Korean Billy explains why he started making English dialect videos - and how they became so popular

David Ibekwe,Alison Millington

Apr 14, 2018, 16:32 IST

Korean Billy explains why he started making English dialect videos - and how they became so popular

Business Insider spoke with Korean Billy.
He's a YouTuber who makes videos explaining British slang and dialects.
Studying in the north of England inspired him to make videos.
Korean Billy's most popular videos include the dialect of Liverpudlians and London 'roadmen.'

Read the full transcript below:

The first time I met the British dialect was when I went to the UK as an exchange student three years ago.

And, at the time I spent my time in Preston, Lancashire, as an exchange student.

When I actually went there on my first day, I was really surprised by all the northern accents.

Because I didn't know very much about northern accents and different British accents at that time.

So, I made the first dialect video about two years ago. And that was after graduation, and after spending my time in the UK. So after graduation, I just wanted to work as a broadcaster actually, but I couldn't really get a job really easily. I opened my YouTube channel, and I was just thinking of some video ideas, and I was reminded of my time in the UK, especially in Northern England.

Two years ago I made a video about Cockney accents and Liverpool accents. I think after two weeks of posting my first accent video, it just started to get hundreds of thousands of views. It got featured by lots of media and newspapers. I just made that video for Korean audiences, Korean viewers. But what was really surprising was British people started to come to my channel and watch my videos. That was a really exciting and surprising moment for me.

I think that British people think that it would be really interesting to see a random Asian guy - from the opposite side of the globe - speaking in a Scouse accent, and a Scottish accent.

The visual, as they see that an Asian guy speaks in Scouse, like: "Alright, la?' 'Brekkie, la?" stuff like that.

I think that kind of fact was really interesting and shocking to a British audience. That made my videos go viral and get successful.

Produced by David Ibekwe. Special Thanks Alison Millington.