다문화 시대와 언어정책

Multicultural Age and Language Policy

This thesis aims to discuss the language policy in the multicultural period in Korea. The Multicultural Age refers to the period since the 1990's, when the number of foreign workers and international marriage between Korean men and foreign women increased dramatically. The Korean government and several private organizations planned many projects to protect the language and culture of various foreigners who came to work or live in Korea, for example programs concerned with multilingual broadcasting, communication, education, and documents. The Korean language policy for settlers is very similar to Liberal multiculturalism. Multiculturalism language policy must focus not only on foreigners but also on young Korean students who studied abroad, since their communication competence in Korean is inferior to that of other students. In addition, because the use of Roman alphabet in mass media has increased, people who are not fluent in English, including many immigrants, are unable to get the necessary information they need. I propose that we tighten the existing act which requires all outdoor advertisements to include Hangeul. The fundamentals of the Korean Act(2005) states that Korean is the official language of Korea and Hangeul is the official character. This indicates that Korean and Hangeul are the means of communication in Korea. I believe that the new act that makes it mandatory for settlers to take Korean lessons is the most essential language policy. We have to develop effective teaching methods for foreigners to learn Korean.