King Sejong Institute
| Founded | 2005 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Government of South Korea |
| Type | Cultural institution |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
| Product | Korean language education |
| Website | Official Website |
| King Sejong Institute | |
| Hangul | 세종학당 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 世宗學堂 |
| Revised Romanization | Sejonghakdang |
| McCune–Reischauer | Sechonghaktang |
Sejonghakdang (Hangul: 세종학당) is a brand name that the South Korean government launched in order to comprehensively provide Korean language learners and teachers with an integrated study and information service. "Sejonghakdang" is expected to be developed as the brand for Korean-learning or -teaching Institutes around the world.
Sejong was the fourth King of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea who created the Korean alphabet in 1446 and Hakdang means educational institutes in Korean.
Hangul, the Korean alphabet, is the written form of the official Korean language and has been used by Koreans since its creation in 1446 by Sejong the Great of the Joseon Dynasty. Most Korean language learning institutions outside Korea targeted second or third generation descendants of Korean immigrants, while Korean-language learners in South Korea were mostly foreign students, migrant workers, or spouses of Koreans.
The last twenty years has seen a rise in interest and demand for the Korean language due to cultural and commercial globalisation and the Internet/Communications Revolution. International interest in Korean culture such as dramas and music has increased tremendously, especially in Asia, leading to what has been termed the "Korean Wave". This has been accompanied by an increase in foreign students studying in Korea. Demographically there has also been an increase in marriages between Koreans and foreigners.
With the increase in international cooperation and business, the South Korean government has been striving to standardize the names of locations, people, and other proper nouns in Hangul. Also, there was a need for more up-to-date Korean dictionaries, as most were made during the 1990s.
With such demand, the South Korean government established the concept of "Sejonghakdang" so as to provide integrated and standardised information and service for learning the Korean language as well as to coordinate and expand the institutes where people can learn or teach it. The Sehonghakdang will be developed as the brand commonly used by all Korean language education institutes. The South Korean government has recently launched its homepage at Sejonghakdang.org in Korean and English.
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Wikipedia