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Adopting English as an official language of Jeju
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A senior ruling party lawmaker has actively proposed using English along with Korean on Jeju Island as a preliminary step to making the foreign language an official language of the island.
"Whether or not to have Jeju adopt English as an official language is not a matter to be decided hastily," Yonhap News Agency quoted Rep. Lee Hae-chan of the Millennium Democratic Party as saying.
"but it might work to now allow English to be used in combination with Korean with a view to adopting the language as an official language in the long-term." Lee added that Singapore actively used English for 15
years before it made English its second official language.
"It probably won't take us longer than that," Lee said. Lee's comments come at a time when there is a heated dispute over whether it's appropriate to make English an official language of Jeju, or of any part of the nation for that matter.
The controversy flared up in the wake of the government's release of a draft plan. The draft detailed plans to turn the southern resort island into an international free trade city and an East Asian hub for tourism and logistics within ten years.
The comprehensive plan, drawn up by a foreign institution at the request of a committee led by Rep. Lee, suggested taking up English as Jeju's second official language to improve its chances of developing the island into an international city.
under such policy, the local administration would implement measures to drastically increase the use of English in the island, including setting up foreign schools and branches of foreign universities.
The suggestion of a second official language immediately set off a nationwide debate. supporters of the idea said adopting English as an official language is an excellent way to survive and remain competitive in this age of information and globalization. They are likely to refer to Singaporeans or Indians as examples of success.
Still, many Koreans oppose the proposal on the ground that a second official language will wither the use of the mother-tongue which has been preserved for thousands of years.
"There has been no case in the world where a homogeneous race with a single mother tongue has adopted a foreign language as a second language," said Culture and Tourism Minister Kim Han-gill recently.
"The matter calls for a very serious and careful approach as it could shake the foundations of the nation's linguistic policy," Kim said.
Q1> the government has a plan about Jeju that it turns the southern resort island into an international free trade city and an East Asian hub for tourism and logistics, so if English is adopted as a second official language, what effect can we expect?
Q2> So, do you agree with adopting English as a second official language of Jeju? why and or not?
Q3> as refered above, Singapore is already advaced country and India is developing rapidly as their basic power of English, do you agree with the opinion that adopting English as an official language is an excellent way to survive and remain competitive in this age of information and globalization?
Q4> do you agree with adopting English as a second official language of Korea? why and or not?
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