there are a lot of ppl here who do speak good english, as most of them would have studied abroad and or who have attended international schools

Hey kellybag, thanks for sharing this piece of information. I believe that many Hong Kong celebrities are well-known for their English also because many of them who can speak it fluently are those who were schooled overseas e.g. Maggie Cheung's British education as well as Jessica Hsuan's learning from the same country as well.

[Guest TY_KSW]

JDG spoke English fairly before... now he gets much more improving since he is in US for English dialect advanced ... His coming movie is for Hollywood !!

[quteacho]

Hi slapmyselfsilly84 - HyunBin is learning an English language right now. : :blush:

Son Yeh Jin too iz takin up foreign language.

Han Ye Sul ive heard iz fluent in eng cuz she was

born and raised in de states.

[willenette]

Hey willenette! You can call me Azzie. Anyway, I'm glad that there are more Korean celebrities picking up English because I think they must have realised the make-up of their fan base is no longer just Koreans but also people like myself and many others here in Soompi. I guess it helps them to get closer to their fans abroad. And I'm sure Hyun Bin will be able to speak English very well very soon and I presume that you'll be one of them who will be delighted at this, eh?

Hey kellybag, thanks for sharing this piece of information. I believe that many Hong Kong celebrities are well-known for their English also because many of them who can speak it fluently are those who were schooled overseas e.g. Maggie Cheung's British education as well as Jessica Hsuan's learning from the same country as well.

Hey Azzie - I very much agree with you & definitely, I'm delighted that he thought of learning this language so no need of translations anymore of all his messages to his fans. : :blush:

[Guest silent_regrets]

BRIAN JOO luv his english...and TIM his english is gud aswell

who else um...deres also TABLO...oh and the chic from Which Star are u from and my name is kim sam soon..wats her name the one that gets dimples....well cant really remember...

[Guest luvlie_the_spaniard]

of course kim eugene~~

no one else for me~~^^

(such a loyal*)

her english sounds like german~~^^

[Guest mariella]

Just want to add my two cents' worth... I think, in my humblest of opinions, there is a huge difference between fluency and accents... I think fluency means that the person is able to speak in a smooth and flowing manner easily and readily... Which means that your English can be heavily accented but as long as you're clear and your sentences flow well, you are fluent in English... Which also means that accents don't determine the ability to speak English well... It's fluency that matters... Alas, the Korean accent doesn't sit in well with the English language so much so that it affects the clarity criterion of speaking English fluently... Thus rendering many Korean celebs to be unable to speak English well...

Maybe you can take it this way... A person who speaks American-accented English with terrible grammar is not fluent in English but a perfectly-structured English spoken by someone with a heavy Japanese accent shows fluency in English... As long as the clarity criterion is not affected... Hope I'm making some sense...

This is an old post but i was surprised to skim through this thread and read this. I agree with you with the first paragraph. BUT. Japanese accent is almost always more heavy and thicker thank Korean accents when speaking in English. I speak both Japanese and Korean but I can NEVER understand a japanese person with a thick accent when they try to speak English. But even my linguistics professors told me that is so because something about Japanese don't have enough sounds in their alphabet. That's why they have the worst trouble pronouncing other languages such as English. Out of the two accents, I would say Koreans have a better grasp at english than the Japanese.

There are some Korean celebrities who lived a few years in the States or in an english speaking country. Some of those people didn't learn english properly, speaking with terrible grammer and full of slangs. But there are many who have learned english properly such as Kim Min, Kim Yoo Jin, J, Tablo, etc. Then there are those who studied english diligently. The ones you mentioned. They have thick accents but their grammer and english flow is impeccable. Then there are those who can speak fluently, perfect grammer, natural flow and pronunciation - but are not eloquent speakers in english. Somehow their "level" of expression and use of vocabulary is rather low. But I find this is a problem not only with Koreans or native Korean Americans but other native english speakers as well.

The evil girl, Lawyer Park, from Queen of the Game really impressed me. Apparently she didn't study overseas. She was just really smart and gained a perfect score on her Toefl exam.

Jung Ryeo Won from Kim Sam Soon had a thick Australian accent when speaking english. I love Australian accents!

Kim Kibum is one of those who's accent is okay but his level of speech is very low. He very smartly doesn't speak it much on air.

Rain can't speak english yet. But it seems he's learning from JYP. Which I think is a big mistake. JYP's english really grates on my nerves. I've seen him in New York before. He speaks REALLY ghetto black. But the thing is, he sounds really unintelligent when he does. It's very misleading because in actuality, JYP is a VERY smart and talented man.

I've heard Cha In Pyo speak english too. I've seen him in New York also. Not that great, thick accent. But still understandable.

Kim Min is fluent of course.

Eugene. She seems almost fluent.. but the more I hear her the more I keep hearing some strange accent. I guess it's a Guam accent?

Lee Da Hae. Her english is SO cute. She has an Australian accent.

Kim Sunah from Kim Sam Soon, her english is pretty good. Not perfect like people are assuming it is... but still pretty good. She knew Korean before being a Korean star. (as opposed to some rumors on some threads) It was a little bit rough around the edges - meaning it was slightly mistaken now and then...but that was smoothed over with her many years living in Korea.

Han Ga In surprised me with her english. She's not fluent but it's still pretty good. Her husband I heard is fluent though.

I adore Kim Tae Hee but her english is horrible. She practiced and practiced and practiced those english lines in Love Story in Harvard with an english coach but it was still horrible. She IS a smart girl.. but she graduated as a Fashion Design major in Seoul University. It doesn't mean her english has to be good.

Her co-star in it was even much much more worse though.. I guess that's why some people were brainwashed into thinking her english was good.

Jeon Ji Hyun's english isn't that great either. She studied briefly in the states but it's not that good. It takes longer to really be able to absorb a language.

Kim Yoo Jin from Lost and Shiri's english is perfect AND she's eloquent. She can really express herself well in english. I'm very proud of her. She's a great actress too. I just wish she was pretty. We have two female Korean actresses in T.V. and both of them are not what you call "pretty". I hope we can have at least one Korean actress that is pretty in American T.V. or movies. But it will be super difficult. An ex-casting director once said in privacy that westerners won't hire Asians that are TOO beautiful.. They don't want them to outshine their caucasian counterparts. They will look for plain exotic looking but not beautiful.

[Guest Stacy]

Brian and Tablo's english is to die for.

[Guest mystica]

Han Ye Seul speaks rly rly good english.. i love her accent.. princess~

[Guest deadlines]

the best english speaker from Kdrama are the girl in Lovestory at Harvard...the mean one...her English is PERFECT!

Hi Jennie! Which 1 have u mentioned about? The main actress does not speak Eng that well (She had to learn for 1 month before the shooting so it did trouble her sometimes).

What about Tim and Brian? Tim (hwang Young Min) and Brian Joo in FTTS. They are awesome men! I love their accent so much!

Should we consider how well Dennis O' speak Eng then?

[Guest aishiteru]

^I don't think she's talking about kim tae hee.. I think she's talking about kim min.

Fluent: (no accent whatsoever)

Tablo

Brian

Tim

Eugene

JungRyeoWon - her accent is a bit australian, I guess, though. Some of her words sounds a bit awkward too, I guess.. But other than that, it's pretty good.

SungShiKyung

The girl from Fantasy Couple, the one who played the crazy girl..forgot her name. She's really good for never having gone out of country..

HanYeSeul. I guess kind of like ryeowon, hers still has the TINIEST awkward sounds, but other than that it's really good. she lived in the states.

Very good (Still has a bit of an accent)

LeeDaHae - She's really good, but she sounds awkward..

Eric - He went to my high school! (=D) But his accent is still there and living.

uuuuuhhh.. but still there.. still slightly understandable..

Andy

Micky Yoochun

KimKiBum

that's all I could think of now. (:

[Guest mariella]

^I don't think she's talking about kim tae hee.. I think she's talking about kim min.

Fluent: (no accent whatsoever)

Tablo

Brian

Tim

Eugene

JungRyeoWon - her accent is a bit australian, I guess, though. Some of her words sounds a bit awkward too, I guess.. But other than that, it's pretty good.

SungShiKyung

The girl from Fantasy Couple, the one who played the crazy girl..forgot her name. She's really good for never having gone out of country..

HanYeSeul. I guess kind of like ryeowon, hers still has the TINIEST awkward sounds, but other than that it's really good. she lived in the states.

Very good (Still has a bit of an accent)

LeeDaHae - She's really good, but she sounds awkward..

Eric - He went to my high school! (=D) But his accent is still there and living.

uuuuuhhh.. but still there.. still slightly understandable..

Andy

Micky Yoochun

KimKiBum

that's all I could think of now. (:

Jung Ryeo Won has a very thick Australian accent but her english is perfect. I think you are mixing up Australian accent as sounding awkward. But they all DO sound like that there. Lee Da Hae's english is good but her "awkwardness" you detect is probably her Australian accent that you don't seem to be used to.

[Guest s00j]

Let's not forget Brian Joo

[Guest fateNdestiny]

I keep seeing people assumed that just because someone studied in an English-oriented country, they automatically become fluent in English. That's not necessarily true. I came to the States when I was 13 and have been here for 15 years and my English is still slightly accented and I sometimes still caught myself using bad grammar. I tried and tried and tried but I can't help it cuz English isn't my first language. It has also been proven that the older you get the harder it is for you to pick up another language. So stars, such as Bi, can try all he wants to, but he will probably never achieve what most you called "perfect English". Also just because you grew up overseas doesn't mean you can speak good English. While the majority of the time, that is true; I have met numerous people who been here since they were 2 or 3 years old or was even born here, yet their English is still heavily accented and can't use correct grammar at all.

Most of the stars named in this thread speaks pretty good English, accented or not. Even if they don't, I still give them kudos for trying on television.