Korean Job Discussion Forums

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has been reviewing legal matters to clear the way for using English and Korean together in official documents and some high-level meetings, Mayor Lee Myung-bak said.
In yet another effort to bring change to the traditionally-stubborn city bureaucracy, the business-minded mayor pledged he would lead the charge to expand the use of English, saying that it will help South Korea improve its chances to become a financial hub in Asia.

"English is becoming a second mother tongue," the 61-year-old said during an exclusive interview with The Korea Times on Friday. "I will encourage Seoul officials to use English in official documents and the policy-making process." The world is changing, he said, and South Korea is in the middle of the change. English competency is a vital weapon for survival.

"More importance should be given to English education," he said. "I want to make a society where at least people can explain simple directions in English when they encounter foreigners on the street."

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200310/kt2003102617382910230.htm

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

"second mother tongue"- i hope so. i'd like to be here in 10 years just to see if the current hogwon generation can speak the most basic street directions to me by then.
The positive signs are slowly starting to happen- i've met a couple of 20 year olds in the street who could hold basic conversation...

posco's trumpet · Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: Beneath the Underdog

Gladiator · Joined: 23 May 2003 Location: Seoul

"secong mother tongue". Mayor Lee must be living in Cloud Cuckoo land.

The superior English spoken in Singapore and Hong Kong and the French in Indo China are 'gifts' of English speaking colonial legacies end of story.

These countries are also versed in the culture of each language, something Korea will never be. Singaporeans speak English and the instincts behind the language make perfect sense to them.

I'm sorry but I just don't see any meaningful evolution of Korean English in the future but I'll happily modify that opinion when a Korean wins the Nobel literature prize in English.