[KS] failed Koreanists littering the streets

[David McCann]

Re Ross King's and John Duncan's musings on a center in Korea for Korean
language study, and looking at a slightly different demographic, the
hopelessly over the hill mob:  How splendid it would be to be able to plan
serious refresher work in the language during the journeys I have made to
give papers, meet with writers and critics, and knock on the doors of the
potential funding sources.  In recent years, in the middle of semesters,
given the mis-match of schedules for such things, I have made trips to
Korea in which I left on a Tuesday and returned on Saturday, with two and a
half days in Seoul and environs for 1) a meeting with faculty from several
different departments at a university; 2) a press conference and luncheon
meeting; 3) a conference symposium paper presentation followed by a dinner;
4) one meeting with a colleague; 5) return to Boston.  SO I am wondering,
do Messrs. Duncan and King contemplate a program where my ilk might plan
ahead for a three-week stay, two of those weeks to be language work in a
program where short-term advanced classes are included in the overall
design and purpose of the facility?  The sorts of visits I have experienced
recently are symptomatic of a related type of off-center focus in
activities meant to help develop the field of Korean studies.  Or put
slightly differently, if some folks are thinking of trying to set up a
Korean language center, I would be most selfishly interested in helping.
Maybe on the next trip????

David McCann