How learning English helped Heung-min Son | Learn English with Cambridge

Hello, everyone.

This is Korean Billy from the YouTube channel KoreanBilly.

I am your guest presenter for Learn English with Cambridge

for today’s video.

So before we move on, let’s talk about language skills.

Language skills open up lots of opportunities to travel,

and the language skills also

help you make a new life in a foreign country

or even build up a new career.

So today, I’m going to meet someone

who has already done what I said, Son Heung-min.

He’s a Korean football player for Tottenham Hotspur.

As I said, he’s Korean,

but he has learnt English and now his language skills

have brought him a new life in England,

and even a new career at Tottenham.

Speaking of football,

many physical skills are transferrable

across countries, right?

Because for physical skills you mainly use your body,

not your language.

But to integrate all the physical skills

and go deeper,

you definitely need language skills for that.

The football player,

Son Heung-min does such a great job for that,

so today I am going to meet him near here and,

at the end of the video,

there’s going to be a special announcement for a competition

where you can win one of five copies

of English Grammar In Use,

Fifth Edition.

So remember to keep watching and join the competition.

And let’s go there with me.

So here I am.

I am near the Tottenham stadium.

There are some pitches.

So, this is the pitch where Son is going to join,

and here Son is going to teach

Tottenham local kids some football skills,

like shooting, passing and dribbling.

So that must be really good for the children.

So I’m going to wait here for Son to join us,

and I’m also going to have an interview with him

about his journey in learning the English language,

and we’re also going to have a fun language session

with the children as well.

I’m so excited.

Let’s wait for him.

So now you’ve been playing for Tottenham Hotspur

for nearly four years,

and you are now staying in England,

communicating with people in English,

so how was your journey in learning the English language?

How was your first start?

Yes, when I first came to England,

or London, actually I couldn’t speak English well,

but I had lessons, like six months,

but I think the best thing to do is speak with your friends.

So even when you make mistakes, still I make the mistakes,

and the players

or the friends try to teach me how to speak and how to spell.

And I think this was very important to learn English,

and yes, right now my English is not so good for me,

and still a lot to do to improve,

but I think the friends and the players helped me a lot to speak

better English than before.

And Dele Alli and Harry Kane are your best British mates.

Are they also helping you to learn more about English?

Yes.

Those guys helped me really, really a lot,

because, especially Dele, I was always speaking a lot,

today as well,

every single day we had fun,

every single day jokes without end.

So I think this has helped me a lot.

Like I said before, the players helped me really,

really a lot to speak English.

And you used to play for Germany,

and, at the time,

you were not really good at English, I believe,

and now you are quite fluent

and you can manage to speak in English.

Do you think

that helped you build more of a career for you?

Yes, I think learning English

or some other language has always been an advantage,

so as well,

after my career or when I finish football,

I can do something with my language.

I think this… I really enjoy to learn some English

or some German when I go, I don’t know,

somewhere else as well.

I think this shows some respect also to the country.

I’m really enjoying to learn English,

speaking English, even when I’m not speaking well,

but it’s really,

really fun to learn another language.

But I think you are speaking English quite confidently.

Did you have any tips

for building up your confidence for English?

I’m the type who is always trying something.

I said before already,

when I make a mistake, I try to keep saying

the same things.

Of course, you will make mistakes

because it’s not 100% your language,

but I think it’s most important

you try and fix the problems and fix the mistakes.

I think this is the most important part of my English.

I don’t know, some people have a different way

to learn some language,

but for me it was really,

really important to try every single day.

When I went to school, I learned something,

I used this straight away when I came to the training

and to the teammates,

and I think this helped me a lot.

I don’t know if it’s worked,

but you should try to work like this

and probably it’s helpful.

And you must be still learning English now, right?

And how do you keep carrying on your English study?

Yes.

Sometimes I watch some series or some movies,

try to watch in English and not with subtitles.

Of course, sometimes you don’t understand

but you try to understand with the pictures.

Yes, I think for me it’s easier,

because around me are all English friends

who are speaking English,

and I think this is part of my football career as well,

and my English as well.

And my last question is can you tell English learners about

how important learning

an English language is for you and for other people?

Yes.

It depends how you take it, seriously or not,

or you think,

I need really English and probably you need it,

but what I said before,

I think when you go to London,

or when you go to England and when you go to America,

you should learn English

because you should show the country the respect.

And if you’re someone from Korea,

imagine one guy is coming

from Europe to South Korea and he tries to learn South Korean;

if he doesn’t speak well,

we’re enjoying watching him and enjoy listening to him.

So think that’s the different way.

If you’re here in London,

if you’re here in England, you should just try,

make them enjoy to listen, to look.

I think this is most important to us,

who want to learn English,

and this is the most important part.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Now we’re going to do the language battle

and we’re going to test each other’s language together.

So let’s go there.

The next one is this word, safe.

Safe.

Yes, you are safe.

It’s the same?

Kind of.

Kind of.

You’re having a conversation and you’ll be like,

all right, safe.

Ah, got it.

Got it.

Got it.

[Speaks Korean] Probably you guys know.

Does it mean McDonald's?

Vex.

Don’t get me vexed, that’s what most people say.

Or like, I’m vexed, don’t touch me.

I’m vexed.

Don’t touch me.

I’m a really, really Tottenham boy now.

Looks like it.

So the interview and the language session

and everything is done,

and Son Heung-min’s English skill is quite good, right?

So maybe that has motivated you to learn English.

So for your English study,

English In Use book series will help you learn

English and help you have more confidence

when speaking English.

So check out In Use series as well.

So before we wrap up,

at the beginning of the video I said there is going to be

a special announcement, right?

Well, this competition,

there are going to be five winners,

and the prize for the competition is a copy

of English Grammar In Use, Fifth Edition.

So to join the competition, leave any comment

in the comment section with the hashtag #EnglishGrammarinUse.

You can say anything in the comment,

like how you like the video,

what you learnt

from the video and what was the most impressive part.

Just remember to include the hashtag #EnglishGrammarinUse.

So for more information about the competition,

check out the description box of this YouTube video.

All right, so that’s it for this video,

and I hope you guys also learned something from this video.

Don’t forget to like this video

and subscribe to Learn English with Cambridge YouTube channel.

Bye.