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March 26th is a special date in Eunmi Park's life, for two different reasons, as she will explain one day. It was also special for us today because we (FSI co-founders Casey Lartigue and Eunkoo Lee) got to spend it with her.
We set a new record today: Eunmi spent almost seven hours at our office this lovely Saturday afternoon-turned-night.
Most evenings when she records a video she is at our for three to five hours
Today she recorded two more videos for her YouTube channel.
After years of silence, Eunmi has posted six YouTube videos her first two weeks of speaking out and now has three more videos recorded to be uploaded next week. They run the range of emotions. One video is heart-warming and inspirational, one is infuriating, and the last one... I am not sure how to describe it without giving away the story, but there are some sensitive points in it.
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To get ready for the video, Eunmi first sends the script to FSI co-founder Eunkoo Lee. She translates it, then I (and sometimes one of our volunteer staffers) edit it. After editing, we review everything in it to confirm that the translation and edit have fully captured her points. Eunkoo is not a professional translator and I am not a professional editor, so we take care to make sure we don't distort her message. We are doing this in addition to our full-time jobs as co-presidents of FSI and Eunmi does this after her full-time job or on weekends.
After editing, Eunmi then practices, over and over again. When we start this process remotely, then I or one of our office volunteers will record it for her to listen to the pronunciation.
When this is done on-site, then she will practice and practice, then she does a recording without anyone in the room.
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With her first couple of recordings, she didn't want me in the room. English is her third language, it can be a bit intimidating to have a native speaker sitting there listening while you try to speak in a language that you still aren't that familiar with.
The didn't sit in for the first few recordings, but from the fifth or sixth video, I sat in anyway. That is usually the toughest recording because I stop her often and have her repeat some sentences again.
Sometimes she puts her head down on her desk in frustration, at other times she laughs, and at other times she just stares at me trying to figure out what the difference is between what she said and what I corrected.
She is still new to the world of YouTube, but is determined to make her channel great. At first, the video recordings were happening to her, but now she is happening to the videos!
Then we do the real recording. She is usually happy with the corrections, but sometimes... I am glad she is not a violent woman. Just in case, I may bring some boxing gloves with me next time so she can let out some frustration when I am having fun correcting her pronunciation.
Eunmi and Eunkoo then will review the recording together.
Then finally, done!
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Well, not exactly done. Back at the office the next day, an FSI staffer will edit the video, make the video thumbnail, flyer, I will set up Facebook events to notify people in advance, we need to do other things such as come up with an appropriate title, and whatever miscellaneous things I can't recall at the moment.
Then she uploads the video! Her schedule is Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights at 10 pm KST. So set your alarms!
https://www.facebook.com/events/520034369487998
P.S.: In the last photo, she was trying to stand on her tippy-toes to make herself look taller, so I did the same thing and also used her shoulder to make myself even taller.