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AdamH
Joined: 27 Aug 2004
Location: Bachman Turner Overdrive...Let's Rock!
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Sleepy in Seoul
Joined: 15 May 2004
Location: Going in ever decreasing circles until I eventually disappear up my own fundament - in NZ
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 Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 7:39 am Post subject: |
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| Does that apply for irony as well? |
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tomato
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 2:09 pm Post subject: |
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I read somewhere that the Korean language doesn't have sarcasm.
It would be interesting to compare the frontal lobes of speakers of sarcasm-yes languages with those of sarcasm-no languages. |
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inkoreaforgood
Joined: 15 Dec 2003
Location: Inchon
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 2:56 pm Post subject: |
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| tomato wrote: |
I read somewhere that the Korean language doesn't have sarcasm.
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That's crap. Pure brown stinking do-do. Koreans love sarcasm, I should know, I'm a sacastic sob. And Koreans love me!!!
At least my wife does.... |
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endofthewor1d
Joined: 01 Apr 2003
Location: the end of the wor1d.
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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| tomato wrote: |
I read somewhere that the Korean language doesn't have sarcasm.
It would be interesting to compare the frontal lobes of speakers of sarcasm-yes languages with those of sarcasm-no languages. |
sarcasm isn't part of a language. in the article, the example they used on the test subjects was a guy at work with his feet propped up on the desk, and his boss comes in and says "hey joe, don't work too hard." it's an attitude with which we say something, not a special verb tense. it's 100% translatable in any language.
sarcasm isn't as popular in korea as it is in some cultures. i think it's more looked down on here. i once made a comment that a korean friend of mine didn't understand. (i think it was more because of her limited english than her ability to comprehend sarcasm) so i told her not to worry, i was just being sarcastic. she asked me what that meant, so we looked up "sarcasm" in an english-korean dictionary. she told me it was a bad thing. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 4:02 pm Post subject: |
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| inkoreaforgood wrote: |
| tomato wrote: |
I read somewhere that the Korean language doesn't have sarcasm.
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That's crap. Pure brown stinking do-do. Koreans love sarcasm, I should know, I'm a sacastic sob. And Koreans love me!!!
At least my wife does.... |
I've had two Koreans actually comment lately "Koreans don't get sarcasm."
The other day this one student, Chris, was in the teacher office. The bell rang for class. I had class with him next. He's a bit of a trouble maker and I ride him pretty hard. I can't imagine class with me is something to look forward to.
He pipes up "Hurry, teacher! Hurry!"
I'm impressed. I look at our Korean but live in America for most of his life teacher. "Wow, when they use English for sarcastic effect, you know they're really learning."
He got very depressed looking. "Koreans don't understand sarcasm." |
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Moldy Rutabaga
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 4:59 pm Post subject: |
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I can occasionally get away with sarcasm in my adult classes-- but only if it is very obvious, with lots of swinging hands and body movement, and if the sarcasm is gentle. And students will usually laugh and interpret me as teasing them. I am not sure I have ever heard the word 'sarcastic'.
Ken:> |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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| K-friends of mine get it, it's just not really top of the list of things you pick up in a foreign language is it? |
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billybrobby
Joined: 09 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 6:16 pm Post subject: |
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While I also feel like Koreans do use a lot of sarcasm, I don't think we can really tell unless we're fluent in Korean. I sure as hell don't use any sarcasm when I speak Korean because there are already enough misunderstandings and hilarity produced by my grammar and pronunciation.
But one time I did ask a Korean how to sound sarcastic in Korean. She said a few sarcastic phrases and, yeah, it sounds basically like what you'd expect. |
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kermo
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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Sarcasm is one of the easiest ways to be funny in another language, as wordplay or "mots justes" are often out of reach for the beginner or intermediate speaker.
It is a culturally relative sort of thing, though. The Greeks use a word picture involving a razor to describe sarcasm, and my sister assures me that Russians are utterly unmoved by it.
On a related note:
My co-teacher surprised me recently with a question about "air quotes" after watching Joey on "Friends" misuse them to comic effect. It was really tricky to come up with some good examples. The nearest I could come was to say that indicate insincerity, like a friend asking her buddy about a love interest, inquiring about a new "friend". Anybody have other examples? |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Is it true there is no sarcasm in the German language/culture? |
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