Lost in Translation

27 August 2012

We have been having Survival Korean classes every morning.  I think it might be more accurate to say we have been surviving Survival Korean classes every morning.  It’s early and my brain is not awake in spite of the rice and beef I have eaten for breakfast.  That’s right, friends, rice and beef for breakfast – with maybe some squid and things that look like potatoes (but are definitely not potatoes) that have been pickled (or something) thrown in for good measure. At lunch, I even found a whole shrimp, with head intact, in my soup.  Must’ve been what made it so delicious. (It really was delicious.  The soup has never let me down thus far.)

Today, we sat through more lectures, one of which was led by a young Korean teacher, who confessed that it was his first time speaking to a group of native English speakers.  He also let us know that he was very nervous, and we tried to assure him that he was doing fine and that we were in complete support of him.  He told us he was nervous about making a big mistake and proceeded to share a really funny story.

He worked for the U.S. Army as an interpreter, and each Korean interpreter would room with a U.S. soldier.  One day a friend of his…he insists, by the way, this happened to a friend and not really to himself…anyway, a friend of his had practiced the phrase, “Can you give me a ride?” over and over again, so he could ask his American roommate for a ride into town the next time he went.  So a few hours later, the roommate came in to announce that he was leaving to go into the city, and our lecturer’s friend grabbed his arm and spat out, more aggressively than he meant to, “Can you ride me?”  The soldier just looked at him, so the friend asked again, “Can you ride me?”  The American just turned and left the room in a hurry.  Later, the poor Korean guy found out that the soldier had gone to his superior officer and asked to be reassigned to another room.  Confused, the friend relayed the story to our lecturer, who pointed out the difference in meaning between the two phrases.  Misplaced verb usage indeed!

This is precisely what I expect to do.  I have this massive fear of trying to say something nice and polite when, in actuality, I have cursed at my new principal and called his mother something resembling a promiscuous barnyard animal.  For now, I’ll just try to make do with “Hello/Good morning” and “Thank you.”