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Beginning with Gangnam Style, followed by the success of K-pop groups such as BTS, interest in Korean popular culture has skyrocketed in the past decade. One way this has manifested is through a steep rise in individuals learning the Korean language. According to a study conducted by the Modern Language Association, U.S. college student enrollment in Korean language classes has risen 78% from 2009 to 2016, reaching 15,000, while total enrollment in language classes has plateaued in recent years. The only other widely learned language with significant growth in the span was American Sign Language, which increased enrollments by 37%. Despite this trend, East Asian Studies departments have struggled to accommodate the increasing demand for Korean classes. This is because Korean language classes have been historically limited and under-resourced due to the fact that language programs in East Asian Studies have traditionally focused on Mandarin and Japanese. Experts say that K-pop is the main reason for this trend, coupled with the success of several Korean TV shows and films such as Parasite and Squid Game. The current growing trend of interest in the Korean language and culture has also been an opportunity for South Korea to engage Americans in a variety of other sectors relating to the country including business, politics, economics, and history.

This post is about Korean language and the two main sections of speech styles in Korea. It will help you better understand the different speaking styles in Korean and when and how to use them. The two styles of speech, 존댓말 (Polite speech) and 반말 (Informal speech), are spoken based on hierarchy since Korean culture has strong Confucian influence due to the country's history. The hierarchy is mainly based on age and social status. For example, when speaking to a teacher in school, you would speak to them with polite speech because they are older than you and know more than you. Phrases and sentences can be said in different ways depending on the style of speech used, but will still have the same meaning.

This journal talks about the history of linguistic comparison between Japanese and Korean as languages. I thought it was kind of interesting that the only viewpoint on the two languages was taken from a European standpoint. Even when discussing the Japanese and Korean findings of similarities between the languages, those realizations are told in a third person point of view instead of specifically to the people in Japan or Korea that figured these things out, as compared to the specific European linguists whose findings were accomplished. This was pretty cool as a Japanese-Korean person, though.

Konglish is the term used to describe the variety of English unique to Korea. It is just one of many varieties of the English language that exists far beyond the borders of so-called "inner circle" Englishes - those spoken in countries such as Britain and the US, for example. The author takes umbrage against those who argue that Konglish is incorrect. From a linguistic standpoint, deeming only one variety of grammar and vocabulary usage as correct is, nonsensical. Rather, Konglish reflects cultural identity, connects with linguistic diversity and above all, is already used to communicate in Korea, which is the ultimate purpose of language.

Scientists say Koshik, an Asian elephant at a South Korean zoo, can imitate human speech, saying five Korean words readily understood by people who speak the language. The male elephant invented an unusual method of sound production that involves putting his trunk in his mouth and manipulating his vocal tract. Vocal mimicry is not a common behavior of mammals (unless you count humans). Researchers postulate Koshik was apparently so driven to imitate sounds that he invented the method of putting his trunk in his mouth and moving it around. They believe that he may have done this to bond with his trainers, as he was deprived of elephant companionship during a critical period of his childhood and spent years with humans as his only social contact. A video of Koshik with his trainer is embedded in the article.

This is an interesting video that I found about two young kids trying to learn how to pronounce certain sounds correctly in Korean. The title is a reference to the Gyeongsangdo dialect (a Korean dialect); the poster of the video seems to think that people from Gyeongsangdo speak that way, but it is really not true (I know because I speak that dialect). The children are attempting to pronounce the ㅆ sound correctly ("ss" a very hard "s" sound) but instead seem to be using the ㅊ ("ch" sound) or the ㅅ sound (normal "s" sound). They also seem to have a little trouble with the ㄹ sound (a cross between an "r" and an "l" sound), which can be seen when one of the children changes his tongue positioning while saying 쌀 ("ssal" or rice). I'll put up a translation and transcript soon if anyone is interested. Thought it was relevant because of those readings we got last week...

I put up a transcript with a translation, but it got shortened every time I refreshed the page, so I gave up :/

The author of this piece simply explains how some languages involve more characters than others. Also, this leaves languages like Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc., with an advantage because they are able to express their thoughts through fewer characters.

In this article, research shows that babies in the womb are affect by different languages that are spoken. In the last trimester of pregnancy, when the baby is able to recognize voices, they get used to the sound of their mother. Babies are more familiar and comfortable with the language that was spoken by their mother so when Korean born babies were adopted into Dutch speaking families, they were still able to make Korean sounds. Many people also believe that teaching an infant multiple languages can confuse them or make it more difficult for the child. However, this is not the case.

Yay for Wellesley College, my alma mater! Ravi Ravishanker, Chief Information Officer at Wellesley College, and his team developed an app that allows characters in other languages to be printed on diplomas. Thirty-two students took part in the pilot with nine languages (Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Hebrew, Korean, Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, and Japanese) represented. "The diploma will have both the English and the alternate alphabet," Ravishanker explained, adding that the goal is to make this available to anyone who wishes to take advantage of the program next year. "We are the first liberal arts college to provide this service," he said.

Google is working on a font, Noto, that aims to include "all the world's languages" - every written language on Earth. Right now, Noto includes a wide breadth of language scripts from all around the world - specifically, 100 scripts with 100,000 characters. That includes over 600 written languages, says Jungshik Shin, an engineer on Google's text and font team. The first fonts were released in 2012. But this month, Google (in partnership with Adobe) has released a new set of Chinese-Japanese-Korean fonts - the latest in their effort to make the Internet more inclusive. But as with any product intended to be universal, the implementation gets complicated - and not everyone for whom the product is intended is happy.

Historical linguists agree that Japanese is a Japonic language, but do not agree further about the origin of the Japanese language; there are several competing theories: Japanese is a relative of extinct languages spoken by historic cultures in what are now the Korean peninsula and Manchuria.

A really interesting study combining linguistics and behavioral economics. "To judge a risk more clearly, it may help to consider it in a foreign language: A series of experiments on more than 300 people from the U.S. and Korea found that thinking in a second language reduced deep-seated, misleading biases that unduly influence how risks and benefits are perceived."

Article talks about an adult Okinawan-language class in Hawaii. Okinawan, also known as Uchinaaguchi, is an endangered language--it fell into disuse due to Japanese colonization--hence few native speakers of the language remain. I've posted the text of the article below, as you've got to be a Star-Advertiser subscriber to see the full page: POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Aug 27, 2013 StarAdvertiser.com Learning Okinawan helps preserve culture and identity, an instructor says By Steven Mark In a classroom for preschoolers, a group of adults is trying to revive a language that is foreign to their ear but not to their heart. The language is Okinawan, or "Uchinaaguchi," as it is pronounced in the language itself. The class at Jikoen Hongwanji Mission in Kalihi, as informal as it is, might just be the beginning of a cultural revival thousands of miles to the east of the source. At least that is the hope of Eric Wada, one of the course instructors. "For us, it's the importance of connecting (language) to identity," said Wada, who studied performing arts in Okinawa and is now the artistic director of an Okinawan performing arts group, Ukwanshin Kabudan. "Without the language, you really don't have identity as a people." Okinawa is the name given to a prefecture of Japan, but it was originally the name of the main island of an archipelago known as the Ryukyu Islands that lies about midway between Japan and Taiwan in the East China Sea. For centuries, the Ryukyu kingdom maintained a degree of independence from other East Asian nations. As a result, distinctive cultural practices evolved, from graceful and meditative dance to the martial art called karate and the poetic language that sounds like a blend of Japanese and Korean. The islands were officially annexed by Japan in 1879. The 20th century saw the World War II battle of Okinawa, which claimed more than a quarter of the island's population, the subsequent placement of U.S. military bases and the return of the islands to

Google assistant (an intelligent personal assistant app developed by Google) will, starting this summer, be able to detect and respond in French, German, Brazilian-Portuguese and Japanese. And by the end of the year, the Assistant will also be able to speak Italian, Spanish and Korean. Opening the product to people who don't speak English

When speaking, bilinguals mix the two languages to form sentences, because in their brains, there is no distinction between the two languages. In this study, the brains of Korean/English bilinguals were observed. The study affirmed that language switching is natural for bilinguals because of the use of their left anterior temporal lobe.

The U.S Department of Defense is cutting funding for 13/31 language flagship programs at 23 universities including Brigham Young, UH Manoa, and University of Washington. This comes as a surprise for the linguistic community as this will cut nearly half of of Chinese, Korean, Arabic, and Russian groups alike. The overall concern is this will be detrimental to national security, and global diplomacy raising conerns about the future of language education, and the U.S's ability to engage with other cultures.