[Korean Culture & Language] Squid Game/선물 (seonmul): gifts and futures

 


Hello, this is Uptempo Marketers!



In S1:E2 of Squid Game, when Cho Sang-woo confesses that he has a debt worth 6 billion won, Seong Gi-hun is confused. How the hell did Sang-woo, the smartest guy in town, incur so much debt?


Gi-hun:

너 증권회사 다닌다더니… 주식을 한 거야?


You worked at a securities firm… So did you play with stocks?


Sang-woo:

주식은 크지 않고… 선물을 했어


Stocks weren’t much… I spent it all on seonmul.


At this, Gi-hun’s confusion deepens. 


Gi-hun:

선물? 선물에 그 돈을 냈어??? 아니 누구 선물을 얼마나 비싼 걸 산 거야? 여자 생겼냐?


Seonmul? You spent all that money on seonmul??? Whose seonmul cost that much money? Was it a girl?


Sang-woo:

…


Gi-hun is confused because he thinks ‘seonmul (선물)’ obviously means ‘gift,’ whereas Sang-woo meant ‘financial futures.’


A lot of the Korean language is based on Chinese characters. The Korean terms for ‘gift’ and ‘financial futures’ are based on different Chinese characters that sound the same, as you can see below:



gift

Chinese character

膳

物

meaning

gift

object

sound

seon

mul



financial futures

Chinese character

先

物

meaning

first; beforehand

object

sound

seon

mul


The two words sound the same, but are based on different Chinese characters.


6 billion won is approximately 5 million dollars. That’s why Gi-hun was so shocked; he thought Sang-woo had taken out a 5-million-dollar loan to buy a gift, for a girl or something. ☺


댓글

댓글 쓰기

이 블로그의 인기 게시물

[Korean Culture & Language] Switching between the liver and the gallbladder

이미지
Hello, this is Uptempo! “Saving face” has always been a very important part of Korean culture. Most Koreans try hard to “ 체면을 세우다 (build one’s face),” and “ 체면을 지키다 (maintain one’s face),” and not to “ 체면을 잃다 or 체면을 구기다 (lose one’s face).” ‘ 세우다 ’ means ‘to build’ ‘ 지키다 ’ means ‘to keep’ ‘ 잃다 ’ means ‘to lose’ ‘ 구기다 ’ means ‘to crumple’ or ‘to damage’ ‘Saving one’s face’ means ‘to build one’s reputation,’ ‘maintaining’ one’s face’ means ‘to keep one’s reputation,” and ‘losing one’s face’ means ‘to lose or damage one’s reputation.’ However, some people are more concerned about their profit than “saving or maintaining their face.” They “ 간에 붙었다 쓸개에 붙었다 한다. ” ‘ 간 ’ means ‘liver’ ‘ 붙다 ’ means ‘to stick’ ‘ 쓸개 ’ means ‘gallbladder’ It is directly translated to “It sticks to the liver for a second and then moves to the gallbladder to stick to it for another.” It describes the behavior of someone who switches between two opposing teams or groups for completely selfish reasons. The...
자세한 내용 보기

[Korean Culture & Language] Stagnant Water

이미지
Hello, this is Uptempo! Stagnant water, often referred to as ‘standing water,’ provides an ideal breeding ground for biofilms. It is unsafe to drink water that has been left out or pooled in one spot for a long time because it contains bacteria or fungi that may carry various germs. Consuming them can cause waterborne diseases like legionella.   Stagnant water may also corrode metal and damage utility infrastructure. Photo by   Jordan Whitfield   on   Unsplash There is an old idiom in Korea ‘ 고인물은 썩는다 ’. It is translated as ‘ stagnant water will certainly go bad ’. ‘ 고인 ’ means ‘ stagnant ,’ or ‘ pool of’ ‘ 물 ’ means ‘ water’ ‘ 썩는다 ’ means ‘ to spoil’ https://youtu.be/jNWHNL1OWig Today, ‘ 고인물 ’ is used as a slang term to describe someone who has spent a significant amount of time in a particular social group or organization, most commonly an online community . The term originated from a gaming community, and it refers to someone who has spent a lot of time playin...
자세한 내용 보기

[Korean Culture & Language] Squid Game/Red light green light

이미지
Hello, this is Uptempo Marketers! Korean Culture & Language / Squid Game / “Red Light, Green Light”: a somewhat literary critique Translation is not just about delivering the meanings of words; it’s also about delivering the experiences that those words inspire. Therein lies the difference between literal and liberal translation. And “Red Light, Green Light” is a liberal translation of the following phrase: Korean 무궁화 꽃이 피었습니다 sound Mu-gung-hwa kko-chi pi-yeot-seum-ni-da meaning Mugunghwa flower has blossomed Mugunghwa is the national flower of South Korea, and it’s a very pretty flower, but of course it is not well-known outside of Korea. For this reason and others, I presume, the Netflix translator(s) took the liberty to drop the literal meaning of the original phrase while conveying the rules of the game. But I can’t help but feel a little dissatisfied with this translation, because it sacrifices the musical and poetic elements of the game that I love. So in this piece, I will t...
자세한 내용 보기