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Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008Mistranslation.
Okay, so a little linguistics never hurt anyone. A transference error is when something gets lost in the translation (think old Jackie Chan movies). This superbly hilarious phenomenon is not exclusive to Korean-English, English-Korean but it still is pretty funny nonetheless.
One of my favorites is the whole “our mom” situation. 우리 어머니 is a way of saying “that mother in this context”, “our mother” or “the mother that we both know”. But when you look at it, even a newbie can be thrown off by the context. “What? Our mother? Dude, that’s MY mother!” Good stuff. Why do you know my mom, man? 
How exactly is she your mom, too? Why don’t we have “our” everything?
This is one of those things that just doesn’t translate over well. It’s priceless when a speaker relatively new to the Korean language (like myself) starts to analyze the etymology of words. Sure it doesn’t mean what I think it means (think “brother from another mother” ) but still kind of fun when I think about it. I mean, why not “my mom”?
I also like the /p/ and /f/ relationship. Sejong thought it would be a good idea to put them together like PB&J. “Yeah, so let’s kill two birds with one stone - put them both into /ㅍ/ to entertain and confuse millions of foreigners in the process.” Thanks a lot revered King Sejong… So when I grab a “pork” what am I really grabbing? A “fork”? What about the “pool house”? Oh, the “full house”!
While we’re at it, how about that whole /l/ and /r/ ambiguity? I know the joke has been beaten into the ground but I still have a friend that says something along the lines of “light now we eat lice”. You should hear her read the book “Rain Rain Go Away” to the kids she teaches. Great stuff.
Not all mistranslations are character based. Many are misuses of certain vocabulary terms. The other day, I pulled out a small notepad out of my pocket to write down a phone number of a new friend. She giggled and said in English “Wow, that’s so analog!” I knew what she meant - a digital PDA is a bit more appropriate for the college crowd here in 2008. But I like my little notepad, it serves its purpose. But she wasn’t exactly wrong, but still it seemed a bit strange.
I also like how the word “약속” is translated into “appointment” instead of “plans”. I know that there is a word for plans but “약속” is much more commonly used. But it still kind of cracks me up inside to hear in English “I cannot meet you tomorrow; I have an appointment” Really? Doctor or dentist :)? Native speakers don’t really use the word “appointment” for anything other than business and medical visits. Why not just say “I can’t meet you tomorrow; I have plans”?
Here’s another word I love: “okay”. Seoulites like this word and we like it too. However, not everyone I know uses it the way it should be used. A common translation of “괜찮아요” is “is it okay?” or “are you okay?”. However, when it is used like “you can do this, okay?” it seems too direct. The other day I heard “He is a friend and you can call him, okay?” I couldn’t help but think “I don’t know, you tell me, is it okay to call him? Will I be okay?” I’m never sure what to say back to that.
I really like this phrase that my friend says a lot “Oh~ I am so stress” It makes me smile every time.
I must be fair, we have some strange things about English. We say “I am going to take a test” but really, we don’t steal the test and take it with us - we just write on the paper and turn it in. Koreans say “I look at a test” which actually makes a bit more sense. Also, in English we say “I want to spend time with you” but really, we don’t literally own time in the same way we own money. I can’t really “spend” time on anything.
Also, something in English that is literally untranslatable deals with the bathroom. We say “I need to take a <fill in the action of choice>” but really, we don’t take it. We leave it there - Oh man…This blog just went from bad to worse.
I kid around because I like how we can strive for one thing and end up messing up terribly. I’m pretty sure one of my friends in Korea is writing in her blog on just how much I make her laugh - and not the kind that you want to take home and marry - the kind you want to put on stage with a tutu on while balancing on a ball - that type of laugh.
All I can say is that I could really go for some wapples light now, okay?
Thoughts?
Posted by Matthew in Humor in Korean, How Koreans Do It |
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Haha, I know what you mean…I am laugh!
Me, I like being asked if I’m boring. Because sometimes, let’s face it, I am. As much as you are stress. I can’t be interest at every moment. (Which is too bad, because I’d be richer.)
Have you also noticed that the sun doesn’t rise and set? We’re the ones turning around it, it’s just sitting there.
Do you know YouTube’s “Happy Slip”? If not, you have to check her out, she’s hilarious. Ed introduced her to me. It’s very interesting how she got her name…her Filipino mom used to remind her every morning before going to school, “Be sure to wear your *half-slip*.” But her accent made it sound like “happy slip”, so the girl grew up thinking there was that type of slip, and then there were sad slips too. I bet her friends were laugh.
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:21 am
“Yes, I am eat now Ed!”
I used to get this a lot from my Balinese host family.
And here’s a gamelan teacher (whom I consider a sort of “tutelary grandfather”, i.e. I didn’t learn from him directly, but I learned from his students), Pak Cokro, who had an extremely idiosyncratic way of speaking English:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHAmFsPUp8w
And Happy Slip mentioned in the Koreanclass101.com blog - how awesome is that? Thanks, Bouks!
July 24th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
While poking around a bookstore the other day, I came across a really interesting book called “English Speakers Don’t Say That!” It’s made for advanced Korean speakers of English, and it includes common examples of “Konglish” expressions and Korean-English “faux amis”/”false friends.”
Things like “I met my father last weekend” (지난 주말에는 내가 우리 아버지를 만났다.” and “I like playing with my friends” (나는 친구랑 함께 노는 것을 좋아한다.” It seemed like a great resource for teachers of conversational English to Koreans, and Koreans who want to make their English speaking more natural.
July 26th, 2008 at 3:09 am
ㅋㅋㅋ, this blog entry sure make me laugh. I really like the whole “our mom” and “pool house” thing =]
August 6th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Currently, I’m compiling a list of odd things we say in English that we have never taken a second look at before. The whole “taking _____” really must be confusing to people learning English. Taking a picture, taking a bath, and your wonderful example of other bathroom activity ^_^ Had to giggle at that one. One day I’ll publish my own book called “Why the Hell Do We Say That?” or something to that effect.
That analog comment would have really impressed me. Sometimes it’s a shame when a person can be learning another language the textbook way, but the language as it’s actually spoken is dumbing down so much that their vast vocabulary of colorful words only really needs to consist of wanna, gotta, huh, yeah, no, lol, kinda, sorta…etc.
Another thing I’ve been wondering about is the f-bomb conundrum. It can fit nearly anywhere in a sentence, it can practically be its own sentence. “f you, you f’in f.”
August 6th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Follow-up to my comment, I wonder if there’s anything like that in Korean. I certainly hope not.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
S@r@h…
세상에 언어마다 욕말 있잖아요!
Every language has profanity… Korean is no exception ^^ But the trouble lies in translating it accurately. That can only really be done by someone who grew up speaking both languages in very Korean and very English scenarios. Only then could they truly understand the nuance.
I have not been impressed with the subtitles on many movies. I think they over use the f-word to translate Korean swearing. There are times when the English they use is way over the top for the scene. And I couldn’t imagine similar characters (i.e. kids or teachers) using that kind of language in an English movie…..
It’s a real problem. Probably best to avoid all of it anyway!
August 14th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Austin,
I agree about the movie subtitles. I sometimes wonder, “just where did they get that?” But I even more agree with your last comment ^_^