BTS’s Billboard Interpreter Shares The Secret To Learning New Words
Ahn Hyun Mo is an incredible interpreter who has worked on a variety of events including the 2018 North Korea-United States Summit and the 2018 Billboard Music Awards where she gained acclaim for her interpretation of BTS‘s victory speech.
In a recent episode of Girls’ Generation‘s Tiffany Young‘s Breakfast with Tiffany, the pair sat down and discussed just what makes Ahn Hyun Mo so good at her job.
During the interview, she shared with Tiffany that “when I come across a new word, I feel like my heart sinks from the sense of responsibility of knowing that.”
In response to Tiffany’s concerned expression, Ahn Hyun Mo then explained her method of learning a new word. She named her technique the “back-to-back study method” or as Tiffany shortened it in Korean; “CO-CO-MU!”
Ahn Hyun Mo began by explaining that she starts her process by googling her new found word.
When you look up a word in a dictionary, you’ll only get the definition. But when you google it, you’ll get relevant images, videos, and how native speakers of the language use that word in real life.
-Ahn Hyun Mo
She then demonstrated her method, using the word “Monk Fruit” for her example. She began by showing the dictionary definition and demonstrating how unhelpful it was saying “In a dictionary, it just says ‘It’s a kind of a fruit that blah blah’.”
She then showed Tiffany what the Google search page for the fruit looked like. The first thing she pointed out was that you get a visual example to associate with the word.
She then shared that the searches will frequently bring up relevant articles to give the word even more context.
Finally, she shared that the search results also give extra keywords to associate which helps to really lock it in your new word.
After learning this, Tiffany compared it to the memorization lesson taught in acting classes that using emotions makes it easier to remember lines, “meaning memory is caused by emotions.”
What are your thoughts on this linguistic technique? Have you ever heard of this method before? Let us know if you this works for you and to watch Tiffany’s full interview with Ahn Hyun Mo, check out the video below:
