Language

The Korean Chinese population generally had different viewpoints about language education after immigration. While the older generation (those who were first generation immigrants), speak Korean as their dominant language or balance bilinguals. However, the younger Korean Chinese (second generation immigrants or ones in their early teens) spoke Chinese as their dominant language.

Learning Korean for Korean Chinese meant more than just simply getting education of their heritage language, it also helped maintain ethnic identity and colonial power dominant in their community. In Yanbian, a northeastern city in China, all billboards were written in both Korean and Chinese, presenting a symbol of cultural maintenance.

A study on 167 Korean Chinese undergraduate students reported that 61% of students spoke primarily Chinese, 26% spoke both Korean and Chinese equally, and 13% spoke mostly Korean and no Chinese.

Language barriers for first-generation immigrants was also an important problem, due to the fact that Korean Chinese needed a language system to ensure their basic communication with others.