Han Su-Yeon : Portrait of a Korean Artist in Budapest
zita kisgergely
Han Su-Yeon via Asian Wiki.com
Despite our difficult language and sometimes complicated bureaucracy, Budapest and Hungary are home to any number of expats, long-term visitors, and foreign students. People come here from all over the world to make their careers, to explore history, or as tourists who got seduced into staying. Like most great cities, there is a healthy amount of diversity in Budapest. So while it may surprise some to hear South Korean actor Han Su-Yeon speaking Hungarian in a recent South Korean documentary about Hungary, such surprises are becoming less unusual.
Having spent a good portion of her youth here, Su-Yeon actually speaks the language fluently, and is something of a local expert. In a recent interview with local news site Index, Su-Yeon recalled some of her memories good and bad of being a long-term foreigner in Budapest.
Having moved to Budapest at a young age with her mother, who studied classical piano at the illustrious Liszt Ferenc Academy, Su-Yeon learned to speak Hungarian in school, and sometimes with the ‘help’ of classmates who teased her. But eventually Su-Yeon found acceptance in the public school she attended, making many friends. It was there that she found an appreciation for the language that expressed itself in reading Hungarian literature like Ferenc Molnár’s Paul Street Boys, and through learning choice curse words.
Her love of acting perhaps sprang in part from the habit of going to films alone at a now defunct cinema near Móricz Zsigmond Circle. It wasn’t until she returned to South Korea, graduating with a degree in acting from Shongjungvan University in Seoul, that her career took off, appearing in several movies as well as the Korean soap opera True Love.
As a youth she began writing a diary in Hungarian, a habit she continues to this day. Moreover, she keeps current with her favorite Hungarian bands, like the Animal Cannibals (who have appeared on this blog before) and practicing the language with her sister, also a Hungarian speaker. It will come in useful if her plans of buying a second home in Hungary come true.
With her love of Hungarian language and culture, we only hope she will return soon.
This article is based on an interview with Han Su-Yeon published in Index.hu
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