Spanish Language in South Korea: Its Promotion and What Colombian Government Does to It

Abstract

This study is an action-research that aims to analyze the promotion of the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language in South Korea due to globalization, having as its target audience anyone who is interested in learning about the situation of Spanish as a foreign language in South Korea. This study considers the cultural background of the population, the economic realities of the last 20 years, as well as the different policies that Spain and its center promoting the language, the Cervantes Institute, have done to promote the language, and in the same way the efforts that Colombia has made to promote Spanish in South Korea. The data was collected using articles and books, as well as web pages of institutes for the promotion of Spanish and government pages. The results showed that, due to the political and economic situation of Spain and Latin America in the world, in addition to the growth of Hispanic tourists in South Korea, the need to learn Spanish has increased in this country. To conclude, it is notable that the promotion of Spanish as a foreign language is relevant in South Korea thanks to the globalization that the world is currently experiencing, trade relations and bilateral political relations between this country and Hispanic

countries (21 countries having Spanish as official), and to the cultural interest that South Korea has generated throughout the world during the last decade, generating this that this country wants to be competent serving the largest number of its tourists.