By Honorary Reporter Gabriela Sanchez from Venezuela

Photo = Andrea Castillo, Quiz on Korea

Andrea Castillo's interest in Korea motivated her to study Korean in Venezuela from an early age. Thanks to her efforts, she lives in Korea and has fulfilled her goals in the country, the most recent being finishing as runner-up in the KBS TV game show "Quiz On Korea," which tests foreign competitors on their knowledge of Korea. 

Andrea Castillo began studying Korean at an early age, and went on to become a teacher at her country's lone institution for Korean education.

Castillo, 25, began self-study of Korean and later studied it in Korea before returning to her country. At Academia Coreana de Venezuela, the only official institute for Korean-language instruction in the country, she got the highest score on the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) and went from being a student at the academy to a teacher.

She had bigger dreams, however, and the Korea aficionado in 2018 received a scholarship to attend college in Korea. She is now a Korean major at Chungbuk National University in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do Province.

The following are excerpts from an interview with Castillo.

"Quiz on Korea" is a KBS TV game show testing foreign contestants on their knowledge of Korea.

Describe your experience in learning Korean.

I started studying on my own in 2012 (in high school). In 2014, I traveled to Korea to study the language for a year and completed the first advanced level and returned to Venezuela. In 2015, I began teaching basic and intermediate Korean at Academia Coreana de Venezuela, and in my spare time, I studied advanced Korean on my own. Then I took TOPIK in 2018 and reached Level 6. In 2018, I returned to Korea as a university student majoring in Korean.

Why did you apply to appear on "Quiz On Korea?"
I've always had a deep interest in learning more about Korea. I like to study the country's national treasures, cultural and intangible heritage, historical places and figures, scientific inventions and customs. Through "Quiz On Korea," I focused on learning a lot more about the culture in general, and during the competition, I showed how much I know about it. Korea has 5,000 years of history, so there's a lot of interesting things to learn.

Andrea Castillo went from attending Venezuela's lone institute for learning Korean to teaching there.

What was competing on the show like?
Due to COVID-19, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and KBS for this year's show decided to select as contestants those with advanced fluency in Korean who were studying at universities nationwide. After hearing this, I applied to represent Venezuela and was among 550 applicants.

I liked the experience from start to finish. I focused on studying Korea in depth and gained knowledge I want to share with everyone interested in learning more about this beautiful country. It was an honor for me to represent Venezuela on Korean television, and I'm proud to have gotten so close to first place.

What advice do you have for those who want to learn Korean?
I recommend studying Korean with devotion. If you achieve a high level in the language, you can access more information when studying. You should also have an interest in learning about Korea in general such as proverbs, traditional clothing, historical figures, national treasures, instruments, scientific inventions and history.

To learn Korean, everything depends on effort. Taking a course helps a lot with access to information, but it all depends on the time spent every day learning the language.

For those who speak Korean at the intermediate to advanced level, I recommend watching entertainment programs. This will improve listening comprehension and lead to the learning of new expressions that results in speaking Korean more naturally.

Andrea Castillo (third from left) represented her country Venezuela in this year's "Quiz on Korea" aired by KBS TV. 

enny0611@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.