[KS] English in Korea

[Brother Anthony]

I know that the letters we write to this list are read carefully at a
number of Korean Government Ministries and Offices. I believe that I am
seen as rather a trouble-maker with my awkward questions but I would
like to draw the attention of any such readers, especially in the
Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and its related institutions, to a very
carefully phrased piece in today's Korea Times by Ken Kaliher "What They
Did to the Queen's English" about the English used in captions and
program of last autumn's production of "The Last Empress". It raises
some extrememly important questions about attitudes in Korea's artistic
circles to English at a time when Korea is preparing to welcome a flood
of foreign visitors for the World Cup (do they quite realize just how
many more will come than for the Olympics, I wonder?). I will quote a
few words: 

"There is the line spoken by the French envoy near the end of Scene 5.
The original Korean (''Sinbunun Pullanso, Pullansoje sinbu; Yesurul
midobosiyong''), ending with a faux French twang, might be directly
translated as, ``For priests, [look to] France, French priests. Believe
in Jesus!'' But what are we to make of this English translation printed
in the program? `Have you tried a French father tasty as their wine the
Pope would give them o you very cheep, no?'' (sic)"

The full text is at
http://www.hk.co.kr/14_8/200004/t20000409201521485124.htm it is well
worth reading.

As a companion-piece to that, I would like to add a reference to Kim
Mi-hui's article on the opening of this year's Kwangju Biennale,
"Translation problems plague Kwangju," in the Korea Herald a couple of
weeks ago. The writer is a Staff Reporter, not some bothersome
foreigner, and she sadly writes:

"The room (for the international press conference) went dead silent
after the first sentence of the opening speech by Oh Kwang-soo, the
director of the Biennale Foundation, as no one could understand the
English interpreter. A young woman with a clear lack of grammatical and
pronunciation skills was translating all the simple ideas ("I'm sorry
we're late") and ignoring all the complex (i.e. exhibition themes, and
the titles of speakers). Minutes into the meeting, the foreign
journalists had put their pens down, and simply gazed at the interpreter
in total amazement. "I have no idea what she was saying," a reporter
from Germany said, shaking his head after the press conference."

The full text is at
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/news/2000/04/__04/20000403_0418.htm

Ken Kaliher ends up shaking his head more or less in despair. 

Is there really no hope? I just thought I would ask. I know there's no
solution.
Brother Anthony
Sogang University, Seoul
http://www.sogang.ac.kr/~anthony


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