"Chinese Character Education Completely Disappeared in Korea"…Harvard Linguistics PhD Critiques Hangul Cult

"Emphasizing 'Hanja Education Essential for Mastering Korean'"

Ross King, a professor at the University of British Columbia and founder of the Korean Language Village in the United States, recently expressed regret over the growing atmosphere in Korea that rejects Hanja (Chinese characters).

Ross King, professor at the University of British Columbia and founder of the Korean Language Village in the United States, recently expressed regret over the growing sentiment against Hanja in Korea. Photo by Awesome Korea (YouTube channel screenshot)

On the 30th, appearing on the YouTube channel 'Awesome Korea,' Professor King lamented, "In the past 20 years, Hanja education has completely disappeared from Korean language education." He stated, "One of the most striking things about Korea is that it is a country with very strong linguistic nationalism, but that linguistic nationalism is actually not linguistic nationalism but rather script nationalism," adding, "In other words, there is a kind of worship of Hangul, a 'Hangul cult.' This is not to say Hangul is not excellent, but emphasizing Hangul to this extent seems to be a problematic phenomenon."

Professor King particularly noted a tendency in Korea to be hostile toward Hanja. He said, "Over the past 100 years, the writing system of Hanja and the language of Classical Chinese have been so othered that they are treated as if they are not part of us, which is a very negative trend," emphasizing, "To truly master Korean, one must study Hanja. To become a more cultured Korean language user, one must study Hanja."

He also expressed disappointment with the methods and strategies for teaching Korean abroad. He stated, "In the past 2000 years, there has never been a moment when more than 1,000 foreigners simultaneously wanted to learn Korean. To be honest, there is no preparation at all," criticizing, "It seems they do not know how to implement a national language dissemination policy. This is ultimately language policy, a kind of academic field. In Korea, it seems that research results on national language dissemination policies conducted by foreigners abroad are not being reviewed."

Furthermore, Professor King advised tailoring Korean language education strategies based on a country's GNP (Gross National Product). He explained, "In countries with low GNP, learners’ motivation is instrumental," citing, "In places like Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Indonesia, people learn Korean to work in Korea." He continued, "However, students studying Korean in Western Europe or North America are motivated not by instrumental reasons but by more emotional, personal, and lyrical impulses," pointing out, "In such cases, the strategy must differ. Learners need to be given different motivations."

Finally, he expressed his desire to produce Hanja educational materials as much as possible, provide Classical Chinese education for overseas Korean studies, and publish books based on Classical Chinese materials left by Canadian missionary Reverend Gale, who was active in Korea for 40 years starting in 1888.

Meanwhile, Professor King is a professor of Korean language and literature in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. He studied linguistics and political science in Japanese and Korean at Yale University in 1983 and earned his master's and doctoral degrees in linguistics from Harvard University in 1986 and 1991, respectively. After founding the Korean Language Village 'Lake in the Woods' in Minnesota, USA, in 1999, he served as its director for 15 years until 2014, actively engaging in research on the history of Korean and Hangul, as well as education and dissemination of Korean culture.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.