PETALING JAYA, Oct 17 — It all started with a love for football.
That’s how Mensa member Kim Dae-yong memorised a whopping 23 national anthems after hearing them during various World Cup matches.
Some of the songs in his repertoire include the anthems of nations known for being football giants, including France, Germany, the UK, Portugal, and Brazil.
He also learns the national songs of countries that he visits on his travels, having recently added Malaysia’s “Negaraku” and Sweden’s “Du gamla, du fria” to his list.
In an interview with Malay Mail, Kim shared how he achieved the feat despite not speaking the languages of many of the anthems that he knows by heart.
“As a teenager, I recorded videos of World Cup matches where they would play national songs before the games began.
“I had an encyclopaedia in my house that had sheet music and lyrics for some national anthems, like Germany, Italy, France, the UK, and the US, and that was how I learned the songs.
“I memorised them by listening to the song repeatedly and reading a Romanised version of the lyrics, then I do my best to be as close to the original pronunciation as possible,” he said.
On learning “Negaraku”, Kim appreciated how easy the Malay language was to read and pronounce as it allowed him to nail down the song fairly quickly.
The former broadcast engineer was also fascinated by the history that led nations like Malaysia and Singapore to utilise the same language for their songs despite being two separate countries.
“Before this, I had already learnt the national anthems for Indonesia and Singapore.
“The fact that they use either the same or similar languages to Malaysia for their songs left a big impression on me.
“It reminded me of South America, where many countries use Spanish for their national anthems.
“It’s not like how it is in Korea, where the Korean language is confined to one national anthem.”
As a member of the oldest high IQ society in the world, Kim’s talent comes as no surprise as Mensa members are renowned for possessing sharp minds and mental agility.
The 40-year-old first joined the society in 2007 where he found a group of like-minded people he could share his interests with, a privilege that he missed out on as a youth.
“I view Mensa as something that has given me unlimited possibilities. I’ve met many friends over the past few years from different countries and it opened up a new world for me.
“As a young child, I was a very curious character. Everything that I saw and listened to sparked my interest in a way that other people couldn’t relate to.
“I felt very different from everyone else and I didn’t feel like I had someone I could call a ‘real friend’ until I started university.
“In Mensa, I feel more comfortable expressing my interests and passions because everyone is very accepting. That was something new for me and it’s been a great experience so far.”
Kim relishes the opportunity to meet up with his Mensa friends from all around the world, having flown over to the Philippines, China, and New Zealand for the annual Asia Pacific Mensa Gathering in recent years.
He last attended the Mensa International Board of Directors (IBD) meeting that was held in Kuala Lumpur from October 10 to 13.
These events serve as a platform for Mensans to harness their collective talents for the benefit of society, all while providing a stimulating social and intellectual environment where members can network with each other.
If you are interested to join Mensa, head over to www.mensa.my/test-info for more details on the admission test.
