Foreigners overtaking Korean language grad courses

Bao Lun, a student from China, speaks Korean as if it was her mother tongue, easily holding her own in a Korean conversation.

She nurtured a dream of becoming a Korean language professor and majored in Korean language and literature at her university before coming to study at the graduate school of Yonsei University in Seoul in 2009. She wished to share her knowledge with the growing sector of Korean translators and prospective Korean company employees in China. 

Now she is on the next step in obtaining her Ph.D. in Korean.

Lun is part of a new wave of foreign students, numbering around 1,000, to hit Korea in order to obtain a doctorate in Korean. 

One out of three students in graduate Korean language programs is a foreigner, an analysis of Seoul’s top universities shows.

An increasing number of students, many of whom are Asian, are enrolling in the Yonsei University’s graduate course of Korean language and literature. To meet the demand, Korea’s oldest private university has developed classes especially for these students.

In one of these courses, made to help foreigners adjust to Yonsei’s Korean language programs, you hear a variety of languages other than the Korean of an average university class. Many of these students are from surrounding Asian countries like China, Sri Lanka and Thailand, but there are also students from halfway around the world.

The high numbers are found not just at Yonsei, but also at Seoul National University, Korea University and three other top Korean universities. The number of foreign students in their Korean language graduate programs averaged around 30 percent.

Most of the students interviewed are interested in going back to their native country and teaching Korean as a second language.

“Like most other foreign students here, I am studying to become a Korean as a second language teacher. I plan to return to my home country and become a professor,” said Lun.

“In China there are not a lot of distinguished professors, so I want to fill that gap and return home as one, said a 23-year-old student from China on the condition of anonymity.

There were some students who were interested in using their Korean for other purposes.

“In the future, rather than become a professor, I would like to start my own research on Korean,” said a student from China, who also wished to remain anonymous.

Many of the students also had a similar answer to how they became interested in Korean. A lot of the influence seems to have come from Korea’s pop culture.

“Korean soap operas are what started my interest in Korean,” said Phyu Phyu Aung, a 26-year-old student from Myanmar.

“Rather than traditional Korean culture, Korean celebrities are the ones sparking interest in China,” said Liu Han Ler, a graduate student from China.

“Chinese people are gaining interest in Korea, especially because of Hallyu, like fashion and cosmetics,” said Gao Fei, a graduate student from China.

While most of these Hallyu inspired students studied Korean as part of their undergraduate studies, they are faced with a greater need for Korean and hanja Chinese characters proficiency for their graduate programs and are struggling to get by. Even with specially catered courses, like those at Yonsei.

“At my university we learned Korean through a grade scale of one through six, but in graduate school it is not about learning simple Korean, it is about learning the root meaning of words. So there is a huge difference in skill,” said Aung.

“When I first came to graduate school, I didn’t understand what the professor was teaching. I think it was because I didn’t adjust to the classes. Now, it’s not difficult but there is a lot of stress. During my undergraduate studies, we learned writing, listening and speaking but as a graduate student we have to research the deeper meaning of words and that creates a lot of stress for me,” said Yuan Sijia, a Chinese student at Korea University.

“In my case, we do not learn hanja in Thailand so now that I am in graduate school, learning hanja is the hardest part for me,” said Ksongpseng Sopsa, a Thai student at Korea University.

Foreign students feel they need something more to help them cope with the academic demands of Korean graduate programs.

“I think the gap between undergraduate and graduate programs might be too great. I think if the university could pair us with Korean students, that might help,” said Liu Shan Shan, a Korea University student from China.

“We have to know a lot of hanmun Chinese characters so it would be nice if they could have a good course to help students with hanmun,” said Aung.

“There is a sort of Korean exclusiveness. So foreigners have a hard time being included in groups. It would be nice if Koreans and foreigners could have a lot more chances to build friendships.

With the growing number of international students, Korean students and universities are faced with the need to make these foreign students feel welcome.

“When Korean students go abroad to study they have the opportunity to receive many scholarships. But foreign students have a much harder time studying and adjusting to life in Korea. I believe that foreign students in Korea should be presented with the same opportunities,” said a staff member at Korea University, on the condition of anonymity.


SOURCE:KOREA TIMES