In 2011 Director Tom Hooper brought us an inspiring movie that gave hope to all people with speech impediments. It was “The King’s Speech,” based on the true story of King George VI.

King George VI was crowned in 1936, ascending to the throne abdicated by Edward VIII in his attempt to marry Wallis Simpson. But the new king had a serious stuttering problem, an impediment that worsened when he stood in front of people to give a speech. His ability to lead a nation was constantly doubted because of his timid nature and halting speech.

Europe was in the middle of World War II and the people longed for a strong leader who would give them hope in the dark time. So the King decides to see a speech therapist to fix his stammer.

The King finally overcomes his fear of public speaking and gives courage to his people. King George VI is long remembered as one of the most respected and beloved monarchs in English history. ”The King’s Speech” followed the king’s transformation from a meek stutterer to a confident public speaker. Realizing the importance of speech in defining a person, Koreans are now flocking to speech academies to learn how to speak more effectively.

Students follow the instruction and breathe in through their noses until their abdomens are filled with air and then breathe out through their mouths. They’re practicing abdominal breathing.

After the breathing session is over, the students practice vocalization.



I lived overseas for a long time, so I’m trying to improve my pronunciation and basic vocalization skills. I can’t pronounce “s” and “eu” and “i” well. I found out that I don’t use all the proper muscles when I’m talking, so I came to fix that problem.

That was Mr. Oh Byeong-gwan오병관, and there are many others like him who are stressed about their poor pronunciation or diction. It’s hard to get a job or get admitted to university without going through face-to-face interviews, making articulate speech that much more important. In this day and age eloquence is equated with competence. Here’s speech instructor Bae Yun-hee배윤희 to tell us more.

The students here range from students in their twenties to office workers in their 40s and 50s. College students want to learn how to make good impressions at job interviews and office workers come here to improve their presentation and public speaking skills.

Communication skills are important in today’s society. Speaking with confidence can give a favorable impression to others and render the speaker more attractive. This is why clear articulation can make your life that much easier. Here’s Director Hur Gyeong-ho of the International Center for Speech and Debate at Kyung Hee University for more.

When we meet people, our appearance is important, but once we introduce ourselves and start talking, we want to project a classier image of ourselves. It’s the same with the opposite sex. When a person goes out with someone, that person wants to express his or her character, personality, and affection to the other person and make a good impression.

Speech is an ability unique to humans. Some animals may communicate non-verbally and even verbally with grunts and howls, if you can call those sounds speech, but no other creatures have extensive vocabularies and vocalization skills as we humans do. The word “forum,” which now means a public debate, came from the word that indicates an open space in the middle of a Roman city. Ancient Romans are said to have given orations and held public discussions at the forum, as did ancient Greeks in their agoras. Human civilization seems to have developed out of constant debates and discourses. But in modern age advances in methods of digital communication, such as social network services, put distance between people and face-to-face conversations have become a rarity. It’s become commonplace to see people immersed in their own smartphones instead of real human interactions. Here’s speech instructor Bae Yun-hee again.

Because of social networking services, people have fewer chances to engage in face-to-face communication and talk out loud. Speech tends to improve when practiced, but today’s people are out of practice. So it’s really hard for them to speak in public.

People chat, post pictures, and interact in cyber space, reducing their chances of verbalization. Even family members spend less and less time talking to one another. It’s ironic that while people talk less and less in daily lives, they face more public-speaking situations such as debate classes, tough job interviews, and meetings and presentations at work. It’s not surprising that people are seeking out speech academies to improve their verbal communication skills. Here’s Director Hur Gyeong-ho of the International Center for Speech and Debate at Kyung Hee University to explain.

Good speech is a requirement in any day and age. Time is changing from an era of writing to that of speaking. Just watch YouTube. People have become more skilled at expressing themselves through verbalizing instead of writing. So rather than appealing to others through elaborate writing, people tend to rely more on articulate speech to make better first impressions and enjoy better personal relationships. It’s been like that in other times, too, but such propensity for clear, interesting verbal communication has become more pronounced in recent years. I think the recent video and smartphone technologies helped fuel the trend of public speaking.

These days good speaking skills seem to bring success, because elocution is needed to express one’s thoughts and arguments clearly and stand out among countless competitors. But you can’t become an effective speaker overnight just because you’ve learned speaking skills. Speech instructor Bae Yun-hee says the most important thing is to build up your confidence.

The biggest problem my students have is their lack of confidence. People are usually sure of themselves when they’re talking with their friends, but many feel small when standing in front of a crowd. This could be just a personality problem, but more often than not people are uncertain about the information they’re going to talk about. They worry about whether the things they’re going to say are appropriate or what other people will think of them. There are lots of insecure people in this world.

Insecurity is a problem that can be fixed through training. This is why speech academies are overflowing with students looking to become more self-assured. Public speaking is a more immediate problem for job seekers, like Ms. Jo Hyeon-ah.

I tend to speak too fast, so I came to correct that and learn how to do better in job interviews. I thought about what went wrong after failing in a job interview and realized that I didn’t know how to speak well. That’s why I registered in this academy. The courses here taught me how to speak better. It’s hard to change my lifelong speaking habits, but I want to speak clearly and with confidence like newscasters.

The subject of this class is intonation. The instructor has the students play a game to learn the techniques of modulation.

It takes about two months to complete the whole course in this speech academy. Students first start with abdominal breathing and then move on to correcting accents and working on appropriate verbal and facial expressions. They all hope to be noticeably improved two months later.

This is a speech academy for children. Elementary school students are gathered to practice abdominal breathing and vocalization, just like their older counterparts.

Once their basic practice session is over, the young students start introducing themselves.

Director Lee Ji-eun of Kids Speech Academy says a lot of parents bring their children to learn better speaking skills.

Demands for children’s speech classes are certainly rising. When we were little, we used to focus on studying math, English and other school subjects, but now schools have adopted a storytelling method to their teaching. So it’s become hard for a child to be considered a good student if the child cannot express his or her knowledge and thoughts in a fluent manner. That’s why mothers seek out academies like ours. We get lots of phone and internet inquiries and some parents even bring their children to be tested.

The most common reasons for young children’s need for speech therapy are to build confidence and correct pronunciation. First graders are prone to insecurity and even bullying if they have small voices or imprecise pronunciation.

(Woman 1) My daughter was very outgoing at first, but grew shy over time. She became too introverted, so I came here to boost her confidence.
(Woman 2) I brought my son here to correct his pronunciation and make him more confident. Since he has to speak in front of his classmates more often in elementary school, he has to be more eloquent. It’s the same for both children and grownups.

Mothers are glad to see their children’s self image and confidence improve with speech lessons. With older children the purposes for attending a speech academy are different. They are usually there to learn oration skills in their run for class president. Here’s sixth-grader Kim Min-hee.



I came here to work on my delivery of an election speech. It’s been three weeks and I’ve learned how to give a pause and gesticulate. I tend to practice more at the academy than when I’m by myself. It’s nice that I know how to pronounce accurately and speak with confidence. I want to recommend it to other children who are timid about speaking in front of others or who can’t pronounce words correctly.

For job interviews, to make friends, to become an effective leader - people may come to speech academies for different reasons, but they leave the academies as more articulate and confident speakers. In today’s society where persuasion, argument and communication skills are essential in building interpersonal relationships, eloquence earns other people’s attention and respect, and even promises a more satisfying life.