[Korean Culture & Language] Categorizing people

Hello, this is Uptempo!


Discrimination of some kind, unfortunately, always exists in our culture. Discrimination is inevitable in some situations. For example, sports teams dividing students by age isn’t typically considered age discrimination because it’s a fair practice. You wouldn’t want to see a soccer match between 18-year-olds and nine-year-olds. 

However, some teachers, whether intentionally or unintentionally, discriminate against students based on socioeconomic class, race, and sex.

Discrimination icons created by Freepik - Flaticon

In the video below, a teacher scolds a student(Jang-mi) for wearing a jacket in school and confiscates it. Because Korean schools are strict about what students wear on campus, the teacher’s actions are justified. However, he lets the other two students pass, only because one of them(Eun-jin) is his niece. 

https://youtu.be/3LUBRifp_us

He only asked them “공부 잘 하고 있지? (How are your studies going?)” and then left the scene.

Jang-mi asks “왜 너넨 안 잡아? (Why doesn’t he confiscate your jackets?),” Eun-jin asks “너 누구야? (Who are you?)”. Eun-jin’s friend responds “장미. 얼마전에 전학 왔잖아. 시골에서 (She’s Jang-mi. She recently moved here from a small town)”. In Korea, kids commonly tease someone who is from a ‘시골(small town/countryside)’.

They also made fun of Jang-mi and another friend for carrying around a non-luxury brand wallet.

Jang-mi, on the other hand, was not embarrassed. Instead, she says “저런 걸로 급 나누려고 하는 게 한심하잖아 (It’s pathetic that they believe they’re better than us just because they use luxury brands).” ‘급을 나누다’ is literally translated to ‘categorize people by social classes’.

Ex)
A: 나 유진이에게 고백 할거야. (I’m going to ask You-jin out.)
B: 걔는 너와 급이 다르지 않아? (Isn’t she out of your league?)

After discovering that Jang-mi was the granddaughter of the school’s board chairperson (이사장 손녀), they started acting differently toward her. The teacher returned Jang-mi her jacket and asked if she had spoken to her grandfather about him. Eun-jin tried to be her friend.

What are your thoughts on someone who categorizes people based on their ‘급’? What kind of problem would it cause?

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