Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Language diversity in the USA
- 2 Language contact in the USA
- 3 Native American languages in the USA
- 4 Spanish in the USA
- 5 Chinese in the USA
- 6 Tagalog in the USA
- 7 French in the USA
- 8 Vietnamese in the USA
- 9 German in the USA
- 10 Korean in the USA
- 11 Russian in the USA
- 12 Italian in the USA
- 13 Arabic in the USA
- 14 Portuguese in the USA
- 15 Polish in the USA
- 16 Language policy in the USA
- Notes
- Media resources related to the top twelve non-English languages in the USA
- References
- Index
10 - Korean in the USA
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Language diversity in the USA
- 2 Language contact in the USA
- 3 Native American languages in the USA
- 4 Spanish in the USA
- 5 Chinese in the USA
- 6 Tagalog in the USA
- 7 French in the USA
- 8 Vietnamese in the USA
- 9 German in the USA
- 10 Korean in the USA
- 11 Russian in the USA
- 12 Italian in the USA
- 13 Arabic in the USA
- 14 Portuguese in the USA
- 15 Polish in the USA
- 16 Language policy in the USA
- Notes
- Media resources related to the top twelve non-English languages in the USA
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Koreans are the fifth largest group of Asians in the USA, after Chinese, Filipino, Indian (South Asian), and Vietnamese (US Census Bureau 2000a). As shown in Table 1.1, the number of Korean speakers in the USA grew by 43 percent from 1990 to 2000, and by another 19 percent from 2000 to 2007, mainly due to new immigration from Korea. With the enactment of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which abolished discrimination based on national origin, particularly Asian exclusion, Asian immigration to the USA dramatically increased, and today Korea is one of the major Asian source countries of immigrants (Min 2006). The flow of immigrants reached a peak in the 1970s and 1980s due to political turmoil and rapid industrialization under military rule in South Korea. Similarly to other immigrants to the USA, many Koreans sought better economic opportunities, social and political stability, and accessible college education for their children (Yoon 1997; Min 2006).
Located on a peninsula between China and Japan, contemporary Korea has been divided into the communist North and the capitalist South since the end of World War II which ended the decades-long Japanese colonial rule. North Korea and South Korea, however, share the same language, traditions, and history of successive dynasties over two thousand years. There are 23 million people living in the North, and 49 million living in the South (US Census Bureau 2007b).
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- Language Diversity in the USA , pp. 164 - 178Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
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