‘English fever’ is never a novel phenomenon in East Asia. Since its arrival in 1882, English learning has become increasingly vital to the development of South Korea. Drawing on Bourdieusian perspectives of capital, field, and habitus (ch. 2), Jinhyun Cho, based on her Ph.D. work, explores English fever from two levels of ideology: marco-historical research of the Korean society (ch. 3) and a micro-individual study of Korean translators and interpreters (chs. 4–6).
The book begins with Cho's personal story as an interpreter and her realization of the gap between the glorified occupation and the reality in Korea. Ch. 3 then provides an overview of the rise of English in Korea from 1882. Key historical events and figures are discussed to afford readers an in-depth understanding of English fever in Korean history.
Ch. 4 discusses the linguistic insecurities among haewaepa (overseas learners of English) and guknaepa (domestic learners of English) by exploring their learning and career trajectories. Haewaepa expressed their concerns of being posed high expectations from the society because of their overseas experience; however, they viewed themselves as unsophisticated in grammatical knowledge and Korean knowledge in terms of being an interpreter. By contrast, guknaepa viewed haewaepa as perfect bilinguals, and they felt insecure because they did not have long overseas experience, and culture and pronunciation were obstacles for their career development.
Ch. 5 explores the gendered roles for Korean women's English language learning and career choices. Three types of ideology groups are identified. (i) Those who view English as a way to meet gender expectations from Korean society. Specifically, they intend to ‘have it (marriage, career, and children) all’ and English is a key to achieve the goal. (ii) Those who view English as a key to pursue individualization. This group of women have passed the ‘marriageable ages’ and deferral of marriage is deemed a key feature of individualization. A number of factors lead to this phenomenon, including the priority of career development, the projected independent images from Western films, and unexpected family incidents. (iii) Those who view English as a tool to support outbound mobility. ‘Push factors’ are identified such as social pressures to get married and trouble in finding the ideal job. ‘Pull factors’ include their expectations of having a quality life and career development overseas.
Ch. 6 depicts a rising situation in Korea of eoljjang to ngyeoksa or ‘good-looking interpreters’. Due to the competitive job market and the well-known beauty industry in Korea, goddesses instead of gurus of English are preferred according to the findings. The ‘self-styling’ or ‘sexy-styling’ of female interpreters—including extra attention to age, smile, voice, and bodily effort—projects the interpreters’ compromise into the Korean society's gender norms for females.
This book provides a historical overview of English fever and the current translators’ and interpreters’ perspectives of English. It will not only be of particular interest to readers of language ideology, but also to those having strong interests in the culture of South Korea.
