Minding Linguistic Manners with Mr. Mike

December 4, 2014

I am soon to wrap up a year of working with future interpreters. My students, all L1 users of Korean, are finishing their 2nd year of a 2 year program. This week I scanned my weekly notes to find words which appeared a few times. All of the words or expressions (hereafter: word or words) below in bold were “flagged” by me at least once during the year while listening to my students simultaneously interpret formal Korean speeches into English. This means that I chose to explain, highlight, or discuss something about this word. It might mean I mentioned how I think the word is best used or how I felt when hearing it and my advice for future use (or non-use).  Any guesses on my comments or thoughts on these words? I have included a sample sentence in case it might be helpful. My thoughts and brief explanations are after the pic and the jump.

1. businessman/businessmen
   “Thank you to all the businessmen who came to the conference today.”
2. new world order
   “We are hoping to create a new world order based on trust and consensus.”
3. comfort women
   “Japan needs to apologize sincerely for the comfort women issue.”
4. so-called
   “The so-called creative economy will help create ‘The 2nd Miracle on the Han.'”
5. regime
   “The Obama regime often praises the Korean education system.”
6. Native American
   “Mike is a Native American but he somehow knows a lot about Korean politics.”
7. works (n)
   “We have been successful thus far but there are still many works to do.”
8. foreigner
   “We hope to have 10 million foreigners visit Korea next year.”
9. 3rd world
   “Korea would like to share its experiences and know-how with the 3rd world.”
10. gonna
    “In this speech I am gonna detail our efforts to expand the social safety net.”
11. eradicate
    “We will eradicate pirates.”
12. show off
    “Samsung is showing off its new phones.”
13. welfare
    “We need to increase welfare for the economically marginalized.”
14. the locals [people]
    “I had a nice chance to talk to the locals in Liberia and they are very kind.”
15. reeducation
    “We need to provide reeducation for people who lose their jobs.”
16. industrial complex
    “We will create new industrial complexes across the country.”
17. a great leap forward
    “If we work hard we can make a great leap forward.”
18. co-prosperity scheme
    “We have created a co-prosperity scheme that will be mutually beneficial”
19. scheme
    “The Korean government will create a scheme to promote low-carbon green growth.”
20. wanna
    We wanna have a better relationship with North Korea but first they have to dismantle their nuclear weapons program.”

New World Order

 

 

 

One thing that caught my attention as I cataloged my thoughts on these words is that said thoughts very much come from me, a person who comes from a place and time. My background, education, biases, and politics (and more) seem to have impacted what words I chose to highlight as well as my thoughts and feelings on them. I told students they can feel free to agree with my thoughts and recommendations or not because some of these are quite subjective. I told them it was just information and it is up to them what they do with the information. I would very much welcome impressions and disagreements on these words or anything else.

Mr. Mao’s Great Leap Forward

 

1. businessman/businessmen
   Sexist. Why not business person or business leader(s) or something else? Of course if they specifically mean a man then it is fine but I’d still urge caution with this.
2. New World Order
   Scary! I’d be fine with “new order” or even “new order in the world” but “New World Order” sounds terrifying to me.
3. comfort women
   My  point here is (from my and the Korean government’s opinion) the term “comfort women” is too soft, too euphemistic. It seems like a certain newspaper doesn’t agree with me although Hillary Clinton does.  For me “comfort women” is not the word we should typically use when translating from Korean, especially in official government speeches. Sex slaves is the word.
4. so-called
   When I hear “so-called” I expect there is some sarcasm involved. I think what my students wanted to say in many cases was something like “what I am calling _____” or “what is sometimes known as _____” or “_____ as a newly coined phrase.” I remember being very confused at first when the interpretations of government speeches used so-called when politicians were referring to their own pet projects. This one always catches my attention. I must admit I was quite proud when a student said “so-called comfort women” in an interpretation and I asked her about it. She said it was “so-called” because the term was incorrect and that sex slaves was the correct term.
5. regime
   Not a good word to use when talking about allies or those elected in a way we are deeming to be correct. Good word for North Korea, though.  (This is of course different than when we talk about the nuclear non-proliferation regime or something like this.)
6. Native American
   I think the confusion here was with “native speaker.” I think laypeople (by which I mean non-ELT people in this case) are not afraid of this term yet. Native American of course has its own meaning and could cause confusion if used incorrectly.
7. works (n)
   This is probably more of a grammar point than the rest. “The complete works of William Shakespeare is fine” but “I have so many works to do is not fine.” This is a surprisingly common mistake (error?).
8. foreigner
   I don’t exactly cry when I hear this word but I don’t think it is the best choice either. It sounds harsh and limiting and very “us versus them” to me. I also have a negative impression of this word being used by US and UK people to talk about things like “foreigners taking our jobs.” Doesn’t have a great ring to it, especially when the audience of the interpretations my students are doing is foreign people, non-Koreans and other people from abroad.  This word is especially interesting and dangerous when the speech takes place in a country that is not Korea and the question of who is a “foreigner” becomes a bit more complicated. There are of course L1 meanings and direct translations at play here but I stand by my advice to avoid this word.
9. 3rd world
   Not only outdated but also arrogant. “Developing countries” has such a nice ring to it to my ears.
10. gonna
    Simply off register.
11. eradicate
    To use the example, I think eradicating piracy is fine but eradicating pirates sounds pretty harsh and violent and drastic.
12. show off
    I sometimes feel some negative nuance from this word. Something about being arrogant or bragging. I feel like maybe my students would be better to simply say “show” when they don’t indeed to mean someone is being all showy about it.
13. welfare
    This sounds like a dirty word to me. I might be wrong or missing something but I can’t imagine many American politicians talking about increasing “welfare.” Benefits, yes, but not welfare. Social safety net, probably, but not welfare. I think most politicians would talk about welfare reform or accuse their opponent of being a proponent of welfare (depending on the party affiliation perhaps).
14. the locals [people]
    So rude and condescending, to my ears.
15. reeducation
    Not something I’d say casually on this peninsula. It sounds very drastic and as one student suggested, “like brainwashing.” I think maybe “re-training” or continued education are more acceptable options here.
16. industrial complex
    Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against the military industrial complex and I can’t help but think of this when I hear the term “industrial complex.” This is one I am worried I am too picky or strange about. Maybe others don’t think about the “military industrial complex” when they hear “industrial complex.” My suggestion was industrial park or zone or something like this. Of course the Kaesong Industrial Complex is its own thing and that is the proper name so we should probably call it by its name.
17. a great leap forward
    According to Wikipedia, The Great Leap Forward was a campaign led by Mao Tse-tung which aimed to rapidly transform the country from an an agrarian to a communist society through rapid industrialization and collectivization yet ultimately caused the Great Chinese famine. No thanks. My suggestion lately has been something related to taking a quantum leap and I am sure Scott Bakula would be proud.
18. co-prosperity scheme
    Please scheme below but this co-prosperity bit, here in Asia and especially here in Korea gives me pause. Why? The Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere is probably not something Korean government officials want to remind listeners of. I am ready to admit to being a bit too sensitive on this one but I still think there will always be better options out there.
19. scheme
    For me, (and for many Americans but not Brits I think) this word conveys something a bit sneaky and suspicious. I remember talking about “park and ride schemes” in a class once and it seemed unnecessarily dodgy and much less savory than a “park and ride project” or something like this. I don’t want to say that we Yanks always assume something suspicious when we here the word “scheme” but I do want to highlight how this negative meaning might come to our minds even if not intended by the speaker or interpreter.
20. wanna
    As above with “gonna.”

 

 

Written by mikecorea Posted in Reflections