The reality of Vietnamese language teaching and Vietnamese Studies education in Korea

Abstract

Over 20 years of Korea-Vietnam relationship, Korea has become the biggest investor in Vietnam, and Vietnam the forth on the list of Korea’s most important partners. There are over 135,000 Koreans living in Vietnam and out of 123,000 Vietnamese living and working in Korea, there are 40,000 Vietnamese wives to Korean husbands. Currently, in Korea there are 4 universities that have faculties or departments of the Vietnamese language or of Vietnamese Studies, with a large number of alumni who have successfully found jobs. Demand is higher than supply capacity. Vietnamese proficiency is not only essential to Koreans living and working in Vietnam and Korea-based companies with Vietnamese employees but also will be valuable to children of thousands of Korean-Vietnamese families in the coming years. The Ministry of Education of Korea has just announced a policy stating that the Vietnamese language will be one of the eight second languages in the national university entrance examination, which will bring to Vietnamese language teaching new opportunities and prospects.