#The korean colossus plus

Today, not a single public high school in the capital employs a full-time German teacher.

There were 1,200 teachers of German in Seoul as recent as 1999, according to figures from the city’s education authorities.

'Many people wanted to learn German and to go and study in Germany, with engineering and manufacturing seen as good courses for a future career,' he added. 'There was a sense of gratitude towards Germany and an interest in the country … Very soon, German companies began to enter Korea and quickly earned a reputation as being good and stable places to work,' he said. Germany provided economic assistance in the decades immediately after the war and well into the 1970s, Song told DW. The situation was further complicated just five years later, he said, with the outbreak of the Korean War. The fledgling Korean state initially had no diplomatic relations with its former colonial ruler Japan, and neighboring China was in a similarly chaotic state with the civil war between communists and nationalist forces. Song says South Koreans’ interest in German and French is rooted in the complex geopolitical situation in north-east Asia immediately after World War II. 'English was compulsory in high school, both then and now, but in the 1980s virtually everyone chose to do another language because we sensed that there were going to be more opportunities in foreign countries in the future. Everyone wanted to be able to communicate, for business or travel, or just to speak with people from other places,' said Song, a professor at the Center for Global Creation and Collaboration at Seoul’s Sangmyung University. But today, young Koreans are turning their backs on learning a third language.

#The korean colossus plus

Members said the Billboard achievement still didn’t “feel real”, lamenting being unable to celebrate it with fans as the coronavirus pandemic prompted them to cancel a scheduled world tour.As a teenager, Young-chae Song studied German at his South Korean high school and had to pass an exam in the language to enter university.ĭuring that time, in the early 1980s, most high school students in South Korea would study English, plus another foreign language, typically German, French or Japanese. “The Grammys is the place that all artists would dream of, and we’re hoping that we will be able to stage our own performance, secure nominations and if possible, win an award,” said band leader and rapper RM, 25, speaking alongside his bandmates during on online news conference on Wednesday. pop fans.įor BTS, the global smash - with a Youtube video that’s already racked up 275 million views - raises hopes of glory at the Grammys - the band performed there earlier this year alongside rapper Lil Nas X, but has never been nominated for an award. On Monday it landed top spot in the Billboard Hot 100 chart with breezy disco hit “Dynamite”, a first all-English language single that’s been lapped up by mainstream U.S. Since its 2013 debut, the seven-member South Korean boy band has surfed the global K-pop craze to dizzying heights.