Looking at a page filled with nothing but 한글 can be tiring. Information overload! Makes me wonder when, when (not if, never if) I will be able to look at a page written in 한글 and easily scan through its contents like I do in English.
(Random post, but yeah…I haven’t been studying much these days. =.=)
Just a few minutes ago, I finished watching episode 10 of Queen Inhyun’s Man with my sister. In the preview for episode 11, Kim Boong-do asks in a voice over, “내가 책임지면 되겠소?”
책임지다. To take responsibility. Because I’ve been exposed to quite a number of Korean dramas, I am now aware of the connotation of that phrase when used in romantic situations. As Javabeans (of Dramabeans) puts it into words:
There’s something so Korean about those words, “take responsibility,” that elicits this mad fangirl rush in the cockles of my heart. It’s such a loaded phrase, and has been used to euphemize marriage, pregnancy, care, and/or partnership — basically, a serious commitment on an emotional level that transcends the legalities of, say, marriage or parenthood or whatnot.
That’s why when I heard Boong-do’s words in the preview, I couldn’t help but swoon and giggle and just want to see episode 11 asap. (I don’t think I’m alone either, judging from the posts at the soompi thread.)
…but then my sister went and ruined the moment by saying, ”Hindi ganun kaganda ‘yun pag tinagalog.” (Translation: It’s not that great if you translate it in Tagalog.) Her words got me thinking for a while (I couldn’t come up with the right translation), and then my sister translated it to Tagalog: Pananagutan kita (Translation: I’ll take responsibility for you). I cringed and wholeheartedly agreed with her sentiments.
Lemme explain a bit. Those words (pananagutan kita), while also translating to “take responsibility,” don’t quite imply the same thing it does in Korean. While both terms do connote marriage, pregnancy, etc., pananagutan kita has the nuance of the responsibility being forced upon the person, like it’s the only choice to make in order to uphold one’s moral values. I usually link it to the scenario of a girl being knocked up and the guy having no choice but to say, “pananagutan kita” to appease his fretting girlfriend. Or the scenario of a guy reassuring his girlfriend before sex (heh).
Isn’t it interesting how these two phrases, which translate to the same thing in English, don’t have quite the same nuance? Hee, I love discovering little things like this. It makes me want to know more not just about Korean, but also about my own language. It’s unfortunate that Filipino (or even the dialect, Tagalog, upon which the Philippines’ national language was mostly based on) doesn’t get as much love in my country as English, because it’s a rich language that Filipinos should appreciate and study more.
(Heh, this post turned out to be more about pananagutan kita rather than 책임지다.)
Queen In Hyun’s Man (2012)
“우리가 만난 게 우연이 아니라 필연인가 보오.”
Eek. Love this scene. And the ending -오 is so weird when added to 보다.
I. Books
In my last post, I wrote a list of Korean books I’d want to read. Now, the list is getting longer (and a more and more ridiculous). It’s too ambitious to think I’d be able to comprehend these books at my current level. There’s just no way I’d be able to do that right now. But I still want to do it, yunno? Like I feel if I didn’t push myself to want to do it, I’ll forever be stuck reading really simple things, which I do not want to happen.
I’ve been looking at Korean online bookstores a lot since yesterday. My sister got her birthday package from Korea, and so now she’s been thinking of buying some more. And I’m thinking of buying some books for myself too. Not grammar books or textbooks (since we already have a lot of those) but novels. Eeeek. The mere thought of it makes me high with glee.
The problem I do have, however, is that I don’t know exactly what to buy. I have a few books in mind, like 당신, 거기 있어줄래요? (originally written in French) or 엄마를 부탁해, but I’m so so afraid of buying those books and finding out I can’t understand 99.9% of what’s written. ;____; So I’ve been thinking about buying children’s books instead, which aren’t that hard but may still prove to be a comprehension challenge for me. 어린 왕자 (The Little Prince) seems like a good place to start, given that I’ve read the English version (meh, not the French one). Then there’s the Winnie-the-Pooh book I’ve been eyeing, and also some books I found at Libro. Ugh. Can’t decide.
The bigger problem is how many books am I going to buy??? I’d want to buy 10 or more books but that would probably be overkill, no? The safe bet would be somewhere around 3 or 4, I think.
II. Lyrics
One example of the difficulties of translating lyrics. I tried to translate Alex’s 자신에게도 축복받지 못한, which is a beautiful song, only to come across this roadblock:
남자친구가 있는 너를
좋아하는 나의 마음이
너무나도 바보 같아서
사라져버리고 싶었어
Exactly how do I translate this without it sounding stupid?
What I wrote down: My heart that likes you, the one who has a boyfriend, is so much like a fool that I wanted to disappear.
Erm. Yeah.
I got what it meant from the first time I listened to it; the thing is, I can’t translate it in English without making it sound stupid. =/
III. 인현왕후의 남자
EEEEEEK. QUEEN INHYUN’S MAN. LOVE THIS DRAMA. It’s sleek and fast-paced and has the most adorable lead pair chemistry EVER. And can all lead males be as awesome as Kim Boong-do? Is it just not possible? Guh.
(A little digression, but how is it possible that there are three ongoing Wed-Thurs dramas with royalty titles in their, well, titles? There’s Rooftop Prince, King 2 Hearts, and Queen Inhyun’s Man. If Princess Man were aired at the same time as these three, we would’ve completed all the main royalty titles, heh.)
I can’t wait for the next episode (episode 9). The next episode preview was a killer—so they all forget who Boong-do is except for Hee-jin? And she’s dating her jackass of an ex, Han Dong-min? ACK. Love it.
1. Numbers and counters hate me. D: While reading a Korean passage out loud, I ran across 9시, and instead of reading it as 아홉시, I read it as 구시. And it’s not even an unfamiliar counter—it’s probably one of the first ones I’ve ever learned!
;______;
2. Slow progress is slooooooow. I’m itching to stop doing the practice exercises and just dump the book and read some web comics. Seriously. I’ve been meaning to look for another comic to read apart from 오렌지 마말레이드, which has now morphed into something that I read entirely for pleasure’s sake and not for learning Korean. But I keep telling myself that if I do that, the only thing I’ll be able to read in Korean are comics and not the novels and short stories that I’ve so wanted to read.
3. Speaking of Korean novels and short stories, I made a list of the ones I’m itching to read:
Long list, but yeah, once I get into a more advanced proficiency, I hope to read these books. There’s just too much goodness in Korean literature that you can’t find translated in English. Apart from novels, I just want to be able to read Korean history written in Korean—it doesn’t have to be a full-blown textbook, even just articles online about Korean history would be cool. I’d love to own and read books about 조선, though.
4. I picked up my sister’s copy of Korean Reader for Chinese Characters while cleaning the room. Much to my happy surprise, I was able to read the 한자 in the first lesson! Granted, the ones introduced aren’t even difficult—they’re pretty basic characters—but still. It makes me happy to know that at the very least, I got some Chinese characters down because of learning Japanese once, many eons ago. :D
