South Korean student known as Korean Billy becomes internet star after his YouTube videos mimicking British accents rack up thousands of hits
Seong-Jae Kong, 25, took an interest in dialects last year while he was studying at the University of Lancashire
A STUDENT from South Korea has become an internet star - by mimicking British accents on video.
Seong-Jae Kong, known as Korean Billy on YouTube, took an interest in the diversity of the UK’s dialects while studying at the University of Lancashire last year as an exchange student.
When he returned home he began making videos explaining the difference between the Welsh accent and the Mancunian tongue and Yorkshire and Scouse.
And as well as fans in his home country, the 25-year-old said he also has a huge following in Britain, racking up hundreds of thousands of hits on his channel, which has 26,000 subscribers.
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He told BBC Radio Merseyside: “Most of my classmates were Scousers or from Preston. At that time I was really shocked to see my classmates speak with Liverpudlian accents because I didn’t even know that kind of accent existed at that time.”
In the videos Kong copies accents and explains common phrases and even introduces watchers to famous British sweets such as Jelly Babies, Wine Gums and Twiglets.
But the sweet names aren’t what Kong says baffle his countrymen the most, it’s our driving and tea drinking habits as well our culture of crossing the street away from official crossings.
He added: “It seems pedestrians are the most important on the road in the UK.”