Act Daily News
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There’s by no means been a greater time to be taught Korean.
It’s one of many fastest-growing languages on the planet, outpacing historically common rivals like Chinese in a number of markets – reflecting the worldwide phenomenon many name the “Korean wave.”
In 2022, Korean was the seventh most-studied language on the educational app Duolingo, in accordance with the corporate’s annual language report. And it’s seeing specific success in components of South and Southeast Asia, because the most-studied overseas language within the Philippines, and never far off the highest spot in Thailand, Indonesia and Pakistan.
Although Chinese – which for years has been thought-about because the business language of the long run – stays the second most spoken language on the planet, thanks partly to the sheer dimension of China’s inhabitants, it has sat in eighth place on Duolingo for the final a number of years, lagging behind Korean.
Korean is the second most-studied Asian language on Duolingo, solely narrowly behind Japanese, in accordance with the language report. Duolingo, which has greater than 500 million customers internationally, ranks Korean forward of Chinese, Russian and Hindi, and behind Italian. English and Spanish nonetheless sit comfortably within the high two spots.
This rise in curiosity, consultants and lecturers say, is because of the Korean wave, or “hallyu” – the proliferation of Korean tradition internationally.
The final 20 years have seen South Korean exports sweep the world, from Okay-pop and Korean TV dramas to magnificence merchandise, trend and meals. The nation has turn into a world cultural juggernaut – a lot in order that the Oxford English Dictionary added greater than 20 phrases of Korean origin in 2021, saying in a press release, “We are all riding the crest of the Korean wave.”
This phenomenon has been aided by South Korea’s personal authorities, which has labored to unfold the nation’s cultural affect by music and media for the reason that Nineteen Nineties. Now, the Korean language might be the following export to go international.
“Compared to the time I started my career, the perceptions of Korea as a nation, Korean culture and society, and the Korean language have gone through a significant, positive change,” stated Joowon Suh, director of the Korean Language Program at Columbia University. “Now it is perceived more modern, advanced, marketable, cooler, and hipper.”
For many years, East Asian language research abroad have principally been restricted to Mandarin Chinese and Japanese.
But that started to vary prior to now decade after main hits by Korean artists and administrators, corresponding to Psy’s 2012 music “Gangnam Style,” the 2019 thriller “Parasite,” the 2021 Netflix present “Squid Game,” and the emergence of BTS, undoubtedly the largest international stars of Okay-pop.
Figures present a surge in curiosity towards the language in the identical interval.
The variety of college students enrolled in Korean courses at increased schooling establishments within the United States leapt from 5,211 in 2002 to almost 14,000 in 2016, in accordance with knowledge analyzed by the Modern Language Association.
This leap is placing given Korean isn’t simple for non-native audio system to be taught. The US State Department lists Korean as a “super-hard language,” that means it’s “exceptionally difficult” for English audio system and takes on common 88 weeks to attain skilled working proficiency.
Modern Korean follows a phonetic alphabet referred to as Hangul, that means the syllables are typically pronounced as they’re written – in contrast to non-phonetic languages corresponding to Chinese, which makes use of symbols to signify particular meanings.
Suh, the Columbia teacher, stated she first started noticing an increase in curiosity round 2015 – but it surely has accelerated within the final three to 4 years. The variety of Columbia college students enrolling in Korean programs elevated by 50% from the 2017 to 2021 tutorial years, she stated.
Other common languages have seen numbers both plateau or drop during the last decade. US college students enrolled in Chinese courses, as an example, jumped considerably from 2002 to 2013, a interval marked by China’s huge financial progress and international affect.
But enrollments in Chinese had dipped by 2016, in accordance with the Modern Language Association – coinciding with the deterioration of US-China relations, and the worsening notion of China within the West as a result of its alleged human rights abuses.
“Students’ interest in foreign language learning in US higher education tends to depend more on the perception or reputation of a country in terms of economy and geopolitics, such as China, Russia or Portugal,” stated Suh.
Similarly, within the United Kingdom, the variety of increased schooling college students taking Korean programs tripled from 2012 to 2018, in accordance with the University Council of Modern Languages – in comparison with only a 5% improve for Chinese, and a decline in a number of European languages like French and German.
Korean’s newfound recognition was no accident, with South Korean authorities leaping on the probability to advertise their language on the again of its extra profitable exports.
“It is the Hallyu that has persuaded Asian countries at the societal level that Korea is really part of the developed, western world,” stated John Walsh in his 2014 e-book on the phenomenon. This shift in notion has in flip boosted the federal government’s means to pursue “national interests in the areas of diplomacy, investment, education and trade,” he wrote.
Over the final decade, the Ministry of Education has despatched Korean lecturers abroad, together with a number of dozen to Thailand in 2017 to show the language at center and excessive faculties.
In more moderen years, quite a few nations together with Laos, Myanmar and Thailand have formally adopted Korean as a overseas language of their faculty curricula, below agreements signed with the Korean schooling ministry, in accordance with South Korean news company Yonhap.
Meanwhile, the King Sejong Institute, a government-founded Korean-language model, has established 244 studying facilities worldwide, in accordance with its web site.
These efforts goal to “keep the interest of Korean language abroad, which has become widely popular with the Korean Wave,” stated the schooling ministry in a 2017 press launch.
“In the long term, Korean language courses in the local school curriculum will serve as a step to foster Korean experts, and thereby strengthening friendly relationships between Korea and other countries,” it added.
Suh cautioned that the Korean wave runs the danger of oversimplifying nuances of Korean tradition and society, corresponding to regional variations or class conflicts, whereas glorifying “anything (Korean) without fully understanding its history.”
But, she added, this simplification might really profit the South Korean authorities because it expands its affect, as one thing “any rising soft power might have to go through.”
Experts say college students come to the desk with varied causes for pursuing the Korean language – although sure traits have emerged amongst regional and ethnic traces.
“The Korean wave is an important factor for non-heritage students,” stated Suh, referring to these with out Korean ethnicity or heritage who’re merely involved in Korean cultural merchandise like motion pictures and Okay-pop.
Meanwhile, college students of Korean descent are likely to take Korean courses for extra “integrative” causes, she stated – as an example, desirous to stay in South Korea, to higher join with their communities and households, or to discover their very own Korean identities.
Jiyoung Lee, an adjunct teacher at New York University’s Department of East Asian Studies, pointed to the rise of social media platforms like Instagram and TikTookay. These have facilitated worldwide cultural exchanges and “largely influenced” the variety of Korean learners, she stated.
But Lee, who beforehand taught Korean in Indonesia and South Korea, additionally observed variations amongst college students in several components of the world.
US college students are likely to be taught Korean “because they are more interested in enjoying culture … and want to talk to their favorite singers or actors,” she stated.
By distinction, college students in Southeast Asia principally examine Korean to get a job in South Korea, or at a Korean firm of their dwelling nation, she stated, noting the variety of Korean manufacturers “establishing themselves not only in Southeast Asia but also in various countries.”
For occasion, the Korean leisure large SM Entertainment is increasing into Southeast Asia with new Singapore headquarters. Meanwhile, the Korean comfort retailer chain GS25 has greater than 180 shops in Vietnam, and is about to interrupt floor in Malaysia this yr, in accordance with Yonhap.
The growth of Korean business and popular culture can also be pushing younger Southeast Asians to journey to South Korea. Southeast Asians make up greater than 40% of overseas college students in South Korea, and 30% of overseas residents within the nation total, in accordance with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Jeffrey Holliday, who teaches Korean linguistics at Korea University in Seoul (with courses taught in English), stated roughly 40% of his college students are change college students, principally coming from the US. These college students are typically undergraduates, solely in Seoul for a couple of semesters, and almost all are avid followers of Korean popular culture corresponding to Okay-pop, he says.
Meanwhile, his overseas graduate college students – who are typically finding out there full-time and are in search of jobs in Korea – largely hail from China and Vietnam.
“To me it’s so surprising because when I was in college (in the US) from 1999 to 2003 … there was no-one learning Korean who wasn’t a heritage speaker. I was the only one who wasn’t Korean American,” he stated.
“Whereas now, these students come here, they’re very focused, very determined – they really want to learn Korean and they’re here for that.”
Correction: A earlier model of this story misstated the inserting of Japanese on the Duolingo report. It is essentially the most studied Asian language on the platform.