Becoming a foreign celebrity
I haven’t visited all over the world to know how easy it is to become a foreign celebrity in a foreign country. If anything, I know that I can’t become a foreign celebrity in Hollywood just because I am a foreigner. Having to live in various countries, I have not seen any possibility for a normal foreigner to become a celebrity for sure unless one decides to dedicate oneself to become one. However, in Korea, being a foreigner, can give you so many perks. A few years ago, the trend started with actors like Daniel Henny, Dennis Oh, etc., and that is when foreign actors started coming out in the media more frequently. To be precise, they were not completely foreigners because at least one of their parents is Korean.
Now, South Korea, being one of the popular destinations for foreigners to move to other than Japan, Taiwan, and China, many foreigners are moving to South Korea. A few years ago, a lot of Foreigners started to move to Korea for teaching English. Now with foreigners flooding into Seoul, they are no longer a special species to Koreans. Now, if you are a Foreigner who can speak Korean, Koreans will definitely be impressed and they will consider you more special and think of you as more than just an English teacher. Even though it has become something common to see foreigners in Korea, Foreigners still have higher probability of being successful in Korea. I can’t think of any other country that would give so many credits for being a foreigner other than South Korea.
Nowadays, one of the rising TV shows in Korea is called ‘bijungsanghwehdam’ (비정상회담) , meaning abnormal summit. The show hosts eleven foreigners who live in Korea and who can speak fluent Korean and talk Korean culture and what it is like to live in Korea as a foreigner. The eleven Foreigners are from Canada, China, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Belgium, United States, France, Ghana, and Japan: The panels include Guillaume Patry, Alberto Mondi, Zhang Yuan, Enes Kaya, Daniel Lindemann, Julian Quintart, Tyler Rasch, Robin Deiana, Sam Okyere, TakuyaTerada.The majority of them have become so popular and they have their fan pages and are fast becoming top celebrities. You can see the updates on their Facebook page. They also have their own facebook fanpages.
A lot of Koreans are shy to talk to foreigners maybe because they are afraid to speak English regardless of how much money they spend on learning English. Now, they have found their way out because foreigners are able to speak Korean and understand the culture like the natives. If you think that you are just a normal person in your home country wanting to be treated a little more special, maybe it is not a bad idea to choose South Korea as your destination.