After learning Korean to debut as a Kpop idol, many foreign idols struggle with their own native language.
There are a lot of foregin idols in the Kpop industry, who left their countries to pursue their dreams. All of them dedicated a lot of effort into learning Korean, and yet, this dedication sometimes makes them hilariously forget their own languages. From BLACKPINK Lisa to the Japanese trio of TWICE, this is an extremely common struggle.
According to BLACKPINK Lisa, she is fluent in 4 languages, including Thai, Korean, Japanese, and English. When she appeared on the jTBC program “Idol Room”, however, Lisa made everyone laugh by struggling with Thai – her native language.
In particular, BLACKPINK members had to pass a challenge about numbers. Here, the MC asked the girl group “Which number is ‘Sun’ in the Thai language”, to which all members looked expectantly at Lisa. Unfortunately, Lisa herself forgot that “sun” means “zero” in Thai, and showed disbelief when she couldn’t recall it.
The 9-member girl group TWICE include 3 Japanese members Sana, Mina, and Momo, who all show both visuals and talents. As the three are active mostly in Korea, they are fluent in Korean, to the point they even forgot Japanese from time to time.
In particular, when Momo and Jeongyeon held a livestream together, the former was asked to speak a Japanese sentence, which was supposed to be a simple task. However, Momo stumbled with her words and ended up saying, “toilet paper mission”, drawing great laughter. She then tried to salvage the situation by explaining that she is using “Momo language”
In fact, many fans pointed out that Momo is the member that forgot the most Japanese, and would often use Korean terms while speaking in her native language. Once, Korean member Jihyo even had to remind Momo of certain Japanese words.
Once, while doing a livestream in Japan, Momo and Sana rendered fans speechless by using Korean to talk about their time abroad. The two have been in Korea for so long, they forgot to use Japanese.
Even Mina forgot Japanese from time to time. During a recording for TWICE’s Japanese fanclub, she accidentally said, “I’m so happy” in Korean while speaking in Japanese. On the TV program “Weekly Idol”, when asked to teach the MC how to say “I won’t forgive you” in Japanese, Mina forgot and had to ask for help from Momo.
Another case of forgetting their own native language is LE SSERAFIM Sakura. During an interview in Korea, an MC described Kazuha as “humbled”, and asked Sakura to relay their message. Hearing this, Sakura got excited, until she realized she forgot what “humbled” is in Japanese.
Idols are also human, and this is shown through their cute mistakes. Most of the time, moments where Kpop idols forget their own language draw laughter from fans and become inside jokes between the fandom.
Source: yan
