Korea's "English Wave" - a struggle for survival or a struggle for popularity

For someone who hardly follows Korean trends or pop culture, I am definitely threading on new territory here. My views are purely that of an outsider – of someone that has never been nor spent any time in Korea. Pardon my ignorance.

The apparent “obsession” with English language amongst the Korean public is an interesting point of exploration. Firstly, I am hesitant to label the increased dedication to acquiring English language fluency as a form of obsession. When viewed as an isolated phenomenon, one might be somewhat accurate to categorize the “English wave” as a social obsession, but with similar happenings throughout Asia, it would be rather premature if not irresponsible to slap Korean society with the “obsession” label. Villagers in India name their children with random English nouns (light bulb, sun, etc.) with the hope that that would help their children’s advancement in the future, the Malaysia government recently restored English as the medium of instruction for Science and Math courses in schools after a 30 year lapse, and Tsinghua University’s School of Management recently increased the number of courses taught in English.

What I believe is that the Asian continent is confronted with the reality that the English language will still remain the only global language for the next few decades, if not longer. Former Prime Minister Mahathir predicted that the 21st century would be the Asia Century, with the restoration of Asia’s previous glory. However, according to Mahathir, 9/11 helped realign USA’s position at the very heart of global politics, and the ongoing “War on Terror” will remain the de facto modus operandi to preserve the USA’s global hegemony (www.pmo.gov.my). Instead of challenging the status quo, governments in Asia and Asian society in general are embracing the reality and integrating English into their lifestyle. When viewed from this point, Korea’s embrace of the English language is purely strategic. It is crucial for a country devoid of any natural resources to mobilize the only thing it can depend on – its labor force. One can draw comparisons to the island nation of Singapore. Foreign firms heavily favor Singapore as a business center (now even for manufacturing and biotech research) because its labor force is almost entirely fluent in English despite its relatively high cost of operations. Korea’s heavy dependence on other economies (Japan and US previously, and now China) does not allow it the luxury of being able to assert much of a revisionist position like China. Whereas China businesses can demand foreigners to comply with their language and local customs, Korea businesses unfortunately do not have that bargaining power (but of course, there are exceptions to this claim).

On a more individual basis, English undeniably provides the much-needed competitive edge within the job market. But I personally believe that it is bilingualism that provides such a competitive edge – not just the sole fluency in English, especially if one is competing in a more globalize labor market in Asia. For example, recruiters for law firms, banks and consulting firms in Asia have started imposing strict language requirements. Entry-level candidates for the Greater China offices must be proficient if not fluent in the national language, likewise for the Tokyo or Seoul offices. Interestingly, even seasoned employees (3rd year analysts for example) will be denied transfers to the Beijing or Tokyo offices if they do not have the prerequisite language proficiency. Indeed, there is a rather stark increase in the practice of employing candidates who have no relevant work background whatsoever but have the required language skills – “One can learn accounting in two days, but not a new language.” The Korean superstar, Kwon Sang Woo, provides an example more relevant to the title of our course. He recently hired a bilingual manager to help improve his English with the ambition of penetrating Hollywood. Talent is not good enough to get you into Julliard and Curtis – English proficiency is required to enable maximized learning with the English-speaking faculty. The Korean virtuoso, Kyung Wha Chung, can attest to this as a young prodigy at Julliard some 30 years ago. The theme of English-providing-social-mobility echoes within the scientific world too. Pioneering current scientific publications and archives are mostly in English. Coveted US and European fellowships do impose an English language requirement.

Thus, the “English wave” that is sweeping Korea represents the urgency of maintaining individual and national competitiveness. It is part of a strategy of self and national improvement, which is crucial in preserving Korea’s strength and importance within the extremely competitive Asian and international economy. But at the same time, it is important to emphasis that it is bilingualism that would provide Korea with that competitive edge. Loosely labeling English learning as an obsession would only promote unintended misconceptions – the desire to be “cool,” to sing English songs at the local Karaoke, or even worse, to bag an American with the hope of a better life in the US. The label dilutes the already subtle struggle of self and national survival.

ps: Of course, one can argue that the phrase "English Wave" might evoke the same connotations as the label "obsession" but that can be a blog entry by itself. Thus the use of inverted commas.

(ARC)

Korean Cinema Resource

KOFIC (Korean Film Councel) web site:
http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/films/feature_films.asp

I like this web site since it shows information on the most current Korean movies.
I heard "King and the Clown / Wang-ui Namja" is very popular now in Korea. You might want to check it out.

I am not sure whether Korean movie is as popular as Korean dramas in other Asian regions. Still, the quality of Korean movie has certainly improved a lot for last ten or twenty years from my perspective. I still remember that when I was ten or fifteen years olds, I have never went to watch a Korean movie in a movie theater. I always watched them in video at home, and I think it was similar for most people.

The trend changed around 1990 when Korean hit movies emerged, and suddenly it was not "waste of money" to watch Korean movies in movie theater. I see more Korean movies than Hollywood movies in theater thesedays, so at least for me, the the trend has certainly changed. (JungYeon Kim)

Growing Interest of South Koreans in Learning Chinese

This article describes the growing trend in South Korea to learn Chinese even as the interest in English (based on statistics of Koreans studying abroad in the United States) diminishes.







http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-09/19/content_375767.htm

More young S. Koreans opt to learn Chinese
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-19 15:24


South Korean teen-ager Lee Jun-ho hopes to talk himself into a job someday -- in Chinese.


Snubbing offers from two local universities in favor of a language institute in downtown Seoul, the 19-year-old studies Chinese seven hours a day in hopes of winning a place at a prestigious school in Shanghai or Beijing.

Lee has embraced a growing trend in South Korea, where more and more young people are opting to focus their foreign language skills on Chinese rather than English, the traditional lingua franca of the business world.

"I think China holds a better future for me, so I persuaded my parents to let me go there to study business," said Lee during a short break between classes at the Yiersan institute, whose name means "One, two, three" in Chinese.

The phenomenon mirrors South Korea's growing dependence on China's booming economy, which has replaced the United States as its main trading partner.

"Student numbers at language institutes specializing in Chinese have risen 10-fold over the last two years," said Chang Hyun-min, a manager at Yiersan's headquarters in Seoul.

"We are living in a world where it is virtually impossible to do anything without mentioning China."

More than 35,000 South Koreans are currently studying in China, making it the largest foreign student community there, and accounting for some 40 percent of the total, and the number is growing.

By contrast, the number of South Koreans traveling to the United States to improve their English or further their education has slowed.

Data from the U.S. Institute of International Education showed the number of South Koreans studying in the United States grew by 11 percent in 2001, but growth had slowed to 5 percent by last year.

"We've been receiving less enquiries about going to the United States for study in recent years," said Chris Cho, a manager at Chongro Overseas Educational Institute.

A sluggish domestic economy and tightened visa procedures following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks have discouraged students from choosing the United States, he said.

TRADING PLACES

Jang Hae-san, a 43-year-old businessman and father of two, hopes an education in China will help his kids beat South Korea's growing youth unemployment problem.

"Originally I had planned to send my children to the United States, but I changed my mind," said Jang, who packed his 17-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son off to schools in Beijing three years ago.

"Since my business gives me some contact with China, I came to realize almost every firm I had heard of was rushing there," said Jang, whose company supplies electronic parts to major Korean firms.

Trade between South Korea and China has grown nearly tenfold since diplomatic ties were established between the two Asian neighbors in 1992, the Korea International Trade Association said.



China has also overtaken the United States as South Korea's biggest export market and is now Seoul's biggest trading partner, a title America held for decades, the trade association said.

Major enterprises such as the SK and LG groups are at the forefront of South Korea's foray into China's massive market.

Top local mobile carrier SK Telecom has already set up a joint venture with China's number two carrier, China Unicom Ltd., while LG Chem plans to boost its Chinese-speaking staff to one-quarter of its workforce from 10 percent.

"Since language is the most basic method to understand the culture of a country, we reckon proficiency in Chinese is much needed to do business with China," said LG Chem spokesman Eric Han.

Globalization

Having yet to watch "My Lovely Samsun," I cannot comment on the drama itself, but what caught might interest while reading this article is the cast of actors and actresses in the show. One is a Korean Australian and the other is a Korean American (bi-racial). Is this unprecedented or have there been other assemblages of cast of characters as such? How are these hyphenated identities being "acted" out in Korean dramas? As we see in the film "Please Teach Me English," there too are characters who possess hyphenated identities. What does it mean to have such characters in Korean productions? Is this part of globalization and if so, how so? I welcome your thoughts and comments. (JK)

The Popularity of Korean Dramas

This article in the Oct/Nov 05 issue of Audrey discusses the rise of Hallyu and the reasons why dramas are so popular among not just with middle-age women, citing 'My Lovely Sam-soon' as an example.