[KS] Finally, a proper Korean learners' dictionary

[jrpking]

Dear John: 
  
>   Am I the only one who finds its title--and the title of certain textbooks--a bit odd? That is "Oeguginu^l Wihan Han'gugo^ Haksu^p Sajo^n_ ("Korean Study Dictionary 
> for Foreigners"? 

This has always bugged me, too. The temptation is to suggest that, deep down, still, in the collective pysche of the KFL teaching profession, the analysis of the book title is not this: 

[Oeguginu^l Wihan [Han'gugo^ Haksu^p Sajo^n_]] 

but

[[Oeguginu^l Wihan Han'gugo^] Haksu^p Sajo^n_].

In other words, that there is a kind, or extent, of Korean that is reserved for teaching to foreigners, and that the real McCoy is just simply out of their reach. In other words, KFL has not really yet outgrown the "foreigner talk" problem, and this (but not ESL-derived ideological aversions to the teaching of grammar, which seem to prevail in North American KFL but not in Korea itself) no doubt goes a long way toward explaining the dreadful state of any and all grammatical explanations in KFL textbooks published and edited in Korea itself in any language other than Korean -- why bother with a good explanation when they're doomed never to be able to learn it anyway?

Fortunately, the title of the English-language Yonsei grammar is a bit more palatable: _Korean grammar for International learners_, but if I recall correctly, the original Korean title is still _Oeguginu^l Wihan Han'gugo^... something or other.

Cheers,



--
Ross King
Associate Professor of Korean, University of British Columbia
and 
Dean, Korean Language Village, Concordia Language Villages