Idolisation of English pronunciation

August 23, 2024

SEOUL – Heated debates ensue in Korea whenever K-pop idols like Jang Won-young introduce themselves in English or South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers an English speech. The discussion is around an element that supposedly has a large influence in determining the speaker’s English proficiency — the public figures’ English pronunciation. Praised are the ones who imitate the smooth American intonation or posh British accent; those who fail to do so are viewed as terrible English speakers. Now is the time for Korean society to question this unhealthy idolization of native-like pronunciation and redefine what it means to be fluent in English.

Origins of an obsession

The pursuit of perfect pronunciation did not emerge overnight. Tracing back to the early 2000s, then-President Lee Myung-bak initiated sweeping educational reform to equip South Korean students with better English skills to compete on a global stage. Consequently, the demand for English education skyrocketed, and with it, the eagerness to acquire native-like fluency.

How this aspiration evolved into fixation lies in the very nature of South Korea’s English education system. Fluency, often equated with native-like pronunciation, is a crucial criterion in determining one’s competence in English. This is because the rigorous education system and the related focus on exam preparation often leave students unfamiliar with speaking English in real life. An experiment involving a speech by Korea-born, former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon displays how this unfamiliarity with comprehending the detailed contents of English dialogues leads to a tendency to evaluate English by pronunciation. The English speech by Ban was shown, and