Teaching Resources

Course Materials: Korean for Professional Purpose

Aram Cho, Ph.D. — Lecturer of Korean, Department of World Languages and Cultures, Georgia State University

This course was designed to develop and consolidate students’ advanced level Korean proficiency by discussing a variety of topics related to Korea’s business world including marketing and business administration, and international trade, etc. This class aimed to improve Korean language in various business situations. The language used in a business situation differs from a daily conversation, so it needs more polite and strategic language uses. In a business situation it needs the formal expressions or structural discourse features in business presentations, discussions, and writing reports. In other words, someone who wants to work in Korea companies should acquire certain expressions typically used in Korea business and practice based on the usage in real life. To achieve this goal, this course emphasized three critical aspects of Korean linguistics and cultural competency needed for successful business communication: (1) a repertoire of business terminology, (2) formal language use, and (3) business culture and etiquette. Accordingly, this class dealt with the formal expressions and grammars appropriately in situations case by cases for the advanced level learners. Also this class covered how to speak and write politely and use the basic terminologies to understand the business contents.