Korean (KREN)

KREN-1011 is the first half of Intensive First Level Korean. This course is designed for those students who have very little knowledge or no knowledge of Korean. The course will provide students with four basic communication skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) through intensive exercise and practice of basic grammar and vocabulary in the form of simple dialogue and narration at the beginning level. The student will also acquire basic knowledge of and exposure to the Korean culture of daily life in relation to the Korean language. Upon completion of one full year of Intensive First Level Korean, students are expected to be able to a) communicate on familiar topics and situations in a daily setting that have been learned in the course, b) carry on survival-level conversations, and c) comprehend and write simple, straightforward texts and messages consisting of phrases and short sentences.

Building on the material covered in Intensive First Level Korean I, Intensive First Level Korean II offers further conversational and grammatical skills in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. It aims to equip students with the ability to carry on conversations on various topics commonly encountered in daily life. In addition, this course will introduce various aspects of Korean culture and society. The class will employ various formats of teaching methods including lectures, drills, and pair and group activities, to help students reach a high beginning level.

KREN-1511 is the first half of Intensive Second Level Korean. This course is designed for students who have successfully completed KREN-1012 or its equivalent. The course focuses on developing more sophisticated communication skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) on familiar topics of daily life situation by studying more complex dialogues and texts. There will be opportunities to learn about Korean culture through hands-on activities and creating scripts to be performed in a narrative presentation on the YouTube channel by using course materials. Upon successful completion of one full year of Intensive Second Level Korean, students will learn how one can a) carry on a lengthy conversation about one’s daily schedule and personal life, b) develop communicative strategies such as circumlocution in order to show one’s intention in an indirect way, c) share and communicate basic information relating to personal topics and social situations, d) narrate a series of everyday events in different time frames, and e) express one’s opinions about familiar topics in a coherent way by using complex sentences.

KREN-1512 is the second half of Intensive Second Level Korean. This course is designed for students who have successfully completed KREN-1511 or its equivalent. The course focuses on developing more sophisticated communication skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) on familiar topics of daily life situation by studying more complex dialogues and texts. There will be opportunities to learn about Korean culture through hands-on activities and creating scripts to be performed in a narrative presentation on the YouTube channel by using course materials. Upon successful completion of one full year of Intensive Second Level Korean, students will learn how one can a) carry on a lengthy conversation about one’s daily schedule and personal life, b) develop communicative strategies such as circumlocution in order to show one’s intention in an indirect way, c) share and communicate basic information relating to personal topics and social situations, d) narrate a series of everyday events in different time frames, and e) express one’s opinions about familiar topics in a coherent way by using complex sentences.

KREN-2001 is the first half of Third Level Korean. This course is designed for those who have successfully completed KREN-1512 Intensive Second Level Korean II or equivalent. It aims to help students further develop all four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) through a variety of tasks and activities, and advance from the intermediate level to the advanced level proficiency. This course also enables students to enhance their understanding of Korean culture and society, and develop cross-cultural insights by comparing and/or making connections to their own. Upon completion of one full year of Third Level Korean, students will be able to a) comprehend conversations on a wide range of familiar and less familiar subjects, b) communicate with accuracy and fluency on a variety of concrete topics relating to current events and to personal and public interests, making appropriate use of formal and informal language, c) narrate and describe in the major time frames of past, present, and future in paragraph-length discourse, d) articulate thoughts and opinions clearly and effectively, e) understand written texts from various genres such as newspaper and magazine articles, narratives, essays, poems, and reports, and f) write connected paragraph-length compositions on familiar and concrete topics relating to personal interest. The instructor will use Korean as much as possible, and the use of English will be minimal.

KREN-2002 is the second half of Third Level Korean. This course is designed for those who have successfully completed KREN-2001 Third Level Korean I or equivalent. It aims to help students further develop all four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) through a variety of tasks and activities, and advance from the intermediate level to the advanced level proficiency. This course also enables students to enhance their understanding of Korean culture and society and develop cross-cultural insights by comparing and/or making connections to their own. Upon completion of one full year of Third Level Korean, students will be able to a) comprehend conversations on a wide range of familiar and less familiar subjects, b) communicate with accuracy and fluency on a variety of concrete topics relating to current events and to personal and public interests, making appropriate use of formal and informal language, c) narrate and describe in the major time frames of past, present, and future in paragraph-length discourse, d) articulate thoughts and opinions clearly and effectively, e) understand written texts from various genres such as newspaper and magazine articles, narratives, essays, poems, and reports, and f) write connected paragraph-length compositions on familiar and concrete topics relating to personal interest. The instructor will use Korean as much as possible, and the use of English will be minimal.

This course is designed for those who are interested in the linguistic characteristics of the Korean language. This introductory course aims to help students understand the fundamentals of the Korean language including its writing system, sound pattern, word formation, and sentence structure. It also discusses socio-cultural aspects as well as the history of Korean. This course will provide a descriptive as well as detailed analysis of the Korean language from a theoretical perspective, which will help students develop analytical and critical thinking skills. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to gain a general understanding of the Korean language and learn analytic reasoning via examination of linguistic data. Basic knowledge of Korean is preferred. The course is conducted in English.

This course is designed to provide a general introduction to Korean history and culture through various reading materials, documentaries, and Korean films. The students will explore the ways in which Korea formed its distinctive identity within the world order of East Asian civilization in the pre-modern historical era; how it underwent a modern transformation in relation to Japanese colonial rule during the age of imperialism; the division between North and South Korea after the liberation from Japan, and the Korean War in the context of the Cold War; and how the two Koreas have responded to global capitalism with different attitudes. Korean culture will also be investigated through class reading materials, the student’s own research, and in presentations. The topics will include both traditional and modern culture, contemporary culture of everyday life, society, and pop culture in Korea. In completing this course, students will be able to better understand Korean history and cultural values, and will develop their critical thinking skills while acquiring cross-cultural insights by comparing the Korean historical and cultural heritage with their own. The class will combine lectures with class discussions and the students' presentations. All class materials are written in English and the class is conducted in English. Therefore, students who do not have previous knowledge about Korea and Korean language, but are interested in Korea, are encouraged to take the course. No prerequisites required.

This course examines the constraints and imaginative possibilities of borders (and border crossing) in modern Korean literature with a sustained focus on how borders are produced through power: empire, the state, markets, social hierarchies, and academic disciplines and institutions. We ask how “Korean literature” has been defined and institutionalized as a field, and how writers’ formal strategies (content, form, voice, and language) have challenged that naturalized frame. Reading major and lesser-known works alongside scholarship in Korean Studies, diaspora studies, and decolonial/critical theory, we analyze how cultural texts construct, contest, and reimagine community: who gets bordered in/out, who becomes legible as a subject, and what forms of belonging (or refusal) literature makes possible. The course emphasizes the historical legacies of inequality—including colonialism/imperialism, Cold War orders, labor migration, racial capitalism, and gendered violence—and traces their contemporary afterlives in narratives of displacement, minoritized identities, and multilingual life. Across Korea, East Asia, and wider global routes, we practice comparative reading to track how cultural texts make the unspeakable legible, resist erasure, and reimagine belonging. All readings are in English; no Korean language skills or previous knowledge of Korean history are assumed.

This class is for those who want to understand contemporary Korean culture in depth through Korean cultural products. Through critical engagement with contemporary Korean media, this course aims to equip students with an understanding of major theories and discussions in globalization, transnationalism, multiculturalism, and cultural politics, as well as media literacy that allows analyzing popular culture and its products. In the first part of the course, we will develop our analytical skills through a study of some key concepts in cultural studies, applying them to our preexisting knowledge of Korean popular culture. In the second part of the course, we will think more "generically," taking different "K-" genres as case studies to better understand the narratives that undergird South Korea's “cultural contents" industry. Lastly, the third part of the course is complemented by insights from guest speakers who are actively researching or working on the global dissemination of Korean culture, as well as how various cultures are localized within Korea. Learning Objectives: ● Develop a critical and informed perspective on how history, culture, and identity are portrayed and represented in cultural products. ● Recognize culture as a dynamic process characterized by evolving tastes and knowledge in the production and consumption of cultural products. ● Utilize critical analysis from the field of cultural studies to examine a variety of visual and textual materials. ● Further develop the ability to effectively reflect on these experiences through writing.

Confucianism is one of the major philosophical traditions in East Asia; it has contributed in diverse and enduring ways to East Asian people’s understanding of themselves and the world. Korea is known as the “most Confucian culture in the world today.” To understand Korea, its past and present, it is critical to understand the historical and contemporary impact of Confucianism. This course offers a brief history of Korean Confucian philosophy and its impact on language, identity, human relationships, economy, education, politics, gender, sexuality, and more. We will study not only past but also present contemporary expressions of Confucian thought and culture. In the latter part of the class, students will be encouraged to imagine the future of Korean Confucianism.

This course is fourth-level Korean designed for students who have completed KREN-2002 third-level Korean II or its equivalent. Students will develop to a high level of advanced proficiency through listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities using authentic Korean materials. Learning language will be paralleled with expanding socio-cultural understanding of Korea and development of cultural competence by dealing with various topics in the texts. Through this course, students will a) be familiarized with the broad vocabulary and expressions, and with complex grammatical structure specialized for socio-cultural issues, b) be equipped with the ability to argue and support their own opinions and thoughts in a coherent and organized way in the context of oral discussion and formal presentation, c) be able to deal with abstract topics about social and cultural issues of Korea in their writing, using various genres such as personal essays, summaries, reports, argumentative writing, etc, and d) prepare for their further studies on a specific area of their interest, with the required Korean language skills. The course is conducted in Korean.

This course is designed for those who have successfully completed KREN-2002 Third Level Korean II or equivalent. It aims to help students further develop their oral communication skills to the high-advanced level of proficiency. This course focuses primarily on the development of advanced oral language proficiency, but will help students improve their listening, reading, and writing skills as well. Throughout the course, students will engage in various communicative activities such as pair, group, and whole-class discussions, role-plays, presentations, debates and interviews. This course will cover various topics related to Korean culture and society, including current events and issues, by accessing authentic materials (e.g. newspaper articles, newscasts, films, etc.). By the end of the semester, students will be able to a) convey their opinions on familiar subjects and current events with expanded vocabulary, b) express agreement and disagreement, c) give formal presentations, and d) employ a wide range of speech styles from colloquial to formal as appropriate in different contexts. The course is conducted in Korean.

This course is designed for students with advanced proficiency in Korean who have completed KREN 2002 Third Level Korean II or its equivalent. The course develops advanced writing skills across a range of genres, from everyday practical writing to formal academic and professional texts. Students will analyze sample texts to deepen their awareness of different writing styles and genres, expand genre-specific vocabulary and expressions, and study the conventional structures that shape coherent writing. They will also practice organizing extended ideas in a logical and persuasive manner, connecting new information with existing knowledge, and refining rhetorical strategies. Over the course of the semester, students will build the skills necessary to represent and critique the ideas of others accurately, cite sources properly, and ultimately produce compositions that demonstrate both critical analysis and stylistic control.

This course is designed for students who have completed KREN 3001 Integrated Advanced Korean, KREN 3003 Advanced Oral Communication, or equivalent. Its primary goal is to equip advanced-level students with a deeper understanding of Korean humanities and the language skills required in an academic context. Throughout this course, students will engage with diverse reading materials in Korean, spanning fields such as linguistics, literature, culture, history, data science, psychology, sociology, and international politics. While the course emphasizes reading, it holistically integrates all five skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and cultural understanding. These skills are fostered through class discussions, presentations, and short essays. By the end of the course, students will have the language proficiency and knowledge necessary to comprehend authentic Korean texts and to participate in academic discussions, presentations, and writings on various topics in the humanities. All class reading materials will be primary Korean texts, and the course will be conducted entirely in Korean.

Students who have native or near-native proficiency in Korean, or those who have completed the content courses taught in Korean at Georgetown University (KREN 3013 and above), cannot take this course.

This course is designed for those who have successfully completed KREN-3001 Integrated Advanced Korean, KREN-3003 Advanced Oral Communication or equivalent. It aims to help students further develop and sharpen their advanced language proficiency in the business context and broaden their understanding of the business environment in Korea. Throughout the course, students will read newspaper/journal articles on current issues related to Korean business and economy, listen to business-related newscasts, give presentations, and discuss relevant issues within the Korean business environment. This course will help students develop critical thinking and gain an in-depth perspective on the related issues. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to a) acquire a wide range of business-related vocabulary and expressions (including Chinese characters), b) develop oral communication skills required in the business context including job interviews, consultations, and presentations in business meetings, and also develop written communication skills such as writing job applications (e.g. cover letter, resume), business correspondence, in-depth summaries and reports on business-related topics, c) learn cultural etiquette and work ethics in Korea, and d) increase understanding of current business culture in Korea within the context of globalization. The course is conducted in Korean.

This course is designed for students who have completed KREN 311 Integrated Advanced Korean, KREN 313 Oral Communication, or its equivalent. The students will be exposed to current events and relevant news of Korea through the reading of various upcoming news articles. Although the course is focused on the reading, the class will integrate all five skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing, and culture). The class activity combines the student’s reading and understanding of the content in the material with other skills through a presentation, a performance, class discussions, writing short essays, and even by employing multimedia resources. The topics and current issues that are addressed in the course will include politics, economy, society, education, life in the workplace, North Korea, and Korean pop culture. At the end of class, the students will develop their language skills in order to communicate and express their own thoughts and opinions in Korean as they engage with the current issues covered in the course. Sociolinguistic competence will be emphasized so that students can learn to use Korean in a socially and culturally appropriate and sophisticated manner. The lecture will be presented in Korean and the use of English will be minimal.

This course is designed for students who have successfully completed KREN-3001 Integrated Advanced Korean, KREN-3003 Advanced Oral Communication, or an equivalent course, and wish to advance their Korean language skills to a high level, particularly for engaging with political and social issues. Narrative serves as a unique human approach to understanding the world, and this course explores various themes and narrative forms in contemporary South Korean short stories and films. Students will examine a range of narrative themes, including Politics, Class and Inequity, Disaster, Family, the MZ Generation, Robot and Posthumanism, Vampire and Zombie motifs, and the Globalization of Korean Literature and Film. The course also delves into language elements in contemporary literature and film that shape narrative form, such as time and space, plot, voice, focalization, speech, and characterization. By analyzing these aspects, students will explore how language use influences narrative’s role in shaping social realities in specific ways. Through this course, students will gain an understanding of how narrative, distinct from other genres, represents and constructs social realities in contemporary Korea. They will acquire the ability to analyze and articulate diverse perspectives and worldviews in Korean literature and film, while drawing comparisons with their own cultural experiences. Language proficiency will be enhanced through reading, discussion, presentations, and critical writing on Korean literature and film. Primary texts in Korean will be used, and all class activities will be conducted in Korean.

This course is designed for students who have successfully completed at least two KREN-300x level courses or their equivalent. For students interested in the Korean language in relation to its culture and society, this course explores the diverse ways in which people employ language in different cultural and social settings. It aims to direct students to an in-depth and critical discussion on the major issues related to language, culture, and society, such as language and social relations, language and cultural identity, language variation, and language change. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to gain a general understanding of the social and cultural contexts of the Korean language. This course is taught in Korean.

This course will look at the ways in which love, sex, and marriage are conceptualized and enacted in Korea through the formation of culture. Rather than looking at love, sex, and marriage as pre-existing and unchanging entities, this course will pay attention to how the constitutive nature of human feeling, physical desire, and the ways of institutionalizing them have shifted over time. In order to explore these aspects of cultural formation as they have occurred in Korea, we will explore various genres of cultural products, such as the historical record, literary texts such as poetry and the novel, the personal essay, visual art, news articles, cartoons, and film. The course will address at length various crucial issues, from traditional culture as it was shaped in the Choson dynasty in comparison with modern culture before and during the Japanese colonial rule, to the cultural history of gender and sexual politics in South Korea. The contemporary dating and marriage culture of South Korea will be discussed in comparison with that of North Korea. By taking this course, students will learn how Korean people articulate love, sex, and marriage in various forms of culture through different stages of the socio-historical moment and will then compare this with American cultural formation. All class materials are written in English and the class is conducted in English. Therefore, students who do not have previous knowledge about Korea and the Korean language, but are interested in Korea, are encouraged to take the course. No prerequisites required.

This course, “A War of Memories: Politics and Poetics of War Memories in Modern Korea," takes an interdisciplinary and transnational approach to the study of literature and film that explore key war events in Korea during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Through a comparative lens, we will analyze cultural artifacts as sites of memory and investigate the political dimensions of “remembering” and “forgetting,” engaging critically about how those negotiations influence the politics, collective identities, and transnational relations within the East Asian region. The course is structured into a survey of four historical topics that illuminate the challenges inherent in “correctly” remembering and “accurately” representing the past: i) the Jeju 4.3 incident; ii) the comfort women issue; iii) Korean War prisoners of war; and iv) Korea’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Each topic will be introduced through a mix of feature films, documentary films, and literature that reflect the construction and interpretation of individual and collective memories. Korean language proficiency and knowledge of Korean history and culture are not required.

A War of Memories: Politics and Poetics of War Memories in Modern Korea," takes an interdisciplinary and transnational approach to the study of literature and film that explore key war events in Korea during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Through a comparative lens, we will analyze cultural artifacts as sites of memory and investigate the political dimensions of “remembering” and “forgetting,” engaging critically about how those negotiations influence the politics, collective identities, and transnational relations within the East Asian region.

The course is structured into a survey of four historical topics that illuminate the challenges inherent in “correctly” remembering and “accurately” representing the past: i) the Jeju 4.3 incident; ii) the comfort women issue; iii) Korean War prisoners of war; and iv) Korea’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Each topic will be introduced through a mix of feature films, documentary films, and literature that reflect the construction and interpretation of individual and collective memories.

Korean language proficiency and knowledge of Korean history and culture are not required.

Melancholic and Otherworldly: Horror in Modern Korea examines how horror narratives in literature and film reflect the cultural, political, and historical anxieties of modern Korea. The course explores the aesthetic, thematic, and symbolic dimensions of horror, situating these works within the contexts of Korea’s rapid modernization, colonial and postcolonial histories, and shifting social landscapes. Topics include the tension between tradition and modernity; anxieties surrounding industrialization and globalization; the lingering trauma of colonialism and war; shifting gender and family dynamics; and the global circulation of Asian horror. Students will engage with a range of texts—films, short stories, and essays— to analyze how horror both reflects and subverts systems of power and knowledge, giving form to voices long silenced, suppressed desires, collective resistance, and changing worldviews. This course approaches horror as a language for the unspeakable, a mode of resistance against entrenched hierarchies, and a mediation on what it means to be human, revealing how the genre preserves what dominant narratives attempt to marginalize or erase. No prior knowledge of Korean language, literature, or history is required. All readings and screenings will be provided in English translation or with English subtitles.

This class introduces students to representative Confucian philosophers from the pre-modern period in China, Korea, and Japan. It consists of weekly lectures and related discussion sections. The course will focus on what in the West is called neo-Confucianism, which means that it will be primarily concerned with Confucian thinkers from roughly the 10th century CE onward. Some background in Confucian philosophy is recommended, for example, Theology 2570 “Chinese Philosophy” would help to prepare someone for this class and knowledge of East Asian\ Buddhism would be helpful. The course will be conducted in English. Students who have questions about preparation are encouraged to consult with and get permission from the instructor.

Reading original texts in the classical language.

Confucianism is one of the major philosophical traditions in East Asia; it has contributed to the philosophical foundation of East Asian people’s understanding of the world, including sex, gender and sexuality. Confucian ideas of women and gender faced an unprecedented challenge from feminism at the beginning of the twentieth century. This course examines the history of the encounter between Confucianism and feminism with a special focus on Korea, which is known as the “most Confucian part of the world.” Students will explore Confucian views on women, (Western and East Asian) feminist critiques, and more recent revisionist scholarship. The body of material covered in the course will include written works from a wide variety of disciplines: philosophy, history, literature, etc. and also visual resources. Toward the end, the possibilities of Confucian feminism and feminist Confucianism will be explored. Conducted in English.

The senior seminar is designed to guide majors towards organizing and writing their individual research papers. For this purpose, we will consider critical issues in the study of Korean culture in both the Western and Korean contexts. This includes the development of Korean Studies as a discipline in relation to the more established fields of Sinology and Japanology. The examination of these questions will be geared to developing the theoretical framework of each student's individual research topic. This seminar is required of and limited to Korean majors.

In this course we will read fiction and poetry in translation that demonstrates how Buddhist thought is expressed through literature. This means something more than the use of literature to teach Buddhist ideas: instead, our focus will be on how Buddhist teachings about the illusory nature of life creates literature that raises questions about its own status in relation to “real life.” The majority of literary selections will be Korean, supplemented as needed by some Chinese and Japanese sources in order to paint a broader picture of the impact of Buddhist philosophy on the East Asian understanding of the religious significance of the literary and creative imagination.