By Honorary Reporter Rocio Mendoza from Guatemala
Photos = Huh Eun-san

Huh Eun-san is a New York-based writer and illustrator who promotes the Korean language through her drawings and stories. 

She gave a Ted Talk in 2019 on "Illustrating Language: Iceland in Icons" and runs a SNS platform My Korean Childhood, which has 101,000 followers. 

In an email interview from Jan. 22 to Feb. 1, the multifaceted creator talks about her roots and the motivation behind her multiple projects.

Briefly introduce yourself.
I'm an illustrator based in New York. Born in Seoul, I moved with my family at age 6 to Newcastle, Australia — that's where I learned English -- for three years and then to Vancouver, Canada, when I was 10. I moved to New York for university because I wanted to work in fashion, but after interning at magazines and fashion houses, I realized that it wasn't the path for me.

How did your two main projects come about? 

After studying and drawing stuff about the Icelandic language for a while, I realized that I'd spent all this time and effort learning about someone else's culture while abandoning my own. At the same time, I'd been drawing line icons with a limited color palette for so long that I wanted to branch out and have more creative freedom. The illustration style of My Korean Childhood is much closer to my usual drawing method, as I have a lot more freedom with these illustrations.

How many languages have you learned?

I speak English and Korean fluently, enough Dutch and French to get by, and a little Icelandic. I've also dabbled in Spanish and Japanese but neither has stuck.

What language-related challenges did you face living outside of Korea?
I have no Korean friends whom I speak Korean to, as most are Korean American and we're all more comfortable with English. For this reason, I don't get a lot of opportunities to speak Korean except to my parents on the phone, and I miss it a lot. I used to go to a Korean-language meetup but that disbanded before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Now, I watch as many Korean movies and dramas as I can to at least hear some Korean. It's also hard to keep up with all the new slang words and acronyms always popping up in Korea. I'm often Googling the words I hear on the latest K-dramas and variety shows.

You've collaborated with the Korean Cultural Center in New York on projects. What plans do you have this year?

Nothing confirmed yet but I have a lot of ideas brewing. Since "My Korean Childhood" has been a fun personal project for me and not financially motivated, I haven't done much outreach and taken on inbound projects only. This year, one of my goals is to be more proactive and approach other creatives, organizations and brands that I think are aligned with my goals of spreading love for all Korean things.

How does it feel to have 100,000 followers on the My Korean Childhood account?
It's so humbling to know so many people are interested in Korean culture and my illustrations. It motivates me to make more illustrations and to be more thoughtful about what kind of content will be interesting and useful to those looking at my work.

You said in your Ted Talk "Illustrating Language: Iceland in Icons" that "When you learn a language, you learn about a culture." What have you learned in your language-learning journey?
One thing I've learned is that every language is special in its own way, and if you pay attention and have a curious mindset, you can find so many funny and interesting anomalies, idioms and stories. Though I consider myself a fluent speaker of Korean, the more I look into the language, the more I realize how much I must learn.

msjeon22@korea.kr

*This article was 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.