From the Publisher

By Louis A. Weil III

Thirty-five years ago, half a dozen students at Korea University in Seoul decided to deepen their understanding of the world and polish their knowledge of English by meeting to read and translate TIME. The idea blossomed into a more formal organization known as the Time Club. Since its founding, the organization has attracted thousands of members and generated similar groups at more than 50 other universities around the country.

The original club at Korea University meets 90 minutes a day, six days a week, and typically draws 80 to 150 people. They come to hear two students translate articles from the latest issue of the magazine; the club president ; chooses the interpreters on the basis of their skills. English major Moon Eun Kyong says the program helps her keep up with the news. Business student Lee Kyong Nam avidly reads business stories to follow worldwide economic trends. International news articles are usually the most familiar and thus the easiest to translate; the more exotically worded art, music and book reviews are the most difficult.

Sometimes, when U.S. colloquialisms are so cryptic that not even a dictionary can help, members call on TIME's Seoul bureau. There reporter K.C. Hwang and assistant Kim Jung Ran aid in deciphering such curious expressions as Where's the beef?, laundering money, or read my lips.

Virtually nothing deters members from attending meetings. In 1975, when Korea University was closed and occupied by soldiers trying to quell demonstrations, the club stayed open by moving its operations to a nearby tearoom. "The only time we stop reading TIME is during middle-term and final examinations," says faculty adviser Kang Sung Hack. Last month members even slogged through severe floods in Seoul in order to get together.

Bureau chief David S. Jackson recently spoke to the club and found himself peppered with questions ranging from events in Eastern Europe to Korean unification. "It's obvious that the members of the club not only translate the magazine but also understand it," says Jackson. "They are inquisitive and stimulating people, precisely the kind of readers TIME likes to have."