Can You Say, "La La Lost in Translation?" (A Mini Collection)
A curation of the more entertaining cross-cultural aspects of living in Korea. Expat residents in Korea are very familiar with many of these to the point that much of the novelty has worn off, and have become so common place as to be almost not worth a mention but there are still plenty in circulation that easily provoke a pregnant pause from seasoned expats, and non-residents alike.
1) Konglish
Konglish (Korean+English) shows up on t-shirts worn by unsuspecting Koreans on the streets and subways of Seoul, on business signs, restaurant menus, etc. as does racist, sexist, vulgar and idiotic idiomatic English.
English T-Shirts
I continually ask myself, who the fuck is making these. And how can they slip beneath the radar so casually and naively? Incredible really. It almost feels like an elaborate hipster joke by some ingenious expat taking advantage of the dearth of English proficiency in the country. But regardless of their origin, they amuse.
Lost in Translation Signage
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2) Unintended humor via English pronunciation difficulties.
The stories I've heard vary greatly, but are always epic in hilarity, and never cease to provoke an incredulous head shake and half-grin. A personal favorite of mine that I've gotten a lot of mileage out of is from an after school debate club I once taught. Our topic: "Are zoos bad for animals?" led students on the affirmative side of the argument to mispronounce the topic sentence prefix as "[J]ews are bad because..." (I've detailed this story in another blog post which you can read entitled, Phonetically Racist). The video below went viral a couple of years back and is one of the better examples of this linguistic phenomenon.
Korean English Teacher's YouTube Lesson: "Do you want a cock (i.e. "cola")?"
3) Life as an expat in Korea: cross-cultural quirkiness
Living life as an expat in Korea comes with an abundant supply of cross-cultural quirkiness, much of which has been hilariously well-documented and poignantly characterized by former Korean expat, Luke Martin, in his popular website cartoon series at rocketship.com and also by the hilariously astute animated video making by the Waygookin1 YouTube channel (below).
"Cold Bathrooms in Korea"
4) Eating and ordering at restaurants and coffee shops.
There are quite a few frustrations that come to mind when thinking of the difficulties and annoyances with ordering in (or out) in a restaurant in Korea. But also equally as many things to appreciate regarding the Korean way of doing things.
Frustrations
Most foreigners usually remark on a feeling of a general impatience from waitstaff with answering any menu questions, etc. even when put forth in Korean. A major one is the ubiquitous presumption that the food is too spicy for the foreigner's palate, often also accompanied by an awkward verbal warning in pidgin English rounded-off nicely with over-exaggerated gesticulations bearing a remarkable lack of subtlety. I guess the majority of Koreans are ignorant of English speaking countries that have large swaths of demographics devoted to regional cuisines that are just as spicy as Korean, if not more so (e.g. the southern states of America, ...)
Another major one are the lectures on how to eat things, i.e. pairing the side dishes incorrectly, etc. Somehow altering the way things are combined is seen as foolish - a bumbling idiot foreigner who needs assistance like a toddler might need a high-chair and a bib. Another is being given a fork instead of chopsticks, especially insulting for those of us long-timers who take that as an insult to our efforts at achieving the first level of cultural acclimation here.
Another frustration is getting food to go without a huge ordeal regarding all the wasteful packaging. Just one example of note, at the most popular franchise bakery chain here, The Paris Baguette, it's standard practice for each single item to not only be sleeved individually in plastic but then placed in another second slightly larger plastic bag, and if that wasn't enough, sometimes even a third, before exiting with a purchase and prodigious bundle of gratuitous non-disposable cretinous consumer pollution. As an American from an almost militantly progressive eco-minded consumer culture in the Pacific Northwest, my desire for semi-decent baked goods has been affronted by such excessively unenlightened ecologically negligent corporate practices so as to saddle me with a good amount of gluttonous guilt. It has yet to alter my frequenting of said establishment, but has manifested in a steadfast refusal to acquiesce to second and third plastic bags, or to swiftly leaving with the purchase as the cashier struggles to get my attention, scrambling to finish off the egregious over-bagging of my already bagged and individually plastic-sleeved baked edibles. Never mind that the bags and plastic sleeves are most usually unsheathed and discarded not more than 10 strides from the bakery doors. The noticeable petty irritation at my audacious refusal at such gratuitous baggage service that my small act of consumer disobedience causes is quite amusing to behold.
Coffee
As a fiendish coffee drinker, the impossibility of getting milk in an Americano order here (most of the time) never ceases to get less annoying. Place the order and the baristas stare at you as if you've got three heads. Not to mention the redundant unnecessary inane micro-drama that ensues between the customer and the baristas that makes one's blood boil with rage and fury each and every time. Who knew milk in an Americano was such a baffling request? First world problems, yea. Sure. But live in Korea a year and then get back to me; tell me it doesn't drive you bat-shit crazy, as well.
The above encounter almost always invariably comes with adolescent smirks, giggles, and embarrassment from the baristas who can't believe their misfortune of having to take a basic order from a foreigner in English (or Korean), as many of whom have no problem placing an elementary order in Korean. This usually ends with either an inaccurate or incomplete order or a refusal of any simple request - the simple order somehow impossibly not getting across to the barista in English or Korean. Although, the preponderance of evidence usually suggests any feigned confusion being an awkward passive-aggressive refusal of the order slyly disguised as incomprehension.
5) The Shit that English Teachers Do and Say Here.
Speaking Loudly = Retarded
This is especially common with new rookie EFL teachers just off the boat here. Somehow they think that by repeating a sentence by speaking slowly and loudly the second time around that the Korean EFL
student will somehow magically acquire the intended meaning. It's not really a surprise given the lack of training and experience that the majority of English teachers have before landing their first jobs here. But it remains an incredibly asinine thing to witness while on the job.
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Linguistic Imperialism
I'll be generous and suggest that perhaps most English teachers are largely unaware of doing this, but its still unpardonable in my estimation
; the tendency to act with linguistic superiority, to have a neocolonial cultural and linguistic imperialism in their attitude and a cultural and linguistic insensitivity towards "the other" while on the job and while living and traveling in Asia. This gives expat residents a really bad rap and not only discourages what could be a meaningful negotiation of meaning in the classroom but also discourages the host country and its citizens from fully accepting foreigners. A refusal to acclimate to one's host country shows a xenophobia equally as unbecoming and ugly as any local cultural quirks, unrecognized racism or xenophobia that the host country may have. So best check yourself before your superiority complex gives us all a bad rap.
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Photo/Video Content Credits:
collage 1
-http://www.lolzhumor.com/my-friend-is-teaching-english-in-korea-this-is-one-of-her-students/
-https://kr.pinterest.com/fmluder/konglish/
-http://theinturnetexplorer.tumblr.com/post/123400694671/i-saw-this-guy-in-south-korea-and-asked-if-he
-http://uberhumor.com/teaching-english-in-korea-a-1st-grader-had-this-written-on-the-back-of-their-shirt
collage 2
-http://www.travelog.me/external/10-funny-quirks-didnt-know-korea/
-http://www.teachingtravel.com/the-funniest-asian-t-shirts-youll-see/
Cartoon Collages
roketship.com
black cock sign
http://memeguy.com/photo/40960/my-friend-teaches-english-in-korea-hes-also-quite-a-prankster
Video(s):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6-B2TJN8UQ
