Former IZ*ONE member Honda Hitomi impresses netizens with her TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean) test score
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Posted by Susan-Han Friday, August 20, 2021
Back on August 19, former IZ*ONE member Honda Hitomi shared her recent TOPIK II (Test of Proficiency in Korean) score, impressing netizens!
Typically, foreign exchange students or overseas Korean students take the TOPIK test for admission into Korean university or for seeking jobs in Korea. It looks like Honda Hitomi also recently decided to take the TOPIK II (Intermediate-Advanced Level), to improve her own proficiency in Korean!
As you can see below, Honda Hitomi received a score 215/300 on her TOPIK II, receiving a 'Level 5' rank. Hitomi wrote, "I took the TOPIK II exam... but I got 'Level 5' because I lacked just 15 more points TT. Next time, I'm going to study even more and take it again!!! I was so close."
Below is the score breakdown to earn passing marks for each level of the exam. 'Level 6' rank is the highest level one can receive from the TOPIK. As stated above, Hitomi missed receiving the highest rank by just 15 points!
Netizens were very impressed with Hitomi's score on the TOPIK II, particularly considering the fact that during her days as a contestant on Mnet's 'Produce 48', she knew pretty much no Korean at all!
Some commented, "That's seriously amazing", "You're better than me and I was born and lived in Korea for 20 years TT", "It is very difficult to get to that level just from living in a country for 2~3 years", "This one is the one we need to bring to Korea", "I wonder how many foreign idols promoting in Korea can do this much", "You can tell that she would have been well off even if she didn't make it as an idol", "I really don't know if I can pull that off... My writing has been so bad lately", "I really hope Hitomi comes back to Korea TT", and more.
Meanwhile, Honda Hitomi is currently promoting with AKB48 for their new single, "根も葉もRumor".
That is very impressive especially considering the fact that she hasn't been here for long and looking at how some idols have been here for so long and still struggle in some areas while she was in Korea on and off since IZONE spent time in Japan. Now that's dedication!
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k_kid19,427 ptsFriday, August 20, 2021 6
Friday, August 20, 2021
The fact that she scored a level 5 with just 2.5 years of learning the language is insane. On top of that, she even passed a driver's license test in Korean while promoting with IZONE as well. Considering the time frame that she's learned the language, Tomi is, hands down, more proficient in the Korean language than every single foreign idol member in Korea. I agree with netizens here, this is the one that needs to come back to Korea.
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People like Sana might be more natural in the way she speaks and know more slang and all that, but even Sana probably would have a lot of difficulty passing the written test for a driver's license in Korean. Let alone get a level 5 score in this test even if she took the test right now and she's been living in Korea for 9 years.
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If anyone here knows who Tyler Rasch is, he's a foreign celebrity/speaker in Korea from the US and he's arguably THE best foreign Korean language speaker in the entertainment industry. Not only because of his fluency and proficiency, but because he also knows really difficult idioms and such, that even Koreans don't know. And even he said that this test was pretty difficult to take and he passed the most difficult oral and written Korean test in the country.
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That is very impressive especially considering the fact that she hasn't been here for long and looking at how some idols have been here for so long and still struggle in some areas while she was in Korea on and off since IZONE spent time in Japan. Now that's dedication!
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