This 15-year-old girl is a huge fan of Korean dramas and variety shows. In 2018, she decided to learn the Korean language!
But the thing is, she did not enroll in any Korean school and everything was self-taught!
“I started learning Korean back when I was in 7th grade, and then parang I think it was just an impulsive decision, and then I started learning out of nowhere. I grabbed a notebook and a pen and then searched it up on Youtube, how to learn Korean and stuff so I think that’s how it started,” Lane Margaret Gift Boiser told The Philippine STAR.
Gift said that the COVID-19 pandemic allowed her to improve her Korean speaking and writing skills. She usually studies the language whenever she has free time.
“Actually, I did not force myself to study, parang when I’m in the mood, ‘yun lang talaga ako magstu-study, and I want to study then go. It’s like, you know, I don’t know, parang to ten times a year po, but the thing is I’m very exposed to Korean dramas, so dun ako, parang dun ako nakakapag-learn,” she explained.
After 5 years of learning, she is now fluent in Korean! Gift is using a mobile application to talk to different individuals, so she can practice the language.
“I think the thing that helped me a lot was my interest talaga in Korean stuff. I had like the motivation in front of me, the K-pop, the Korean dramas, korean variety shows, so I think that was the biggest reason why I kept learning Korean despite ako lang [mag-] isa,” she said.
“Parang I learned it with fun and did not really force myself. Learning Korean was fun. Sometimes it was hard with the grammar since it’s different with you know, English and the Filipino language and stuff. Pero it was fun overall,” she added.
Gift started uploading content on TikTok last year. Her videos became an instant hit on social media!
Netizens are following her since she can speak like a local Korean! One academy even invited her to join their Korean classes after seeing her videos.
“The common feedback is that I usually get, is magaling ako mag-Korean and one thing is that my pronunciation, a lot of people tell me that my pronunciation is very good even though hindi nila naiintindihan, but they know that my pronunciation is good, saka it’s kinda weird seeing it from my mouth. But Korean people also do tell me I have a very good pronunciation,” she shared.
Gift said that her mom Maya is very supportive of her journey in studying the language.
“My mom is actually a very big fan of Korean drama so I think she’s also one of the reasons why she wants me to watch Korean dramas, too,” she said.
Gift is currently learning how to speak Spanish. She also dreams of visiting Korea someday.
