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| The students of the Korean Studies Program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Hebrew class at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies participate in a language exchange program at the Embassy of Israel in the metaverse, Jan. 2. Courtesy of Embassy of Israel in Seoul |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
The Embassy of Israel in Korea was the first to establish a virtual embassy in the metaverse last September and the virtual space is stepping up as a platform for language and culture exchange between Korea and Israel.
Earlier this month, the students of the Korean Studies Program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Hebrew class at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) met at the metaverse embassy to exchange conversations.
Each student created their own avatar and navigated through the pavilion to reach the E=MC2 conference room on the second floor, where the gathering was held.
During the event, the students introduced themselves and gave presentations on their country's winter season and the activities enjoyed during the season. The Korean students presented in Hebrew and the Israeli students presented in Korean.
The meeting was organized by Irina Lyan, head of the Korean Studies Program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Shin Seoung-yun of HUFS and the Israeli Embassy in Seoul.
The Israeli Embassy is pleased with the successful utilization of the metaverse and hopes to make it a platform to promote more exchanges between the two countries.
"The avatars gave the feeling that the students are actually in the same room together, it was incredible to see how fast they got used to the metaverse platform and how confident they were during the presentations. The eight thousand-kilometer distance between Israeli and Korean students dropped to zero with this new platform," Rasha Atamny, deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of Israel in Korea, told The Korea Times.
"It is a new and exciting platform to experience communication within. The metaverse is a unique and attractive tool for public diplomacy to bring people closer. Soft power diplomacy adapts to the advancements in technologies over time and harnesses new pathways of social networks to maximize the reach and connectivity between Israel and Korea."
Atamny said the embassy aspires to hold at least one event a month using the metaverse platform.
"The feedback from the January event was great and we are determined to keep it this way with additional upgrades that will make the user experience smoother and more natural," she said.
Korean Studies in Israel
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| Irina Lyan, head of the Korean Studies Program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem / Courtesy of Irina Lyan |
The Hebrew University's Korean Studies Program was established in October 2013 and now 62 undergraduate students are enrolled to learn the Korean language, history, culture, economy and politics.
"Most of our students are interested in Korean popular culture and from 2020 we have experienced a growth of more than 20 students each year," Lyan said.
Professor Lyan explained that the metaverse event enabled Israeli students studying Korean and Korean students studying Hebrew to overcome geographical barriers by connecting in a virtual space and the learning experience started even before the event as the students prepared their texts in both languages in advance and exchange students helped the participants.
"Such person-to-person experiences, in my opinion, are priceless beyond language acquisition as they contribute to a cultural exchange on a micro level. Metaverse as a virtual meeting forum complements the physical one in a fun and easy way, especially for young people who spend more and more time on digital platforms," she said.
"The combination between offline class experience and online meetings with peers with similar or complementary interests might help a lot to create a bottom-up Israeli-Korean network. I really hope it was just the first meeting out of many we can have between the students in two countries."
Currently, the Hebrew University's Korean Studies program has only one faculty member ― Lyan ― but it plans to hire one more member and open a master's course amid the continuing popularity of Korean culture.
"For today, we are the only program to major in Korean Studies in Israel but courses on Korean language and history are taught in Tel Aviv, Bar Ilan and Haifa Universities. I believe it will grow as well in other universities since the demand for Korean Studies is overwhelming," Lyan said.
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