World Languages and Cultures
Korean Language and Culture
Everything you need to know about Korean at CWU
Korean Studies Minor
Korean Studies Minor is part of the interdisciplinary Asian Studies Program.
Korean Study Abroad
Take advantage of study abroad programs and scholarships. CWU has two exchange partners in South Korea, Kookmin University and Ewha Womans University, including their Summer in Seoul program.
Korean Language and Culture Courses
World Languages and Cultures teaches a First-Year Korean language sequence: KRN 151 (offered in Fall), 152 (offered in Winter), 153 (offered in Spring). We also offer KRN 311 Korean Visual Culture - a popular General Education online course.
Our First Year Korean offers small classes and a student-centered approach. Korean language is taught by an award-winning Professor Yoon Kim. Professor Kim and her students in Korean Culture Club organize many exciting cultural events such as Lunar New Year, K-Pop Dance Night an more!
Why Take Korean?
-
Korean is one of the world's oldest living languages: Korean is spoken by nearly 80 million native speakers worldwide. There are several different theories, linking the origins of the Korean language with Japanese, Chinese and even Tibetan, though most linguistics classify Korean as the largest language isolate in the world. The earliest historical records of the language implicate that there were two different languages spoken in Korea and it was only in the 7th century that the Silla dialect became the dominant language in all of Korea. Due to the separation of the two countries North and South Korea have evolved distinct vocabularies, pronunciations and grammar.
-
Korean Pop Culture has become immensely popular in the last decade: K-Pop bands such as BTS, G-Dragon and Red Velvet which have gained huge international popularity, with fans traveling from overseas to see them in concert and sold out world tours. K-Pop is characterized by a mixture of Western sounds with an Asian performance. The most popular singles even come with their own choreography, including a key dance move, that fans can learn at home. The most well-known Korean dance move is from Psy’s Gangnam Style. As of 2018 the music video has a whopping 3 Billion views on YouTube and is one of the most watched YouTube videos of all time.
-
Hangul is one of the youngest alphabets worldwide and linguists love it: Hangul is often described as being the “most perfect phonetic system” with an alphabet that fits the language like a glove. That is partially because the shape of the letters actually mimics the shape of your tongue while pronouncing them. The language is so popular with native speakers that both South and North Korea have a national holiday to honor their language.
CWU News
Middle school students develop professional skills at Amazing Shake event
February 25, 2026 by Marketing and Communications
$4 million federal grant aimed at helping with school psychologist shortage
February 25, 2026 by Marketing and Communications