Korean Australians and Their Languages: Changes to Attitudes, Use, and Maintenance Over Time

This research is part of an investigation into the communication patterns and changes to cultural identity over time, of Korean Australians who fit loosely into the 1.5 generation category. Kim’s theory of cross-cultural adaptation (2001), centers communication as the driving force behind developing an intercultural identity. Research into Korean Australians has identified English language proficiency as a barrier to their participating in Australian society (Hundt, 2019). In this presentation I examine the attitudes to, use of, and maintenance of both Korean and English as expressed by four participants in interviews in 2023, and compare them with the content of their interviews in a broader study in 2012-2013 (Lovely, 2018).
Over a ten year period, participants underwent significant changes in their attitudes to, use of, and maintenance of both Korean English. In the original interviews participants had little motivation to maintain their Korean language skills due to circumstances such as their experiences of marginalization from other Korean-speakers. Simultaneously, they felt an urgency to increase their English language proficiency. In contrast, ten years later, the participants made conscious efforts to maintain and improve their Korean, while feeling content with their current level of English. I will discuss the shift in thinking and attitudes that occurred, and analyze the driving factors, such as improving familial relationships, and the increase in quantity and accessibility of online Korean language content, which aided them in this goal.