The Number of Australians Learning Korean are at an All Time High - Here is why

February 15, 2024

The number of Australians learning Korean are at an all time high - here is why

According to the Sydney Korean Education Institute, more than 9,500 students are currently learning Korean at 68 schools in Australia, an increase of nearly 1,000 over the past 10 years. However, the number of Korean learners has increased significantly not only among students but also among adults. At the King Sejong Institute at the Korean Cultural Centre in Sydney, a total of 430 people have registered as of the first semester of 2024, which is 5 times more than what it was in 2011, when the Korean language course was first opened.

Teacher Na Kyung-min explained that those who want to learn Korean are usually divided into three categories depending on their motivation. The first category is because they have a Korean family, such as a Korean wife or husband, the second category is because of simple intellectual curiosity, and the third category is because of interest in and affection for various Korean cultures.

Recently, as interest in Korean pop culture has increased significantly around the world, the proportion of the third group has increased particularly explosively over the past three years, and these people account for approximately 70-80% of each class.