Alex Jung

My project aims to address the generation gap in South Korea.

I aim to tackle the growing intergenerational linguistic divergence. As an international student, I can speak multiple languages. Hence, I have linguistic barriers regarding language in conversations in Korea. This language difference made me keen on other linguistic barriers in Korea, namely the intergenerational one.

Older generations are struggling to keep up with younger generations that are constantly creating new, shortened phrases. Also, younger generations are not learning nor using older Korean. As such, mistrust is bred. On a small scale, due to linguistic differences, cross-generational interactions such as the communication between child and parent can be disrupted, causing confusion, mistrust, and animosity. This phenomena compounded across countless interactions breeds confusion, mistrust, and animosity across the generation, causing a schism between generations.

To bridge this linguistic disconnect, I believe it is crucial for generations to learn the language of one another. As a first step, I created interactive flash cards for both generations.

In the future, I also hope to address the aging population, which economically burdens younger generations. Specifically, not only is there a looming labor shortage, but also the pension given by the National Pension Service (NPS) will decrease and will ultimately be in deficit and depleted.