Wednesday, January 27, 2010

A flair for language

Koreans love their metaphors. Pick up the JoongAng Daily on a given day and you'll find everything from politicians employing Confucian tales to discredit each other's positions to editorial writers brandishing folktales to admonish recent court rulings.

Many of these sayings and tales don't translate well into English. I find myself constantly struggling to understand things like how an ancient Chinese allegory relates to a debate over moving national government offices to a city several hours outside of Seoul.

I'd say about half of the time I miss out on understanding something because of the cultural gap. But the rest of the time it seems like a generational gap that only older Koreans who grew up in a country influenced heavily by China and Japan understand these literary references.

When ancient allegories are not being employed, I've found that well-known Koreans enjoy stretching metaphors beyond any logical recognition. Take this passage written by the senior editor on intelligence at the JoongAng Sunday comparing democracy with standardized tests for students:
Many merits of multiple-choice tests should not be underestimated...

They have close affinity with democracy. Democracy is about making choices. Multiple-choice tests are all about making choices.

When we go into voting booths, we are given a ballot with a multiple choice box, requiring us to put a check mark next to the candidate of our choice.

History also reveals a correlation with democracy and multiple-choice tests. The test system was developed in the United States, who claims that it is a partner of democracy.
I can't believe I never saw the connection between SAT tests and having a protected voice in my government!

These kind of linguistic cultural differences really make you think about how understated English writing can be. No American, after all, can out do Korean teenagers in emoticon ingenuity. (^(oo)^)

But nothing makes you appreciate a modest use of metaphors more than mixed ones.

At the end of last year the Korean Ministry of Finance held a party with reporters to celebrate Korea's economic success in 2009. They showed a short film extolling just how well Korea did last year compared with other OECD countries, despite the recession. One ministry official, who declined to be named, summed the film up as thus:
“Last year was like a roller-coaster trip that started on a hell-bound train. And the video, I think, showed how Korea has transferred to a heaven-bound one.”

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