AAK! Wiki: Is Fluency in Korean Useful?

Dear Korean,

I have spent the past three years studying Korean, one of them as an exchange student at SNU. Although I have done well so far, I am still unable to read a Korean newspaper without a great deal of preparation and looking up of words. I found out today that I was accepted into a U.S. government program to study Korean for two years at the University of Hawaii. I am now trying to decide if it is worthwhile to spend two years becoming fluent in Korean and what I could do with Korean fluency.

Harald

Dear Harald,

The Korean finds Korean fluency to be quite helpful. Korea is a rising economy with ever-increasing interactions with the world. More people around the world care about Korea because Korea is becoming more important. And there are not enough people who are fluent in both Korean and English to satisfy the demand. So the demand exists even for people who are somewhat comfortable in Korean but not completely fluent.

But the Korean figured he would open this question up for everyone. How good is your Korean? Do you find it useful? How useful is it to have Korean language skills, particularly if you are living outside of Korea?

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.