Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jajdude]

There were two articles, pro and con, about early English education in Korea, in that newspaper, part of the IHT, on Saturday.

Here's a quote from the con opinion:

"But the larger reason I am against early English education is that it will produce human beings without nationalities by obstructing the establishment of the identity of our future generations.
What we need in this age of globalization is an attitude of standing firmly on our land while thinking globally. This is the reason that almost all countries that teach English as a foreign language make efforts to overcome the language imperialism that they confront in the course of English education."

Wow. Loss of nationality and language imperialism. I had no idea. I laughed reading that.

[VanIslander]

[flotsam]

[Satori]

Sure, ideas are encoded in language. Aquiring new language expands your set of ideas and ways of thinking. You don`t lose anything though, you don`t lose your first language identity. But you do gain an increased ability to think logically and conceptually, quite apart from improved language ability. You even improve at using your first language. The benefits of early second language learning are manifold. The article is nationalistic hogwash.

[Hollywoodaction]

[patchy1]

[riley]

I think you may have read Flotsam's post wrong, patchy ol'boy.

[Milwaukiedave]

The person should have just simply said, "Let's kick all the evil foreigners out of Korea."

[RACETRAITOR]

Just out of curiosity, what were the authors' names? It sounds like the sort of thing one of my American friends who works there is always saying.

[Smee]

Well, language imperialism is a very real thing around the world, and I sympathize with those who have to acquire another language to compete (to an extent.)

However, I'm a little less sympathetic in Korea's case b/c English education here is by Koreans, for Koreans. The goals for learning ENglish are to succeed on standardized tests . . . to be used to get into Korean universities, high schools, what have you. Konglish/English is used on TV and in music b/c it makes the users appear more intelligent, cultured, and educated . . . to Koreans.

While I see the benefits of starting foreign language education early, in this case I don't think it'd be a great idea. I see how much stress it puts on elementary kids, 10 year olds, and I don't think we need to do that earlier. First, Korea needs to identify its goals---beyond "testing well" and getting into a good school. Only then can it begin to design a curriculum (sp?) that is effective in both teaching a lingua franca and in raising the meta-awareness necessary to even protest English in the first place.

[kermo]

I'm with Flotsam on this one. Language both reflects and transmits culture. Take Korean, for instance: its grammar, and the words they have for addressing each other. It indicates a strong hierarchy based on age, position and a consideration for gender, as well as a "we are family" attitude. English lacks a lot of these terms, like "respect" suffixes and words like "older brother" or "uncle" for addressing people outside the immediate family.

When kids learn English, they learn about our culture by noting the lack of respect-suffixes (sorry, I don't know what else to call them) which is typical of our more egalitarian, anti-agist/sexist social environment.

Does it influence the kids? Sure. I can't imagine it damaging their national identity, but I haven't seen any research on that either way.

[Smee]

Pro: http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200606/16/200606162149044109900090109012.html

by Park Jun-eon

Con:
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200606/16/200606162145443639900090109012.html

by Park Geo-yong

[cypher]

There is a great difference between language imperialism where a language is forced or foisted on a people, especially if their language is in danger of extinction AND people choosing to have their children learn a second language from a young age, when it is easy to see that children pick up language much more quickly when they are younger.

It shouldn't be done to the detriment of the first language (like the kid I had who spent so much time in English that he needed a Korean tutor before heading to elementary school, not having ever lived outside of Korea).

Plus, in my experience, Korea is in no danger of losing its national identity anytime soon, and could maybe use to lose some of the hyper-nationalism.

[Zulu]

[Ya-ta Boy]

There is another thread about this (at least it sounds like it's the same topic/opinion piece) on another thread.