Kim Seon-ho shared that his latest role as a polyglot interpreter in the Netflix K-drama ‘Can This Love Be Translated?’ led him to develop a genuine personal interest in learning Italian. The actor, known for his careful character preparation, undertook training with real interpreters for the part, which opened his eyes to new languages and cultures.
Preparing for the Role of Interpreter Joo Ho-jin
To play the skilled interpreter Joo Ho-jin, Kim Seon-ho trained with professionals, including one who worked at an embassy. He focused on observing the unique traits of their work.
โOne thing I noticed is the way they look at the people who are speaking,โ Kim said. โI realized they tend to focus a lot on reading their lips as well, and also really try to catch everything that the person is saying in the quickest way and jot it down in memos. This is something thatโs quite difficult to capture on screen. However, it was something that I kept in my mind as I was giving my performance.โ
This detailed preparation helped him portray a character who speaks Korean, Japanese, English, and Italian fluently within the show’s story.
Finding a New Passion for Italian
While preparing for the global, travel-heavy series, Kim discovered a real curiosity for the Italian language. He admitted that before this project, he spoke no foreign languages besides Korean.
โBut through this project, I got interested in Italian, actually,โ he revealed. โI thought it was very fun to learn.โ
This personal development mirrors his character’s journey. Joo Ho-jin is a man who builds his life around the precision of language but learns to navigate the much messier language of emotions. The series filmed in several countries, including Italy, where parts of the story’s fictional dating show, ‘Romantic Trip,’ are set.
Building On-Screen Chemistry with Go Youn-jung
In the series, Kim’s character, Ho-jin, becomes the interpreter for a global superstar, Cha Mu-hee, played by Go Youn-jung. Their relationship grows as they travel the world filming a show. Kim spoke about the natural chemistry he built with his co-star, attributing it to a shared mindset on set.
โI believe chemistry naturally forms when both people open their hearts,โ Kim explained. โFortunately, Youn Jung and I were very well aligned in terms of our energy and approach on set and in our acting. We focused on making the two characters feel real.โ
Interestingly, the actors discovered they are opposites in the MBTI personality framework, which they used to understand their characters better. They even swapped personalities while reading lines during rehearsals to gain deeper insight.
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Inside the Story of ‘Can This Love Be Translated?’
The series, which premiered on Netflix on January 16, 2026, is a globe-trotting romantic drama. It follows Cha Mu-hee, a struggling actress who becomes an overnight global sensation after a film role, and Joo Ho-jin, the interpreter assigned to work with her on an international dating reality show.
The story explores if love can be understood even when people seem to speak different emotional languages. As Ho-jin translates conversations between Mu-hee and her Japanese co-star, Hiro (played by Sota Fukushi), he finds his own feelings getting tangled.
The show is written by the famous Hong Sisters, known for hits like Hotel del Luna and Alchemy of Souls. Go Youn-jung, who worked with the writers before, described their unique style.
โOne of their unique styles and charms is the fact that their stories carry a sense of fairytale likeness,โ Go said. โWhile it is a story based in real life and it is grounded, at the same time, there are elements that can’t really be seen in the real world.โ
