The Hub of Sparkle!

The Korea Times columnist everyone loves to hate gets one right — Cultural Understanding, Open Mind Key to Upgrading English Proficiency.

His central thesis is this: “One cannot think in English unless one stops thinking like a Korean while the learning takes place.” Restated, “English or English-based culture can never be grasped unless the Korean mind accepts it at the deepest level or, at least, does not resist its cultural matrix.”

Having taught ESL and EFL for more than fifteen years in four different countries to learners of dozens of first languages and cultures, I can say that I have never found as much “learner resistance” as I have among Koreans. (To be fair, I’ve spent 12 years here, so the vast bulk of my experience comes from teaching Koreans.)

Prof. Huer describes “the American, or ‘Western,’ frame of mind” as “technical, precise, rational and egalitarian,” and goes as far to say that “Korea’s own cultural frame of mind ― pre-modern, non-rational, proudly nationalist ― is the first and worst obstacle to mastering English.”

I’m not sure how “pre-modern” and “non-rational” Koreans tend to be, but the fact that they tend to be “proudly nationalist” is pretty clear. These leads to resentment at being “forced” to learn English. There is also the idea that Korean, as the most “scientific language” (mind you, it is the alphabet not the language that is scientific), is somehow being robbed of its place as the world’s rightful lingua franca by English. Thus, many Koreans approach the task of learning English with bitterness.

As to the “egalitarian” nature of English compared to the hierarchical nature of Korean, this is often a blessing in disguise. Korean students have told me that they feel freer to discuss topics in English in a mixed group than they would in their own language. A related aspect of Korean culture that gets in the way of learning English left unmentioned by Prof. Huer is that Koreans find it very difficult, and often unpleasant, to talk to someone outside of “the group.” This goes not only for foreigners but for fellow Koreans as well.

Prof. Huer mentions the “openness, relaxedness and friendliness in successful English-using countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.” These are of course, multi-racial societies. Having taught in Malaysia, where most of my students were non-Malaysians, I remember it being quite rare to find an educated person not conversant in English. Also, in those countries, there is no neat dichotomy between “our country’s people” and “foreigners” as there is in Korea.

Among successful Korean learners of English, one finds a certain “openness, relaxedness and friendliness” and, of course, a certain curiosity about the world. I have found these qualities in greater abundance among the post-World Cup generation of Koreans, those who came of age during this millennium. This generation enjoys more entertainment from overseas and has seen a bit of the world first-hand. They are still proud of their country, but their is an honest pride that comes from confidence, not the bitter pride of resentment.

Prof. Huer hints that it is not enough to be bilingual, one must be bicultural as well. (One of the greatest compliments I was ever paid was when a friend from the Dominican Republic undeservedly called me “bicultural.”) I see more and more Koreans achieving bilingualism and biculturalism not because of greater focus on early education, but because of greater opportunity to freely pursue their own individual interests.

Koreans will often say that the difficulty Koreans experience have in learning English comes from the fact that the structures of the languages are so different. Research has shown that “first language interference” has an surprisingly minimal effect on second language acquisition. (Finns serve as a counter-example of a group of successful English learners from a non-Indo-Euopean linguistic background, as do the Chinese, Tamils, and Malays of Singapore.) Hats off to Prof. Huer for bringing attention to the real issue. May he be heard.

In the end, it comes down to motivation. Those who want to learn, will. Those who don’t will encounter extreme difficulty and frustration. The central problem is that only 5% of Koreans really need to know English, but as this 5% forms an elite to which everyone wants to join (or their children to join), a lot of energy and money is wasted on learning English.

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