Staff Report
SEOUL: Learning the Korean language has never been more advantageous. A reflection of the global phenomenon known as the “Korean wave,” is one of the languages with the greatest growth rates in the world, outpacing competitors who have traditionally had more popularity, such as Chinese, in certain areas.
Although Chinese, which has always been regarded as the business language of the future, remains the world’s second most spoken language, thanks in part to the sheer size of China’s population, it has sat at eighth place on Duolingo for several years, behind Korean.
Korean language
According to the annual language report from the learning app Duolingo, Korean was the sixth most studied language in 2022. As the most-studied foreign language in the Philippines and not far behind in Thailand, Indonesia, and Pakistan, it is also achieving great success in several parts of South and Southeast Asia.
According to the language study, Japanese is the most frequently studied Asian language on Duolingo, with Korean coming in second. Duolingo, which has more than 500 million users worldwide, ranks Korean after Italian and ahead of Chinese, Russian, and Hindi. The top two positions are still firmly occupied by English and Spanish.
According to experts and teachers, the increase in interest is due to the Korean wave, or “Hallyu” – the international spread of Korean culture.
South Korean exports have been sweeping the globe for the past 20 years, including K-pop, Korean TV dramas, beauty goods, clothing, and food. We are all “riding the crest of the Korean wave,” according to a statement made by the Oxford English Dictionary in 2021, which introduced more than 20 words with Korean origins to their dictionary.
The South Korean government, which has attempted to expand its cultural impact through music and media since the 1990s, has contributed to this phenomenon. The Korean language may soon become a global export.
According to Joowon Suh, director of the Korean Language Program at Columbia University, the perceptions of Korea as a nation, Korean culture and society, and the Korean language have gone through a considerable, positive transformation relative to the time I started my work, now it is seen as more contemporary, sophisticated, marketable, hipper, and cooler.
Rise in language classes
Japanese and Mandarin Chinese have dominated East Asian language studies abroad for decades. As per the data analyzed by the Modern Language Association, the number of students registered in Korean classes in the United States higher education increased from 5,211 in 2002 to approximately 14,000 in 2016.
Over the past ten years, numbers for other widely spoken languages have either hit a plateau or declined. For example, the number of US students enrolled in Chinese courses increased dramatically between 2002 and 2013, a year during which China’s economy and influence on the world significantly expanded.
As per the Modern Language Association, enrollments in Chinese had decreased by 2016, which coincided with the weakening of US-China relations and the increasing Western opinion of China as a result of its alleged violations of human rights.
As per the University Council of Modern Languages, the number of students of higher education in the UK enrolling in Korean courses tripled between 2012 and 2018 compared to just a 5% increase for Chinese.
Government efforts
The fact that Korea has recently gained popularity is not a coincidence; South Korean authorities jumped at the chance to promote their language in light of the country’s improved lifestyle exports.
The Education Ministry has sent Korean teachers abroad for the past ten years, including a large number, to Thailand in 2017 to teach Korean in middle and high schools.
According to agreements made with the Korean education ministry in more recent years, several countries, including Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand, have formally embraced Korean as a foreign language in their school syllabus.
From K-pop to employment
According to experts, students pursue the Korean language for a variety of reasons, yet certain trends have evolved across regional and ethnic lines. However, Lee, who had previously taught Korean in South Korea and Indonesia, also saw differences among students from various geographical locations. According to her, US students are more likely to learn Korean because they are “more engaged in appreciating culture” and want to communicate with their favorite musicians or stars.
She noted the number of Korean brands “establishing themselves not just in Southeast Asia but also in numerous nations” and claimed that students in Southeast Asia study Korean mostly to work in South Korea or for a Korean company back home.
