earticle

영어

By observing and analysing what the teaching staff (including schoolteachers in high schools and professors in colleges) in Korea and Japan expect themselves to be called and what they actually are called both in and outside the workplace, this study attempts to predict how the use of the word ‘sunsengnim(선생님,teacher)’ in Korean and ‘sensei(先生, teacher)’ in Japanese will change in the future. According to the result of a questionnaire survey and interview data, all the teaching staff in Korean high schools and colleges are called as ‘sunsengnim’ at work. On the other hand, teachers in Japan are called either ‘sensei’ or ‘～san(さん)’ in their schools. And ‘～san’ tends to be used more frequently among their colleagues or students in more intimate relationship. The data also show teachers' preference for the word ‘sunsengnim’ or ‘sensei’ in Korean and Japanese society. While almost 100% of the Korean teaching staff expect to be called as ‘sunsengnim’ at the workplace, approximately 50% of the Japanese teachers actually do not prefer to be called as ‘sensei' even at work. Moreover, a considerable number of Korean schoolteachers and college teaching staff prefer to be called as ‘sunsengnim’ outside the workplace, whereas almost all the Japanese teachers do not like to be called as ‘sensei’ outside the schools. The result provided in this study is noticeably contrastive with the previous research done by Yoshida (1990) or Watanabe (1998). One possible prediction to make, therefore, is that ‘～san’, instead of ‘sensei’, will be more frequently and commonly used for the teaching staff in Japan, while ‘sunsengnim’ will be used for teachers for a longer time in Korea.