'New Millennium Frontier': Globalisation, EIL and Konglish¹

Merry, merry angel!
Under leaues so green, A happy flossom
Sees you, suift as arrow, Seek your eardle uarrow
Near my flossom.

(from 'Pink Angel' Pocket Tissue)

Few native English speakers could be unfamiliar with the phenomenon of 'Engrish', the incorrect, inappropriate or incomprehensible use of English² in Asian media.³ Examples such as 'Coolpis' (drink), 'Lucky Fresh' (toothpaste), 'Fullopain' (painkiller) and 'Homo Sausage' are paraded in magazines, on television and on websites for the amusement of the West and the collecting of Engrish has even reached a kind of cult status in many English speaking countries. A Google search on 'engrish' will produce about 80,000 results including galleries, stores, discussion boards, lexicons, translators and generators.⁴ The phenomenon is so expansive that there are terms for the various sub-varieties of Engrish - Japlish for Japanese Engrish, Konglish for Korean Engrish etc. What is missing from this fanatic interest in the use and misuse of English around the world is any serious discussion of what the phenomenon actually means. Because it is generally viewed with hilarity in the West Engrish is simply not taken seriously⁵, yet it cannot be irrelevant to discussions of globalisation, English as an International Language (EIL) or English Language Teaching (ELT). It is as if native speakers of English have disregarded Engrish as abortive, dysfunctional or illegitimate English usage or perhaps as not English usage at all. Yet the Engrish that appears on electronic goods, food packaging, stationery and clothing and in advertising and pop music is language: constructed using nouns, verbs and punctuation; and attempting to communicate what are sometimes quite complex messages. So what language is it? Whose language is it? What does it mean for the people to whom it is targeted, and what does it mean for theories of globalisation and EIL?

The default view seems to be that Engrish is a marketing by-product of globalisation. Just as Japanese characters have appeared on Western clothing, Engrish is not language but a design feature of certain Asian goods.⁶ This view both contributes to and justifies the lack of serious interest in Engrish as a linguistic phenomenon. It is possible that this explanation adequately accounts for the occurrence of Engrish elsewhere, but I suspect it does not, and it certainly fails to fully explain the phenomenon of Engrish in Korea. While stylistic considerations are definitely present in Konglish the quantity and nature of the Engrish that appears on individual items clearly defies explanation in terms of aesthetics, and a rudimentary survey of Japanese examples suggests that this is also true of Japlish. A more sophisticated explanation could be developed using Pierre Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital. Given the military, economic, political and cultural power of English speaking countries (particularly the U.S.) and their prominence in the process of globalisation English may have become a prestige language; the appearance of English writing, correct or otherwise, on consumer goods may actually increase the symbolic value of said items.

Another, more linguistic, approach can be appropriated from discussions of the linguistic processes and repercussions of globalisation. Emerging from the issue of EIL is the investigation of a possible plurality of Englishes. For some, the way that English is being used by non-native English speakers in certain countries clearly represents the development of new dialects of English, so that just as we speak of American English, British English and New Zealand English we should now also speak of Indian English, Malaysian English and Singaporean English. This approach offers the possibility of a more serious analysis of the Engrish phenomenon, but it is usually associated specifically with countries in which English was imposed during a colonial period and has become a significant or even dominant language; it therefore remains to be seen whether the concept of an English dialect has any relevance in the Korean situation.

Global Issues

Whatever the nature of the Engrish phenomenon it is clear is that there are two significant factors that contribute to its existence. The first is globalisation - the export of the West to the world; the second is EIL - the export of English to the world.

Globalisation and the World System

In terms of Western discourse, academic or otherwise, globalisation is currently the main event of world history. Permeating all of the pulp-non-fiction, the dissertations and theses, the current event/science magazine shows, the documentary films and the magazine features and editorials exploring the theme of globalisation is a growing moral division. The conclusions drawn are frequently presented in a somewhat evangelical manner - be it spreading the gospel or preaching hellfire and brimstone. Globalisation is no longer merely an historical process; it is an economic, socio-political, environmental, anthropological and moral issue. A stated position on the issue of globalisation is often taken to be indicative of a general socio-political and economic outlook. In this way it becomes emblematic that Free Trade is on the one handed touted as an essential element in the recipe to rescue various nations from their third world status, and on the other hand associated with exploitation by Multinational Corporations and overwhelming American economic hegemony.

In the grand dualism of globalisation, the first of these evaluations of Free trade is associated with Big Business, big money, positivism, empiricism, modernism. For this contingent Bill Gates is a success story, the self made billion dollar man; the World Bank, WTO and the IMF will save the third world by dragging it (sometimes kicking and screaming) into the World System; the logic of capitalism is the universal, pragmatic logic of the human race. For its exponents it is the rational approach: globalisation is bigger than individuals, bigger than nations; it is inevitable - it is the future. In this portrait of the Global World the West is the world, and globalisation is "bringing the ways of the world to Asia" and the third world (Saludo, 2001:46). More significant than the arrival MTV and McDonalds is the introduction of methods, systems and models of politics, science, and economics. Ricardo Saludo believes that "More than the influx of foreign products ... it is overseas business methods and technology which are the main impact of foreign trade and investment." He applauds "Democracy's march across Asia" as "another strong globalizing, and globalization, trend" and seems confident that although "For the time being, some Asian countries can thumb their noses at the world" eventually the non-Western world will be forced to accept "if not embrace" globalisation (ibid: 48-52). It is, in a sense, the "modern bourgeois version of the quest for El Dorado" - the dream of opening the vast potential of the Asian and Third World markets to Western products (Sahlins, 1993:2). The general tone of this kind of discussion is that those who resist globalisation do not know what is good for them and ultimately stand to benefit from their inevitable assimilation into the New World Order.

The second and opposite position is associated with liberalism, humanism, environmentalism, relativism and post-modernism. In this vision of the global situation the brave resistance of indigenous (i.e. non-Western) peoples is being crushed by the brutal capitalism of the multinationals, exploited by American economic hegemony and brainwashed by American cultural hegemony. Inequality associated with the capitalist class structure is converted to inequality based on the 'centre' versus the 'periphery', in which the disadvantages inherent in manufacturing (sweat shops) are relocated to the 'periphery' (the non-Western world) and the benefits produced (goods and capital) are returned to the 'centre' (the West). This is the 'Michael Jordan versus the Indonesian sweatshop' paradigm⁷; the non-Western world becomes both the producer and the consumer of the goods, but the capital remains in the West. The cultural domination that was initiated under colonialism is realised through globalisation and produces a veritable army of aspiring bourgeois consumers. This version of globalisation is a conspiracy theory on a grand scale, a dire warning of the oppressive and inevitable force of Western hegemony, and it can be found informing various components of anthropological discourse.

These simplistic summaries appear more as caricatures than accurate descriptions, and they are in no small part drawn from they way each argument is characterised by the other. Unfortunately in many discussions of globalisation one or the other shoe fits. Further, while seeming to be at opposite ends of a spectrum both arguments actually have in common a fundamental assumption - the inevitability of globalisation, and the fruitlessness of any resistance to it. Proponents of both paradigms portray "the "great game" of imperialism as the only game in town" (Sahlins, ibid: 6), taking history to be singularly the result of the action or inaction of the Western world. Globalisation, therefore, ushers the beginning of history for non-Western peoples, the arrival of which was prompted by their incorporation into the World. In this respect the World is the sui generis sum of all the 'nations' who recognise a Western-centred world. This 'World' is something like the United Nations: an organisation founded in the West, by the West, to address Western concerns from Western perspectives, and willing to recognise and include any nation first willing to recognise its truth and primacy. To be part of the World means to conform to the Western model (intentionally or otherwise). Neither ideological position disputes this basic tenet of globalisation; both assume that to resist globalisation is to opt out of the World. As the World increasingly becomes larger and more powerful this struggle becomes more and more futile - hence globalisation, in anyone's books, is inevitable.

Except that a third and more critical argument has developed in which it is not inevitable. This argument, found in Alastair Pennycook's discussion of EIL (1994), Stephen Epstein's exploration of Korean punk music (2001), and Marshall Sahlins' theory of Historical Ethnography (1993), maintains that the result of the push for globalisation will not necessarily be what was anticipated. The particular point that drives this argument is that the 'receivers' in the relations of globalisation are neither passive victims nor a struggling network of resistance groups;

Although they may be at the margins of the World System, the people are not (to adopt Marx's image) solitary beings squatting outside the universe. They are social beings ...operating on cosmic notions of power, quotidian instincts of morality, selective skills of perception, relative ways of knowing and, withal, large cultural resources of self respect. We are not dealing with people who have nothing and are nothing (Sahlins, 1993:12-13).

In this way globalisation is not simply the imposition of Western models and values onto other cultures; it actually involves the renegotiation of Western models and values by other cultures. Thus globalisation will not necessarily result in assimilation, westernisation and homogenisation - "globalization is instead producing hybridization" (Epstein, 2001:385).

Alastair Pennycook suggests that "much more attention needs to be given to the processes by which individuals and groups interpret, translate and transform their experiences of foreign culture to relate to more familiar experiences" (1994:56). Marshall Sahlins has made somewhat of a crusade out of a similar belief. Sahlins acknowledges that within anthropology the phenomenon of cultural hybridization, which he calls the 'indigenization of modernity', has not gone unnoticed; however he points out that the response of the anthropological community is overwhelmingly negative. He argues that post-modern anthropological perspectives view hybridisation as a sort of pathetic and confused attempt to cling to reified tradition, mistakenly projecting essentialised traditional values and ideas onto Western values, ideas and objects, producing culturally inauthentic results. Sahlins is absolutely contemptuous of such perspectives, dismissing them as 'sentimental pessimism', a term he takes from Stephen Greenblatt (Sahlins, 1993:7). He draws a haunting picture of the Global World according to this 'sentimental pessimism:

Like the rusting shanty towns in which the people live, here are bits and pieces of cultural structures, old and new, reassembled into corrupt forms of the Western imagination (ibid: 6).

Sahlins himself considers hybridization to be a process steeped in cultural integrity and autonomy in which "the first commercial impulse of the people is not to become just like us but more like themselves" (ibid: 17). Hence, as Roy Starrs asserts (2001: xix), nationalism and globalisation are not inherently antonymous. Sahlins takes this a step further, quoting Simmel on the Holy Roman Empire under which "politics of world domination ... only served to release the particularisms of peoples, tribes and nations" (in Sahlins, 1999:413).

Sahlins is mainly concerned with the perceived plight of the so called 'indigenous' peoples who in the aftermath of colonialism are now facing continued imperialism in the form of globalisation, but his argument has relevance for all non-Western peoples dealing with globalisation.⁸ With specific reference to Asia even Saludo is quick to admit that the strength of Asian traditionalism will impact critically on the way globalisation unfolds in the region. In the same volume Adam Schwarz discusses the significance of ASEAN, the Association of South-East Asian Nations, for a strengthening regional identity in response to a perceived decline in U.S. commitment to the region. Schwarz claims that many Asians became suspicious of Western economic agendas after the Asian financial crisis that emerged in 1997 because they felt that the terms dictated in the bail-out packages offered by institutions like the IMF and the World Bank were quite unfavourable. According to Schwarz this, combined with U.S. attempts to apply pressure to Asian nations on issues such as free-trade, working conditions, human rights and democracy has lead to a cooling off in relations between the two regions and a growing Asian concern with specifically Asian interests.

Certainly there is no reason to believe that Asian nations are going to become replicas of America. In his book "Asian Values, Western Dreams: Understanding the New Asia" Greg Sheridan looks at several Asian nations closely in light of globalisation and finds that generally:

The regional leadership ... want[s] to emulate much of what they recognise as Western success, and much of the system that produces that success. But at the same time they do not want an explosion in the rate of teenage pregnancies, the ready availability of crack cocaine, the breakdown of marriage, the erosion of traditional patterns of authority, chronic high unemployment, the gun culture and other pathologies associated with the West (however unfairly in specific cases) in the Asian mind (1999:8).

In this way Asian nations are active and quite autonomous participants in globalisation, influencing its directions and outcomes just as they are influenced by them. Sheridan, like Schwarz, recognises an intensifying sense of regionalism, noting that the education systems of many Asian countries now place more emphasis on learning about their own societies, as well of those of their neighbours. Further

In popular culture and in deeper senses of identity, from Japanese comics to Hong Kong movies, from Taiwanese pop songs to Indonesian singers, there is now infinitely greater cultural interchange between East Asian societies. (ibid: 7).

Sheridan also supports Ian Buruma's argument that Japan has become a kind of 'transmission belt' for the exposure of Asian nations to Western trends in popular culture, "softening and 'Asianising" them in the process (ibid).

Evidence would suggest that Sahlins' concept of the indigenisation of modernity is born out by the Asian response to globalisation. A strengthening regional identity, the incorporation of selected Western ideas and products on own terms and a cautious and critical attitude towards Western globalisation agendas all add up to a significant challenge to the idea of globalisation as an inevitable and inevitably Western process resulting in the wholesale export of an economic and socio-cultural model from the so-called centre to the so-called periphery.

EIL and Linguistic Imperialism

As to the theoretical desirability of an international auxiliary language there can be little difference of opinion. As to just what factors in the solution of the problem should be allowed to weigh most heavily there is room for every difference of opinion (Sapir, 1949:110).

For Edward Sapir an international language is needed to facilitate better communication around wider human interests such as trade, science, medicine and "...every type of expression of the human spirit which is of more than local interest" (ibid: 111), thus he directs his attention to the main issue of the International Language project - the question of which language and under what circumstances. Essentially the argument can be reduced to 'English' or 'not English'; with secondary arguments being 'why English?' and 'if not English then what?' Some advocate English because of its 'superior' qualities - it is apparently scientific, logical, objective and complex yet simple - while others refer to the position that English already holds internationally and consider it a promising (or inevitable) platform from which to build a formal international language. For those who consider English too bound up in intra- and inter-national politics to be useful as an international language Esperanto is often the prime alternative, but it is by no means the only suggestion. Sapir notes that efforts to implement Esperanto internationally have been largely overwhelmed by the magnitude of the spread of the English language worldwide.

According to Robert Phillipson the number of English speakers has ballooned in the last 400 years - from approximately five to seven million English speakers to approximately 315 million native speakers, 300 million speakers of English as a Second Language (ESL) and 100 million speakers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) by 1985 (1992:24).⁹ Even allowing for population increases in that period, these numbers reflect an explosion of English language usage. While the International Language argument goes on between those who advocate a constructed language, those who claim that English will fulfil all IL requirements, and those who suggest that EIL is as inevitable as globalisation, the number of English speakers worldwide continues to climb. Whether or not English is the International Language that many people believe is needed it is certainly now an international language and, for the time being at least, it is the de facto International Language of the modern world.

English has been described as the 'Trojan Horse' of imperialism (Pennycook, 1994:13), and Phillipson in his book entitled 'Linguistic Imperialism' goes into some detail about American and British policies of English promotion designed specifically to use the spread of English to amplify their respective power levels internationally. From the donation of English language textbooks to the promotion and export of recent publications, from scholarships enabling foreign students to study in the sponsoring country to the promotion and funding of ELT programs in the client country the discussion is an indictment of pre-meditated, government funded attempts to export English in order to create relations of dependence internationally. One cannot help but agree with Njabulo Ndebele's assertion that "The very concept of an international, or world, language was an invention of Western Imperialism" (in Pennycook, 1994:1).

Built on this kind of interpretation of the EIL project combined with a critical appreciation of the role that language played in colonialism is the discourse of 'linguistic imperialism' with which Phillipson's book engages. The main argument that orients this discourse is that:

To use English implies relationships to local conditions of social and economic prestige, to certain forms of culture and knowledge, and also to global relations of capitalism and particularly global discourses of democracy, economics, the environment, popular culture, modernity, development, education and so on (ibid:34).

This echoes the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron on language and education in which they assert that "no one acquires a language without thereby acquiring a relation to language" (1990:116; their italics). There are two levels upon which these relations function. At the most basic level the issue is that language is a cultural vehicle as well as a cultural product. Embedded within the language are the cultural paradigms associated with its originators - values and attitudes, idealised representations of social relationships, concepts of empiricism and democracy. In this sense the 'Trojan Horse' disseminates values and attitudes associated with native English speaking countries; a kind of insidious, subversive influence on 'foreign' populations. The second level of imperialism is the linking of English language skills with existing social inequalities, or the introduction of new inequalities based on English language skill acquisition. Pennycook refers to the way in which English comes to function as a 'gatekeeper' to positions of prestige, saying that:

It has become one of the most powerful means of inclusion into or exclusion from further education, employment or social positions (ibid: 14).

This is also reminiscent of the work of Bourdieu - English becomes a form of symbolic capital due to its position (legitimate or otherwise) as an international language and its association with powerful nations such as the United States. ELT projects insert English into pre-existent structures of inequality (or even create new structures to accommodate it) and tie local relations of power and inequality to international ones, further reinforcing the dominating position of the 'centre' countries vis-à-vis the 'periphery'.

For Phillipson this is compounded by the fact that the ELT programs export Western 'expertise' in the form of teaching models and 'standards of professionalism' from the 'centre' to the 'periphery', further solidifying relations of dependency and ensuring the continuance of a situation in which:

Information in the world flows in a very particular direction (from wealthy to less wealthy countries), which is, not coincidentally, the opposite direction to the net flow of wealth (Pennycook, 1994:39).

Once again the conceptual model inherent in this argument can be traced back to the work of Bourdieu and Passeron. The pedagogic authority in ELT programs is clearly associated with the 'centre' countries. Since the teaching models, and also usually the teachers, are drawn from 'centre' countries the habitus reproduced within ELT institutions must be predominantly that of these sponsor countries. As Phillipson points out, even when the ELT programmes are taken over or instigated by domestic groups the fundamental tenets of ELT (as laid out by 'experts' mainly from 'centre' countries at the Commonwealth Conference on the Teaching of English as a Second Language in Makerere, Uganda 1961) are still adhered to.¹⁰

Much of the discourse regarding linguistic imperialism can be summarised by the truism that English is the language of globalisation. In this way the argument for growing linguistic imperialism is closely related to the arguments for growing cultural/political/economic imperialism. As Phillipson explains:

Scientific imperialism, media imperialism and educational imperialism are all sub-types of cultural imperialism. So is linguistic imperialism. Linguistic imperialism also permeates all the other types of imperialism, since language is the means used to mediate and express them (Phillipson, 1992:65).

Hence EIL is both a product of and a vehicle for, perhaps even the primary product of and vehicle for, the project of globalisation. And like globalisation, EIL seems inevitable.

But, just as the inevitability of globalisation is being contested so there is a growing questioning of the inevitability of EIL. The same basic idea found in the concept of the indigenisation of modernity has turned up in socio-linguistic discourse. Pennycook finds that:

"For many who have learned English the experience has opened up new possibilities of personal gain and communal interaction, and to dismiss their learning and usage of English as colonization is to position them within a new academic imperialism" (1994:69).

Similar to Sahlins' idea of the 'indigenisation of modernity' is the concept of a plurality of Englishes, which seems to be increasingly gathering momentum. The realisation that "different language-speaking communities have different ways of using language" (Kachru, 1995:178) has prompted the rise of such terms as 'world Englishes', 'non-native Englishes', and 'dialects of English'. Jenny Chesire (1996), introducing a volume of sociological essays concerning the spread of English, suggests that the "functional range" of international English is rapidly altering, and distinctions between previously discrete categories such as EFL versus ESL learners and native versus non-native speakers of English are becoming less and less clear. As far back as 1978 Willard Shaw surveyed university students in Singapore, India and Thailand and found that the majority of his subjects felt that the variety of English currently spoken by educated speakers in their country was 'unique' as opposed to 'British' or 'American' (1983:31). Shaw's optimistic conclusion at that time was "English no longer belongs to its originators. It has become the property of the World" (ibid: 30).

For Yamuna Kachru traditional explanations of the frequent incidences of miscommunication between English speakers of different ethnic backgrounds fail to adequately account for the phenomenon. He claims that many researchers locate the problem with the non-native speakers and argue that they use English in 'deviant' ways. Invoking the current distinction made between English varieties in Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States Kachru goes on to discuss the cultural element in communication and concludes that:

English has acquired multiple identities ... the utterances are more often than not intelligible, comprehensible, and interpretable, and yet there is an underlying "otherness" in the discourse (ibid: 189).

With reference to the emergence of a 'Philippine English' Andrew Gonzalez (1997) notes that despite ongoing efforts to standardise English in the Philippines it is still heavily influenced by local dialect, so that it is possible to discern the ethnic origin (Tagolog, Ilocano, Cebuano, etc.) of the speaker from the variety of English used. He coins the term 'Philippine English' specifically because of:

...its morphological consistency parallel to American/British/Canadian/Australian/ Jamaican/Indian/Malayan/Singaporean English (1997:206; my italics).

The parallels to Sahlins' notion of the indigenisation of modernity are hard to miss; here we have the indigenisation of English. In particular, it is not merely the pronunciation that is being recognised as distinct (as in Indian accented English), nor the regularity of specific grammatical corruptions (as in Australian Aboriginal Creole English), but the combination of these two factors with cultural factors that are usually expressed in terms of usage (as in Jamaican English). This is the 'deviant' use and the 'otherness in the discourse' that Kachru refers to, and it is this sense of 'otherness' that stands out in the Engrish phenomenon found through Asia. It is interesting to note at this point the obvious derivation of the terms 'Japlish' (Japanese + English), 'Konglish' (Korean + English), Spanglish (Spanish + En g) and Russlish (Russian + English).

The Land of the Morning Calm

I have been living in a small town in South Korea as an English teacher for about twelve months now. I do not pretend to have a thorough understanding of the country or its people and I speak almost no Korean. I teach children between the age of 5 and 13 years¹¹ old at a local hagwon.¹² The adults that I encounter in any significant way often speak more English than I do Korean. To supplement the exposure that I have to Konglish and to Korean ELT I conducted written interviews which, if necessary, were translated into Korean and then back into English again by an interpreter. Clearly there are methodological issues with this approach, but they were generally outweighed by the complications associated with conducting face to face interviews in either language.¹³

The impact of globalisation

According to Greg Sheridan there is a saying that Korea "is the one society in the world in which Chinese go broke and Japanese look lazy" (1999: 216). There are three key characterisations of the Korean people that are intrinsic to this adage. The first is that Koreans are very nationalistic. There is a considerable degree of truth in this, C. Fred Alford even claims that "Korea is possibly the most religiously diverse but ethnically homogenous country on earth" (1999:3). This is not to say that Koreans are unfriendly towards foreigners; on the contrary, many times waiting for a bus I have been given a ride to work by a complete stranger. There is, however, a definite sense in which foreigners have their place - tourists are tourists and English teachers are English teachers, but all are visitors. Immigration laws are strict and ever-changing in the Republic of Korea, and a recent development involves the proposed introduction of a Korean language test for immigrants applying for Korean work visas. Even some Koreans feel the impact of Korean insularity - those living abroad or born outside Korea can be considered foreigners in both their home country and their native country, and often find themselves struggling to maintain a coherent ethnic identity.¹⁴

The second and third characterisations are interrelated - Koreans are both hardworking and fiercely competitive. In 'Asian Values, Western Dreams' Sheridan titles his chapter on South Korea 'Korean Confucianism: The Hard Variety' and points out that South Korea is frequently held to be the most Confucian of East Asian societies (1999:216). These last two characterisations are often identified as crucial factors in the three or four decades of astounding economic growth prior to the 1997 Economic Crisis. Sheridan describes it as "probably the fastest economic growth in recorded history" (ibid) and Joseph Winder suggests that "for three decades [South] Korea epitomized the Asian economic miracle" (2001:301). In "one of the most rapid exits from poverty of all time" its annual per capita income exploded from about USD80 to over USD10000 and by the beginning of 1997 South Korea had the eleventh-largest economy in the world (Sheridan, 1999:216-217). Winder describes the South Korean recovery from the Economic Crisis in similarly dramatic terms:

They threw out the old government, elected an opposition candidate president, tightened their belts, and made some wrenching adjustments in their economy. The results were spectacular (Winder, 2001:301).

Part of the economic recipe for South Korea has been globalisation. The Korean War was followed by continued US presence in South Korea and increasing South Korean economic dependency upon the US. At this time American goods became associated with technical superiority even as American values were viewed with suspicion. Sheridan puts it bluntly:

They had seen what US technology and know-how could do during the Korean War. They also knew who won the Korean War (1999:221).

Until the 1980s South Korean economic development was modelled on that of Japan (ibid: 220), but the 1970s saw a surge in pro-democratic movements. In 1992 President Kim Young Sam came to power promising a new Korea. He targeted corruption, liberalised markets, lowered tariffs, was keenly involved in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) and saw Korea join the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It was apparently on the post-APEC flight to Sydney in 1994 that Kim Young Sam and his aides created the Korean policy of segyehwa - a globalisation roadmap involving the intentional internationalisation of Korean society (ibid:230). According to Sheridan even Korean intellectuals describe segyehwa as requiring "almost a revolution in the Korean Psyche" (ibid: 223). And revolutionary is certainly a word that can be applied to both the economic and social changes that have occurred in Korea over the last fifty years - from the devastation and destruction of the Korean War to playing a leading role in the information industry. Leading novelist and professor of literature Yi Mun Yol observes that:

The changes of the last 20 or 30 years should really have taken place over two or three centuries, they're so big and so rapid. The generation gap used to occur over 20 or 30 years. Now it's people just a few years apart who feel the generation gap (in Sheridan, 1999:224).

South Korea, then, is no stranger to globalisation. You can find Coca Cola and sometimes Pepsi at the local super, and at the shopping mart in any reasonable sized city you can also find Budweiser, Skippy peanut butter and Harry Potter merchandise. The nearest city to my location is Seosan, population about 150,000, and it has Popeye's chicken, Pizza Hut and Dominos pizza, and Baskin Robbins ice cream. Further afield in Seoul, with its particularly metropolitan suburb of Itaewon, you can find McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, the Outback Steakhouse (Australian theme, American owned) and countless dodgy Russian bars. More interesting though, is that in South Korea you can find Korean equivalents to all these. Testament to the strength of Korean nationalism is the intense preference for domestic products as Korean products are generally considered to be superior - hence there are almost no foreign cars on the roads, and even while travelling overseas holiday many Koreans seek out Korean restaurants and retailers rather than eating or shopping locally. 'Lotteria' is a Korean hamburger restaurant modelled on McDonalds/Burger King, but instead of hamburgers and cheeseburgers it offers Bulgogi burgers and Kimchi burgers - and a quick survey of any group of Korean school children will confirm that Lotteria is more popular than either American chain.¹⁵ 'BBQ' is a home delivery fried chicken restaurant which, as well as standard fried chicken, offers Korean style 'yangnyom' chicken¹⁶ and serves white radish kimchi with all orders. 'Dongkas' is a 'Western style' meal consisting of a pork schnitzel cutlet drowning in gravy served with kimchi and salad¹⁷, and there is a particular style of restaurant (the dongkas restaurant) which specialises in serving this Western food in a 'Western' setting.¹⁸ This indigenisation of modernity can be found in all areas of pop culture. In South Korea American pop music is not hugely popular, because there is a burgeoning Korean pop music industry (affectionately known as KPop) based on the American (probably via the Japanese 'J-Pop') model. While KPop is quite similar to American pop music, it is also very distinctly Korean.

In his survey of South Korean society in the midst of globalisation Sheridan talks to a wide variety of people ands finds a predictable trend - older generations fear the introduction of Western cultural influence, younger generations do not. Look closely though and the picture is more complex. The older generations are not suspicious of all foreign influences, just very particular cultural values and behaviours. Further, the younger generations do not simply embrace all Western cultural elements indiscriminately - they selectively incorporate certain things, and ignore others. So after three or four decades of rapid and significant economic and social change most Koreans still live at home until they are married; for men this is often into their thirties. Further Koreans, young and old, embrace globalisation in very Korean ways. An interesting example of the way that this hybridization works in the case of nu-lung-chi (burnt rice soup). Traditionally, in hard economic times, this soup was made out of necessity using water and the burnt rice from the bottom of the pot so as not to waste it. Nowadays most homes and all restaurants use rice cookers, so rice no longer gets burnt in this way - yet the soup is still very popular in South Korea and is now served in restaurants, created 'artificially' using a specially developed rice cooker.

A vivid account of Korean indigenisation of modernity can be found in Epstein's discussion of Korean punk music. For Epstein:

Korean punk rock, in highlighting one set of strategies whereby a new generation is appropriating external cultural forms in order to redefine its own position within society, is emblematic of far reaching changes taking place in Korea as it enters the new millennium (2001:375).

He points out that many members of the Korean punk scene are quick to make explicit a distinction between the Korean scene and the Western punk scene. While Western punk, particularly in its original British context, is concerned with anti-social and violently political protest, Epstein describes Korean punk as more associated with stress relief, temporary release from obligations, dissatisfaction with the education system and an oppositional relationship to the dominance of major music labels. The Korean punk musicians that Epstein interviewed expressed a belief that in assimilating Western cultural elements they were both engaging with an international youth culture and "remaining uniquely Korean", challenging the idea that the only choices offered by globalisation are to sell out or to opt out.

English in Korea

The English language was introduced to Korea towards the end of the nineteenth century and, despite heavy oppression under the Japanese occupation (1910-1945) it emerged as a prestige language during the period in which the United Nations Military Governing Commission was responsible for supervising the establishment of a Korean government following World War II. The end of the Korean War saw the value of English in South Korea increase significantly in response to the country's resultant economic and political dependence on the United States. In the Sixties the first Korean specialists in the areas of applied linguistics and ELT were trained in England and the United States; ELT Korea was truly underway (Baik and Shim, 1995: 124-5).

The position of English as a prestige language has only grown. Considered to be extremely important in getting a good job English is a mandatory subject in both middle and high school syllabi¹⁹, in the first year of college, and is a significant factor in high school and college entrance examinations. Many students take extra classes in English, often starting as young as 5 (Korean) years old. Some of my students are taking English at elementary school as well as attending two different English hagwon. Schools tend to use Korean textbooks in their English classes, whilst hagwon are more inclined to use American or British produced ELT textbooks, or even American school curriculum textbooks. At the most basic level an English hagwon runs classes in which English is taught to students using a mix of bookwork, drills and games. Some hagwon will teach school curriculum subjects such as mathematics or science in English, and some advanced or more adult classes involve less formal language teaching and more directed discussion in order to focus on natural, situational English communication.

In accordance with the ELT tenets listed by Phillipson²⁰ most hagwon employ native speakers in addition to the Korean teachers; sometimes the teachers will take the class together, as in the case of very young students, but usually there is some kind of rotation system so that students are exposed to both. The native speakers conduct classes entirely in English and usually speak little, if any, Korean. Often a policy of 'English only' is employed inside the hagwon, once again fulfilling the ELT tenets discussed above. The native speakers' contracts and their visas are for a set period of one year, but experience is appreciated, so they are often renewed. Almost none are qualified teachers. A minimum university education of a Bachelors degree is required to obtain the E2 working visa as an English teacher. Although American or Canadian accents are usually preferred, native speakers are 'imported' from all over - UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. They are paid well, provided with free accommodation and generally treated with a great deal of respect. For Phillipson, though, there are serious issues around just how well suited the task these native speaker teachers are, and just how useful their contribution really is.

In his 1978 study of the attitudes of Asian students towards English Shaw found that Singaporean, Indian and Thai student had overwhelmingly utilitarian attitudes toward English. The reasons they provided for learning English were predominantly related to the benefits that English could provide as far as job opportunities and social status were concerned. Shaw comments that:

What is most striking about the rankings of the reasons are the ones generally associated with the instrumental type of motivation while most of the reasons rejected by sometimes overwhelming majorities in each country epitomize the kind of integrative motivation that has been stressed as being crucial for second language achievement ... They are also emphatically saying that they are not learning English so that they can change themselves and become more like native speakers (1983:24).

The Korean attitude towards ELT is in line with these findings. My students are by no means romantic about their relationship with the English language. Many of my students have remarked to me that they also take Chinese lessons because of the growing economic and political significance of China in the Asian region. In this way the prestige associated with English language ability in South Korea is tied closely to the position of English in the international world of industry, commerce and politics; and more distinctly with the economic and political position of the United States. This is highlighted by the privileging of American English over any other dialect of English within the ELT programmes. American spelling and usage is taught exclusively. As previously mentioned, although teachers are employed from a variety of English speaking countries American and Canadian accents are preferred. This is not simply a management issue - parents prefer to send their students to hagwon that have American teachers and may change hagwon in order to do so. I have even had the director of my school request, in response to feedback from parents, that I try to adopt an American accent when teaching. Many non-American native speaker teachers do just that.

In their study of public school (Korean-produced) English textbooks in both South Korea and North Korea Martin Jonghak Baik and Rosa Jinyoung Shim surveyed the cultural content of the textbooks for signs of ideology and hegemonic discourse (1995). What they found with respect to South Korean text books, is that although Western culture was clearly represented in idealised terms - with a particular emphasis on fun and wealth - the social structures and gender relations presented in the text books were distinctly Korean. The study was particularly interested in the portrayal of gender relations and roles and noticed that:

...relationships between men and women in all foreign cultures are portrayed to be exactly the same as those in South Korea (ibid: 129).

Further:

...the only profession that a foreign woman is described as having in all of the three volumes of South Korean textbooks is that of a nurse (ibid).

The revelation that Korean-produced ELT textbooks are functioning as a vehicle for Korean cultural values and not Western cultural values again invokes Sahlins' concept of the indigenisation of modernity - the idea of ELT as a medium of Korean cultural hegemony further challenges the image of non-Western countries as hapless victims of globalisation.

Kim Daeho and Hong Swok-Kyeong believe that limitations on foreign content in broadcasting are stricter in Korea than anywhere. They quote the following figures for limitations imposed by the Broadcasting Act:

-Up to 20% on terrestrial channels

-Up to 30% on cable channels

-Up to 50% on cable channels where programming concerns technology and science, culture or sports. (2001:79).

What they note though, is that these figures are more normative lines than actual restraints: foreign content in South Korean broadcasting remains well short of the limitation and, contrary to international trends, foreign programming is decreasing in South Korea (ibid). Once again we see that despite the government policy of globalisation Korean customers prefer domestic products over foreign products.

South Korea is clearly an EFL situation, and seems inclined to stay that way. There is no apparent occurrence of what Phillipson describes as 'displacement' in which English takes over in specific areas or domains of life. English is not a primary language of communication between Koreans in any sphere (except within English hagwon), and there does not appear to be any tendency in that direction. The only area in which English has an increasing domestic presence is in advertising, branding and scattered through video games and pop songs - where it takes the form of Konglish.

Engrish in Korea

I was familiar with the phenomenon of Engrish before I came to Korea; I had spent hours in fits of hysterical laughter over internet sites devoted to it. These days I take it more seriously and it is an integral part of my life. It is all around my apartment on my electronic equipment and on most packaged food that I buy. Any stationery, whether it be my own or my students', will be covered in Konglish. Clothing is often adorned with Konglish and KPop is littered with Konglish lyrics. Konglish can also be found in both TV and leaflet advertising. Generally then there are six categories of Konglish: advertising, household items and appliances, pop music, clothing, stationery and food.

Konglish in advertising tends to appear in two quite distinct areas - technology and cosmetics. The former is clearly appealing to the association of English with science and technology, and the latter is clearly invoking Western models of beauty. It is as Reiko Hayashi and Takuo Hayashi note in their study of the 'Power of English Loanwords in Japanese Discourse - "English is used by the advertisers because of the stereotypical positive images of its culture, i.e. progress, excellence, newness and fashion (1995:203). Usually the Konglish involved is a couple of catch phrases and, not surprisingly, it is the English used in advertising that is most likely to be 'grammatically correct' according to American English usage. Often advertisers will use English language songs but sometimes the suitability of the song is questionable; as an LG advertisement in which a montage of scenes portray the life of a young woman living the bourgeois lifestyle - her own office, yoga classes, dinner parties, ending in her luxury apartment with a great view and a huge relaxing bubble bath. The irony is that the song lyrics question the very lifestyle that she is leading:

Twenty houses in a row

Eighty people watch a TV show

Paper people, cardboard dreams

The whole thing seems...

Could we be living in a world made of papier maché?

The Konglish found on electronic appliances often seems to be expressing the superior quality and technological capabilities of the object - hence "ExcellentMax" on my television and "New Millennium Frontier" on my computer. The other angle taken on appliances is also used for general household items - that of comfort, convenience and 'style'. My rubbish bin is a "High Sensor Interior Box", whilst its neighbour, the compost bin, is a "Belief Ring Wastebasket". My stovetop is a "Magic High Fashion Range", my toaster is a "Phillips Comfort Toastissimo" and my refrigerator bears the message "High Sense - For Your Life Style". The ideas that seem to be referenced here are images of the American bourgeois lifestyle - high technology and convenience, comfort and style.

Korean pop music incorporates English as a stylistic component. It punctuates songs, highlighting important phrases, distinguishing verse from chorus or appears as pseudo-samples repeated through the song. In 'Girl' by F-iV the pertinent point of the song appears in English at the beginning:

If I ever fall in love again girl
eon jeh ra doh neo reul weon hal poon in keol (I will always want you to make me happy)
If I ever fall in love shining girl
I wish you will be mine

'Once Just Once' by major artist Se7en has one line of the chorus which is in English, this line is poignant and central:

Hanbon dan hanbon aphun ne maumur arajwo (Once, just once know my hurting heart)
norur baranun no hana saranghan ne mamur (My heart that goes toward you, that loves you)
norur tonason hengbog harsu obsona (I can't be happy without you)
you don't have to be alone
gujo ne sarang argiman hejwo (Just know my love for you)

Get down with the dancing
Let's get it on, follow me
I want you, come on baby
Get down with the dancing
Let's get it on, follow me
I want you, come on lady