The Korean Language Program at the University of Pennsylvania currently offers a complete curriculum in Korean language with 22 classes, covering five full years of Korean language courses. This includes elementary, intermediate, and advanced-level language courses. We also offer tailored instruction to heritage speakers through two courses up to the second-year level. Upper-level students can study Korean in our content-based courses such as Current Korean Media and languages for specific purposes courses such as Business Korean.

Why Study Korean?

• With more than 77 million speakers, Korean is the thirteenth most widely spoken language in the world and the eighth most widely spoken language at home in the US.
• Hangul, the Korean alphabet, is relatively easy to learn due to its scientific and phonetically based script. Students typically master it within a week.
• Economically, South Korea is the eleventh-largest economy in the world and the sixth-largest trading partner of the US, following China, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Germany.
• Korea is also a world leader in technological innovation. According to the 2018 Bloomberg Innovation Index, Korea is the world’s number one most innovative economy, and has been for five consecutive years.
• Korean is a critical-need foreign language to US national security, with many job prospects in the government sector.
• Due to its long history and dynamic political, social, and cultural development in recent years, Korea offers many areas to explore in a variety of academic disciplines.
• Korea is home to the internationally popular K-pop, K-drama, and K-beauty industries, as well as many more! By learning the language, you can understand and enjoy these cultural products on a deeper and more personal level!