It is probably a well-known fact that Koreans have a love-hate relationship with the English language. English is the lingua franca of the globalized world, and Korea is one of several nations to be experiencing the “English fever,” with children being sent to English kindergartens, and students spending intensive hours studying English in hagwons, or academies. But one may ask the question: if English is a means to cultivate a developed global sensibility, why is American English the gold standard, and why is it only discussed in terms of utility?

Park Chan-gil (English Language and Literature, Ewha Womans University) claimed that English in Korea has become a “market” language. Unfortunately, this is a widespread attitude regarding learning foreign languages in Korea – either learn English or Chinese, because other languages are useless. English is a huge addition, or “spec,” to one’s resume, in the form of TOEIC or TOEFL exam scores, which is the ultimate goal for the vast majority of English learners in Korea. Korea’s “English inferiority complex” demonstrates Koreans’ general insecurity about their English skills, and this is perhaps unsurprising as English lends power to the English-proficient individual, and is a proxy for intelligence that adds a fashionable “international” appeal. Hence, the problem with English in Korea is not their poor English skills; Koreans view English like a test in which American or British standards prevail, both literally and figuratively, and as a consequence of this view, lack the understanding of cultural dimensions within English.

There are aspects of the English language that are more difficult for Koreans, but many Koreans are indeed good enough at English, and should stop belittling their capability just because it is not American perfect. It does not help that Korea’s English education demands perfection of English to get as many correct answers as possible. However, communication is not a test. People, including immigrants, regularly speak English in Indian accents, Singaporean accents, Slavic accents, and more, making “mistakes” that exactly reveal the grammar of their languages and the cultures they come from. These are all variations of English that bear the distinctive markers of each culture, which is how they naturally generate and use their own English. Consider Third Culture Kids (TCK), who spent a significant period of their developmental years abroad. They “codeswitch” between different accents or languages that they are fluent in, speaking in their particular ways that cannot be clearly demarcated.

Korea’s imposition of “a native speaker’s” English or TOEIC English irons out the differences and gives a biased view of what global is. But this does not mean that Koreans should all speak “Korean English,” either. According to a 2012 book Markets of English by J.S. Park and Lionel Wee, Koreans view English as something “external” to their identities, such as deeming “oily pronunciation” to produce an American accent as “traitorous,” which alienates Koreans who acquired English abroad. This is rather ironic, considering the admiration for fluent English speakers, but it starkly reveals Korea’s shortsighted belief that there are acceptable and unacceptable ways to speak English; on the flip side, people are often needlessly impressed by “native” pronunciations of those who have lived abroad.

Koreans must recognize dimensions beyond the standardized English that they know of and understand that Korean characteristics may exist within the English language. The supremacy of American English should disseminate into interests in other foreign cultures and languages, as well as other variations of English, which is an endeavor toward a more genuine acceptance of globalization than what is seen today in the Korean idea and practice of learning English.