KOREA FOUNDATION

There was a popular television program in Korea one decade ago that showed foreigners casually talking about their lives in Korea—in Korean. There was nothing extraordinary about the program’s content, but the fact that foreigners could very proficiently lay their hearts bare in excellent Korean was unusual and succeeded in drawing in viewers. Today, it is no longer surprising or rare to see foreigners with a good command of Korean on television or in our everyday lives.

Recently, many were pleased to hear that Uttaradit Rajabhat University produced its first graduate from its Department of Korean Language Education, a first in Southeast Asia and a feat that has opened the door for locals to become certified Korean language instructors. In fact, interest in and demand for Korean Studies, Korean language, and Korean culture had quite a significant presence in the region even before Hallyu (Korean Wave) made it popular to study Korean. According to official statistics, approximately 130,000 people are learning Korean at elementary and secondary schools around the world, with the zeal for Korean language education highest in Southeast Asia. Especially noteworthy is the love of the Korean language in Brunei and Malaysia. In March, during Korean President Moon Jae-in’s state visit to Brunei, First Lady Kim Jung-sook observed a Korean class at Universiti Brunei Darussalam, the national university of Brunei that conducts as many as 10 Korean language classes at six levels. The Korean language is one of the most popular foreign languages taught at the school.

In neighboring Malaysia, the Korean language is also very popular among students. The Malaysian Ministry of Education adopted Korean as an official second foreign language in 2015; currently, 10 secondary schools provide Korean language education. Also, more than 20 institutions of higher learning in the country have classes on Korean language and Korean Studies, including the state-run University of Malaya. With its nearly 400,000 taekwondo practitioners, Malaysia’s affinity for Korean culture makes many citizens willing to learn the language.

Many Koreans have worked hard to positional themselves as globally competitive by learning foreign languages despite immense stress and psychological and financial burden. Now, a time has come when those outside of Korea enhance their potential by studying Korean. The Korean language itself may not have changed, but attitudes towards it surely have. The most pressing duty of Koreans today may be to use their mother tongue with accurate knowledge and social awareness to avoid being pushed aside from the new global attitude.

Korean Education Southeast_Asia Asia