Born and raised in South Korea, 32-year-old Jang Dogyung had her whole life planned out as a musician… until she met her boyfriend, quit her job and moved away from home to explore the world and share her culture as a Korean language teacher in Singapore.
Written by Ratih Jasrianti | Photos courtesy of Jang Dogyung
Jang Dogyung, who goes by Dory, started playing the gayageum, a traditional Korean instrument similar to a zither, when she was 14 years old. The 32-year-old graduated with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Korean Traditional Music and started working for reputable performance companies, where she performed at South Korea’s most famous theatres and palaces, like Gyeongbokgung Palace. She also worked as a music teacher for 10 years, teaching gayageum.
During her days as a musician, although fulfilling, Dory realised that she had her limits. Thus, she made the grave choice to quit her job.
“There was only so much I could achieve and do in this line of work. I felt like a player in a game, just obeying the rules,” Dory said.
During the 10 years she worked as a music teacher, Dory found that her love for teaching grew.
“I felt an immense sense of pride whenever I shared Korean culture with tourists at the palace, or with my foreign friends.”
One day, while drinking at a pub, Dory came across an Indian-Canadian man and approached him to practise her English. “It was almost like destiny,” she said. “Our eyes met, and our relationship started from there.”
Dory learnt that her Indian-Canadian boyfriend was working in Korea as an English teacher. He inspired her to start teaching, so she started exploring teaching Korean as a foreign language. Dory and her boyfriend shared their respective cultures with each other.
“Besides Indian and Canadian culture, my boyfriend also taught me some Italian culture, since the neighbourhood in Canada that he grew up in had a lot of Italian people,” she said.
In 2020, Dory completed the Level 2 Certificate as a Korean Language Teacher with the National Institute of Lifelong Education in Korea, and applied for a job as a Korean teacher overseas.
Dory moved to Singapore in October 2021 and is currently a junior teacher at Sejong Korean Language School, the top Korean language school in Singapore.
Dory says she is learning about many new cultures here in Singapore, and shares the knowledge with her family and friends back in Korea.
Since young, Dory has always been curious about other countries. She remembers her mom showing her Disney movies as a young girl, which drove her desire to travel and explore different countries around the world.
“Movies like Ratatouille or Aladdin are based on actual countries, so it made me want to travel to those countries.”
Dory has visited countless countries like France, Hawaii, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, and many more. She plans to stay in Singapore for a minimum of two years, and will stay longer if she wants to. Dory wants to share more about Korean culture, and invite some musicians she knows from Korea to perform a show or teach Korean instruments here in Singapore.
“If people understood more about Korean culture, they would be able to better appreciate Korean shows. If given the opportunity, I would love to move to other countries and learn about their cultures as well, while sharing more about Korean culture.”
““If given the opportunity, I would love to move to other countries and learn about their cultures as well, while sharing more about Korean culture.””