Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ThingsComeAround]

Some of you may recall a German panelist from the idiot farm
Misuda writing a book with some quotes that lack praise for Korea. Here they are:

[Xuanzang]

Saving Face: Extreme edition.

[SHANE02]

She;s saying now that it was all a miss-understanding caused by bad translation. She learned something in Korea.

[ThingsComeAround]

[redaxe]

There was a thread about this like two months ago.

[ThingsComeAround]

[Moldy Rutabaga]

It is partly a matter of poor translation. She made other comments about Seoul subways feeling like mice running around, and the rendering was rats. Nuances like this do make several statements sound worse.

It's also partly that, yes, she said bad things. It's unthinkable enough if a native dares to say anything critical about Korea, or even a cheesy pop star from the states, but for a foreigner to say anything beyond "kimchi is spicy" is grounds for deportation. Although I will give Misuda credit; I expected that she would be canned immediately and she's still on there, apparently.

[Old Gil]

Isn't most of what Koreans can't handle true?

[Smee]

Just a case of local hypersensitivity. You'll remember the original source for all this was a Korean living in Germany who gave the book to a friend who in turn encouraged the original Korean to read it, in German. Considering what passes for "English proficiency" here, it's not surprising that a Korean in Germany would misunderstand what s/he was reading.

[crossmr]

So what are the correct translations for those? As many people pointed out a couple months ago, they rarely, if ever, see a girl contorting like she described to cover themselves. Coincidentally I did see one today who seemed to be way too uncomfortable in her skirt. Not exactly a mini-skirt, but well above the knee. Even walking across slightly angled ground (5-10 degrees or so) she was clutching at the sides. You'd have to be a midget crawling on the ground between her legs to get any kind of a peak whether or not she was grasping at it. Other than her, every other girl I've seen has done the bag behind the back and that's it. no bag, they clutch the side.

[orosee]

Here's good news! The book has been read - finally - by a native German speaker (that would be me) with Korea experience! Whoohoo! So while I'm not yet giving a detailed account of the book (yet), I can comment on a few things.

First off, the book is written from the perspective of a young person with little previous exposure to Asia who arrives in one of the hardest places to get adjusted to in this region. Of course when she wrote it she must have been a lot more understanding about Korean habits and culture, and will have seen much more of the coutry than just Seoul, but the core of the book is to describe her feelings when the events occurred, and not comment on everything with the benefit of hindsight. Just think of everybody who has ever posted on Dave's the usual sequence of "Korea here I come!!!!", "Finally arrived!!!!", "I love Korea!!!!", "Guess what happened to me today!?!?", "WTF do they think they're doing!?!?!" all the way until the "TG I'm getting out tomorrow". This book is about everything up to the "Guess what happened..." part.

Nearly everything Vera has written is correct. She rarely judges or comments, most of the time she just describes which as we know is usually already enough. She barely touches the vast realm of the unbearable (e.g. there is nothing about the spitting, bumping into people, negative reactions to mixed couples - she has a Korean BF) but there is everything a newcomer would experience in a few weeks or months, plus her special TV adventures.

The translations German to Korean to English are distorted. If you read the original text, there is an undertone of humour, never close to sarcastic or dark or hurtful, just a little bit of an "ain't that peculiar?" attitude. Not unusual when dealing with a different culture and miles, miles away from even the medium level rants here on Dave's.

Many things appear different when put back into the book's context (book is almost too big a word - less than 200 pages, it is more a chapter by chapter blog, with few connecting threads). The TV criticism - parts of the show are pre-written - well, that was her first visit to the station, not even her first day on the show, because she was sent back to study Korean until she was fit enough to hold up a conversation. All she wondered about was why a talk show would have authors (whom she met), the issue is never again raised after she starts appearing on the show.

Mini-skirts, her issue was more a question why women torture themselves in the name of fashion. She sould have made an equal observation about, say, stiletto heels in Paris.

The subway... well, I guess in Berlin there is more space available inside since many people use a bike or car.

Whatever else... pick anything... the book is light reading, mostly benevolent and does what it says on the blurb. I am very surprised that two major errors on her side have never been mentioned: her reference to Korea as the "Hermetic Kingdom" (but it still makes sense!) and the biggest blunder in Korean eyes, stating that Dokdo lies "in the Sea of Japan". Big ouch Must have used an international atlas.

I guess as a private person she had every right to write such a book. For a public person still living in Korea, and planning to continue living this public life here, I would say she made a mistake. In that light - maintaining her career and source of income - her apology is understandable as a move to save her career. Maybe she can write a second book later - from Germany.

From web discussions I found that Koreans living in Germany are a bit more negative about the book than positive, but not all of them. I met two types of German speaking Koreans: those who were born or raised there (just about as fluent as anybody else) and those who spent years living there to study the language. The second group generally has a poor grasp of German (terrible language) even after many years there, and in particular when it comes to writing and reading. So I have no doubt how this whole thing started.

Anyway, the book will have sold much better with the controversy than it would have without. I bought two copies - one for myself (couple of hours fun) the other for my Mom. Why? Because her description of the first months was so close to identical to my own (except for the TV and having a BF part, of course) that giving the book to my Mom to read is a huge timesaver for me! So, the book's contents are hereby authenticated by my own experiences.

By the way, in Germany the discussion stopped dead middle of September, about the same time it stopped here. In the end the comments were just becoming silly, such as one person doubting her story about cockroaches in her shabby room because... he never had cockroaches in his own place! Well... hands up who has seen cockroaches in their own place? Even I had them in a 1.5 Mil place (Gangnam sh*thole).

It's fun when people get riled up for nothing. It's also the reason that Dave's ESL board still exists

[orosee]

Oh that was long!

And before someone beats me to the punch: "That's what SHE said!"