![[김대균의 영어산책] 일본 토익 연구 30년! 토익 전문가 Masaya Kanzaki 선생님의 토익 학습법](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwimg.heraldcorp.com%2Fnews%2Fcms%2F2025%2F04%2F28%2Fnews-p.v1.20250428.d457b57d61174e448b8dad97d95c8b90_T1.png&w=3840&q=100)
[김대균의 영어산책] 일본 토익 연구 30년! 토익 전문가 Masaya Kanzaki 선생님의 토익 학습법
Masaya Kanzaki 선생님은 필자와 함께 Cambridge University 출판부에서 출간된 토익 교재를 함께 감수한 토익 전문가이다. TOEIC Otaku로 불리길 좋아하시는 분이다. 일본 토익 전문가의 글을 함께 읽어보자!
The Key to Improving Your English: Fun and Easy Input
By Masaya Kanzaki, Kanda University of International Studies
When you start learning English, studying grammar and memorizing vocabulary is important. But after a certain point, just doing drills won't make you fluent.
The real secret? Input—listening to and reading a lot of English.
Language expert Stephen Krashen says we learn languages best when we hear or read easy and interesting English. You don't have to focus too much on grammar rules. Instead, listen and read every day. Like children who learn to speak naturally, you can absorb English by understanding real sentences.
TOEIC books are a good way to practice, especially if you enjoy them. You can learn useful words and phrases by listening and reading carefully. But if TOEIC materials feel boring, don't worry! There are many fun ways to learn:
Movies and dramas: Watch with English subtitles. You'll hear real conversations.
YouTube and podcasts: Find topics you like—sports, cooking, travel—and listen to English speakers.
News and magazines: Read English newspapers like The Korea Herald or magazines about your hobbies.
Books: If novels are too difficult, start with graded readers made for learners.
Important tip: Choose materials that are easy and fun. If it's too hard, you'll get tired and stop. It's better to enjoy English every day.
Some students worry that just listening and reading won't help with speaking and writing. But don't worry! The more English you hear and read, the more naturally your speaking and writing skills will improve. You'll remember words and sentence patterns without having to think about grammar.
In short, steady and fun input is the fastest way to real English fluency—and to higher TOEIC scores!
Enjoy English every day, and you'll become more confident step by step.
Start today, and make English a fun part of your life!
영어 실력을 향상시키는 비결: 재미있고 쉬운 인풋
마사야 칸자키, 칸다 외국어대학교
영어를 처음 배울 때는 문법을 공부하고 어휘를 암기하는 것이 중요합니다. 하지만 어느 정도 수준에 도달하면, 단순히 문제풀이만으로는 유창해질 수 없습니다.
진짜 비결은 무엇일까요? 바로 인풋(Input) — 영어를 많이 듣고 읽는 것입니다.
언어 전문가 스티븐 크래션(Stephen Krashen)은 흥미롭고 쉬운 영어를 듣고 읽을 때 가장 효과적으로 언어를 배울 수 있다고 말합니다. 문법 규칙에 너무 집착할 필요는 없습니다. 대신 매일 듣고 읽으세요.
아이들이 자연스럽게 언어를 배우는 것처럼, 실제 문장을 이해하면서 영어를 익힐 수 있습니다.
TOEIC 교재는 연습하기에 좋은 방법입니다. 특히 교재가 재미있게 느껴진다면 더욱 좋습니다. 주의 깊게 듣고 읽으면 유용한 단어와 표현을 배울 수 있습니다.
하지만 TOEIC 교재가 지루하게 느껴진다면 걱정하지 마세요! 영어를 재미있게 배울 수 있는 다양한 방법이 있습니다:
영화와 드라마: 영어 자막을 켜고 시청하세요. 실제 대화를 들을 수 있습니다.
유튜브와 팟캐스트: 스포츠, 요리, 여행 등 좋아하는 주제를 찾아 영어로 들어보세요.
뉴스와 잡지: 코리아헤럴드(The Korea Herald) 같은 영어 신문이나, 취미 관련 영어 잡지를 읽어보세요.
책: 소설이 너무 어렵게 느껴진다면, 영어 학습자를 위한 '그레이디드 리더(graded readers)'로 시작하세요.
중요한 팁: 쉬우면서 재미있는 자료를 선택하세요. 너무 어렵게 느껴지면 쉽게 지치고 포기할 수 있습니다. 매일 즐기면서 영어를 접하는 것이 훨씬 좋습니다.
어떤 학생들은 듣기와 읽기만으로는 말하기나 쓰기에 도움이 되지 않을까봐 걱정합니다. 하지만 걱정할 필요 없습니다! 듣고 읽는 양이 많아질수록 말하기와 쓰기도 자연스럽게 향상됩니다. 문법을 따로 생각하지 않아도 단어와 문장 패턴이 머릿속에 저절로 남게 됩니다.
요약하면, 꾸준하고 재미있는 인풋이 진짜 영어 실력 향상과 TOEIC 고득점으로 가는 가장 빠른 길입니다!
매일 영어를 즐기세요. 그러면 한 걸음 한 걸음 자신감도 함께 커질 것입니다.
오늘부터 시작해서, 영어를 여러분 삶의 재미있는 부분으로 만들어 보세요!
어휘 정리:
input (인풋, 입력)
language expert (언어 전문가)
grammar rules (문법 규칙)
real sentences (실제 문장)
practice (연습하다, 실습하다)
useful words and phrases (유용한 단어와 구절)
materials (자료, 교재)
graded readers (수준별 독서 교재)
fluency (유창성)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
18 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Boys outscore girls in math, while girls lead in English on Suneung: data
Male students outscored their female peers in math on the national college entrance exam, or Suneung, in 2024, a trend that has continued for four consecutive years, data shows. In contrast, female students continued to lead in English, while performance in Korean remained nearly identical across genders. According to the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation on Sunday, which oversees the annual College Scholastic Ability Test, male students had a higher average score of 102.7 in math, compared to 97.1 points for female students. The average standard score in Korean was higher among female students, at 100.8 points, compared to 99.1 points for male students. These figures are not raw scores, but are weighted and adjusted to reflect performance relative to other test takers. The institute's analysis also showed that a higher percentage of male students ranked in the top two performance levels in math. Specifically, 5.9 percent of male students were in Level 1 and 9.4 percent in Level 2, compared to just 2.2 percent and 5.3 percent of female students, respectively. In Korea's college entrance exam, students are ranked in nine levels based on their relative performance, with Level 1 representing the top 4 percent of test takers and Level 2 roughly covering the top 11 percent. In English, a higher percentage of female students placed in the top two levels. Among female test takers, 6.3 percent scored in Level 1 and 16.6 percent in Level 2, slightly higher than the 6.1 percent and 16.1 percent recorded for male students. In Korean, the proportion of top-performing students was nearly the same between male and female students. In Level 1, 4.3 percent of male students and 4.4 percent of female students were represented — a difference of just 0.1 percentage point. The gap was equally narrow in Level 2, with 7.1 percent for male students and 7 percent for female students. A total of 463,486 students took the College Scholastic Ability Test in 2024, up 4.18 percent from 2023. Of them, 238,346 were male and 225,140 were female.
Korea Herald
4 days ago
- Korea Herald
Korean cinema's political dramas
From campaign machinations to besieged kingdom's final hour, three films explore the messy realities of power South Korea just wrapped up a snap presidential election that saw opposition candidate Lee Jae-myung claim victory after months of political turmoil sparked by his predecessor's botched martial law gambit. Which makes this the perfect moment to dive into Korean cinema's rich catalog of films about political ambition, the seductive allure of power, and the moral compromises that define public life. From smoke-filled campaign war rooms to ancient royal courts, These three standout dramas offer engrossing takes on the nature of politics. While spanning different eras, each shares a fascination with how principles collide with reality when everything hangs in the balance. "Kingmaker" (2022) Political strategist Seo Chang-dae meets idealistic politician Kim Woon-bum in 1961, and their partnership transforms a string of electoral defeats into a march toward power. Director Byun Sung-hyun crafts this character study around the relationship between the late Lee Sun-kyun's Machiavellian campaign mastermind and Sol Kyung-gu's principled presidential candidate, exploring how far good intentions can bend before they break entirely. The film shines in its refusal to romanticize either man. Chang-dae's dirty tricks prove devastatingly effective — vote buying, character assassination, and stoking the regional divisions that still plague Korean politics today all get deployed with ruthless efficiency. But Byun never lets us forget the human cost of these tactics, particularly as the two men's friendship fractures over the question of means and ends. The late Lee Sun-kyun brings measured calculation to the role that portrays depths of ambition beneath the surface, while Sol delivers one of his finest performances as a politician wrestling with his own complicity. Based loosely on the real-life relationship between future president Kim Dae-jung and his strategist Eom Chang-rok, "Kingmaker" asks whether winning at all costs in the name of democracy can ultimately betray the very ideals it claims to uphold. The answer it offers feels uncomfortably relevant to today's politics worldwide. Available on Google Play and Amazon Prime with English subtitles. "The Man Standing Next" (2020) Days before President Park Chung-hee's assassination in 1979, Korean CIA director Kim Gyu-pyeong finds himself caught between loyalty to an increasingly paranoid dictator and his own moral compass. The regime's inner circle becomes a nest of competing ambitions, with Kim facing off against the president's warmongering security chief (Lee Hee-jun) as he grapples with growing popular unrest and pressure from Washington. Director Woo Min-ho ("Inside Men," "Harbin") transforms this historical thriller into a masterclass in political paranoia where every conversation carries the weight of life and death. His direction maintains a carefully calibrated pace that allows tension to build organically, which explodes in a brutal finale that strips away any romanticism about political violence. As Korean cinema's most dependable leading man, Lee Byung-hun anchors the film with a performance of remarkable restraint and ambiguity, portraying Kim as a man whose stoic exterior barely contains his growing horror at the regime's excesses. "The Man Standing Next" succeeds as both compelling period drama and a timeless warning about the corrupting nature of unchecked power. Its exploration of how conflicts and pressure build up under authoritarian systems resonates far beyond the era it portrays. Available on Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, Google Play, and Apple TV with English subtitles. "The Fortress" (2017) Winter of 1636 finds Korea's Joseon dynasty trapped in a mountain fortress, besieged by Qing forces demanding submission to their new Chinese empire. Director Hwang Dong-hyuk (of "Squid Game" fame) uses this crucible of crisis to examine how high-stakes political maneuvering unfolds when a nation's survival hangs in the balance. The film centers on the philosophical divide between two royal advisors: Lee Byung-hun's pragmatic minister Choi, who advocates for immediately surrender to save lives, and Kim Yun-seok's idealistic minister Kim, who insists on fighting till the end to preserve honor. Park Hae-il's young king becomes the fulcrum between these opposing forces, ultimately responsible for decisions that will determine not just his own fate but that of his entire kingdom. Hwang's direction emphasizes the physical and psychological toll of the siege alongside the intricate ideological debates unfolding within the fortress walls, with stunning cinematography that captures both the fortress's imposing beauty and its gradual transformation into a frozen prison. The film's deliberate pacing mirrors the dizzying complexity of the moral arguments themselves, though this methodical approach may occasionally tests the viewer's patience. What elevates "The Fortress" beyond spectacle is the profound sincerity with which these arguments are delivered — each side rooted in genuine devotion to the country and its people. Both ministers present their cases with riveting conviction, and the film suggests that in extreme circumstances, there may be no purely moral choices — only different forms of compromise with an unforgiving reality.
Korea Herald
4 days ago
- Korea Herald
Lee Jae-myung's power play: Outsider's climb to top
From factory boy to president, the liberal winner of South Korea's election says he was driven by "anger" at inequality The presidential victory of Lee Jae-myung has been cast as a "win for those who are not part of the establishment, and outside the mainstream" by the Democratic Party of Korea. Lee's political journey that culminated with his being elected president has been rocky and drama-filled, to say the least. "It's not easy working for Lee Jae-myung. Things always seem to happen to him. But he is a guy who gets up every time," one of his close aides told The Korea Herald. At a campaign rally Saturday in Daejeon, one of the swing cities that was watched closely, Lee boasted that he has "dodged every bullet that came [his] way." Over the campaign, Lee shrugged off his criminal trials, cited as one of his most critical liabilities, claiming he had been wrongfully charged by prosecutors. Like he said, Lee glided past many controversies that would have disqualified any major politician. Neither Lee's notorious foul-mouthed rant at his sister-in-law, the recording of which was leaked to the public, nor his alleged affair with an actress, significantly hurt his popularity, if his election win is any testament. Anti-establishment outsider Lee, who likes to describe himself as an outsider, started off at the Democratic Party in 2007 as a "lowly" deputy spokesperson, a role that is usually given to novice politicians who have not yet won public office. Not many of the people who knew Lee from his very early days are still around. But the tale goes that even then, Lee was more ambitious than a typical deputy spokesperson. Lee felt he was snubbed by mainstream Democratic Party lawmakers at the time, according to an insider account, and that it was what drove him. "He remembers the humiliation," the insider, speaking anonymously, said. "But in the end, that only fueled him." Lee left the Seoul stage for 11 years, serving as Seongnam mayor and then as Gyeonggi Province governor, until 2021. When Lee won the Democratic Party's nomination for president in the 2022 race, at the second attempt, it was a political Cinderella story. Past presidential nominees of the Democratic Party, more often than not, had made it to the top of the party before they could launch a bid, working their way up from the inside. Lee did it from the outside in. "Do you know why they are so afraid of Lee Jae-myung? It's because I came from the fringes. I make the establishment uncomfortable," Lee told a roaring crowd of supporters on Saturday. Policy bulldozer Lee first made his name as fiery mayor of Seongnam, a city in the southern part of Gyeonggi, the province that surrounds Seoul, where he served for two consecutive terms from 2010 to 2018. Lee's signature policy from his Seongnam era is his "free" welfare program that was taken to the Supreme Court for allegedly violating the laws on social security. This is when Lee's experiment with universal basic income began, and when he learned of its popular appeal. Lee, vowing to make Seongnam the "city of free welfare benefits," doled out vouchers that can be used like cash in the city in spite of fiscal concerns. By 2018, when Lee became governor of Gyeonggi Province, the most populous of any local administration, with 13 million people, his name was more recognized nationally. As governor, Lee was known for pushing through tough COVID-19 restrictions, which were cheered by people who were fed up with the pandemic, but also invited controversy over rights infringement. In 2020, Lee live-streamed himself busting a church in Gyeonggi Province that became the site of an outbreak, and took a nasal swab from the pastor on tape for COVID-19 testing — a telling scene for which he still gets recognition for. Unlikely hero After his defeat to former President Yoon Suk Yeol three years ago, Lee ran for and won a seat on the National Assembly, which was criticized as a possible ploy to evade his legal problems, as sitting lawmakers have immunity from certain criminal proceedings. Lee eventually sat on the top of the Democratic Party leadership ladder, and while he was the party's chair, almost had an arrest warrant out against him. Lee is "more like a villain, albeit a popular villain, than a hero," a Democratic Party insider said. "Sure he may not play nice. But you know what? You can count on him to get things done." At 54, he launched his first presidential bid in 2017 at the Seongnam factory where he had worked as a child to support his family. Standing beside his mother, he recalled losing function in one arm from an accident there. Despite no formal schooling, Lee passed the bar, graduated from Chung-Ang University, and engaged in civic activism as a practicing lawyer before entering politics. Lee once famously said he is motivated by anger. "Perhaps because of how I was brought up, I have a lot of anger toward inequality. It's what motivates me, politically," Lee said in a press interview in 2020.
