18 The Linguist Vol/65 No/1
ciol.org.uk/thelinguist
FEATURES
HEADLINERS
Blackpink perform at Coachella, USA (above)
Melody Lynch-Kimery probes global fans' relationship with
the Korean language and why that might be set to change
It is 2am in South Korea and Jungkook, a
member of the massively popular K-pop
band BTS, is live-streaming, inviting fans to
watch him eat, sing, cook and even sleep, all
while he narrates his activities in Korean.
Partnered with this parasocial content, a fan
chat is alive with greetings in languages from
Urdu to Spanish, while social media platforms
are flooded with threads of translation
questions: "What did he mean by…", "What
was the brand of…", "Why did he choose to
sing that lyric?"
Fans attempt to translate the narrative,
known as a live, into their first languages, or
eagerly scroll trusted fan translation sites.
While K-pop artists boast enormous fandoms
from Mexico to Thailand, all translanguaging
and renegotiating their own language
meanings, a common linguistic thread runs
through these international intricacies: the
motivation to gain an authentic understanding
and access by studying Korean.
As K-pop has risen in global popularity, the
intrinsic and economic value of learning the
Korean language has also increased.
1
There
has been a huge rise in the study of Korean
in language apps. Since 2016, global
enrolment in university Korean language
programmes has grown by 80%, making it
the 10th highest-enrolled language in 2021.
2
In South Korea, international student
enrolment has quadrupled since 2005, with
over 60% citing Korean culture and language
as their primary motivation.
3
Language interest is also fuelling
migration and bringing money into South
Korea. Fans quickly recognise the value,
access, ownership and cultural competency
that Korean language skills bring in terms of
connecting and engaging with K-pop
content and Korean culture. For those keen
to study, teach or work in South Korea,
language study can also elevate their
career aspirations.
Fan motivation: from lyrics to learning
The discovery of this value is often referred to
as falling down a 'K-pop rabbit hole', or
alluded to by the common refrain 'I just
wanted to know their names.' Initially, fans
seek to understand why artists are addressed
in Korean in multiple ways in videos, songs
and reality/variety shows. From there they start
to parse Korean honorifics, scales of formality
and hierarchical means of address, such as
when to use Hyeong (lit. 'older brother'). They
also take artists' names as starting points to
learning Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, and
use that knowledge to read longer words.
When artists appear in Korean variety or
reality shows they usually do not have
multilingual subtitles, and highly organised
groups of fans manage sites such as BTS-
Trans/BangtanSubs, which translate songs,
THE
K-POP
EFFECT
@AANGLERRR
(AANG)
CC
BY
4.0
