한국국제교류재단

One or two out of every 100 university students, and one out of every 1,000 high school students are studying the Korean language in Japan today. Approximately half of all Japanese universities provide Korean courses, whereas ten percent of high schools offer foreign language classes other than English, such as Chinese, French, Korean, or German.

Introduced into Japanese high schools as an optional second foreign language in the early 1970s, Korean began to spread nationwide during the latter half of the 1980s. The number of high schools offering Korean language courses has increased every year to date, however, in most cases, Korean is treated as an elective subject and is sometimes cancelled due to lack of enrollment or eligible instructors. Even if teachers manage to hold a course one year, there is no guarantee it will return the following. Compared to Japanese language education in Korea, Korean language education at Japanese high schools is an entirely different situation.

Why Study Korean in High School?
From an educational perspective, I think learning the Korean language encourages Japanese high school students to acquire the ability to observe themselves and their surroundings from an independent point of view. The Japanese people have depended on foreign viewpoints ― the Chinese since the early nineteenth century, and the Europeans and Americans since the latter half of the nineteenth century. This is how they have learnt to define themselves and their place in the world. Now is the time for the Japanese to look at the world from their own unique standpoint.

By learning the language closest to Japanese historically and culturally, a language that shares similar sentence structures and vocabulary with Japanese, Japanese students can gain an insight into their own country and language. Korean language learning is one of the most effective ways for Japanese students to revise their general impressions of South and North Korea, as well as the impressions they hold of their own society. This is especially so at the high school age, when students are highly receptive to new ideas.

JAKEHS: Network for Korean Language Teachers
Since its foundation in August 1999, the Japan Association for Korean-language Education at High Schools (JAKEHS)¹⁾ has been involved in compiling basic vocabularies for use by high school students, as well as the first textbook specifically designed for high school Korean language classes. In response to the shortage of licensed Korean language high school teachers, JAKEHS recently collaborated with two universities to inaugurate intensive courses for high school teachers of other disciplines who are interested in becoming licensed to teach the Korean language. These summer intensive courses were launched in 2001 at Tenri University and the Kanda University of International Studies.

JAKEHS has been working together with various Korean institutions to carry out programs designed to interest Japanese high school students in learning Korean. It has also asked the Korea Foundation to take the initiative in inaugurating a training program for high school teachers and others involved in Korean language teaching in Japan. Held last August, this training program was financially supported by the Korea Foundation and organized by the Language Education Institute of Seoul National University (SNU). One of the biggest outcomes of the training program was the opportunity it provided for SNU lecturers to understand Korean language education at Japanese high schools. This was done through discussions with teachers from Japan who presented class demonstrations.

Interdisciplinary Efforts
Aside from Korean language teachers, there are also those who incorporate Korean language, history, and cultural studies into other subjects. These include the Japanese language teacher who compares Japanese with Korean in his class on Japanese ; the calligraphy teacher who introduces Hangul calligraphy exercises; and the social studies teacher who includes short Korean lessons during geography or world history lessons. One teacher even wrote a supplementary English textbook dealing with a wide variety of Korea-related topics, including Korean films and history.

By devoting a portion of class time to Korean language, a course in kokugo, or national language, becomes a course in Japanese, one of many languages in the world. A calligraphy class can also take on the additional aspect of foreign language education. In other words, Japanese language education is richer after combining it with another foreign language.

Striving for interdisciplinary education by transcending boundaries among subjects may lead to a change in the meaning of national boundaries. By learning the very basics of the Korean language and realizing that it is spoken not only in Korea, but also in the northeastern part of China, Central Asia, North America, and elsewhere, high school students may one day a world where the concept of national boundaries differs from that of today.

1) The secretariat of JAKEHS is located at the offices of the Japan Forum, a private, nonprofit Japanese institution founded in 1987 by Kodansha Publishers and other companies.