Prioritized Foreign Language Adoption From An International Relations Perspective: Chinese And Japanese Languages In South Korea

A country's foreign language curriculum is not simply organized but rather reflected from several factors such as economic dependence,historical bonds,political relations,cultural influence,and global level of events etc.Even though all factors are influential in terms of foreign language prioritization,each one has its degree of influence depending on the countries' interstate relation.For instance,Japan used to be the biggest trade partner to South Korea several decades ago,however the Japanese language was never prioritized in South Korean society whereas the number of South Koreans who learned the Chinese language has increased rapidly simultaneously along with the growth of South Korea's economic dependence towards China.Although the Chinese language has been prioritized in South Korea,it has never exceeded the priority of English because of the authoritative status of the United States in South Korea based on their political identity and also global hegemonic position.Therefore,the analysis of a country's foreign language curriculum changes is not only a means to track the country's international relation changes with other foreign countries but also it is for the understanding of the country's citizens' deeper cognition towards foreign countries.