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Korea
Business Success eZine – Winter
2006
Welcome to the Winter 2006 issue of the Korea
Business Success eZine of Korean Consulting & Translation Service,
Inc. We hope you find this information helpful to your business in
Korea and with Koreans everywhere.
Table of Contents
- Happy New Year!
- Chaebol (Korean Business Group) Profile: Hyundai
- Feature Article: Status of English in Korea
- Ubiquitous City Project
- Introducing Korea's Arirang English Language TV and Radio Service
- Important Tip when Using Korean Phrases
- Upcoming Trade Shows and Exhibitions in Seoul
- I'm Dreaming of a Korean Christmas
1. Happy New Year!
Many Koreans are hoping for a better year in 2006. While appreciation
of the Korean won has meant reduced competitiveness of Korean exports,
government measures to cool the housing market have somewhat alleviated
the housing bubble that was getting out of hand in certain areas. Of
course, the more valuable Korean won means that imports are becoming
increasingly affordable in the Korean market and more and more students
are able to head out for studies in the US, which is their preferred
destination. On one hand, the domestic economic difficulties present
challenges; but the situation also offers good chances for those in
a position to take advantage of them. Will you be one of those that
jumps at the opportunities?
2. Chaebol (Korean Business Group) Profile: Hyundai
In the
Summer 2005 edition of the eZine, I provided a brief history of the "chaebol" ("Korean
business groups" or "conglomerates")
and gave a profile of Samsung in the following edition. In this issue,
I will provide a brief introduction to Hyundai.
The first thing that needs to be said about Hyundai is that the
Romanization was done by a French speaker, so the pronunciation
is not as it appears in English. The Korean word has two syllables
- the first is pronounced "hyun" and
the pronunciation of the second is between "day" and "deh".
It is not a three syllable word so don't pronounce it like "hun-da-ee",
as some people do. The word "hyundai" means "modern" in
Korean and is a fitting moniker for the business group that has been
a leader in bringing Korean into the modern era.
Hyundai Motors was founded in 1946 by Ju-Yung Chung and the following
year Hyundai Civil Engineering came into being.
Vehicle manufacturing, heavy industries and construction have long
been the core business areas of Hyundai but, as with the other chaebol,
it sought to diversify itself with the encouragement of cheap loans
organized by the government. Hyundai grew to become the largest and
strongest of the chaebol.
The Asian Currency Crisis (referred to as the "IMF era" by
Koreans) was a time of economic downturn in Korea and the Hyundai group
suffered greatly. Most of Hyundai's businesses were sold off or underwent
debt-for-equity swaps in order to reduce debt. The government of the
day reversed the long-held policy of encouraging diversification and
sought to break up chaebol into separate and independent companies
free of family control. The chaebol strongly opposed this new policy
and fought against it but Hyundai largely lost this fight with several
of its most profitable businesses gaining new independence.
Many Korean chaebol were and still are run as family businesses.
However, Hyundai Motors, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hyundai Engineering
and Construction are key businesses that the family behind the
Hyundai group have lost control of. They are now independent stockholder-controlled
companies free of family influence. Hyundai Motors and Hyundai Heavy
Industries are considered to be so big as to be beyond the ability
of the family to regain control or influence again.
Hyundai Motors (http://www.hyundai-motor.com)
is the largest and strongest of the former Hyundai Group companies.
It is by far Korea's largest automaker and has the ambition and potential
to become one of the top five automakers in the world. It is very focused
on its core business of manufacturing cars and trucks. The Kia Motor
Company is now owned by Hyundai Motors, although it retains a separate
brand in the marketplace.
Hyundai Heavy Industries is a large and strong global company made
up of shipbuilding, offshore engineering, industrial plant, engine
and machine, electro-electric systems, and construction equipment divisions.
Hyundai Heavy Industries is the world's largest shipbuilder.
Hyundai Engineering and Construction (http://eng.hdec.co.kr)
is a civil engineering and construction company.
Korean newspapers these days are reporting that the chairwoman
of the Hyundai Group, the wife of late Hyundai Group Chairman Chung
Mong-Hun, has expressed a desire to regain control of Hyundai Engineering
and Construction in 2006 from the current owners, a group of former
creditor banks.
3. Feature Article: Status of English in Korea
Korea wants to secure
a future for itself as a business, financial, manufacturing and logistics
hub in northeast Asia. Korea has many natural advantages and it has
made big efforts in a number of areas to catch up to its rivals in
areas where it is not naturally strong. One area where Korea lacks
a natural advantage is English proficiency. The Korean government realizes
this and in recent years has been making concerted efforts to raise
the level of English proficiency.
In Korea, English proficiency is used to screen applicants for
job interviews but very few Koreans have to actually use it in
their jobs. This is gradually changing but still largely true.
Because the people responsible for hiring generally aren't able
to speak English well, they have relied on standardized tests for
English proficiency, such as TOEFL, TOEIC, and TEPS. These tests
consist mainly of multiple choice questions, which has encouraged
and enabled people to get high scores on these tests by learning
English grammar and vocabulary by rote.
There is a story told of a very studious Korean man with an extremely
high English proficiency test score who was accepted into Harvard University
but had to abandon his studies and return to Korea because he couldn't
understand a word of what was being said. There has been a definite
change in people's attitude to English and most people are now aware
that a high score on an English proficiency test doesn't necessarily
indicate a high proficiency in English. Conversational English classes
are much more popular than those preparing people to sit for one of
the English proficiency tests. Employers now place definite value on
time spent living in an English-speaking country.
The government has sought to reform the English education system
in schools. In the past, English classes were taught like math
classes. There was lots of memorising, drilling and problem solving.
The government has moved to a conversational approach to language
teaching and has started teaching English at a much earlier age.
In addition, the government is taking steps to improve the quality
of English teachers.
Going to university and possibly high school or even part of middle
school in an English-speaking country is a goal of many students and
their parents. These days, large numbers of people have the financial
means to make it a reality. On the domestic front, some universities
in Korea are offering English-only instruction for certain courses.
A recent development is the establishment of English-only dormitories
at a number of universities. Only students with high English proficiency
are accepted and there are penalties for speaking Korean while inside
the dormitory.
There is a definite link between English proficiency and age. People
in their 40s or older are unlikely to speak much English. A reasonable
number of people in their 30s are able to speak English and a higher
percentage of people in their 20s or younger speak English. The reasons
for this are as follows:
· In the past, the government placed restrictions on people traveling
overseas to maintain foreign exchange reserves for use by companies
in order to foster development. This restriction has now been lifted.
· Previously, the government banned all forms of private tuition
related to school subjects in an attempt to not disadvantage the poor
academically. This restriction has now been removed too.
· There was no strong realization of the importance of English
to the country or an individual's future but this has turned around
and now people and the government are serious about obtaining real English
proficiency.
· After the Korean war ended in 1953, Korea was extremely
poor. The nation was intent on developing and has developed very rapidly
but poverty was still a significant issue up until the late 1980s.
This meant that the government and few individuals had the resources
or the inclination to be concerned with quality English education.
In summary, at present, the English proficiency of older Koreans is generally
not good but that of young Koreans is reasonable to good. Furthermore, English
proficiency will continue to improve because there is a wide acceptance of the
need for true English proficiency and the will and means to accomplish this.
4. Ubiquitous City Project
A "Ubiquitous City" or "U-City" is an intelligent
next-generation city designed around U-IT ("Ubiquitous Information
Technology").
Technologies that are likely to be featured in u-cities include broadband
convergence networks, radio frequency identification, ubiquitous sensor
networks, home networking, WiBro, digital multimedia broadcasting,
telematics, geographic information systems, location-based systems,
smart card systems and video conference technologies.
Six local governments in South Korea -- Seoul, Unjeong, Busan, Daejeon,
Dongtan, and New Songdo City -- have started planning to make themselves "Ubiquitous
Cities".
In November 2005, the Ministry of Information and Communication and
the Ministry of Construction and Transportation announced that they
will form a joint task force to help co-ordinate the implementation
of and establish the legal framework required for ubiquitous cities
in South Korea.
5. Introducing Korea's Arirang English Language
TV and Radio Service
Arirang is an English- and Arabic-language satellite/cable
TV, radio and internet news information service broadcasting a wide
variety of information about Korea. Several countries have services
of this type and this is South Korea's version. The service was
launched in 1996 and is of very high quality.
All cable TV companies in Korea carry Arirang TV and your local cable
TV company may also. Arirang TV is also available via satellite. Click here for
details of how to get Arirang satellite TV in your area.
Arirang radio is broadcast from Seogwipo, Jeju-do in Korea and available
by internet elsewhere. You will have to become a member in order to
listen to Arirang radio via the internet, but becoming a member is
open to all and very easy to do.
The word Arirang is the name of Korea's most famous folk song and also
the title of Korea's first feature film. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arirang
Check out the Arirang website for more details on Arirang's TV, radio
and news services. www.arirang.co.kr
6.
Important Tip When Using Korean Phrases
You might like to try using
some Korean phrases and doing so will greatly impress Koreans you speak
to. Koreans will be understanding and overlook your mistakes but there
is one thing you need to take care with to avoid insulting people.
In Korean, the words for "you" and "your" are used only between
very close friends, to preschool children, to animals and to people one wishes
to insult. Your phrase book might give you the Korean words for "you" and "your" but
I would advise you to not to use them.
Koreans avoid using these words in one of the following ways:
1. Omit them. It is generally obvious when a question is directed at
the hearer, so "you"/"your" can usually just be omitted. In English we
would ask someone - "Do you like coffee?" A typical Korean way of asking
the same question would be - "Like coffee?".
2. Use the person's name instead of the pronouns "you" and "your".
This sounds strange in English but is perfectly natural in Korean. In Korean,
a person asking Paul whether he likes coffee could ask him - "Does Paul
like coffee?".
3. Use the person's job description or title in place of the pronouns "you" and "your".
Again, this sounds strange in English but is fine in Korean. In Korean, a person
asking a teacher named Paul whether he likes coffee could ask him - "Does
Teacher like coffee?".
4. Use a combination of 2. and 3. in place of the pronouns "you" and "your".
This is the most polite way. In Korean, a person asking Paul, a teacher, whether
he likes coffee could ask him - "Does Teacher Paul like coffee?".
The above examples are a cross between English and Korean grammar to
illustrate the point about the pronouns "you" and "your".
In Korean, the word order is subject-object-verb, there are no capital
letters and titles always come after names, so the correct Korean sentences
would be: 1. coffee like? 2. paul coffee like? 3. teacher coffee like?
4. paul teacher coffee like?
www.askakorean.com is
a website set up by Korea Consulting and Translation Service
for the purpose of providing simple advice about Korea and
the Korean language and may be of help to you if you have further
specific questions. We can also organize corporate Korean culture
and language introduction lessons in the US or in Korea.
7.
Upcoming Trade Shows and Exhibitions in Seoul
The majority of trade
shows and exhibition in Korea are held in the capital, Seoul, and the
premiere venue in Seoul is undoubtedly COEX. The COEX website lists
108 trade shows and exhibitions coming up in 2006. Click here to
see details.
8. I'm Dreaming of a Korean Christmas
Christmas is celebrated in different
ways all around the world; how do the Koreans do it?
Christmas is a public holiday and is an important religious occasion
for Korean Christians. Giving of gifts and cards is practiced, but
not as widely as in the US since these practices come with the Lunar
New Year Festival a month or so later anyway. Christmas in Korea lacks
some of the commercial, festive or family aspects of Christmas in other
countries.
Many Christians celebrate Christmas by going to church on Christmas
Eve and staying up to see in Christmas day together.
For non-Christians, it is a public holiday but different from other
public holidays in that there is a tendency to get together with friends
or one's boy/girlfriend and do something special. This is one aspect
of Christmas that can and is being exploited by businesses.
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