Why did T-ara’s Soyeon thank the French press in Japanese?

The ladies of T-ara recently traveled to Paris for KBS 2TV‘s ‘Music Bank in Paris‘ special. But ahead of the show, the girls attended a press conference where all the artists participated in a photo op with the local media and had their photos taken by professional photographers. When T-ara’s photo op was over, member Eunjung thanked the press and bid them farewell in French saying, “À bientôt!” But fellow member Soyeon misheard ”À bientôt” for  “Arigato” which is ‘thank you’ in Japanese. “Arigato Gozaimasu,” Soyeon repeated, confusing the rest of the members as well as the press.

A representative from T-ara’s agency Core Contents Media attempted to explain the situation toDispatch on February 16th saying, “Eunjung attempted to say goodbye to the local reporters in French, but Soyeon who was next to her misheard ‘À bientôt’ for ‘Arigato’ in Japanese.”

‘A bientot’, which roughly means ‘see you again’ in French, was appropriate for the situation. “Because the pronunciation is slightly similar, some people might have been confused,” the representative continued.

The representative also acknowledged that Soyeon did infact speak Japanese to the French press, but it was a complete accident. Because ‘Arigato’ is an informal and sometimes disrespectful way to speak to others, Soyeon decided to add ‘gozaimasu’ to what she thought Eunjung had said and remarked, ‘Arigato Gozaimasu’. The representative added, “After hearing Eunjung informally thank the reporters, all she could think about was ending the press conference courteously. She is extremely embarrassed about what happened, and she apologizes for causing controversy.”

You can check out Soyeon around the 6:45 mark below: