[KS] hangul to hanja conversion online

[Frank Hoffmann]

On 28.05.2012, Kye C Kim wrote:

>> There was a news item last year describing a wondrous program  
>> capable of making this automatic conversion from hangul to hanja.   
>> Not surprisingly, Korean media's and the public's response can best  
>> be described as "so what," and "means nothing to me" and "does  
>> nothing for me."


Just can't help it, but ...:

Reading your latest mail in the "Juche" thread (below) why do you  
wonder non-Korea scholars will think that every Korean word can be  
written in Chinese characters?
"Korean XXX" and "Japanese XXX," by the way, stand these days for  
something specifically different than being just placeholder :)

Cheers,
Frank



Hi,


Reading your comment that "A true Marxist does not think in terms of  
Japanese or Korean..," I found myself wondering just exactly in what  
terms does a Japanese XXX or a Korean XXX might indeed think?  And  
what exactly might be the appeal of such a flexible vessel of  
political ideology as 主體思想 consists of?

I wonder if 土種主義/土着主義/nativism should not be considered as one of the  
motivating factors behind the attraction of 主體思想.  Nativisim, or 토종주의,  
is a palpable fact of of psychology in East Asia, ever more palpable  
today, especially after gaining sovereignty/主權 when nativisim is all  
that might be left as an expression of nationalism or national spirit.  
  This I think is particular true when there is a feeling that  
national honor and dignity, or 國體, has not been satisfactorily  
redeemed or restored.  Even within the term 主體, the most direct and  
relevant associations of 主權 and 國體, that is sovereignty and  
national/people's honor, are clearly present, indicating the terms  
that are central and who is to be the central, indeed only, leading  
actor.  For those who feel disenfranchised, oppressed by outsiders,  
what can be better?

Some concrete examples from modern day Korea might be helpful  
illustrations.  토종학자 is often seen as more worthy, purer than those  
who have been tainted by foreign training and their appointment to  
faculty position in US is hailed a proud achievement. This is somewhat  
embarrassing but a few weeks after I posted that LG 英語公用 was a  
smashing success, the company announced that they were abandoning the  
project and sending the English executives all packing.  The torrent  
of news articles cheering their departure with "good riddance" etc is  
rather typical.  Even the travails of President Suh at KAIST is now  
revolving around 토종/외세.


Yours,

Joobai Lee

5/29/2012

P.S.
土着主義 is probably the more common translation for nativism
Here is a link to some discussion on Nativism and Karatani Kojin, one  
of the few EA thinkers with standing in the West.

<http://www.pum.umontreal.ca/revues/surfaces/vol5/derrida.html>Introduction to  
Kojin Karatani's "Nationalism and Ecriture"