Korean

This course cultivates social innovation capacity by approaching K-content as a single bowl of bibimbap. Just as bibimbap blends diverse ingredients while preserving their distinct flavors, this course places classical and contemporary Korean literature, web novels and webtoons, dramas and games into one bowl and reads them together. K-content is treated not merely as a collection of stories but as an experimental apparatus for thinking about and testing future societies. 

In this process, students examine the tensions and collisions produced as generation and class, gender and region, and platform cultures intertwine, and to treat this hybridity not as proof of “Koreanness,” but as a starting point for social innovation. Through the course, students discover social problems that have not yet been named and learn to nurture them as both citizens and creators who can articulate those problems through new narrative forms. 

By observing specific idol, drama, game, or webtoon fandoms, recording their voluntary care practices, informal rules, and conflict mediation methods, and translating these organizational forms into prototypes for small-scale civic projects or public campaigns, students approach fandom not as a mere consumer group but as a hybrid governance model capable of experimenting with social innovation 

Furthermore, this course does not stop at reading K-content as an object of cultural consumption. It operates as an “imagination workshop” that uses SF imagination and speculative social design to experimentally envision future societies. Students analyze narrative worlds while also engaging in creative practices that design possible social institutions, technologies, and forms of community.  

Topics include What does Science Fiction imagine, Worldbuilding and reading worlds, Speculative imagination, Korean SF and K-content, Transitioning social problems into SF, K-webtoons and platform SF, K-movies and future societies, K-pop and narrative universes. 

This course investigates how language shapes communication, organizes interaction, and builds community in online game cultures, with particular attention to two popular Korean games: MapleStory (MMORPG) and League of Legends (MOBA).  

Please note that students are expected to demonstrate a clear interest in acquiring gameplay proficiency in these games and must be willing to participate in structured, designated group play sessions. This course is not recommended for students without prior gaming experience. 

The first half of the semester focuses on MapleStory alongside individual assignments and a midterm, while the second half pivots to structured League of Legends team play and group-based projects.  

Through lectures, assigned readings, fieldwork in PC bangs, and collaboration with Gen.G’s GGX facility, students analyze how game genres, platforms, and play spaces structure linguistic practices, social norms, and player identities.  

By the end of the course, students are able to: analyze how language functions in online games (commands, politeness, toxicity, role talk, jargon) using basic tools from pragmatics and discourse analysis; compare MapleStory and League of Legends as distinct “linguistic ecologies,” showing how genre and tempo shape communication; conduct small-scale empirical studies of game-related communication (in-game chat, voice, Discord, PC-bang interaction, esports events); reflect critically on PC-bang and esports spaces, connecting them to broader debates about youth, stigma, and digital culture in Korea; and work collaboratively in teams to gather, interpret, and present language data from League of Legends. 

Korean II is for students who have completed Korean I. In this course, students will learn advanced verb endings, classifiers, and different verbal modifiers. Each lesson is divided into four sections: (1) Basic Dialogue (2) Explaining Vocabulary (3) Learning Grammar Patterns and Spoken/Written Practice Questions, and (4) Utilization which focuses on application of grammar patterns and the dialogues.

This course explores various social and cultural issues in Korea through reading and discussing Korean-language books and articles published in contemporary Korea. The course focuses on literature, essays,and academic texts on topics such as overseas Koreans; social and cultural discrimination; modern history, and the daily lives of workers in Korea. The course also aims to improve Korean language skills at the academic level. 

All course materials are in Korean.

This course is for students who have no previous knowledge of Korean and offers an introduction to Korean language and culture. It enables students to develop competence in a range of everyday tasks in Korean. The course focuses on oral communication and on acquiring essential listening and speaking abilities. Students develop and practice basic reading and writing techniques. The stimulus material (oral, aural and written) provide an introduction to Korean grammar and syntax and contribute to giving the students an insight into aspects of Korean life and culture. This course is delivered via small group teaching with classes having a maximum of 16 students.

This course enables students to have simple conversations by learning basic sentence patterns, expressions, and vocabulary in Korean. 

Students learn how to read and write Hangeul (Korean alphabet). Also, students will practice various daily topics such as self-introduction, greetings, major/school activities, family, locations, and numbers. The course follows the integrated text which is effective for students to practice four areas: reading, writing, speaking, and listening.  

This class will be carried out in Korean. Therefore, students are required to speak Korean only during class time. 

This introductory course focuses on learning characters and pronunciation, while also studying basic grammar through simple daily conversations.

This course, offered entirely in Korean, is designed for students who have basic knowledge of the Korean language and have completed more than 50 hours of Korean language education or taken Korean Language 1. It enables students to deepen their understanding of the Korean language and to acquire a beginning level of communicative competency in Korean. This class employs a comprehensive approach for reading, writing, speaking, and listening.  Topics include how to use honorific forms, speaking in formal settings such as presentations, how to engage in phone conversations, daily topics like travel, transportation, family, culture, and Korean life. 

This class is designed for international students studying at SNU, in particular those students who may not have had the opportunity yet to study the language or culture of Korea. It provides a general introduction to the Korean language and important aspects of Korean culture, both traditional and modern. Topics include an outline of the Korean language with honorific forms, Korean history, nature, economy, and society. The course also covers Korean art, music, literature and philosophy as well as problems concerning the traditional culture such as family, relatives, wedding, funeral ceremony, folk's belief, shamanism, seasonal rite and customs. The class is conducted in English, including all instruction, discussion, and assignments. 

This course examines the overall process of how cultural heritage was formed and used in the past and interpreted in later generations. Students explore the cultural heritage of the Korean people and learn about buildings such as temples and palaces, as well as sculptures such as Buddhist statues and stone pagodas from the perspective of cultural history, and to develop an eye for Korean cultural heritage. 

This class demonstrates and builds appreciation for the outstanding qualities of Korean cultural assets.