Category: 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

Caveat: 노년의 내모습도 처음으로 궁금해졌네

Banalities & Journaling / Life in Korea / Not My Poetry / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

My mother’s visit to me here in Korea ended about a month ago. Yesterday in one of my rare visits to facebookland, I stumbled across a post by one of my co-workers, who wrote about my mother’s visit and her having met my mother when we went to Ganghwa Island. Reading (err, trying to read) a language via a dictionary can be fraught with a sort of poesic impressionism that is probably absent in the actual language, but her facebook post seemed vaguely poetic to me.
Since many people in my life don’t use facebook (including my mother), I decided to share her post here in blogland.  She had written the post to accompany a pair of photos. I then make an effort on my part to translate. If there are errors or awkwardnesses of meaning, they are mine, not the author’s, so please forgive…

호주에서 오셨던 노부인이 보내주신 캘린더와 손글씨가 정겨웠던 카드..
짧은 만남이었지만, 오래된 사찰을 바라보시던 눈빛이 아직도 가끔 기억난다.
주름 가득했지만, 인자한 미소와 자기성찰의 시간이 가득한 평안한 눈빛에 나도 편안해지고…
노년의 내모습도 처음으로 궁금해졌네.

The old woman who came from Australia, the calendar she sent with a handwritten note..
A brief encounter, but I still sometimes recall the sparkle of her eyes gazing upon the old temples.
Full of wrinkles, but in her kind smile and relaxed eyes full of the time of self-reflection made me feel relaxed, too…
As if wondering at the form of my own old age for the first time.

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Caveat: 어느 구름에서 비가 올지

Language & Linguistics / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

This is an aphorism from my aphorism book.
어느     구름에서        비가        올지
eo·neu  gu·reum·e·seo  bi·ga      ol·ji
which   cloud-FROM     rain-SUBJ  come-FUTSPEC
[One doesn’t know] from which cloud the rain will come.
This wasn’t hard to understand, but I think there is something missing to make this an actual sentence. My grammar “bible” tells me that an ending such as “-ㄹ지” should come in a context such as “V-ㄹ지 모르다” [one doesn’t know V will happen]. I think the “doesn’t know” is missing but implied here. I didn’t know what to call the ending, so I labeled a “future speculative” – I have often struggled with what the “지” really is – it’s a kind of a “pre-negative” or subjunctive marker, in my linguistically semi-informed but Koreanically semi-ignorant view.

Caveat: 대가리 잡다가 꽁지를 잡았다

Banalities & Journaling / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

This is an aphorism from my aphorism book.
대가리       잡다가         꽁지를          잡았다.
dae·ga·ri  jap·da·ga     kkong·ji·reul  jap·ass·da
head       seize-TRANSF  tail-OBJ       seize-PAST
Seizing for the head and instead catching the tail.
According to the book, this means something like “big ambition, small success.”
I feel like this could be a title for my autobiography.

Caveat: 등잔 밑이 어둡다

Banalities & Journaling / The Wonders of Work / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

Yesterday the two TEPS반 refugee boys (by which I mean a cohort that once had 10 students is reduced to only two) were reduced further to just Jaehwan. Hyeonguk, the other student, had disappeared, and we couldn’t find him. The front-desk-lady didn’t know where he was. He’d simply disappeared.
So Jaehwan and I had class alone, the two of us. I always feel weird trying to conduct a “normal” class with only one student sitting in front of me. I feel like both of our time could be better used in some other way, at that point. But anyway…
2013-11-16 13.10.55We worked our way through the questions, and shared some joking remarks about how when Hyeonguk showed up, he’d have a lot of homework piled up (since the rule I have for this class is that the dictation homework is waived for questions with correct on-the-spot answers in class, and since he wasn’t around, obviously none of the homework was waived).
I speculated that Hyeonguk may have been abducted by aliens. I had to explain this by drawing a picture (at right), since Jaehwan was unfamiliar with the pop-culture-referencing idiom “abducted by aliens.”
Then about 20 minutes in, Curt reported in to say that Hyeonguk had been located – in the next-door classroom, where he’d decided to “audit” without telling anyone. I’m fine with that – these things happen.
Jaehwan and I shared a laugh about it, since we’d really had no idea where he’d gone. He knows I study Korean aphorisms, sometimes, so he took the opportunity to tell me one relevant to the situation.
등잔        밑이        어둡다
deung·jan  mit·i      eo·dup·da
lamp       base-SUBJ  be-dark
It’s dark at the base of the lamp.
2013-11-16 13.01.03 The English expression might be, “right under one’s nose.” I wrote it on the board, to be able to remember it.

Caveat: 십년이면 산천도 변한다

한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

This is an aphorism from my book of aphorisms.
 
십년이면            산천도               변한다
sip·nyeon·i·myeon san·cheon·do        byeon·han·da
ten-years-be-IF   mountain-stream-TOO change-PRES
If ten years pass, even the mountains and streams change.
With time, everything changes.
I took this picture in September of 2010 at Mudeung Mountain (무등산) near Gwangju.
P1050390

Caveat: 보기 좋은 떡이 먹기에도 좋다

한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

My friend sent me this aphorism in a text message. He was using it to make a sort innuendo about dating between men and women.
보기      좋은           떡이          먹기에도          좋다
bo·gi    joh·eun       tteok·i       meok·gi·e·do    joh·da
look-GER be-good-PPART ricecake-SUBJ eat-GER-ABL-TOO be-good-PRES
Good-looking rice cakes are good to eat too.

SV400044It’s pretty much self-explanatory.
Picture at right shows a web-found image of a vast variety of sweet and savory rice cakes (떡 [tteok]).
To be honest, I don’t like many of these things, but there are certain types I find quite delicious – mostly the plainer varieties found in soups or tteokbokki.

Caveat: 소리 없는 고양이 쥐 잡는다

한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

TOM & JERRY 9This is an aphorism from my aphorism book.
소리    없는              고양이      쥐    잡는다.
so·ri  eops·neun         go·yang·i jwi   jap·neun·da
noise  not-have-PRESPART cat       mouse catch-PRES
The quiet cat catches the mouse.
A quiet person is more successful than a noisy person.
[daily log: walking, 5 km]

Caveat: Every, every, everyday 내가 만든 History

Background Noise / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

The Korean group Exo-K sings in typical kpop style, mixing in tons of English to their lyrics. They also sing in Chinese (kpop is quite popular in China and how could the Korean music industry resist such a huge market?). I was curious if they mixed in English in the same way in the Chinese version – and in fact, they do.
What I’m listening to right now.

H0Exo-K, “History.”
가사:

Listen, 느낄 수 있니?
내 심장이 뛰지를 않아
(My heart be breakin’)
분한 마음에 울어도 보고,
소리 질러 “하!” 외쳐도 봤어
(My pain be creepin’)

흑과 백, 아직 남과 북,
끝이 나지 않는 전쟁 Scene
둘로 나뉜 태양의 절망
멀리 돌고 돌아서 다시 시작하는 곳에 다 왔어
오류투성이지만 배워가며 강해질 수 있는 나
저 태양처럼 거대한 하나란 걸 아는 날
오- 오- 모두 함께 가는 우리 미래로
I need you and you want me,
지구란 이 별에서 오오 오오
Every, every, everyday 내가 만든 History.
Break it! 욕망의 반칙 Move it! 파괴란 미덕
(No more shakin’ like that)
Magic 시간이 가면 또 씻은 듯이 다시 재생 돼
시공간을 뛰어 넘어서
에덴의 아침을 꿈꾸고 있어
가자! 우린 그런 존재
멀리 돌고 돌아서 다시 시작하는 곳에 다 왔어
오류투성이지만 배워가며 강해질 수 있는 나
저 태양처럼 거대한 하나란 걸 아는 날
오오 오오 모두 함께 가는 우리 미래로
I need you and you want me,
지구란 이 별에서 오오 오오
꿈을 잉태 하는 날 우린 다시 일어나
일어나, 일어나, 일어나 (turn it on)
일어나, 일어나, 일어나
영원할거라 믿고 싶을 때.
언젠가 할 거 라고 망설일 때
내일이 바로 끝인지도 몰라.
후회 같은 건 잊어버려 두려워마
제발 사랑해, 사랑해, 사랑해
조화로울수록 완벽하잖아
모든 슬픔이 기쁨이 여기에
나와 너는 한 생명인 걸
Ya! 우리가 원래 하나로 태어났던 순간,
갈수록 소모적인 이 세계를 만난 순간
우린 점점점멀어져가 점점
둘로 깨져버린 채 힘을 잃어버린 태양
갈수록, 갈수록, 갈수록, 갈수록 더
간절했던 꿈의 세계를 다시 마주하는 순간
내 가슴이 뛴다, 마구 뛴다. 둥 둥 둥 둥 둥 둥
돌고 돌아서 다시 시작하는 곳에 다 왔어
Yeah- EXO-M, EXO-K
우리가 시작하는 미래 History
저 태양처럼 거대한 하나란 걸 아는 날
Oh- 하나의 심장에, 태양에
끝없이 우린 하나로 강해지고 있어
I need you and you want me,
지구란 이 별에서 오오 오오
Every, every, everyday 내가 만든 History.
The Chinese version.

Caveat: 데헷

Banalities & Journaling / The Wonders of Work / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

2013-10-26 22.55.31During my Saturday Special Speaking-only class my student handed me this card. I’m not sure what it means, but I tried to figure it out.
It says, “데헷~ 귀요미 윤디쨩”.
데헷 [de-het] is something like “haha” or “teehee”…
귀요미 [gwiyomi] means “cute”…
the “윤디” [yundi] I’m clueless about what this means…
“쨩” [jjyang] means “best” as in “number one person.”
I’m pretty sure she meant that she, herself, is cute and best at something. I wish I was better at figuring out this type of “found Korean.”
[daily log: walking, 5 km]

Caveat: 신선노리에 도끼 자루 썩는줄 모른다

My Photos / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

This is a proverb from my proverb book.

신선      노리에    도끼    자루   썩는        줄           모른다.
sin·seon no·ri·e  do·kki ja·ru  sseok·neun jul         mo·reun·da
faerie   play-LOC ax     handle rot-GER    likely-fact not-know-PRES

[A man] at play with the faeries doesn’t realize [his] ax-handle is rotting.
The book explains that it is based on a fairy tale about a woodcutter who goes into the mountains and plays with wood nymphs or sprites and forgets the world, and only awakens from his reverie as a bent old man with a rotting ax-handle. It seems similar to the story of the lotus-eaters in Homer, but there are many stories of people losing track of their regular lives in lost reveries by falling under enchantment.
In looking up the proverb online, there seems to be a more common grammatical variation on this proverb that begins “신선 놀음에…” – this is just substituting 놀음 (a gerund of the verb “to play”) for the related noun meaning “play”.
I doubt this temple-panel picture has anything to do with the story, but it seemed to share something of the same atmospherics, at least to my mind.
2013-10-17 10.57.43

Caveat: Like ant

Found Online / Not My Poetry / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)


Kim_SowolMan Lives Until He Dies

How often do I ponder
Over what I live for?
Innocent of life as it were.
Though the stream
Empties into the ocean
I will not bend
Under the weight of
Workday cares.
Man lives and dies.
Yet I pause to think.
Like ant
Lost in building its shelter
In the warm spring sun,
I will live
Drunk with delight of living.
If man is born to live,
What should I worry?
Man lives till he dies.

– Kim Sowol [김소월] (1902-1934)
  translated by Jaihiun Joyce Kim (from A Lamp Burns Low)

I rather liked this poem, that I ran across in translation here. I was very frustrated because I spent almost two hours trying to find the original Korean text for this poem through various strategies of googlings, so as to be able to include it and try to read it, but I utterly failed. If any of my Korean-speaking friends who sometimes look at my blog would happen to recognize this poem and point me to the original text, I'd be grateful and interested. I will update this blog post if I run across the Korean text later.

[Update: my friend Christine almost immediately recognized this poem and gave me a link to the original. She said they read it in middle school.

사노라면 사람은 죽는 것을

하루라도 몇 번(番)씩 내 생각은
내가 무엇하려고 살려는지?
모르고 살았노라, 그럴 말로
그러나 흐르는 저 냇물이
흘러가서 바다로 든댈진댄.
일로조차 그러면, 이 내 몸은
애쓴다고는 말부터 잊으리라.
사노라면 사람은 죽는 것을
그러나, 다시 내 몸,
봄빛의 불붙는 사태흙에
집 짓는 저 개아미
나도 살려 하노라, 그와 같이
사는 날 그날까지
살음에 즐거워서,
사는 것이 사람의 본뜻이면
오오 그러면 내 몸에는
다시는 애쓸 일도 더 없어라
사노라면 사람은 죽는 것을.

– 김소월

Caveat: 훌륭한 학생이라 믿어주면 그들은 그것을 증명해준다

Teaching & Methodology / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

This aphorism was on posted on the wall of the staff room, not far from my desk. I decided to figure it out.
훌륭한                  학생이라        믿어주면
be-brilliant-PASTPART student-be-[?] believe-give-COND
그들은         그것을          증명해준다
that-PL-TOPIC that-thing-OBJ confirm-give-PRES
When you believe your students are brilliant they comfirm it.
I have no idea how the -이라 ending on the first clause’s be-verb (copula) works, but I’ve always had the impression the copula forms with -ㄹ- are a sort of residual subjunctive that doesn’t appear in any other forms, in which case it makes sense. I’m sure it has some specific grammatical name, but I don’t know what it is.
Anyway it’s a pretty good aphorism to see on the wall of a school staff room.
[daily log: walking, 6.5 km]

Caveat: A Day in the Park

Background Noise / Banalities & Journaling / Cancer / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

Today was a holiday – October 3rd is called "Foundation Day" in English, properly 개천절 [gaecheonjeol] in Korean. So since my friend Mary was visiting we went to Ilsan's Lake Park, a few blocks away from my apartment, despite my not feeling so well.

The park was pretty busy. The sky was cloudless and azure. I tried to take a few pictures.

Found 016

Found 029

Found 013

Found 001

Found 004

Later I was thinking of trying to eat a meal of actual solid food and thought to try some more jeon (Korean onion pancake, sorta), which I'd eaten successfully last week one time. But the jeon joint that I frequent that is nearest to my house wasn't open at lunch time.

Stumped, we wandered around and then I decided to try a "soup" restaurant (European/Western style food, not Korean) that I walk by frequently since moving to this new apartment. That place was pretty good. I had potato soup, and ate a lot of salmon from Mary's salmon salad (which she wasn't eating), by slicing it up into tiny pieces and swallowing them like pills. Not much flavor, but it gets me some protein.

After lunch, we walked back over to the Jeongbalsan plaza and there were zillions of families – they were having a children's day type thing with booths and a sort of kids' flea market. I saw a bunch of jangseung lined up. I like these things.

2013-10-03 14.38.30

Later, I took a nap after my friend Mary had departed to return to Seoul, and then this evening Wendy and I walked over to try the jeon joint again. This time it was open, and I accomplished a new Korean language milestone. The menu at the jeon joint only had jeon where things were added that would have made it too difficult for me to eat: they had jeon with kimchi or peppers (too spicy), with seafood (too hard to chew), etc. Nothing that was relatively plain. So I did a new thing. Bravely, I made a special order, in Korean – I went "off menu." And lo and behold, it worked – I got a jeon with only green onions. It was OK. It's hard to eat, but if I chop it up tiny pieces and "steer to the left" in my mouth (the numb side, with the chopped nerves), I can manage it.

2013-10-03 20.34.13

What I'm listening to right now.

Talking Heads, "Heaven."

Lyrics:

Everyone is trying to get to the bar
The name of the bar, the bar is called Heaven
The band in Heaven that plays my favorite song
Play it one more time, play it all night long

Heaven, Heaven is a place, place where
nothing, nothing ever happens
Heaven, Heaven is a place, place where
nothing, nothing ever happens

There is a party, everyone is there
Everyone will leave at exactly the same time
When this party's over, it will start again
But not be any different, it'll be exactly the same

Heaven, Heaven is a place, place where
nothing, nothing ever happens
Heaven, Heaven is a place, a place where
nothing, nothing ever happens

When this kiss is over, it will start again
It will not be any different, it'll be exactly the same
It's hard to imagine that nothing at all
Could be so exciting, could be this much fun

Heaven, Heaven is a place, a place where
nothing, nothing ever happens
Heaven, Heaven is a place, a place where
nothing, nothing ever happens

[daily log: walking, 4 km]

Caveat: 글씨 못쓰는 놈 붓 고른다

Banalities & Journaling / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

Here is a proverb from my book-o-proverbs.
글씨        못쓰는                놈   붓    고른다.
geul·ssi    mot·sseu·neun        nom but   go·reun·da
handwriting can’t-write-PRESPART guy brush fix-upon-PRES
A guy who can’t do handwriting fixes upon his brushes.

붓“A bad carpenter quarrels with his tools” might be an equivalent proverb in English. The meaning is that people who are bad at their jobs frequent complain about the conditions.
This makes me think of the typical English teacher working in Korea, for some strange reason. I’ve been spending more time than usual (and thus too much time) surveying the blogs and neverending pessimistic commentary of EFL teachers, lately, I suppose.

Caveat: 어느새 가을

Life in Korea / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

Below is the poem that was attached to my Chuseok gift ham that I received from work, which I mentioned the other day. I have no idea if this an original composition from my boss or one of my coworkers, or if it’s a “traditional” poem, or just a widely-circulated “hallmark style” sentiment.

어느새 가을

올해도 추석이 찾아왔습니다
가을햇살처럼 풍요롭고
여유로운 마음으로
감사하는 일들이
많은 날들이었으면 좋겠습니다
I decided to try to translate it. Here is my effort (I used the googletranslate but then spent some time tweaking the results substantially, trying to get away from the absurdist tone that most googletranslate outputs seem to have).

so soon, the fall

the harvest moon has come this year
it nourishes like fall sunlight
and in our restful heart
are things that we are thankful for
we hope they will exist for many days
Merry Chuseok, everyone!

[daily log: walking, 4 km]

Caveat: 萬物博士

Banalities & Journaling / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

This is one of those four-character Chinese phrases, called 성어사자 (四字成語). I was introduced to it by a friend a while ago. I kept meaning to put a little blog entry about it so here it is.

萬物博士
만물박사
man-mul-bak-sa

I actually had an impossible time trying to figure out the meaning of the individual characters. I think my focus and energy was insufficient to the task. I dinked around the online hanja dictionary for awhile and gave a sigh and gave up. So I’m just going to throw the expression out there in toto.

But it’s overall meaning is something like “jack of all trades” or even “polymath” or “walking dictionary.” My friend was applying it to me, shaking his head ruefully. I guess I get his point. I’m flattered, though.

[daily log: what? it’s Sunday.]

Caveat: 참고 또 참으며 경계하고 또 경계하라

한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)


pictureI have a book entitled Myeangsim Bogam, which is an annoying romanization of 명심보감. The “proper” romanization (meaning following the official “Revised Romanization”) would be Myeongsim Bogam. I guess it’s only the first syllable that’s off.

Anyway, it’s a parallel translation of a Confucian “reader” of sorts that was widely printed in circulated in pre-Modern Korea (meaning during the Joseon dynasty). The reader, of course, originally circulated in Chinese – which is what educated people were expected to read in the Joseon time. So this translation I have is three-way: it has Chinese, Korean, and English.

It’s a kind of book of aphorisms and proverbs along with some parables, I guess. It was intended and read as an instruction book of virtue for Joseon’s Confucian society – it was often the first book students read after mastering the basic “1000 characters” of Chinese.

So here is an aphorism from that book that intrigued me a little bit – maybe because it was one I thought I could translate from Korean more easily – in fact, I felt as if I could maybe do a little bit better job than what the book offers, which is: “Bear and bear again, care and care again. I you do not bear and care, then trivial things become important cases.” That translation is not really inaccurate, as far as I can judge, but I think a close translation would better serve the intended meaning.

참고 또 참으며 경계하고 또 경계하라.
be-patient-CONJ too be-patient-WHILE be-vigilant-CONJ too be-vigilant-IMPER.
참지 못하고 경걔하지 않으면 작은 일이 크게 된다.
be-patient-PRENEG cannot-CONJ be-vigilant-PRENEG be-not-IF be-small-PPART thing-SUBJ big-ADV become-PRES.
Be patient, be patient and meanwhile be vigilant, be vigilant. If one cannot be patient and one is not vigilant, small things become big.

This is perhaps true. I’ve been troubled by my lack of patience, recently. I will work harder.
Here is the original Chinese, for reference (note that I am merely copying this – I am not able to read it) – with the syllables rendered in hangul to aid in reading or looking them up:

得忍且忍 得戒且戒 不忍不戒 小事成大
득인차인 득계차계 불인불계 소사성대

명심보감

[daily log: walking, 5.5 km]

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Caveat: “호환”

Background Noise / Banalities & Journaling / Found Online / My Photos / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

Andrew, Hollye and I met my friend Seungbae in Seoul for dinner. I ended up ordering 온면 [onmyeon = warm noodles], but I didn’t eat very much.

I enjoy Seungbae’s company, though – he’s amazingly smart in his autodidact way. He says “I’m just a farmer” but he knows 5 languages and can easily keep up with my discourses on history or culture.

I took a picture of them outside the restaurant.

picture

On the way back home in the subway, Andrew was looking at a box for a USB flash drive that Seungbae had given as a gift. It said, among many other things, “1.1호환” and I was trying to figure out what that meant. I put 호환 into the dictionary on my phone, and learned that 호환 [hohwan] means “disaster caused by tigers.” This is profoundly excellent information – but I suspect not really an accurate translation.

What, exactly, constitutes 1.1 disasters caused by tigers? How does one evaluate the concept of one tenth (.1) of a disaster?

This morning, I looked it up. The online dictionary at daum.net said the same thing: “호환 [虎患] a disaster caused by a tiger; the ravages of tigers.” What was funny, though, was that the automatically generated list of example usages following gave a hint of how the term is actually used: it’s used to mean “compatibility.” So why isn’t this meaning in the dictionary? Once again I raise that perennial question: why are Korean-English dictionaries so bad? Even my Korean-Spanish dictionary only has: “desastre causado por tigres”- clearly just a translation of the original Korean-English mistake (I suspect most dictionaries rely on some ur-dictionary created long, long ago, and just pirate and repackage the content from generation to generation, from book to translation to website to smartphone app).

This is one instance where the googletranslate gets it right, and says compatibility. It gets it right for the same reason the auto-generated list at daum is right – because it’s a statistical correlation of texts rather than a copy of some dictionary badly written (by humans).

Here’s another, tangential question, though: what does it say about Korean culture that they have a special word for a “disaster caused by tigers”? Or at least… that they used to?

Food for thought. And food for tigers…

Speaking of disasters…

What I’m listening to right now.

Someone on the internet decided to do Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” using some web-based emulator of Mario Paint. I guess this might be titled “Get Retro.” It takes existing at a certain strange confluence of cultural nostalgia and nerdiness to even “get” why this video is so entertaining, of course.

I took a picture of the moment before sunrise, this morning, out my window looking east.

picture

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Caveat: 우선 먹기는 곶감이 달다

Banalities & Journaling / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

My friend taught me this proverb yesterday, as we were discussing the habit of procrastination.

우선        먹기는         곶감이                달다
precedence eat-GER-TOPIC dried-persimmon-SUBJ be-sweet
[When] eaten first, the persimmons are sweet.

pictureOne place I found this translated, it was given as equivalent to the old English proverb, “Please your eye and plague your heart.” It seems to be about doing the easy stuff first.

I don’t actually like dried persimmons (or even fresh ones) all that much. So maybe this particular proverb doesn’t work for me.

I have been very tired lately. I think we all know why. I barely survived 2 hours at work today before I gave up and stumbled home. Helen asked me why I’m even coming; I said I need the structure and focus. It gives me a sense of purpose and is a bit of a distraction from this business of just being sick.

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Caveat: C’est à dire, faith

Banalities & Journaling / Found Online / Language & Linguistics / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of my favorite and most-visited bloggers. He writes over at The Atlantic. He's not the most polished – he often makes glaring or embarrassing typos in his entries (this seems to be one of the great challenges of frequent blogging), but he's a talented writer and sometimes he will drop the most profound and remarkable stuff in the most off-handed way imaginable.

Lately, Mr Coates has been in France, because he's decided to learn French. Deciding to learn a language while long past one's presumed youth is an undertaking near-and-dear to my heart, as most people who know me know well. His most recent blogpost, as many recent ones, is about this experience. His last two paragraphs about his efforts to learn the language are really striking, to me – they are the sort of pep-talk I need when I feel the despair and frustration in my own efforts to learn Korean. It hoves so close to my own experience and insights.

Before I came here everyone told me that the enemy was the French. It would be their rudeness, their retreat into English that would defeat me. But I am here now and it is clear that–as with attempting to learn anything–the only real enemy is me. My confidence comes and goes. I have no innate intelligence here–intelligence is overrated. What matters is toughness, a willingness to believe against what is apparent. Learning is invisible act. And what I see is disturbing. In class my brain scatters, just as it did when I was in second grade. I have to tell myself every five minutes to concentrate.

The hardest thing about learning a language is that, at its core, it is black magic. No one can tell you when, where or how you will crossover–some people will even tell you that no such crossover exists. The only answer is to put one foot in front of the other, to keep walking, to understand that the way is up. The only answer is a resource which many of us have long ago discarded. C'est à dire, faith.

Caveat: 왕따의 이야기

Kids / Language & Linguistics / The Wonders of Work / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

pictureI was correcting essays and came across this depressing, anonymous work. I know who Jack is – he’s a student. I know who Ken is – he’s a teacher.

There was a boy who called Jack And he was 10 years old and he was Wangg TTa [왕따]. Because he always says “I’m most handsome!!” So his classmates hit the Jack. Jack was so tired to that. So he suicided by a bottle of sleeping pills. But he’s mother wasn’t sad. So Jack became ghost, and killed his mother and Ken. So they became ghost, too so they killed Jack one more time. The End.

As usual, the above was transcribed retaining errors, punctuation and orthography. The word 왕따 [wang-tta] deserves some comment: the word means a kind of outcast, maybe a word like geek or nerd or weirdo or loser would be a better translation than outcast. In verb form (와따시키다), it is the act of ostracizing such a person. Although we associate bullying with the school setting in Western culture, the word 왕따 can apply to all social situations, including things like work environments (see comic, above right).

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Caveat: 우리가 살고 있는 세상이 꿈인지 현인지 알 수가 없다

Banalities & Journaling / Media (Texts/Music/Movies etc) / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)


pictureI was sharing another of my favorite Korean movies with Andrew, earlier today, so we watched 빈집 (“empty houses”). I really like this movie, but this time around, I was struck by how much of the movie was obviously filmed in Ilsan – I would guess about 50% of the outdoor shots were in neighborhoods and locations within walking distance of my apartment. That adds some interest to the movie, I guess. If you watch it, basically any scene in a flat neighborhood (i.e. no hills) would be Ilsan.
The movie concludes with an epigraph that goes:

우리가 살고 있는 세상이
we-SUBJ live-PROG-PRESPART life-SUBJ
꿈인지 현인지 알 수가 없다..
dream-be-IF presentmoment-be-IF know-FUTPART possibility-SUBJ thereisnot
We cannot know whether the life we live is a dream or incumbent [“real”].

This was kind of hard to translate – because I didn’t let myself go back and look at the translation given in the subtitles in the movie. But I think I got it right – the key is a grammar point on page 55 in my “grammar bible” (Korean Grammar for International Learners) about using two parallel clauses ending in -ㄴ지 with the verb 알다 to indicate “a choice between two uncertain or unknown possibilities.”

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Caveat: 백옥이 먼지속에 묻힌다

Quotable / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

Here is a Korean proverb from my book of proverbs.
백옥이            먼지속에        묻힌다
white-jewel-SUBJ dust-pile-LOC be-hidden-PRES
A white jewel is hidden in the dust.
The book says it means a person of integrity retains his integrity even in misery.
I always liked the proverb about integrity that goes:

Integrity is what we do when no one is watching.

Caveat: 미치지 않으면 미치지 못한다

Banalities & Journaling / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

I stayed at work for basically the regular schedule – 2:30 to 10:00. I didn’t teach any classes, but I did some useful things, discussed some things with the boss, finished editing and posting the speech test videos from last week, talked to a lot of students in the corridors. I didn’t, in fact, feel compelled to surf the internet, although I did experience some boredom.
So there I was, sitting at work, and a little bit bored, because I was waiting on something that I needed to do later on but I didn’t have much to do right at that moment.
Looking for something to do, my eye landed on one of the aphorisms Curt has posted on the wall near the door. 
미치지    않으면        미치지   못한다
michi-ji anh-eu-myeon michi-ji mot-han-da
be-passionate-PRENEG not-be-IF reach[something]-PRENEG can’t-do-PRES
This expression relies on the double-meaning of the verb 미치다, which can mean both “to be crazy” (i.e. passionate) as well as to reach some goal.
Hence, quite loosely, “If we are not passionate, we will never reach any goal.“
 
 

Caveat: Dichotomia; i.e. 이분법(二分法)에 대한 경계(警戒)

Buddhism & Zen / My Photos / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

I don’t know why I feel the urge to try to understand such difficult things in Korean when I can still barely communicate my needs in a restaurant. I guess it’s just more interesting to me.

I was somewhat randomly poking around in my Korean-English Dictionary of Buddhist Terms and ran across this phrase:

이분법(二分法)에 대한 경계(警戒)
dichotomy-LOC face-PASTPART caution
I would translate this, roughly, as:

Beware of Dichotomies

Which is awesome, as it could be caveat dichotomia in Latin.

The context was an entry on 시비구불선 (是非俱不禪) on p. 645 of my dictionary – the mistake of meditating on right and wrong, more or less.

Here’s what the rest of the Korean says:
시비는 참선과 거리가 멀며,
right/wrong-TOPIC meditation-WITH distance be-far-WHILE
시비가 있는 곳엔
right/wrong-SUBJ have-PRESPART place-AT-TOPIC

진리가 있을 수 없다.
truth-SUBJ have-POSSIBLE-NOT
The English on the same entry isn’t really a translation – it’s its own thing:

Meditation has nothing to do with arguments: Where there is an argument about right or wrong, this and that, there is no wisdom or truth.

The gist is the same, but the detailed meaning seems widely variant.

Here is a random picture: the luminous November sky in Hongnong, 2010.

picture

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Caveat: 구렁이 담넘어가듯 한다

My Drawings & Paintings / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

Here, I return to my long-standing habit of occasionally trying to translate Korean proverbs. And, for the first time in a long time, this proverb is apropos of nothing in particular.

구렁이      담넘어가듯             한다
gu-reong-i dam-neom-eo-ga-deut   han-da
snake      fence-go-over-seeming do-PRES
Like a snake coming over the fence.

pictureSome people sneak around and get away with stuff. “Like a thief in the dark” is maybe an English phrase with similar usage.

It reminds me of that Bob Dylan song, “Man Gave Names To All The Animals.”

I drew this horrible picture of a sneaky snake sneaking over a fence, using MS Paint, in just under two minutes, so that this fine blog-post could be accompanied by an image.

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Caveat: 폭력을 당해서 이 회사를 떠나고 싶습니다

Life in Korea / Media (Texts/Music/Movies etc) / Politics, Economics & Current Affairs / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)


pictureI have been intending to write this blog entry longer than any other unwritten blog entry.

The story behind it is that maybe 4 years ago, I ran across a book in a bookstore entitled Quick and Easy Korean for Migrant Workers. Of course, my interest in immigration policy combined with my interest in the Korean language made the book a guaranteed “win.”

I was prompted to write this entry now, after so many years of having it just beyond my consciousness in the back of my mind, because I’d pulled the book off my shelf to show to my brother Andrew, who is visiting.

After spending some time with the book, I discovered some really revelatory and interesting phrases. Of all of the worst of these phrases, however, this phrase, from page 82 (image below right), takes the cake. I remember very hard and yet bittersweet laughter because of reading this 4 years ago.

폭력을         당해서          
pok-ryeok-eul dang-hae-seo    
violence-OBJ  experience-CAUSE
이    회사를       떠나고     싶습니다
i    hoe-sa-reul tteo-na-go sip-seup-ni-da
this company-OBJ leave-CONN want-FORMAL
I want to leave this company because I have experienced violence.

pictureI rather like the poetic version given by the googletranslate, too (although like most of googletranslate’s oeuvre, it is incoherent): “Five people I’d like to leave the company of violence.”

Or as the book translates it: I want to leave this company because I was beaten.
This is a sorry commentary on the state of migrant labor in Korea. Foreigners working in the hagwon and EFL biz don’t really realize that we are truly elites, no matter how badly we are treated.

 

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Caveat: 한국관광공사 곽진광 관광과장

한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

I had decided to do a series of Korean tongue-twisters, in the same way I have been doing aphorisms and proverbs. I haven’t done one in a while but I have a few waiting still in the “almost-ready-to-post” box, which I’m cleaning out now that I’m home.
한국관광공사                    곽진광          관광과장
han·guk·gwan·gwang·gong·sa    gwak·jin·gwang gwan·gwang·gwa·jang
korea-tourism-corporation     Gwak-Jin-Gwang tourism-manager
The Korean Tourism Organization’s tourism manager, Mr Gwak Jin-gwang

pictureIt’s not a sentence, just a noun phrase. This tongue-twister isn’t that hard, except that I don’t have full confidence that 곽진광 [gwakjingwang] is just a name. If it’s a not a name, then my translation is poor and missing something important, but assuming it is a name it makes perfect sense, so I’m going to go with that.

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caveat: korean cancer language camp

Banalities & Journaling / Cancer / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

one of the positive highlights of yesterdays generally not-so-positive day was that i think i had the longest sustained conversation in korean that i have ever had. it lasted nearly 4 minutes, with a nurse who speaks fairly crystaline korean and who has the rare but encouraging habit of changing her vocabulary when she sees i dont understand, rather than just repeating the same words more loudly or slowly. i gave at least 8 sentences, and she gave quite a bit more than that.

what could possibly be the downside? the conversation was entirely about my urinary and bowel moving habits.

sigh. whodda thunk? this korean cancer language camp sure is strange. . . why did i enroll here, again?

caveat: 會者定離. 去者必反.

Banalities & Journaling / Buddhism & Zen / Cancer / Life in Korea / Quotable / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

My roommate and now close friend Mr Cho taught me the following Buddhist proverb, today – despite himself being a catholic deacon or something like that. Thats the sort of openmindedness that warms my heart.
會者定離.                     去者必反.
회자정리.                     거자필반.
hoe·ja·jeong·ri.            geo·ja·pil·ban.
meet-people-intention-part. go-people-again-come.
This pair of sinisms refer to the great wheel: we all are cycling through the rebirths and deaths. “We meet and then we part again. People go and people come again.”
Incidentally, the vow of silence has been relaxed somewhat, with doctors’ permission. 

caveat: steps forward steps back

Banalities & Journaling / Cancer / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

i was ecstatic earlier this morning. first the doctor drained a bunch more goo from my neck, which feels better and less worrisome. then, preliminary to removing my c-line (a sort of iv stuck into a vein in my upper chest near the collar bone that is used in major surgeries as opposed to the more familiar iv stuck into ones arm or hand or foot), they had removed the drip line entirely and so for a brief hour i was free of external tubing entirely. with no iv cart to have to trundle around, i was practically dancing the corridors of my familiar orbit and chatting animatedly with several men about our respective cancers and possible discharge dates. the removal of the c-line presaged a good prospect, as that indicates that the doctors dont anticipate any possible need to readmit me to surgery.

but then reality took some countermeasures. a conventional iv was sunk in my left hand, much less comfortable than by my collarbone, harder to work around. with only that one functional hand, it felt exceptionally onerous. then the actual c-line removal was more difficult than i anticipated – though not painful, i was required to lie still, on my back, for more than an hour. andrew kept me company.

finally, during lunch, due to tongue failure i choked on some food item so badly that i began to vomit slightly. most people know thats umpleasant. i lost my appetite quickly. so now i just feel exhausted.

while lying still for so long for the c-line removal, i composed a new bucket list.

jareds bucket list (post cancer first draft, short version):

1. learn korean.

Caveat: 피할수 없는 고통이라면 차라리 즐겨라

Banalities & Journaling / Buddhism & Zen / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean) / 한국어 속담 (Aphorisms & Proverbs)

Curt taught me this aphorism while we were in the waiting room the other day. It may be something associated or of frequent occurance in the military – which is essentially a universal experience for Korean males. The way Curt explained it, however, he implied it was Buddhist. It makes equal sense in both contexts.

피할           수   없는               고통이라면   차라리  즐겨라

pi.hal su.eops.neun go.tong.i.ra.myeon cha.ra.ri jeul.gyeo.ra

avoid-FUTPART able not-have-PRESPART pain-be-IF rather enjoy-IMPER

If pain is unavoidable just enjoy [life].

Of course. To the best of my ability.

I said it to the doctor as we were concluding our interview. He said something to the effect of, “I never met a foreigner like you before.” I guess I was pleased by that, in a strange way.

Unrelatedly (or is it?)… from 9gag.
Screaming_robot

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