On June 22, 2017 Arirang Institute's US Representative and Professor of Intelligence Studies at Mercyhurst University Michael Lammbrau spoke to the faculty and students of Middlebury College about his decade long experience in Korea, the deep cultural differences he encountered, and its hidden potential for diplomacy.
Professor Michael Lammbrau speaks to the students of the 2017 Korean Summer School.
Dr. Sahie Kang, Dean of the Korean School at Middlebury College, speaks to the students of the 2017 Korean Summer School.
"한국어를 배우는 것으로 새로운 세상이 나타났고 저의 시각도 넓어졌는데 외국어를 배우는 것으로 다른 문화가 있는 사람들과 인간관계를 키울 수 있고, 서로 이해하기를 건축할 수 있으니 외교에 도움이 될 수있다고 생각하게 되었다. 상대방의 쓰는 언어를 모르면 외계인처럼 보일 수도 있다. 그때도 더 쉽게 싫어할 수도 있고, 미워할 수있으면서 잔인한 짓을 하는것까지 더가능한다."- 마이클 람브라우 교수
"Cultural differences are real. Following American cultural norms I would often unknowingly offend or insult my Korean friends and colleagues. Although my intentions and actions were to do the best by my counterparts and colleagues, according to American cultural norms, often we were both left confused, exasperated, and upset. I found that learning Korean and living Korea opened my eyes to a new world. Learning a language whether at University or on YouTube is the best path for building understanding and bridges between different cultures and peoples."
- Professor Michael Lammbrau
Professor Michael Lammbrau speaks to the students of the 2017 Korean Summer School.
The Middlebury College Language Schools
"Middlebury College enjoys a reputation for excellence in language teaching at its undergraduate college, intensive summer programs, and schools abroad. The baccalaureate curriculum offers particularly intense and varied programs in all of the languages taught at the Language Schools: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish."
"Middlebury’s first summer language school—the German School—was founded in 1915, followed by the French and Spanish schools in 1916 and 1917, respectively. The Italian School was added in 1932, Russian in 1945, Chinese in 1966, and Japanese in 1970. The Arabic School opened in 1982, the Portuguese School in 2003, and the School of Hebrew was launched in 2008. The School of Korean was added in 2015."
Professor Lammbrau also announced two new long term initiatives for Arirang Institute -- the North Korean Digitization Project for Cultural Preservation and a US-Korea Relations Seminar. For more information regarding these two new and exciting initiatives please use the links below.
NK DIGITIZATION
CULTURAL PRESERVATION
US-ROK Relations
2017 FALL SEMINAR SERIES