Browsing in the Hankyoreh yesterday I came across some charming pictures of Queen Yuna. This particular one, with the famous yellow logo on the CD cover … … got me googling for Deutsche Grammophon compilations of Kim’s backing tracks. And I came across this: Scrolling down to the tracklist I find that the label hasn’t … [Read More]
Category: Language (page 2)
No medals for the BBC’s Sochi closing ceremony coverage
As the Olympic flag was passed from Sochi to the mayor of Pyeongchang, it was time for a brief preview of the 2018 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. The BBC voiceover was done by sports commentator Hazel Irvine, who had been handed a press briefing but no more. Helpfully, she identified that the bird characters on … [Read More]
Some Quite Interesting Korean folk expressions
The witty comedy quiz show QI is now in its 11th series for the BBC, focusing on Quite Interesting facts connected with things that begin with the letter K. Plenty of scope for things Korean to crop up, then. In the episode that screened on 21 September, a series of Korean folk expressions came up. … [Read More]
The challenges of marketing and translating Korean literature explored at the KCC
Shouvik Datta reports from the Korean Literature Forum at the KCCUK on 15 October. It was an interesting and well-attended discussion at the London Korean Cultural Centre on October 15, well chaired by the BBC journalist Samira Ahmed. My own knowledge of Korean literature is confined to the modern classic “Three Generations”, by Yom Sang-seop, … [Read More]
Gi: some linguistic trivia
Sancheong, 13 September 2013. Browsing the Donguijeon at the Sancheong international Traditional Medicine Fair & Festival, I learned some mildly interesting linguistic trivia about the word gi. First, some words which use the word gi as a component: 기(氣)분 좋다 Feel good 공기(氣)가 좋다 Get fresh air 기(氣)가 산다 Feel energetic 온기(氣)가 있다 Be warm … [Read More]
2013 Travel Diary #27: Last day at the Expo
Donguibogam Village, Sancheong-gun, Friday 13 September, 7am. There’s still a long list of things I have to do before leaving. We have to pay a courtesy call on the mayor to say farewell, plus I want to pay a last visit to the Festival. And of course I need to gather everything together, trying to … [Read More]
What the British Say… and what they mean
This has been doing the rounds on the internet for a while, but deservedly: a very accurate dissection of the differences between what the British say, what they actually mean and what the non-native-English-speaker, or indeed anyone not British, might understand. Although the table suggests it relates to the British, it’s probably most accurate of … [Read More]
Elephant learns to speak Korean
Well almost. According to the BBC, Koshik the elephant has learnt to imitate human speech and can say five words in Korean: hello, no, sit down, lie down and good. The zoo animal places the tip of his trunk into his mouth to transform his natural low rumble into a convincing impression of a human … [Read More]
Korea – the Amsterdam of Asia?
We’ve heard of the Koreans being the Irish of Asia. But in a recent video video interview in the Wall Street Journal World Bank president Jim Yong Kim says that “Koreans have expressly said they want to be the Amsterdam of Asia.” To many, that would mean Korea wants to legalise certain narcotic substances – … [Read More]
Witty Specsavers ad irritates academics
The quick-thinking Specsavers ad capitalising on the Olympic flag gaffe seems to have ruffled a feather in academic circles for being written in bad Korean. So what if “Specsavers” should be at the beginning of the sentence? Putting it there would have completely baffled the non-Korean speaking audience it’s aimed at. [Read More]
Translation and cultural uniqueness – another take on the KCC Literature workshop
I’ve long been interested in knowing more about modern Korean literature. So I learnt with interest about the Korean literature workshop (Tuesday, June 26, 5-7pm) and looked forward to it as I arrived for the event at the Korean Cultural Centre on London’s Strand. The evening began with a talk by Dr Grace Koh of … [Read More]
The Word for ‘여’, and the Korean for ‘About Raindrops’ – Ra Hee-duk at the KCC Literature workshop
In 21 October, 2009 KCC hosted a Korea Literature Workshop in the presence of Ch’oe Yun of ‘There a Petal silently falls’. The session, facilitated by Dr Jo Elfving-Hwang of Sheffield University, turned out to be a ‘creative’ response to the aspects of the author’s work. It was something of a deja vu to turn … [Read More]
The challenges of translation addressed at All Eyes on Korea literature talk
On 26 June, the KCC UK Korean Literature Workshop opened with a KCC official’s welcoming speech followed by Dr Grace Koh’s lecture (SOAS). Dr Koh emphasized the paramount importance of national identity in post-colonial literature. To introduce Korean literary works to the English-speaking world, we need to understand the issues surrounding translation. They are reception … [Read More]
When “going to the valleys” is not a good idea
Many languages have all sorts of euphemisms for death. “He’s gone to meet his maker”, “He’s pushing up the daisies” are a couple of the expressions in English. In Korean, there’s the picturesque phrase “He’s gone to the valleys.” The valleys in question are in the Jirisan region of South Gyeongsang province. Jirisan has always … [Read More]
The lengths to which people go to speak a language better
We knew Korean kids had tongue operations to speak English better; now an English girl has done it to improve her Korean pronunciation: http://bit.ly/q6lTm4 # [Read More]
Particles are Expressives: the case of Korean
This Friday’s seminar at SOAS is on the subject of linguistics: Friday, March 11th, 5pm, room G50 (main building) Dr. JIEUN KIAER, University of Oxford Particles are Expressives: the case of Korean Abstract: Often, the dimensions of meaning beyond propositional meaning have been understudied or put aside, as those meanings have been considered insignificant and … [Read More]