Korean is spoken by more than 72 million people, living on the Korean peninsula. Although it differs slightly in spelling, alphabetization, and vocabulary between the two regions, Korean is the official language of both South Korea and North Korea. Outside of the Korean peninsula, there are about two million people in China who speak Korean as their first language, another two million in the United States, 700,000 in Japan, and 500,000 in the Russian regions of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The Korean language has five major dialects in South Korea and one in North Korea. The Korean elementary school system plays an important role in proliferating standard Korean.
Korean is historically and grammatically related to Japanese, but the two languages sound dramatically different when spoken. It is not clear to anthropologists whether these two languages have a common ancestor or have just influenced each other through social contact. Some scholars have suggested that Korean and Japanese are remotely related to the Altaic languages (such as Manchu, Mongolian, and Turkish).
Korean culture is characterized by a seniority system, resulting in many variations of written and spoken styles. Sentences can hardly be uttered without the speaker's knowledge of the social relationship between the speaker and the addressee in terms or age, social status, and kinship. An individual's relationship to a given group also plays a key role in the form of address that is used.
Speaking Korean is of course advantageous, primarily only if traveling or living in Korea, but the ability to read it will sometimes allow you to get cheaper prices in Korean shops in the country and in Korean-owned shops in the US. Speaking it can also get you free extra or generous portions of food from pleasantly surprised cooks in Korean restaurants, especially if the restaurant is in another country, such as Japan, Canada, or in most large cities in the U.S.
So, different Korean language programs, helping to learn to speak Korean can be really precious in this way.
Korean language programs at Stanford, for instance, offer Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced-Intermediate and Advanced courses in Korea.
The Center for East Asian Studies will offer three academic year and nine summer fellowships to support Stanford undergraduates to study Chinese, Japanese, or Korean in Asia.
The purpose of the internship Korean language programs is to provide highly-qualified Stanford undergraduates/graduates an opportunity to tie classroom learning on East Asia with real world experiences in East Asia.
Many people study languages but stop using them and forget what they have learned. That's why good software Korean language programs can be also useful. You can use and enjoy Korean independently with Transparent Language's Languages of the World software package, not only will you learn it, but you will also remember it. In addition, if you use other means to learn Korean, you will enhance your new skills since you are using it regularly.
All the best with your study of Korean!