BTS Is Launching "Learn Korean With BTS" Very Soon

Updated on March 23:

If you’ve been looking for the perfect hobby to take up while you self-quarantine, look no further because the Learn Korean with BTS program will officially launch via Weverse on March 24.

The new program, which was first announced during Big Hit’s “corporate briefing with the community,” has been garnering attention from ARMYs for well over a month now. With fans full of anticipation, the company finally revealed the date its new Korean-learning initiative would be arriving via a press release, sharing some more details at the same time.

“Learn Korean with BTS is a short-form content designed to make it easy and fun for global fans who have difficulty enjoying BTS' music and contents due to the language barrier,” the company wrote in its press email. "We hope that through learning Korean, global fans will be able to deeply empathize with the music of artists and enjoy a wide range of contents."

According to Big Hit, Learn Korean with BTS will feature 30 different episodes with a length of three minutes each (so 90 minutes of Bangtan-filled learning content in total). To celebrate the launch, the first three episodes will be unveiled on March 24 at 2:00 PM KST (1 a.m. ET). After the initial three, a new episode will be unveiled every Monday at 9:00 PM KST (Sundays at 8 p.m. ET) on the social app.

The curriculum, devised by Professor Heo Yong of Hankuk University and researchers at the Korea Language Contents Institute, will be completely free for everyone — you just need to have an account set up on Weverse. (And if you’re ARMY, I bet that’s already settled!)

If you are wondering exactly what type of content you can expect, Big Hit disclosed the program would focus on moments from already beloved BTS series such as the weekly reality show Run BTS! as well as YouTube-only series like Bangtan Bombs and BTS Episodes. Snippets from these shows will be “reassembled so that one can learn Korean by listening to expressions used frequently by the members.”

For now at least, the episodes will focus on simple Korean grammar and expressions, so if you’re an advanced Korean learner already, you might not learn as many new things, but it’s sure to be a fun way to revise!

Previously, February 5, 2020:

On February 4, Big Hit Entertainment broadcasted its “corporate briefing with the community” to give members of the media and fans an update on what to expect from BTS and TXT’s parent company. Spoiler alert: there are many exciting things on the horizon — including an official “Learn Korean with BTS” program.

It’s no secret that numerous fans have taken up Korean after discovering BTS. Plenty of blogs and fansites are dedicated to the study of the Korean language through Bangtan content, but now Big Hit is taking things one step further and launching its very own BTS-centric Korean lessons.

“We are preparing Korean language education content for our fans,” Bang Si-Hyuk, Big Hit’s founder, said at the conference. “There are many fans who can’t enjoy Big Hit content to the fullest due to the language barrier. Foreign media point out that there is ‘more demand for learning Korean thanks to K-pop,’ but there are only limited ways our fans could learn Korean with ease.”

That’s precisely why they’ve taken matters into their own hands with “Learn Korean with BTS” — a Korean-learning media program that will launch “in stages” starting this March. The program will reportedly feature “artist content” and will provide “a more rewarding and immersive experience” for fans. Bang Si-Hyuk also announced that though BTS will be the first artists in the Big Hit roster to launch a program of this nature, the company soon plans to expand its Korean-teaching repertoire “with the other artists of our labels.”

To say many ARMYs were excited by the prospect of official BTS Korean lessons would be an understatement. “WE ARE GETTING A NEW PROGRAM CALLED "Learn Korean with BTS" WHERE THERES KOREAN EDUCATION CONTENT WITH BTS.. BTS RLLY GONNA BE OUR TEACHERS,” someone commented, while others were simply ready to ditch Duolingo for Bangtan.

Judging by the preview shown at the briefing, it looks like the septet won’t quite be our “sonsaengnims” — though we can only dream! Instead of having Bangtan teach us a Korean lesson, it looks like Big Hit has created a foreign language learning experience based entirely around existing BTS content (songs, Run BTS! episodes, live vlogs, speeches, etc.)

“I am incredibly lucky to live where there is an affordable continuing education Korean language school staffed entirely by native Korean speakers – but am very aware that isn’t available many places. I’m super thrilled BH is spearheading this initiative for those looking to learn,” another ARMY pointed out after seeing the program unveiling.

Get ready, because BTS concerts are about to get even more expansive.

Apart from Korean lessons, Big Hit has quite the lineup for 2020. Lenzo Seokjun Yoon, CEO of Big Hit Entertainment, announced that, even more than before, fans would be the company’s priority going forward.

Picking up from last year’s ventures, Big Hit plans to make going to a BTS concert even more unforgettable for BTS’s upcoming tour. “[Last year,] Big Hit also explored new possibilities in the concert-going experience. As we said in our previous briefing, we removed inconveniences and added fun so that visitors can enjoy the entire day of the concert as if it was a festival,” Yoon said. “We created an F&B Zone as well as a Rest Zone in our October BTS Seoul concert so that fans could relax and enjoy food and beverages. The Play Zone featured many activities organized with our partners, including massages, games, AR booths, random photocard printing and much more.”

Well, the company plans to make things even bigger this year, creating a full-on “BTS village” for concert-goers. “Our vision was to turn a city hosting a BTS performance into a festival like the Olympics, and we are witnessing this vision turn to reality,” Bang PD said. Yoon explained that, in order to achieve this, they will be implementing everything from BTS-themed hotels to BTS exhibitions and planned sight-seeing and cuisine tours for fans.

“We will expand the customer experience at tour stops so that more fans can join in the fun,” Yoon said. “We will turn the city hosting the concert into a festival. It will be like the Olympics, a festival by and for BTS and their fans. We will develop this festival in stages beginning with certain tour stops.” Big Hit IP’s Ha Se Jung also shared that the company’s “urban theme park” would “open in both cities that have hosted our concerts as well as those locations we have not yet visited, with bespoke products for each location.”

And yes, new BTS games, movies, books, and more are headed our way soon.

On top of it all, Big Hit is also planning to launch a new “BTS music game” (through Superb) featuring the adorable mini dolls from HOUSE OF BTS. The chibis will also have their own “MIC Drop” music video as well as “four short animated episodes” this year.

Based on the Bangtan Universe, there will also be “HYYH the Notes 2,” a novel follow-up to “HYYH the Notes” as well as new “Graphic lyrics” books. The previously announced drama series, written by Kim Su-jin and based on the BU, will reportedly also arrive in the second half of 2020 or the first half of 2021, thanks to Chorokbaem Media.

“Outside of music BTS is working hard and preparing to take an even higher leap. The global contemporary art project, CONNECT, BTS, which is already garnering much attention as a meeting between their philosophical message and the expressive form of contemporary art, is inspiring fans and audiences the world over in new ways,” Shin Young Jae, vice-president of Big Hit Label, said. “With this project, BTS was evaluated as ‘global top artists’ who have expanded their influence in the wider arts field beyond the realm of music to become true icons.”

On the music front — following the success of BTS and TXT — Big Hit Label is working to debut a new boy band in 2022. Through new partner SOURCE MUSIC, the label will also debut a girl group in 2021, and together with BELIFT, they’ll also launch a “reality program that showcases the debut of a group of BELIFT trainees.” In conclusion, a lot is happening right now.

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