Source: School of Foreign Languages

Written by: School of International Studies

Translated by: Liang Wenjie

On the morning of December 1, the National Final of the 7th Kumho Asiana Cup Korean Speech Contest for College Students was held in Central China Normal University in Wuhan. It was cohosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, China-Republic of Korea Friendship Association, and Republic of Korea-China Friendship Association, and funded by Kumho Asiana Group and College of International Studies, Kyung Hee University. After the preliminary rounds of competition, 26 senior Korean majors from universities in 9 competition areas were promoted to the national final, including prestigious universities such as Peking University, Communication University of China, Fudan University, Nanjing University, and foreign language universities such as Beijing Language and Culture University, Sichuan International Studies University, Tianjin Foreign Studies University, Xi’an Foreign Studies University, and Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.

After fierce competition in prepared speech and talk on pictures about hot issues, Wang Haitao, a senior student of Korean Department, School of International Studies, Sun Yat-sen University, with his speech entitled "My Future Designer — Korea", won third prize, which is the best result of SYSU in national Korean speech competition. Peking University earned first prize; Beijing Language and Culture University and Communication University of China won second prize; Sun Yat-sen University, Tianjin Foreign Studies University and Guangdong University of Foreign Studies received third prize.

In the exchange after the contest, the judges and teachers of other universities praised Wang Haitao’s genuine Korean accent and high proficiency. The Korean Department of the School of International Studies (SIS) was founded in 2009 with the “3+1” teaching mode, namely, students study in SIS for the first two years, and go abroad for exchange study in the third year. Wang Haitao said that, the achievement is due to his experience of exchange study at the University of Seoul during his junior year, as well as the careful cultivation of SIS teachers all the time. Through exchange and competition with nationwide high-level Korean learners, he knew his own advantage and disadvantage in learning the Korean language, and in his future study, he would improve himself and strive for a better result.

It is learned that the Kumho Asiana Cup Korean Speech Contest for College Students has been held annually since 2006 in different cities. It has by far developed into the most widely participated, the highest level and the most authoritative Korean speech competition.