As Hallyu, or the Korean wave, gains worldwide popularity, Korean speaking contests are being held around the world. The number and size of the contests are gradually increasing, and most are hosted by universities that have a Korean language program or King Sejong Institutes run by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
On December 8, the Sixth Korean Speaking Contest was co-hosted in Egypt by the Korean Embassy in Cairo and Ain Shams University, the nation’s second largest university. This year, the contest day was specially appointed as Korean Culture Day and various Korean cultural performances including ‘Taekwondo Dance’ and ‘K-Pop Dance’ were held along with the speaking competition.
| A student from Ain Shams University (photo: the Korean Embassy in Cairo) |
The nine finalists were Egyptian, mainly university students or businessmen. Some of them talked about their experiences in Korea in fluent Korean, and the jury evaluated that the overall Korean proficiency of the participants was much improved over the previous year.
Six years ago, Ain Shams University opened the first Korean language department in the Middle East. Since then, a number of institutes in Egypt have introduced Korean language programs including education centers in the Helwan and Alexandria regions.
| Various Korean cultural performances including ‘Taekwondo Dance’ and ‘K-Pop Dance’ were held along with the speaking competition (photo: the Korean Embassy in Cairo). |
The Jilin Huaqiao Foreign Languages Institute in Chang-chun, Jilin Province in China also held a Korean speaking test on December 10 which was sponsored by Kumho Asiana Group.
Finalists were selected from nine cities in China including Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin through preliminaries. Apart from a speech prepared by each participant, they also had to answer immediately in Korean on the given pictures or subjects.
The winner was given an opportunity to study in Korea for a year with all expenses paid, and all participants were given some prizes for the event. The speaking contest has been held for six years in order to improve the relationship and increase cultural exchanges between China and Korea.
| Jilin Huaqiao Foreign Languages Institute held its sixth Korean speaking test on December 10 (Photo: Yonhap News). |
Previously, on December 1, another Korean speaking contest was held in the King Sejong Institute of Belgium, co-hosted by the Korean Embassy to Belgium and the University of Leuven in Brussels, Belgium.
Most of the participants were students from the King Sejong Institute or the Korean language program at the University of Leuven. As Brussels is one of Europe’s multicultural cities, the nationality of the participants also varied, coming from Spain, China, and Belgium.
In November, the East Asian Studies department of the University of Delhi hosted the fourth Korean speaking contest sponsored by the Korea Foundation in New Delhi, India.
Participants talked about their experiences in Korea or with Korean friends. “One of my Korean friends always asks me if I had eaten which was very strange to me,” a female student from Delhi University said during her speech. “After a while, I discovered that asking ‘Did you have a meal’ is just a greeting for Koreans.”
Another participant said that “Where are you going?” is a question you don’t want to ask other people as it is a superstition in India that the question will bring bad luck. She said that every time her Korean friend asked where she was going, she felt awkward and answered unenthusiastically before she realized the cultural difference between India and Korea.
An official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said, “Students who study in the Korean Cultural Center in France become huge fans of K-pop, and other fan clubs of K-pop in UAE or Turkey all started from Korean language institutes.
“As the Korean language is a starting point and destination for K-pop fans, the Korean government will continue supporting Korean language education worldwide.”
By Jessica Seoyoung Choi
Korea.net Staff Writer
