UCI News

Bilingual Korea can be worth it, warts and all

The Korea Times, Nov. 23, 2020 (Economic Essay Contest)

November 23, 2020

Bilingual Korea can be worth it, warts and all

Joshua Chang, UCI student writes, “So when we come to the debate over whether Korea should adopt English as a second official language, it’s difficult to see why foreigners in Korea would ever object to its institution. Essentially, adding English would give newcomers much better odds for a more user-friendly Korean experience. This is obviously true for English-speaking foreigners. But non-English speaking newcomers might also find Korean life less daunting with English as another language of the land.”