Overseas Korean academics, language instructors bring Korea back home

The participants of the Overseas Korean Language Teachers Invitation Program pose with Minister Choe at a lecture on July 13 (photo courtesy of MCST).

International instructors of the Korean language and Korean studies academics from 23 countries across the globe arrived in Korea on July 2 for a series of training and cultural sessions co-organized by theNational Institute of the Korean LanguageandPai Chai University.

The occupations of the 44 participants, including those hailing from Brunei, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Pakistan vary as much as diverse ways each has shaped his or her own relationship with Korea and its language. Ranging from university professors, Korean language instructors, and local government officers to interpreters and translators, non-native experts on Korea took part of the two-week journey, fostering education exchanges while enjoying a diverse array of hands-on activities and cultural experiences.

On July 13, international educators flocked to a lecture entitled "The Vision of a Cultural Power in the Smart Age: Creative Integration of Tradition and Modernity" by Korea's Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism,Choe Kwang-shik.

Minister Choe provided an overview of Korea's keycultural policiesand itsvisionfor a "Smart Era", putting a particular focus on the reconciliation between traditional and current culture. He explained the Korean government's endeavors to seek ways to introduce Korea's cultural heritage abroad and encourage the diversity of Hallyu into the larger arena of Korean culture, beyond a fad led by pop culture.

Ahead of the lecture, Professor Richard Phillips from the School of Asian Studies of New Zealand's Auckland University voiced a fragment of his impression on the weeks-long training through singing the Korean song "Forget-Me-Not".

Assistant Professor Anna Paradowska from Warsaw University's Department of Japanese and Korean Studies expressed her gratitude while giving a few thoughts on the lecture as well as the training program. Rifat Farzana, a lecturer at the Center for Languages at BRAC University in Bangladesh also offered souvenirs from across the world to the minister on behalf of the whole crew.

This year's session was divided into two groups: one programmed for Korean language educators and the other for the Korean studies experts and academics. Apart from a number of tailored lectures on Korean language education, all participants were invited to discover some of Korea's heritage sites and cultural hubs in Seoul andGyeongju, as well asJeonju Hanok Village. Also included in the 113-hour workshop were visits toExpo 2012 Yeosu Koreaand theYG Entertainmentoffice -- where they witnessed the cradle of theKorean waveandK-pop.

 Korean experts from all over the world took part in a wide array of hands-on activities, workshops, and field trips to places like Gyeongju, the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Silla, and Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea during the two-week stay (photos courtesy of the National Institute of the Korean Language).

"The program was designed to further contribute to the spread of the Korean language and culture and to grasp the current extent of overseas Korean language education on a yearly basis", said an official from the National Institute of the Korean Language. "We hope that it would serve an opportunity to lead a betterment of their qualifications as lecturers of Korean language and studies".

TheOverseas Korean Language Teachers Invitation programwas launched in 1992, in an attempt to improve the qualifications of overseas Korean language teachers and to boost Korean language education abroad. Over 600 instructors from 69 nations have taken part of the annual gathering, aimed at reinforcing mutual exchanges with an enhanced understanding on Korean culture.

By Hwang Dana
Korea.net Staff Writer