Mojitos are Yummy: What university in Korea has a good Korean Language Program for foreigners?
I need to improve my speaking skills in Korean. I’d like to go to Korea for 1-3 months and enroll in a Korean language program at a university there. I’d like to know of some universities with good Korean language programs for foreigners and which would be the best for improving speaking skills. Thanks!
Answers and Views:
Answer by Baboseki
There isn’t much debate about this one; Yonsei University’s Korean Language Institute is the best. They have a 3-week program and a summer program that would work for you. Here’s the link to the school: https://www.yskli.com/index.asp it’s in English and easy to navigate.
There will be other people who speak English and Koreans that will want to practice their English with you. It’s very easy to fall back to your native language, but this will hurt your progress in Korean. You don’t have to speak Korean all the time. Just make a conscious effort to speak Korean outside of class and you should be fine. Good luck.
EDIT:
Maybe I spoke too soon when I said Yonsei was the best. All my non-Korean speaking Korean friends always had good things to say about Yonsei, but admittedly all my knowledge is secondhand. I always liked Yonsei’s program because you learn to read and write well and that lays a strong foundation, which I think is important. You’re already in Korea, so speaking can be easily improved by just going out and talking to people. Most of my friends did just that and talked a lot in Korean outside of class. Their conversational skills were much improved. But some people are reluctant to do this, so having a formal curriculum that includes lots of practice speaking might be better for them. SNU is a great school and I’ve heard nothing but good things about their program. I’ll have to defer to Yecheon Digital Complex on which program is better or worse, since I don’t have any firsthand experience with either. I’ve also heard good things about Sogang’s program but I don’t know anyone that went there.
Yonsei university is the WORST program if you want to speak well and possibly the best for writing. They have a whole different approach than the other universities.
Sogang has a good reputation for emphasizing speaking and Seoul National University is the most prestigious university overall in all of Korea.
Here are some threads where other foreigners have expressed their opinion:
https://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=5009
https://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?p=1765308
As you can see most people had negative things to say about Yonsei.
Here is SNU’s site:
https://lei.snu.ac.kr/english/pages/SD00009_00.jsp
Here is Sogang’s site:
Say no to Yonsei unless you just want a fun campus environment outside of class or strictly want to write well.
Answer by dpeterkYou said you want to improve your speaking skills in Korean, and for that, I’d go to Sogang Univ. I’ve attended Yonsei Univ.’s program and back then, it was very grammatically geared and oftentimes, a non-Korean foreigner failed Level 1.
Seoul has many universities offering instruction in Korean, you might want to shop around, BUT Sogang is the best for learning to speak Korean better.
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