Stephen van Vlack

Sookmyung Women`s University

Division of English Language and Literature

English for International Communication

Spring 2007

Week 7 - English in the Korean Context

A Summary and Some Explanation

At this juncture in time I think it is probably a good idea to sit back and simply take a look at where we have gone so far in this course by taking a look at this last presentation task a little more carefully. If we are ever really going to understand the English language and what it means for us personally we are going to have to take a look at English in our environment because none of us, much as we might like to think so, are above our environment and the conditions our environment imposes on us. While we are often totally unaware overtly of our environment is deftly true that we not only create our environment ourselves but also react to it and are part of it. It is, therefore, very important for us to get a realistic fix on our environment.

In this project we found that English really is everywhere in Korea but that its use can be broken down into several types. The first of these is probably the least extensive and this is English for non-Koreans or for foreigners. While there is an increasing amount of English out there designed to help foreigners as they move through Korean society this was still a rather small percentage of the overall English that is out there. It is clear that most of the English we see around us is there not for non-Koreans but for Koreans. There may also be some sort of underlying belief that English for Koreans may also be used by non-Koreans but as we look at the actual English used much of it is so deeply entwined with Korean that non-Koreans would have tremendous difficulty understanding much of its use. What is interesting is that many of the people creating these so-called English usages probably aren`t even directly aware of how Korean their use of English actually is. This shows just how deeply ingrained English in its into the Korean mindset.

As for the English created for non-Koreans it basically comes in three different types if we are just focussing on the forms themselves. The first of these would be English words or English forms written out in the Hangul alphabet. This simply has to do with a Korean coating of English forms. These forms may or may not be what we can term generalized English or universally acceptable English, they simply have been written out in Hangul. The second time would be Koreanized forms of English and this may include English with distantly Korean meaning of Korean and English forms to create new words are alternatives of either Korean or English words. Interesting as well in this group are Korean words which are written out in the Roman alphabet with maybe a few English touches along the way. The third type is obviously the most boring type and this is just standard English written out in standardized ways for a Korean and may be an international audience. So what we see here as we get quite a bit of diversity in the way in which English is used in relation to the types of connections to Korean. It is interesting to note that I’m at almost all levels Korean and English are somehow fused together in this makes perfect sense when we consider that these signs or the usages are knowingly being made for a Korean audience.

It should also be mentioned the limitations of these English type uses within Korean society. We can say that English is used almost exclusively and solely for marking things. People aren`t expected to be able to do things with English. English is simply used as an identification for items. It is a marker which people are merely supposed to react to. And therefore say that English generates or is intended to generate a very passive type of reaction from people. People don`t have to produce actual English they merely respond to it and is tell this an awful lot about the real role of English in Korean society.

Visitors to Korea may look around and be somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of English they see around them but upon careful observation and may be further investigation is quickly revealed that English is only really a surface and doesn`t go very deep. Go into a store which has everything marked in English and try to speak in English within that store and you might encounter terrible difficulty. So it appears that English does have very high valorization rates because the assumption is that it will draw the attention of Koreans. English is obviously perceived as being modern, and hip, and maybe even intelligent, but it is just a marker. The concept of English as a language for communication may not be nearly as highly valued. The fact that despite all this varied input people are still not expected to be able to produce their own output tells us a lot about English in the brain of the average Korean.