The earliest students of Korea and 'things Korean'

A caricature of William George Aston, a British diplomat in Japan, studying Korean in 1882 Robert Neff Collection

By Robert Neff

Horace N. Allen circa early 1900s / Public Domain Wikipedia

In late 1884, there were only a handful of Westerners residing in Seoul. Some of these men were recognized later as experts on "things Korean." Men like William George Aston, a British diplomat, who studied and learned Korean while in Japan in preparation for being assigned to Korea in 1884.

Paul Georg von Mollendorff, a German diplomat and subsequently the first Western adviser to the Korean government, was another expert on "things Korean." Mollendorff not only learned the language and culture but was accused of "going native" by wearing Korean clothing and accepting Korean titles. He may well have been the first "Koreaboo."

George C. Foulk, a U.S. naval officer attached to the American Legation in Seoul, was extremely knowledgeable about the current affairs ― especially political ― in the capital. He traveled extensively throughout the country and had a very good grasp of the language.

And then there was Horace N. Allen, an American missionary and later diplomat, who was described by one of his superiors as knowing "more about Korea than any foreigner who ever put his foot there." Years later, one of his contemporaries described him as "the best authority on 'things Korean' in general, in the country."

Allen may have been knowledgeable about many aspects of Korea (especially fables and legends) but language was not one of them. According to his biographer, "concentrated study irritated" Allen and "he never did take kindly to the scholar's ways." But, at least in the beginning, he did try.

A young peddler at Jemulpo (modern Incheon) in the early 1900s Robert Neff Collection

In his diary (Nov. 27, 1884) Allen described the day as cold and crisp ― the ground frozen to a depth of about 10 centimeters. It was the American holiday of Thanksgiving, and, somewhat ironically, Allen decided to commence the day by firing his Korean teacher. His 27-year-old teacher, Lee Ha-young, had been in his employ for only six days and was probably, in the beginning, quite eager to teach, but, according to Allen's biographer, "was as dilatory as most Koreans." The biographer seems to have colored Allen's sentiments with his own biases. Allen actually wrote:

"The reason he was discharged was that he always has a lot of friends coming to see him and I could do no studying. I may hire him over again after he has learned his lesson."

Lee Ha-young, date unknown / Public Domain Wikipedia

So who was Lee Ha-young? Lee was born in the Busan area in the summer of 1858. His family was relatively poor so he and his younger brother were forced to sell rice cakes in an effort to provide food for the family's table. Despite their efforts, they did not make enough. Lee lived for a short time as a monk at Tongdo Temple.

At the age of 18, he left the temple and found employment in a Japanese-owned shop in Busan where he learned Japanese quickly. For about eight years he worked hard and saved his money in hopes of starting his own company. At some point, he went into partnership with a man from Pyongyang and together they traveled to Nagasaki to start their own trading company. Unfortunately for Lee, his partner embezzled their money and ran away. Lee had no choice but to return to Korea ― disillusioned and broke.

He left Nagasaki aboard the British steamship Nanzing, and it was here that he met a tall, red-haired American who was about his age. The American was Horace Allen. It isn't clear if this encounter took place on Allen's first trip to Korea from Shanghai in September or the second trip in October. I am leaning towards the first trip.

According to Lee, the two men became quite close ― "like old time friends." It is hard to imagine they had any deep conversations as Allen spoke no Korean or Japanese and I doubt Lee spoke much, if any, English. In addition, the ship encountered a typhoon in the Korea Strait and most of the passengers were very seasick.

While the encounter had a great impact on Lee (apparently Allen assisted him in obtaining a position at the American Legation as a cook), it had no impact on Allen. Except for the references to firing him as his teacher, Allen never mentioned him in his diary.

Lee went on to have an impressive, if not, controversial, career ― he even served at the Korean Legation in the United States.

Horace Allen's second language teacher, Mr. No. "Underwoods of Korea," 1918

Allen's next Korean-language teacher was a man named No. Apparently, No approached Allen just a few days after Lee was fired. Unlike Lee, who seems to have agreed to teach because of his financial difficulties, No's reason for teaching was because he "was full of curiosity about foreigner countries and especially about their religion, which, he had read, was very vile." While teaching Allen, he kept his eyes open for an opportunity to gain the "forbidden fruit" ― knowledge of Christianity. His opportunity came on the afternoon of Dec. 4 when he spied two gospels on Allen's table and, without any hesitation or compunction, he "hastily stowed them away in his big sleeves […] and hurried home with his stolen sweets." Or at least that is the way Lillias Underwood described the acquisition of his stolen knowledge, but Allen's diary tells a slightly different story:

"This present teacher is the one who borrowed my Chinese Testament on the afternoon of the day when the trouble broke out [the Gapsin Coup of Dec. 4, 1884]. I cautioned him through an interpreter that he would have his head cut off if found reading it but he shook his head knowingly and took the risks."

The political unrest that followed the Gapsin Coup kept No away from the American Legation until Jan. 29, 1885. In his diary Allen wrote, "[I] commenced to study Corean today with a teacher. I haven't much time but can use him between calls and Fannie [Allen's wife] will use him while I am away."

It isn't clear how long No taught Allen and his wife but probably not very long. He, however, gained some degree of historical fame when, on July 11, 1886, he was secretly baptized by Horace Underwood ― making him the first of the Americans' converts.

Allen's biographer was not impressed with his protagonist:

"Studies took almost none of Horace Allen's time … After six months in Seoul the doctor still could not understand the natives without the aid of an interpreter, and he never achieved more than a 'fair proficiency in the spoken language.'"

It might be somewhat surprising to note that despite his anemic study of the language, Allen did manage to "slap together a phrase book that helped newcomers a little, but the substantial linguistic studies came from calmer souls who had a penchant for research."

One of these calmer souls with a penchant for research was Underwood. In 1890, he provided his own secret to mastering the Korean language in his book, "An Introduction to the Korean Spoken Language." In his introduction, he wrote: "A Korean teacher is of course indispensable, but he cannot be expected to teach in a sense of the word as we understand it." He suggested that a teacher ― preferably one "having no knowledge of English" ― could assist in reading, explaining forms and idioms and perfect pronunciation but it was upon the student himself that success depended.

"[A student] must learn to hear with Korean ears, to see with Korean eyes, to enter heartily into the life and surroundings of the Korean, to appreciate fully all their circumstances, and as far as possible in fact, to think in Korean. Until this is done at least in part, no one can become a speaker of Korean…"

In essence, the student "must early learn to put [themselves] in the place of the Korean."

Perhaps the reason why Allen was never able to master the Korean language, despite having a long career in Korea, was because he was unable to identify with his Korean hosts.

Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.