The Clever Way K-Pop Makes Two Languages Cool

K-Pop music arose in the 1990s, but you probably didn't know that because it was in Korea, and it was sung in the Korean language. Still, the music was inspired by the American pop scene, so occasionally, song producers would sprinkle in some English terms to make a song more "cool." A few more English terms, plus American soldiers rotating in and out of South Korea, and K-Pop started gaining a foothold in the US. And you couldn't miss the explosion of "Gangnam Style" in 2012, especially if you regularly read Neatorama. With a new English-speaking audience, K-Pop songs incorporated more and more of the English language without losing their Korean audience. 

So what's wrong with mixing languages in a song? Nothing at all! In fact, linguist Dr. Erica Brozovsky (previously at Neatorama) thinks it's wonderful, and tells us how K-Pop influences young people to learn a second (or third) language.