Sharing the lecture held on June 27, 2023.

Language Use in Foreign Migrant Neighborhoods in Korean Cities

Lecturer: Robert J. Fouser

SUMMARY:

In this lecture, I investigate language use in neighborhoods in Korean cities with a large foreign migrant population. In the lecture I address the various conditions that influence language use in multilingual and multiethnic communities. Within language use, I focus on the following categories: 1) use of spoken Korean between migrants and native speakers; 2) use of spoken Korean among migrants; 3) use of spoken languages native to various migrant groups; 4) use of spoken English among Koreans and migrants; 5) use of various languages in official and commercial signage. The lecture is based on observation in central Ansan and central Gimhae, two areas with a large multiethnic migrant population, and Daerim-dong in Seoul, which has a large population of ethnic Koreans from China. The lecture includes background discussion on the history of each area, and the discussion of central Ansan includes observation from the late 2000s, which provides insight into changes over the past 15 years. The lecture concludes with a discussion of how language use in these areas relates to broader use of Korean as a second language in Korea.

BIO:

Robert J. Fouser holds a B.A. in Japanese language and literature, and M.A. in applied linguistics, both from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in applied linguistics from Trinity College Dublin. He studied Korean language at Seoul National University in the 1980s. He lived in Japan from 1995 to 2008 where he taught foreign language education at Kyoto University and developed the Korean language program in Kagoshima University. From 2008 to 2014, he taught Korean as a second/foreign language education at Seoul National University. He is currently an independent scholar based in Providence, Rhode Island.

He is the author of five books in Korean, including Oegugeo Jeonpadam [The Spread of Foreign Languages] (2018), Robeoteu Paujeo ui Dosi Tamgugi [Exploring Cities with Robert Fouser] (2019), and Oegugeo Hakseupdam [Thoughts on Learning Foreign Languages] (2021). He is currently finishing a book on the history of historic preservation in cities around the world, which will be published in fall 2023. He also is the translator of Understanding Korean Literature (1997) by Kim Heunggyu and a co-author of Hanok: The Korean House (2015). He writes regular columns for various media outlets in Korea.