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Writer's picturePeter K F Cheung SBS

Unlocking Multilingual Doors


  1. FADE IN


  2. Act 1


  3. INT. BEDROOM - 23:30 (The Night Before)


  4. Sitting up in bed, PETER checks WhatsApp messages.


  5. PETER (V.O.): Oh, the teacher has already set up a class group and given homeworking instructions.


  6. Clicking a link, Peter downloads files and listens to the pronunciations of Korean vowels:ㅓ,ㅏ, ㅗ,ㅜ, ㅡ, ㅣ.


  7. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Ah, correct ways. Very helpful.


  8. On screen, Peter sees others' thankful words and stickers.


  9. PETER (V. O.) (Cont’d): How should I respond? I knew "gamshamnida" is "thank you" in Korean.

  10. Pausing.


  11. PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): And I’ve learned in my first Korean lesson that “soen-saeng-nim” is teacher and “Pi-teo" is Peter.


  12. Having typed “seon-saeng-nim: gamshahamnida! Pi-teo”, Peter sends it.


  13. PETER (V.O.) (Cont’d): It’s a shame that I don’t know how to input Korean…


  14. Act 2


  15. INT. BEDROOM - 07:15


  16. Waking up, Peter grabs his mobile.


  17. PETER (V.O.): I still owe seon-saeng-nim a separate reply in Korean.


  18. We see on screen: 안녕하세요? 피터 씨 .


  19. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Google Translates it as "Hello, Peter sir".


  20. Thinking.


  21. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I must explore how to type the Korean syllable blocks…


  22. FLASHBACK


  23. EXT. STREETS, SEOUL - DAY (Feb, 2024)


  24. Strolling with his WIFE and elder DAUGHTER, Peter notices the latter typing Korean on her mobile.


  25. PETER: You’re typing Korean?


  26. DAUGHTER: Yes, a Korean friend is asking me something.


  27. PETER (V.O.): Yes, she has been studying Korean in SNU…


  28. END FLASHBACK


  29. Having surfed the web, Peter taps “Setting” on his iPhone and adds Korean as a preferred language.


  30. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Touching the “world” icon of the keyboard, I'd be able to input the Korean syllable blocks.


  31. Having selected the Korean input option, Peter sees Korean syllables appearing.


  32. PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): What's "Yes, teacher, I'm Peter!" in Korean?


  33. Using Google Translate, Peters gets "네, 선생님,저는피터예요!" (ne seonsaengnim, jeoneun piteoyeyo!). Peter taps the speaker icon to listen to the sentence.


  34. PETER: ne seonsaengnim, jeoneun piteoyeyo! ne seonsaengnim, jeoneun piteoyeyo!.


  35. Typing the initial consonant on the left and then the vowel on the right, Peter gets the syllable block"네".


  36. Recalling.


  37. PETER (V.O.): My son-in-law-to-be says "네" (ne) from time to time. It's wonderful that I can type it in Korean. Yes!


  38. Syllable block by syllable block, Peter completes the sentence in Korean. He replies to his 선생님 (seonsaengnim).


  39. PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): This is my first Korean sentence I've ever typed!


  40. Peter shares his Korean sentence"네, 선생님,저는피터예요!" to his family chatgroup.


  41. PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): My elder daughter should be happy that Dad would support her to such an extent!


  42. Soon, Peter gets thumbs-up stickers from his 선생님 and his elder daughter.


  43. PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): I'm motivated to learn more!

  44. Peter starts browsing online tutorials to learn French.


  45. PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): My wife and I will be visiting France in July.


  46. After learning some French, Peter brows online tutorials to learn Spanish.


  47. PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): Spanish is another mega language that I've always wanted to learn.


  48. Having listened to 100 phrases in Spanish, Peter turns to Japanese.


  49. PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): While having Kaiseki in Mashiko, I found that my wife could understand a bit what the waitress was talking about, but I couldn't!


  50. Smiling subtly.


  51. PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): Constantly having challenging goals is my way to keep up the momentum.


  52. Act 3


  53. INT. BEDROOM - 14:00


  54. Peter inserts an AI drawing entitled "Unlocking Multilingual Doors" to a draft.


  55. PETER (V.O): There're multiple languages waiting to be explored, each offering unique perspectives and connections.

  56. Thinking.


  57. PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): Language learning opens new opportunities and experiences for me to connect with like-minded people and different cultures.


  58. Reflecting.


  59. PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): 네, unlocking multilingual doors requires the courage to try and the commitment to learn!


  60. FADE OUT


  61. THE END


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