Hwang Jung-min: My son went to Hawaii to learn English but taught Korean instead

Actor Hwang Jung-min brought laughter to fans by revealing his son's extraordinary social skills and unexpected overseas adaptation. Contrary to his parents' expectations of him learning English, his son returned from Hawaii after teaching Korean to foreign friends, drawing reactions that he truly possesses "unique DNA."

On the 23rd, a video was released on the YouTube channel "Choo Sung-hoon," featuring Hwang Jung-min and Eum Moon-suk, the leads of the film "Hope" (directed by Na Hong-jin). While sharing various stories, the three men revealed a special overseas experience involving Hwang's family.

When the production crew asked, "Have you ever been to Japan?", Hwang began by mentioning his son's surprising linguistic sense.

Hwang said, "My son grew up watching a lot of Japanese animation, so he claimed he was good at Japanese. At first, I thought it was nonsense. I didn't believe him at all."

However, he said he was greatly surprised after confirming his son's abilities during an actual family trip.

"When we went to Japan, my son handled the reservations himself, rode the subway, and even found our way to a ryokan in the countryside. He did it all," he shared.

To this, Choo expressed surprise, saying, "Even I don't know the Tokyo subway well. It's difficult."

Hwang also marveled, "I don't know it at all either, but he acted just like a native." However, he immediately revealed a twist.

The catch was that he couldn't read the characters.

"Since it's Japanese learned through animation, if he learned the phrase 'Let's go quickly,' he would use expressions like 'at the speed of light,'" he said, drawing laughter by revealing his son's unique way of acquiring language.

Following this, Hwang opened up about his son's experience living in Hawaii during his childhood.

"My son also spent summers and winters in Hawaii. It was during elementary school. As parents, we thought it would be good for him to play plenty and learn English as well," he said.

But the result was completely different from expectations.

Hwang caused laughter on set by revealing, "English, my foot. The foreign kids learned Korean instead."

In particular, he shared an anecdote from the era when the movie "Frozen" was popular, revealing his son's quirky yet special talent.

Hwang said, "Back then, he taught his friends the song 'Let It Go' in Korean as 'Da It-eo' (Forget it all). When I asked if he taught them, he said, 'I taught them. All the kids are good at it.'"

It turned out that the overseas life intended for studying became a time to promote Korean culture instead.

Hwang's story goes beyond a simple family episode, showing how free and creative children's ways of accepting language and culture can be. It implies that experiences of learning naturally through interaction with people can lead to greater growth than fixed educational methods.

Ultimately, while his son's life in Hawaii differed from the parents' plan of "English study abroad," it became a special time of learning where he made friends in an unfamiliar environment and shared his own culture.