Phenomenon of learning Korean

By Mark Peterson

Korean language programs are booming all over the world. The K-pop craze, the music, the movies, the dramatic series, are all fueling an interest in learning the Korean language.

At my university, for example, for the first 25 years I was there, we would often have to beg the department chair to allow us to teach a section of 101 even though there were only ten or twelve students enrolled. The minimum requirement was 20. But we'd beg and the chair would usually be understanding and let us carry the course with less than the necessary number of registered students.

Now, the same university, in the last ten years or so, growing each year, has five or six sections of 101 with 20 students in each section! Exclamation point.

The Korean wave in all its manifestations has fueled the rise. Some students love the music, some the movies, and some the dramas. And some like anything and everything Korean.

When I started studying Korean, there were no language textbooks. None. Teachers would put together "mimeo" pages that they would prepare themselves. And no one wanted to study Korean. The few of us who did were considered weirdoes. And we were.

But now, "it's cool" to study Korean. And YouTube is full of foreigners speaking Korean fluently. It used to be that a Westerner in Korea was assumed to be an American, and mostly, that was a correct assumption. But now, it's just as likely that the foreigner is from Uzbekistan or Australia as s/he is from America.

We are witnessing a true internationalization of Korean culture.

In addition to the students in my town that are studying Korean at the University, and in addition to the "Saturday Korean school" mostly for Korean-American children, I recently discovered another kind of classroom where Korean is being taught. It's on Saturday morning at a Korean restaurant! Yes, at a Korean restaurant.

The owner of the restaurant is a Korean-American, a former student of mine. Korean students with native Korean ability could not take language classes ― that was too easy if they spoke Korean already. But such students could take literature and history and culture classes. Sun-woo was one of those students.

His family had a restaurant business and he became the owner/manager of one of their restaurants. He told me that he was teaching Korean on Saturday mornings and one of his employees was teaching the class. I wanted to see what was going on, so I asked if I could come by and sit in on the class sometime. He said, "Come anytime ― Saturday morning from 9:30 to 11:00."

I visited the class and was shocked!, no, pleased. Really pleased. I was able to interview some of the students. They were mostly college graduates in their late 20s and 30s, but there were some children and teenagers. They usually have about 20 students attend, but it varies. There is no formal "credit" given ― it's only a matter of learning what you can learn.

As I suspected, some were there because they liked the K-pop music. Some liked the dramas, and some like the movies. They all wanted to learn the basics of the language. I asked why they didn't get one of the often-advertised programs that one can buy. They responded it was fun to meet with others in a classroom situation.

A Korean language classroom in a Korean restaurant! Amazing! I asked Sun-woo how he got the idea to create such a class and he explained that many people who came into his restaurant had Korean language-learning books and things with them as they came to the restaurant, and they would try their limited language in ordering and chatting with the wait staff in the restaurant. He talked with many of them about Korean language learning opportunities and saw a need that he could help fulfill.

So, the students pay a modest tuition, study from 9:30 to 11:00 and then their tuition includes lunch. (A strategy good for business, too.). And more chatting and language practice over lunch.

I thought that in addition to increased enrollments in universities all across America, and the world, in addition to more high schools offering Korean language course, in addition to an active "heritage school" for Korean-American children and their friends, this!, a Korean school in a restaurant, has to me something unique. I don't know if such is being done in other places ― tell me if you know of any in other cities.

For now, I'm going to claim my home area, Provo-Orem, Utah, (the restaurant is in Provo's sister city next door, Orem), as the most creative approach to Korean language learning in the whole world. I'll hold that claim until someone else tells me of a more-uniquely manifested interest in Korean culture. Until then, I'm giving the award of most creative application of an interest in Korean culture to Yummies Restaurant, Orem, Utah. Stop in if you're in Utah on a Saturday morning. And stay for the bulgogi.

Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.