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Lost in Translation

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by Philip Gowman on 13 February, 2010

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Every now and then I get an off-the-wall request landing in my in-box. It’s one of the pleasures of running this site. Here’s the latest.
Can anyone help the new occupant of a flat whose previous occupant was a Korean? The intercom system doesn’t work, but fortunately the previous tenant left behind a helpful diagram. Which [...]

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Your help requested. And, some people have all the luck

28 June 2007 Ask an expert

A reader at ukfan’s DJG Comic Relief forum is doing a research project on Dae Jang Geum. He’s a PhD researcher at Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change at Leeds Metropolitan University. As part of this he needs your help to perfect a cultural survey. The survey can be found here. Please email it to [...]

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Your input is valued

6 June 2007 Ask an expert

Towards the end of last year I asked you to provide feedback, anonymous or otherwise, on Think Korea 2006. Part of my motive for doing that was to reflect any comments you had in my year-end roundup of 2006 events. But also I knew that the organisers were going to ask for some informal face-to-face [...]

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Korean female vocalist wanted

24 April 2007 Ask an expert

I got an interesting email from a visitor today.
We are an international ensemble of experimental musicians, SOKI2U. See our website (linked below) to hear some of our music. We are urgently seeking a Korean female vocalist, and the ability to play an instrument and compose your own songs would be a huge advantage. We own [...]

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Bae Doo-na in London

5 April 2007 Ask an expert

Thanks to Mark Russell over at Korea Pop Wars for news of a photo journal of Bae Doo-na’s visit to London. Can any Korean speakers out there have a read of what appears to be Ms Bae’s official blog at Naver, and tell me how to get hold of the book?
Update 11 April: It’s OK, [...]

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Biographical details for Min Yeong?

4 April 2007 Ask an expert

Regular readers will recall the interesting project that Gavin O’Toole is engaged in: a collection of poems from around the world on the subject of Che Guevara.
With the help of Brother Anthony, Gavin got hold of the translations of two Korean poems, one by Ko Un and the other by Min Yeong.
As the project is [...]

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Dae Jang Geum survey

3 April 2007 Ask an expert

A request for assistance from a PhD researcher.
Hello,
I’m a Ph.D. student at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California. I am interested in studying popular cultural phenomena in or related to East Asia.
I’m currently working on a research project about viewer’s perceptions and opinions of Korean TV dramas. I would greatly appreciate it [...]

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Music to delight a Korean host

23 March 2007 Ask an expert

An interesting request for advice from a reader.
A group of tutors from a British music academy is visiting Seoul on a school exchange. They’ve formed a band and want to perform a Korean number for their hosts. The band consists of bass, drums, guitar and keyboard plus female vocalist, and they are looking for suggestions [...]

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Korean missionaries in Afghanistan

7 February 2007 Ask an expert

I just received a request from a reader for any means of contacting the organisation which has sent Korean missionaries to Afghanistan — or indeed contact details for any of the missionaries out there. The reader is anxious to contact a relative who is with the missionaries and who hasn’t been in touch for a [...]

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Your help needed in Hongdae

16 January 2007 Ask an expert

My spies tell me that this Friday night (19 Jan) is a good time to be in Hongdae. Go to up to 10 live music clubs and it only costs you 15,000 Won for the lot, as part of the SoundDay event, which isn’t bad value.
But for a pretty un-hip Brit who doesn’t speak the [...]

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Things Korean in London / New Malden

13 January 2007 Ask an expert
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Prompted by another query from a visitor, I thought I’d catalogue all the things which people seem to want to know about in London and about which there is no information on this site. Do please let me know if these are available anywhere in central London or New Malden:

A Korean public bath-house / sauna
A [...]

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Your help needed in Seoul

8 January 2007 Ask an expert

Two recent questions from readers.
Firstly, one which risks eliciting a huge number of recommendations, from Ashey:
Hi, I had the Yuko system done in England 6 months ago and now I am living in Korea and I am looking for a similar hair straightening system in Seoul. If anyone could give me the name of a [...]

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Books on Korean Heroes

9 December 2006 Ask an expert

Probably a fairly straightforward question from a visitor in the US:
I have children born in U.S. For education purposes, I am trying to find good (series of) books written in English for Korean Heroes in old history. Could someone refer me to website links? Thanks.
My immediate thought is to recommend the series recently started by [...]

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Che Guevara in Korean poetry (part 2)

3 December 2006 Ask an expert

Thanks to daeguowl for researching this interesting question, and for coming up with some additional poems to consider.
And a special thanks to Brother Anthony of Taize for giving of his time, and providing translations for the two key poems which our visitor was interested in. Here they are:
Memoirs
by Ko Un
Translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé [...]

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Che Guevara in Korean poetry

29 November 2006 Ask an expert

Here’s a fascinating query I just received from a reader.
I am compiling a book of poetry from around the world about the Argentine-Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara. I have been referred to the titles of two Korean poems that make indirect references to Che:

In front of Kim Nam-ju’s grave written by Min Yeong in 2001 and
Memoirs [...]

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