Job prospects drive Korean students to learn Hindi in DU

Expansion of Asian MNCs in India gives language a boost

The Hindi department of Delhi University has been witnessing an increase in number of foreign students applying for its short-term courses. Koreans, in particular, are flocking to the department.

Fifteen foreign students were admitted in the Hindi certificate course for 2011-12 academic year. Of them, 11 were from Korea. The diploma course has three foreign students, two of them Korean.

“Korean students, especially from South Korea, apply here for certificate courses in plenty. We also get students from Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Japan, China and European countries. But Korean students apply here almost every year,” said Gopeshwar Singh, head of the university's Hindi department.

Veena Mishra, dean of foreign students affairs, said as many multinational companies are setting up their branches in India, foreign students consider learning Hindi an added advantage for better job opportunities.

 “There are many Japanese, Chinese and Korean MNCs which would prefer their own citizens working in their Indian branches. So if the foreign students are well versed in Hindi, it only helps in dealing well with their Indian clients,” said Mishra.

Certificate course
Twenty-two foreign students applied for the certificate course in Hindi for the 2010-11 academic year. Out of them, 14 were from Korea. Other students were from Philippines, Japan, Myanmar, Chinese, England, Turkey, Iran and US.

In the diploma course, out of the nine foreign students, five students were  from Korea.  In the advanced Hindi course, out of three foreign students, one was from Korea while the remaining were from Poland and Ethiopia.

For the 2011-2012 academic year, though the department of foreign student affairs received a lot of applications for Hindi, less admissions took place due to visa-related and other complications.

“Otherwise the number of foreign students applying for the course has been increasing by 10-20 per cent ever year,” said Mamta, an official of the department.

“I have noticed that the Korean students are also applying for professional courses like MBA,” she added.

Expanding market
Park Do Young from Korea feels that more Korean students show interest in learning the language as India's market is expanding.

“I am learning Hindi to get a good job here,”  he said.

And, another student said, there are similarities between Chinese, Korean and Japanese languages which means better opportunites in MNCs for students from these countries.

“Samsung is a Korean company which offers wide range of products from phones to television. Similarly, Chinese and Japanese MNCs are also well placed here and have expansion plans,” he said.

According to Mishra, over 15,000 foreign students study in DU. In the last academic session they came from 70 different countries, but most of them are from India's neighbourhood and Africa.