• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.467-474
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• 2014

This paper concerns the cultural tourism and the importance of cultural interpreters. Globalization has become a key word of 21st century, so the volume of tourists has been increasing. Furthermore, as the Korean wave has expanded to the world, more people are interested in Korea and Korean culture, and we observed the obvious increase of tourists. International tourists visit Korea with a variety of purposes, and their travel types are also diversified. This paper analyzes tourists' behavior based on the data provided by KNTO and briefly examines the cultural interpreters in 5 major organizations. Then considering the specific roles of the guides based on the Cohen (1985) and Lee (2011), I propose that the government should give more focus on the professional foreign language speaking interpreters for culture. As for an alternative to the present volunteering system for foreign languages, I strongly suggest multi-culture families or international students staying in Korea, for the wiser use of their abilities, their easy adaptation to the new world, and the peaceful coexistence.