I was walking to work this morning, and noticed the political banners at the big intersection of Gobong and Jungang. I guess it’s not just political season in the US, but here too?
I tried to make sense of the 민주당 (Democratic Party) banner as I waited for the traffic light to change so I could cross the street. It said,
더불어민주당
deo.bul.eo min.ju.dang
[come] along with the Democratic Party
The dictionary gives “throw your lot in with…” as a gloss for 더불어 but that has a bit too much of a negative connotation (as in, just give up and throw your lot in with) in my mind to serve as a good translation of a political slogan, so I preferred to try to read it as “come along with.”
The Democratic Party is the slightly more leftward of Korea’s two parties – I was standing under the banner of their opposites, the more right-wing 새누리당 [sae.nu.ri.dang = “New Frontier Party”], who currently control the presidency through the dictator’s daughter. I don’t think it’s quite time to elect a president (that will be next year), but I think there are local elections and maybe parliamentary ones, coming up.
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]
I think that party has changed its name yet again and 더불어민주당 is the new official party name. (Last I knew it was 새정치민주연합당, or United Democratic Party for a New Politics)
My dictionary gives me four definitions for 더불어:
1. [함께] together.
Example: 더불어 일하다, work together; work (side by side with). Example: 더불어 살다 live together; live under the same roof.
2. […과 함께] with; together[along] with; in company with; in concert with; including; inclusive of. [There are also two other unrelated definitions.]
The word’s base verb is 더불다 meaning “participate in, partake of, share (something) with.” (secondary definition “accompany, go with, go hand in hand with, attend on take a person with, be accompanied by.”)
I thus propose the following English translations:
더불어민주당
The Democratic Unity Party (safe translation but boring)
Unified for Democracy
Together for Democracy
More ambitious translations:
Party for Collective Democracy (sounds a little like NK)
The Solidarity and Democracy Party (sounds like something from 1989 Eastern Europe)
I also suspect they were going for a pun of some kind (Like the right-wing party’s one-time 한나라 name), hence why they chose this obscure word of 더불어. “더” of course can mean “more” (and also the English ‘the’ at times). Consider possible punnings on 불어:
–불어나다: Increase (in number, in volume); grow; accumulate; run up (to a large sum); pile up. Example: 가족이 불어나다, the family grows larger.
–불어넣다: Breathe into; aspirate; inspire; infuse; indoctrinate; inoculate; inform. Example: 사상을 남에게 불어넣다, inspire (a person) with an idea.
Here is my final translation attempt to capture the spirit of these possibly-intended punnings as well as the ‘base’ meaning:
더불어민주당
The Party for Mutual Prosperity Through Democracy