More Malaysians learning Korean language as K-wave continues to take world by storm

Malaysian teacher Nura Ezzatie begins all her TikTok videos with the Korean greeting "Annyeonghaseyo!".

She started her channel in 2021 to share tips on learning Korean. Now she has over 180,000 followers.

But her journey with the language started over a decade ago, as an 18-year-old obsessing over K-pop group Super Junior, spending her days watching TV shows featuring the group, like millions across Asia transfixed by Korean culture.

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Her only gripe was that she had to watch episodes a week late while she waited for subtitles.

"My vision at the time was that one day, I'd want to watch and understand Korean TV shows without subtitles," said the 30-year-old. "I think from that moment on I decided to learn Korean."

Unable to afford classes at Korean language centres, she found free lessons on YouTube.

Now she is returning the favour - sharing study tips with her online followers who are also trying to learn the language.

Nura has also grown her interest for the language into a career, teaching Korean at a secondary school in the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan.

"Surprisingly, I see that a lot of Malaysians can speak at least basic Korean and I believe this is influenced by the rising popularity of K-pop and Korean dramas and films," she said.

Korean is one of the fastest-growing languages in the world.

Last year, it was ranked the seventh most-studied language on the app Duolingo, according to the educational technology company's annual language report. Mandarin Chinese was eighth, with English first and Spanish second.

It was also the second most-studied Asian language on the app, which has more than 500 million users, only just trailing Japanese.

Korean is the most sought-after language in the Philippines and also ranks highly in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

For observers, the language's exponential growth does not come as a shock. They attribute this rise in popularity to "hallyu", also known as the Korean wave that has reverberated around the world.

The global fervour surrounding South Korea and its culture - from K-pop and K-beauty products to Korean dramas streamed across Asia - has exploded in the last two decades.

A big part of that was "because there's been an increase in contact with Korean people and their culture", said Andrew David Jackson, associate professor in Korean Studies at Monash University.

Liew Kai Khiun, an assistant professor at the Hong Kong Metropolitan University, said Korean media had embedded itself in the aesthetic and taste of a young growing demographic.

And for many young fans, part of the cultural appeal is a sense of escapism.

"Enjoying Korean media like dramas, movies or K-pop might be one of the ways people are coping with their stressful lives," said Nura.

The Korean language is on the march.

In its 2021 update, the Oxford English Dictionary added 26 words of Korean origin and Korean-related vocabulary, saying that the world was collectively "riding the crest of the Korean wave".

But experts also point to government efforts to grow the country's cultural influence through its media over the past few decades. The same might ring true for the Korean language.

Korean is spoken by over 77 million people around the world, and is the 13th most-spoken language globally.

While more people are swarming to learn the language on apps like Duolingo, initiatives by the South Korean government to introduce formal learning centres across the world aim to keep that number growing.

King Sejong Institute, a government-funded Korean-language brand, has more than 240 learning centres worldwide, with 139 of them in Asia.

South Korea's Ministry of Education has also dispatched Korean teachers overseas. In 2017, 58 were sent to Thailand to meet demand for Korean-language courses in middle and secondary schools.

Experts say such initiatives can go a long way to help South Korea develop and strengthen relationships with nearby countries.

"There is a geostrategic positioning for South Korea to gain more support and visibility among its Asia-Pacific neighbours, and particularly in Southeast Asia," said academic Liew.

For Malaysian teacher Nura, the growing ties between her country and South Korea have become more evident in recent years in the education sector.

"I can see that the diplomatic relations between South Korea and Malaysia are getting strengthened by looking at how many Malaysian students are getting scholarships to further their studies in South Korea after graduating from high school," she said.

In 2015, the Malaysian government included Korean as a part of the elective curriculum at some middle and secondary schools. Twelve selected schools were now offering Korean language classes, said Nura.

The appeal of learning Korean may well be linked to employment opportunities for some people in Asia.

South Korea, with its manufacturing, electronics and consumer firms, has forged closer ties with Southeast Asian economies after joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest trading block.

In February, South Korea committed to hiring at least 10,000 Cambodians on short-term work contracts.

The news came a month after young people lined up outside testing centres in the Cambodian capital to take Korean language exams to qualify for work visas, according to the Phnom Penh Post.

Ji-young Lee, a professor at New York University's Department of East Asian Studies, also points to the increase in the number of Korean firms being set up and hiring across Asia.

"The number of Korean learners from Southeast Asia is increasing," she said. "When I consulted with students, most of them studied Korean to get a job in South Korea or to get a job at a Korean company in their home country."

Amratha Kong, 29, an English teacher in the Indian city of Gurugram, met her husband Hyunbin Kong on a language exchange app in 2020.

But she had been learning his native Korean since 2014, after getting glimpses of the country's culture through its food and TV shows that had started trickling into the Indian mainstream.

Drawn to similarities she felt the language had with her native Malayalam, she began taking classes at an education centre.

"Something about Korean strangely reminded me of my own language, and I can't explain it, but I had a feeling that I needed to learn more," said Amratha.

During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, she explored online language exchange platforms that were cropping up in India. On one of those apps she met Hyunbin, also a teacher, from and living in South Korea, but looking to improve his English skills.

Now the two are married and share experiences on YouTube and Instagram about being in an intercultural relationship.

Almost a decade after she started learning about Korean culture, Amratha said the Korean wave was now in full swing in her country.

According to the Korean Cultural Centre in India (KCCI), which opened in New Delhi in 2013, enrolment in Korean language classes at government-led institutions saw a spike of 30 per cent from 2021 to 2022, with an increase of 400 per cent since 2020.

To meet demand, the organisation has teamed up with the University of Delhi to run Korean courses on the campus of the country's largest national university.

In 2022, more than 9,500 students took part in KCCI Korean language classes, and that number is expected to surge in the coming years.

At home, Amratha and Hyunbin speak Konglish, a hybrid of Korean and English. She calls it their "love language".

"We met so randomly, but it was languages, this one thing that we were both curious about, that allowed us to meet."

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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