아이스크림 천재영문법 - Korea Times에 실린 이미도 선생의 기사

Creative Imagination Helps Children Learn English

 

  Veteran film translator Lee Mi-do talks to The Korea Times about his new comic book series ``I Scream for Ice Cream'' targeting children learning English through a creative, imaginative and fun story. 

 

본문 기사:http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2009/12/142_57099.html

 

 

By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter

Veteran film translator Lee Mi-do seems to know no boundary in pursuing his dreams. Instead of being content as the nation's top film translator, Lee has recently jumped into the English education book market for children.

It is no surprise that Lee, who has published books combining films and English, has released a children's book. But this time, he has taken a different format ― a comic strip mixing English with creative thinking.

``While I have translated numerous films for a long time, I felt thirsty for creativity. So I wanted to write something. I released my first book in 2004. once I started writing my own work, creative ideas kept inspiring me to write a new challengeable work,'' Lee said in an interview with The Korea Times.

``I Scream for Ice Cream,'' written by Lee and illustrated by Choi Jin-gyu, is a comic book on English grammar for children to stimulate their curiosity and interest.

 

``The English education comic book series targets children aged 5-10 who are good at developing curiosity and creativity and are also beginning to learn English. I want to let them have fun and get interested in learning English through creative imagination,'' he said.

He said that ``I Scream for Ice Cream'' is different from other educational comic books that are currently booming in the children's book market. Usually, when educational comic books are planned, an illustration team is first created and then the contents are formed. But when his series was planned, a storyline was first written and then the illustration process was added.

``It's a totally different approach in that we put more emphasis on the storyline that provokes curiosity and creativity to enhance the educational effects because children are too young to learn heavy and difficult texts. Interesting learning can cultivate self-confidence in learning English,'' he said.

The author said that storytelling is a stepping stone to creative thinking and thus he just took the form of comic books to better deliver the story to children.

The story revolves around familiar characters such as Snow White, who is now a grandmother and seven children happily living in the Land of Far, Far Away.

The names of the seven children are Gregory, Robin, Amy, Martha, Matthew, Alpha and Robo. Their first letters of their names are linked as GRAMMAR. Grandmother Snow White loves to help the children learn English by having fun when learning grammar.

There is also a witch, who lives in the Land of Far, Far Away. She cannot speak English. one day, she goes to visit her sister who is very sick. However, she runs into some trouble at the airport in New York. She cannot speak English so they will not let her into the country. So she devises a plan to make trouble for anyone who speaks English well.

The first volume is the introduction of the whole series. The second volume to come out at the end of this month will deal with nouns and the third volume to be released next month will be about verbs. Each section demonstrates grammar usage through fairy tales and their characters. As the story goes on, each series adds more English.

He said that the experience of having translated popular animation films for children helped him develop the idea of publishing a comic book for children's English education.
``Fortunately, I have translated many excellent animation works. Such works are full of creative imagination to boost children's curiosity. I learned not only good and fun English ｅxpressions but also creative ideas from them,'' she said.

Lee said that even though many Koreans learn English for more than 10 years, they have difficulty in speaking it. He identified the reason as bad learning practice that divides sentences and grammar.

``We need to know that grammar involves learning the rules of how words are joined to form sentences. Knowing one word a day and how to use it is better than memorizing 50 words a day,'' said Lee.

He advised Korean parents not to hurry in children's English education, be more patient and try to help them spontaneously to develop an interest in the language.

Lee moved his workshop to the southern port city of Busan one and half years ago. ``I have turned 50 this year. It means there are not many years left for me to work. So I thought I have to focus my time to concentrate. I usually work in Busan and sometimes come to Seoul for business or lectures. After I moved my workshop to Busan, I could use my time more efficiently. I feel as if I have double my time,'' he said.

Lee has translated more than 460 films over the last 16 years into the Korean language. He said that for the best translations, a good command of the native tongue is an asset.

``It's a kind of 'creative translation.' The Korean language has unique tastes that are melted into the translation. In this field, I might be the only translator who combines translation and creativity,'' he said.

Until recently, he has been veiled as a ``faceless'' translator only whose name is known to movie fans. ``When I was only translating films, I didn't appear in public because I thought a translator should keep a low profile. But after I turned to writing, I began to frequently show up in public,'' he said.

For many of his fans, films such as ``Shrek 4,'' ``How to Train Your Dragon'' and ``Nine'' translated by Lee will be released soon. ``Although the number of my translations has been reduced because of my new work in books, the two fields are interactive. Translation is helpful for my English books and writing English books is also good for my translations. They are teachers for each other,'' he said.

He has translated scripts for ``Madagascar,'' ``The Lord of the Rings,'' ``Good Will Hunting,'' ``Mulan,'' and ``Finding Nemo.''

chungay@koreatimes.co.kr

 

 

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