The seaside village of Daraengi, located on the southern-most tip of the Korean Peninsula, is not where one would expect to find a lot of foreigners.

However, tvN’s new reality show “Babel 250” which began airing July 11, has brought together seven people from across the globe -- from neighboring countries as close as China to the unfamiliar territory of Venezuela -- to this remote village. The only common ground they seemed to share initially is achieving the ultimate goal of the show -- to create a new global language “Babel” to overcome language and cultural barriers. 

“In addition to coming up with a new language, my hope is that this show will introduce viewers to countries that are not often shown in the Korean media,” said the show’s producer Lee Won-hyoung at a press conference held at the Stanford Hotel in Sangam-dong, Seoul on Monday. The shooting for the show was concluded last week.

After months of searching through Google and various social media outlets, the producers ultimately recruited Korean actor Lee Ki-woo, Brazilian samba dancer Matheus Oliverio da Silva Rego, French actor Nicolas Portier, Thai investor Tanon Varaya, Russian college student Angelina Danilova, 2013 Miss Venezuela International Michelle Marie Bertolini Araque, and Chinese concert director Chen Lin. 


“The hardest thing about creating and getting used to Babel was the subtle nuances and accents it contains from all of our native languages,” said Lee Ki-woo, who still considers himself a rookie in the reality show world.

Language-related issues continued to arise even after the cameras were turned off.

“The most difficult process of the show actually took place after all the filming,” said producer Lee. “Editing each episode took up to a week because we needed six translators in the editing room to go through all the clips.”

In addition to the difficulty and oftentimes frustration surrounding communication among the cast members, misunderstanding inevitably ensued from relying on well-intended hand and body gestures to work through the simplest tasks.

“(Lee Ki-woo) once offered to light Tanon’s cigarette as an act of courtesy we’re used to in Korea,” said the producer. “However, Tanon immediately retreated in shock because, in Thailand, lighting someone else’s cigarette is akin to putting a curse on that person.” 


However, the Korean actor said incidents like that actually fostered a closer bond among the diverse group.

“I kept asking Matheus if he was okay by holding up the “OK” hand sign, only to find out that this is considered an act of insult in Brazil,” said the 34-year-old actor who most recently starred in tvN’s drama series “Memory.” “Confronting and solving misunderstandings like this was a big part of the process of living together and getting closer to each other.”

Some members expressed reservations about jumping to conclusions about an entire culture and its people based on the actions of a single person.

“Cultural barriers played an important role, but I think personality differences were a bigger factor,” said Varaya. “I don’t want to judge others solely based on where they are from.”

“Babel 250” airs on tvN at 9:40 p.m on Mondays.

By Kim Yu-young (ivykim@heraldcorp.com)