In the WaPo, Samuel Lee writes about North Korean defectors studying in South Korean schools. It’s a good piece as long as you ignore the “Roh Moo Hyun has been passionately calling for the ouster of the 37,000 U.S. troops in South Korea” nonsense.
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“Treat them like foreigners, but with respect.”
I wasn’t going to mention that, but yeah, that line didn’t sound very good.
Robert, the implication here is that the North Koreans will know if they are being insulted. I see the implied lack of respect directed at foreigners all the time at work. I console myself by telling myself it’s because the majority of them don’t know how to express politeness and deference outside of the confines of Korean grammar.
Kinda like SK defectors in the US classrooms.
When I say ‘them’, I only mean the ones who are not the most polite towards me.
Someguy wrote:
“I console myself by telling myself it’s because the majority of them don’t know how to express politeness and deference outside of the confines of Korean grammar.”
Koreans, well, Korean men, actually, sometimes speak impolitely in the Korean language to both Korean women and foreign women. Whenever I got banmalled or minimally jondaemalled by some ajoshi, I’d respond with sweet, smiling jongyeongeo.
…and by ‘the ones’, I mean ‘the students’.
“Koreans, well, Korean men, actually, sometimes speak impolitely in the Korean language to both Korean women and foreign women. Whenever I got banmalled or minimally jondaemalled by some ajoshi, I’d respond with sweet, smiling jongyeongeo.”
That’s essentially what my wife told me to do. Confuses the heck out of the jerk who thought you were an easy target, and makes him lose face if others are around because it’s tantamount to telling him that you refuse to stoop to his level.
I have personally gotten to know a few people who have escaped from the North and I consider them to be products of a cultural system hugely different from South Korea. Not entirely different, mind you, but surely a twisted alternate reality. While it may fly in the face of 60 years of propaganda on both sides claiming “our nation is one nation,” how can anyone argue that North Koreans enter Seoul as anything other than “foreigners” worthy of respect?
I thought the piece was sloppy and underinformed, but these seven words “Treat them like foreigners, but with respect” unwittingly spoke volumes about the local mindset.
I emailed the writer, Samuel Songhoon Lee, asking for clarification and the original quote in Korean, if possible. Mr. Lee responded promptly. He acknowledge that the quote had caused a stir among both expats and Korean-Americans. He explained that the original article was edited for length, and thus, the quote became distorted. Below is the original Korean:
“애들을 외국인 처럼 대하세요, 그들이 우리들과
다른점을 인정하고 존중해주면서요”
I humbly offer a translation:
“Treat the kids like foreigners. Acknowledge their differences and give them respect.”
There are two pages of comments accessible at the end of the article. Mr. Lee posted two long responses on the second page of the comment thread.
That makes more sense, but it’s troubling that quotes get distorted in the editing process.
Given the way South Koreans believe they are all the same (”uri nara saramdeu all eat gimchi” (when I was 18 I lived with a family that didn’t), “uri nara saramdeul do this, that”) frankly I think assuming they are foreigners - and they are in terms of state identity - would be helpful. I’d go so far as to assume anyone who has experienced the South Korean education system first hand and seen how every fourth grader in every classroom everywhere in the country learns the exact same things would appreciate this. Expecting North Koreans to behave “like us” in the same uniform “KOREANS are ALL this way or that” would be problmatic. Finally I think one need to remember that individual words are never as loaded as some of them are in English, and Korean does not have the same rules of political correctness. Frankly I think the foreingers are acting like foreingers if this is upsetting anyone.
Though not a direct translation, it is clear the intent is to say “treat them with the same cross-cultural understanding you would afford a foreigner.” An “uri nara saram” would get the intent and not argue with the delivery.
Slim wrote:
That makes more sense, but it’s troubling that quotes get distorted in the editing process.”
Yes, it is, and this is certainly not the first time. The lesson for all of us is to keep in mind the possibility of inaccurate translations and botched editing when reading news stories containing comments and quotes translated from another language.
Oranckay wrote:
“Though not a direct translation, it is clear the intent is to say “treat them with the same cross-cultural understanding you would afford a foreigner.” An “uri nara saram” would get the intent and not argue with the delivery.”
Yes, that is exactly what Mr. Lee communicated to me in his emails. The principal’s message was about respecting differences.
At the very least I hope Samuel learns to handle quotes with care when writing for an audience that lacks the nuanced grasp of Korean behavior of an Oranckay. He should have paraphrased principal Park in that case.
Hehe sorry if I sounded like a jerk. Still, I think it best to assume people have good intentions when they say thing and not try to trip them up in the way things are stated. I’m sure plenty of people around the world are assuming the worst about that statement.
I think your interpretation is right on, Oranckay. I fault the writer first and then the editors, who should know that words in quotes are taken literally. In isolation, there’s no non-negative way to interpret those seven words in the quote, and then when you factor in what is (fairly or unfairly) the prevailing image of South Korea’s views of outsiders, it really stands out.
BTW, in response to my initial request for the original Korean quotation, Mr. Lee provided the quote in Korean and “thoughtfully” offered to write the pronuciation if I couldn’t read Hangeul. This is the sort of condescension that annoyed me on occasion during my long stay in Seoul. The only illiterate yet fluent speakers of Korean I’ve ever met were ethnic Koreans raised overseas. It is this sort of “foreigner = ignorant and helpless” sort of disrespect I thought of when reading the English quote.
Hey, while we’re all throwing the bull about intentions, can we assume for the moment his line, “Roh Moo Hyun has been passionately calling for the ouster of the 37,000 U.S. troops in South Korea” was NOT written with the best of intentions. Even if we agree that Roh’s views toward the alliance are confusing at best, the claim is still patently false, and potentially damaging as it ended up in the WaPo.
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