Please Teach Me English

Please Teach Me English

Theatrical poster
Hangul 영어완전정복
Hanja 英語完全征服
Revised Romanization Yeongeo Wanjeon Jeongbok
McCune–Reischauer Yŏngŏ Wanjŏn Chŏngpok
Directed by Kim Sung-su
Produced by Jo Min-hwan
Kim Sung-su
Written by No Hye-yeong
Choi Hee-dae
Kim Sung-su
Starring Lee Na-young
Jang Hyuk
Music by Jo Seong-woo
Cinematography Kim Hyung-koo
Edited by Nam Na-yeong
Distributed by Cinema Service
Release dates
  • 5 November 2003
Running time
 118 minutes
Country South Korea
Language Korean
English

Please Teach Me English (Hangul: 영어완전정복; RR: Yeongeo Wanjeon Jeongbok; lit. "The Complete Mastering of English") is a 2003 South Korean comedy about a young woman who begins English lessons after she is unable to help a foreigner at her government office.

Synopsis

Park Mun-su (Jang Hyuk) and Na Young-ju (Lee Na-young) are classmates in a private English class. Mun-su frequently chases women while working in his shoe shop. However, Young-ju has an unreciprocated interest in him. They eventually become friends, and frequently sit together in class.

One day, Young-ju boasts about a pig on her grandparents' farm who can recognize the English alphabet. The class decide to visit the pig, only to discover it has been eaten the same day and Young-ju just invented the whole story. Young-ju tries to train a piglet to recognise the alphabet; and when Mun-su finds out about her efforts, he tries to help her. However, the pig escapes, and has to be recaptured. The class and Young-ju's family have a party that night.

One day, while riding the bus, Young-ju catches Mun-su showing the photo of a woman who she mistakenly believes to be his girlfriend. Discouraged by this, Young-ju skips English classes. Her teacher, an Australian woman, tries to convince her to return to the classes. Young-ju attends a farewell party for the class, but Mun-su is not there. Afterwards she meets Mun-su's mother, who is looking for him. She discovers that his mother is about to meet the girl in the photo.

The girl, known as Victoria or Mun-young, speaks no Korean and needs Young-ju to translate. Dressed in a hanbok, Mun-su's mother and talking to Victoria, Young Ju, who thinks Victoria is her rival, purposefully translates incorrectly telling Victoria; "You looked more beautiful in the photo." Victoria is astonished. Young-ju tells Victoria that everybody hates her because she is not Korean. Victoria asks her to tell Mun-su's mother that she came with good intentions and leaves. Mun-su arrives to find his mother weeping. Young-ju hides. Victoria has checked out of the hotel, but Young-ju stops her car, and admits that she lied. Victoria reunites with Mun-su and his mother. Ashamed, Young-ju boards a train but Mun-su follows her, leaving his family behind. She tries to hide from him, but Mun-su finds Young-ju, loudly confessing to her that Victoria is not his girlfriend, but his long-lost sister from New York. They make up, kissing in the train, with the entire train cheering them on. They marry and have a baby.

The opening credits animation illustrates the protagonist's confrontational posture with the language.

Production and release

The film begins with an animated sequence.

The film was first released in South Korea. Then it was released in China, with the title 『英語完全征服』, and a dub and sub in Cantonese. Next, it was released in Japan with the title 『英語完全克服』. In the United States, it has been released both with the original Korean audio track, the Cantonese dub, and subtitles in English and Cantonese.

Cast

References

    External links