Asking Koreans Why People Learn Korean | 외국인들이 한국어를 배우는 이유

So many more people are learning Korean these days than ten years ago. When I first started learning Korean, it wasn't popular at all, and I had no other friends who were interested in it. But just a few years later, I started seeing Korean courses pop up online, new books appear in stores, and study groups focusing on learning Korean at my local college.

Why did Korean suddenly become a lot more popular then, around ten years ago (give or take a few years)? Was it due to Kpop? Is it because of the delicious Korean food, or the culture? I had some of my own ideas, but I wanted to find out what Koreans themselves thought was the reason so many people are learning their language.

This summer I flew to Korea to ask Koreans directly what they thought about this. Here's what they said~