The KBS Korean Language Center plans to advance the globalization of the Korean language in collaboration with Prof. Jieun Kiaer from the University of Oxford, aiming to lower the barrier to studying the language and help learners overcome the “Korean jitters.”

The center will use the Korean textbook “Annyeong? Korean!” co-written by Kiaer, a professor in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford, along with Kim Hyun-mi and Nicola Fraschini, for its language education and assessment program.


The center held a business agreement ceremony on Friday for the use of the textbook and appointed Professor Kiaer as the general counsel to oversee the project's overall content.

“In contrast with the global popularization of Korean content around the world, existing Korean language learning materials are considered uninteresting and are assessed to be overly difficult, causing learners to say they get anxiety when learning Korean,” Sung Jae-seong, head of the KBS Korean Language Center, said in a press release. “So we wanted to solve this challenge for Korean learners.”

The book will be a “completely new kind of Korean language textbook,” according to the center, as it combines expertise from teaching Korean to foreigners on-site with elements of Korean culture.

"The biggest difference from existing textbooks is that, instead of being grammar-based, it focuses on conversational Korean, allowing learners to complete their studies all the way through,” the professor said of her book.

The professor also highlighted the rigorous Korean assessment tests, which have even given rise to the term “Korean jitters” among overseas Korean learners.

"The goal should be a test that supports learners in passing, not one that sets them up to fail," Prof. Kiaer said.

In light of this, the center plans to develop a new assessment exam, tentatively named “KBS Topik,” where learners can evaluate their Korean proficiency using KBS content in a friendly and enjoyable approach.

The KBS Korean Language Center, established in 2007 by national broadcaster KBS, is a public interest organization that aims to spread Korean language and Korean-language-based cultural content. It supervises The KBS Korean Language Proficiency Test, a Korean assessment exam for foreigners.

BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]