[ti:More People Learning Korean after ‘Squid Game’ TV Show]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]A company offering online language-learning services 
[00:03.68]says more people are learning Korean 
[00:07.08]after the launch of a popular Korean TV show on Netflix.
[00:13.72]The language-learning company, Duolingo, 
[00:16.84]reported the sharp increase in Korean learners.
[00:22.64]In Great Britain, 76 percent more people than usual 
[00:27.72]signed up to learn Korean. 
[00:30.12]In the U.S., the number increased by 40 percent 
[00:36.04]after the show started two weeks ago.
[00:40.40]The nine-part show is another example 
[00:43.52]of Korean popular culture that has found success in the West.
[00:50.56] It comes after pop songs by the music group BTS
[00:55.68] and the international success of the movies Parasite and Minari. 
[01:02.04]Parasite won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2020.
[01:10.40]Korean culture is making a connection with English speakers. 
[01:14.88]Recently, the Oxford English Dictionary added 26 new words 
[01:21.80]that come from the Korean language, including "hallyu," 
[01:26.24]which means Korean wave.
[01:29.48] "Hallyu" is how people are describing the success
[01:33.88]of Korean pop culture outside of Asia.
[01:39.12]Sam Dalsimer is a spokesman for Duolingo. 
[01:42.96]In an email to the Reuters news agency, he said, 
[01:47.52]"What happens in pop culture and media
[01:50.60] often influences trends in language and language learning." 
[01:55.84]Dalsimer noted that as Korean film, music and television 
[02:01.36]get more popular, more people will want to learn the language.
[02:06.92]South Korea's president Moon Jae-in 
[02:10.08]welcomed the additions to the dictionary 
[02:13.68]and the interest in the language. 
[02:16.56]He called the Korean alphabet an example 
[02:19.68]of South Korea's "soft power."
[02:24.12]The Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange 
[02:29.04]said there are about 77 million people around the world 
[02:33.72]who speak Korean. 
[02:36.20]Duolingo said about 8 million people are trying 
[02:40.20]to learn Korean through its service. 
[02:42.88]That is second only to Hindi.
[02:46.84]South Korea's King Sejong Institute
[02:50.04] teaches the language around the world. 
[02:53.56]The cultural institute is named after the South Korean king 
[02:58.28]credited with inventing the Korean alphabet. 
[03:03.12]Fourteen years ago, only 740 students in three countries 
[03:09.92]were learning Korean through the organization. 
[03:13.64]Now, it teaches 76,000 students in 82 countries.
[03:23.16]Milica Martinovic is one of the institute's students in Russia. 
[03:30.32]She said she started learning Korean so she could understand
[03:35.00] popular music and television shows in Korean.
[03:39.68]Catarina Costa is a 24-year-old from Portugal.
[03:45.08]She lives in Toronto, Canada. 
[03:49.12]She is studying Korean online
[03:51.60] through a website called TalkToMeInKorean.com.
[03:57.72]When she first started studying two years ago, 
[04:02.20]many of her friends did not understand her interest. 
[04:07.40]Now they do.
[04:10.12]"People are fascinated when I say 
[04:13.96]that I am learning Korean," Costa said.
[04:17.96]Sun Hyun-woo started TalkToMeInKorean. 
[04:23.72]He said there are now 1.2 million people studying the language
[04:29.24] in 190 countries using his website.
[04:35.08]He said even before the success of BTS
[04:39.56] and Korean TV shows and movies, 
[04:42.88]thousands of people wanted to learn the language, 
[04:45.84]but they were doing it alone.
[04:48.36]"Now they are part of a 'global phenomenon'; 
[04:52.72]learning Korean has turned into a much cooler pastime," he said.
[04:58.92]I'm Dan Friedell. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM