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Abstract
As the primary foreign language opted for more than half a century in both South and North Korea, the English language has served various purposes in the two Koreas. While English mainly has been the means to idolization of their leaders and communist ideology in North Korea, the language has functioned as a vehicle of globalization in South Korea. This article describes the past, present and future of English in the Korean peninsula, introducing a brief history of the language along with its use, language policies and educational practices as well as some issues and controversies over the English language.
Notes
1. There were two other ships, Alceste and Frigate.
2. M. Kim (Citation2006) referred to A Voyage of 10 days to Corea (2003), which is an edited translation of both Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Korea, and the Great Loo-Choo Island (1818) by Basil Hall and Narrative of a Voyage, in His Majesty’s Late Ship Alceste, to the Yellow Sea, along the coast of Corea, and through its Numerous Undiscovered Islands, to the Island of Lewchew; with an Account of her Shipwreck in the Straits of Gaspar (1817) written by John M’Leod, the medical officer of the ship Alceste. M. Kim (Citation2006) also referred to Shin and Jeong (Citation1999), which is a translation of three nautical reports including Hall (1818) aforementioned.
3. Which was carried out by a group of radical Enlightenment Party members to expel the conservative Ching (China) followers.
4. The author and year of publication is unknown but estimated as later than 1850, a photocopy of which is in the safekeeping of the Korean Christian Museum of Soongsil University, Korea.
5. The modifier ‘hermit’ was adopted from Griffis (Citation1905).
6. Which included three graduates of Union Theological Seminary in New York recommended by Foote, then Deputy Diplomatic Minister of Chosun (M. Kim, Citation2006).
7. There were also schools for other foreign languages; schools for Japanese (which had already existed), French, Russian, Chinese and German, which were regarded as gateways to government posts.
8. A reform seeking modernization, carried forward by the exiled leaders of the failed Gapsin Coup (1884).
9. The majority of those private institutes continue to exist today, having developed into many of the top-tier schools of secondary or college level in Korea.
10. The predecessor of the present Ewha Women’s University, which has obtained the reputation as the best women’s college of Korea.
11. See also Y. Park (Citation2006).
12. Declared in 1911, 1922, 1938 and 1943 respectively.
13. Horace Horton Underwood, the son of Horace Grant Underwood who founded Chosun Christian College, the predecessor of the present Yonsei University, Korea.
14. Referring to fathers who live alone after they sent their families abroad for their children’s education. Their economic burden and solitude often become a social issue.
15. Traditionally, it was regarded not only as a personal wish but also as familial duty.
16. Konglish words are numerous, including ‘hand-phone’ (for ‘cell phone’), ‘cunning’ (for ‘cheating’), ‘free-size’ (for ‘one-size-fits-all’), ‘fusion’ (for ‘intercultural’), ‘hair-pin’ (for ‘hair clip’) and ‘handle’ (for ‘steering wheel’), to illustrate just a few.
17. See also J. Lee (Citation2017) for many interesting examples of newly coined mixtures of Korean and English, including those out of amusement motivation. Those words are generated through compounding, blending, deriving and shortening, which implies that English has already become an important source of Korean neologism.
18. They have tried to replace even the loan words of Chinese or Japanese origin by coining new words from native Korean words.
19. Chosunmal is the endonym of North Korea for their national language.
20. With which North Korea has diplomatic relations.
21. The number has reached 29,000 as of 2016. See T. Kim (Citation2016).
22. Financiers who have recently built up fortunes in the black markets called Jangmadang. Jangmadang, being estimated to have reached 500 in number, is now practically approved by their government after the failure of the North Korean distribution system.
23. Jargon referring to South Korea.
24. It is believed, however, that intensive training with the immersion method is being enforced recently at the Pyungyang Institute of Foreign Languages.
25. I cannot but agree with Pok (Citation1998) with this point.