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Andrew Salmon

Andrew Salmon is a Seoul-based reporter and author.

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Andrew Salmon

The Joy of Konglish (2): G–L

By Andrew Salmon In the second of a four-part series, we continue looking at some popular Korean and/or English terms whose meanings differ from what an expatriate or foreigner visitor might reasonably expect. Inverted commas ― ``…” ― indicate separate entries. The third installment will be published in two weeks. Galbi: Food of the gods. Gangster: Never encountered on Korea’s (very safe) streets, but swarming over ``K-soaps” and the ``real estate” business. Also inhabits the ``chairman’s” office of at least one ``chaebol.” Generation Gap: Think of the Grand Canyon, and you will have an inkling. Green Growth: Stated pro-environmental policy that ― Oh! Irony! ― frequently involves tons of concrete. Grey: Vies with black and white as the top color choice for Korean automobiles. (Carmakers! Why? Is colored paint more expensive?) Golf: Internationally; dull, low-impact ``sport” played by ill-dressed, out-of-shape persons. In Korea; networking for the rich and powerful. Government Office: Often-monumental structure, easily located as there will be a noisy ``demon

Jun 25, 2012By Andrew Salmon
  • Korean-English, not Konglish (Part 1)
  • Not Konglish (Part 2)
Andrew Salmon

The joy of Konglish (1)

By Andrew Salmon It has come to this columnist’s notice that some expatriates are unfamiliar with common English expressions that hold a different meaning in Korea. Moreover, many Korean words are misleadingly translated in various publications. To remedy this, I have drafted and translated/explained a selection of Konglish words and terms commonly encountered in conversation and/or in Korean media. Inverted commas ``…” indicate separate entries. Should any readers suggest lexis I have overlooked, please email the writer and I will endeavor to include suggestions in future updates. America: Large country inhabited by Americans. Korea’s main ally, yet also fair game for any ``demonstrator” who fancies kicking up a ruckus in ``Seoul.” Apartment: Ugly, numbered concrete abode, carefully designed to ruin landscapes. Barbershop: Not a place for a haircut, nor a place to tell your wife you have visited, you filthy hound! Blood:Red liquid that fills human bodies. Korean blood contains, according to some Koreans, particularly ``liberals” and ``progressives,” a unique s

Jun 11, 2012By Andrew Salmon
  • Korean-English, not Konglish (Part 1)
  • Not Konglish (Part 2)
Andrew Salmon

Room without a view

By Andrew Salmon As you will presumably have noticed, spring has sprung. If you have not, you should immediately, for this is Korea’s finest season ― the perfect time to venture beyond city limits and enjoy the green hills and valleys while they are bathed in sharp light and breathing in crystal air, before summer descends in all its steamy grey, humid, shirt-sticking misery. I recently took the advice I just gave you and spent an invigorating day hiking the shaded trails and visiting the picturesque temples of Mt. Bukhan National Park. After that, dinner was called for, so myself and my companion pulled in at a roadside restaurant in the shadows of the peaks. This establishment stood at the foot of the mountains, and as we climbed out of the Hyundai, their jagged ridges were reflecting the peach glow of sunset while the skies above turned a translucent blue. This was the perfect spot to eat al fresco, eating up the luminous views along with the “dubu” and drinking in the cool evening air along with the makgeolli. So, ajummah, may we sit in the garden? Alas, ou

May 28, 2012By Andrew Salmon
Andrew Salmon

No sea change for East Sea

By Andrew Salmon Talk about news of earth-shaking international importance. In Monaco last week, the International Hydrographic Organization ― the body that sets official geographic place names for maps ― rejected Korea’s demand to add ``East Sea” alongside ``Sea of Japan” when denoting the body of water dividing the nations. The exclusive use of “Sea of Japan” will continue through 2017 ― when the debate re-opens. Surprisingly, the IHO decision has not sparked editorial rants, demonstrations outside the Japanese embassy, self-appointed ``PR gurus” buying up ad space in U.S. newspapers or ex-Korean special agents shooting fire arrows into Monaco’s royal palace. Why ``surprisingly?” Well, the naming debate is an issue that many Koreans get extraordinarily hot under the collar about. Let’s get some international perspective. For almost a century, ``Sea of Japan” has been the most common, official designation. For nations, academic institutions and publishers worldwide to change the name in maps, atlases and other publications would require major efforts and investmen

Apr 30, 2012By Andrew Salmon
Andrew Salmon

Nork nukes don‘t need missiles

By Andrew Salmon It went up, up and away, and then it went bang. Friday’s North Korean satellite launch/missile test left Pyongyang’s rocket scientists with faces red, and I should not be surprised if several of these gentlemen soon find their laboratories relocated from Pyongyang to somewhere more rural ― like Yodok. The rest of the world, meanwhile, had a chortle, and there seems to be much talk circulating about how we are all safe for at least a few more years from the threat of North Korean-raised mushroom clouds. In the run-up to the launch, I understand why Washington breathed fire and brimstone, but quite why Tokyo and Seoul were so vitriolic is beyond me. Pacifistic Tokyo sounded almost hawkish, snarling that it would shoot the missile down if it skimmed Japanese air space; news photos showed Patriot batteries elevated skyward. Forgive me for feeling a trifle cynical about this posturing. Firstly, the North Koreans had made very clear that the missile flight path was through the Yellow Sea, which means that, had the modern samurai seriously wanted to shoot it

Apr 16, 2012By Andrew Salmon
Andrew Salmon

Under-use of consultants

By Andrew Salmon An acquaintance of mine, undergoing a divorce, returned from a meeting with his Korean counsel looking frustrated. Apparently, he had been advised by a third party of a critical fact, which his lawyer had not mentioned. When my friend asked why not, the lawyer replied: ``Oh! You did not ask me about that specific point.” Some years back, I interviewed Wilfred Horie, the first foreign CEO of a local bank here. Horie had served in the U.S. Army’s Special Forces, and brought up their approach to management: He parachuted into Seoul with a small team of elite executives, but for backup, hired a battery of external consultants the same way Green Berets utilize artillery and air support. The consultants’ recommendations were duly implemented. Horie mentioned this to the head of another local bank. The man was startled. ``We hired the same consultants and got the same advice,” he told Horie. ``But we never executed!” One of my best pals runs a PR firm. His clients are local and foreign. To foreign clients, he consults strategically, direct to CEO-level. (One of

Apr 2, 2012By Andrew Salmon
Andrew Salmon

Korea in the raw

By Andrew Salmon One of the first things incoming foreigners learn about this nation is: ``Korean society is one governed by relationships, not laws.” This is commonly seen in commerce. In, say, the U.S., two perfect strangers can do business based on a paper agreement: What is written on that paper is both binding and enforceable. That is not necessarily the case here, where a long preamble needs to take place as relationships, and trust, are established. There are reasons for this. Most Koreans are just one or two generations removed from their ancestral villages, where traditional relationships governed society and legalities meant little. Moreover, today’s legal framework was applied to Korea by Japanese colonists. The Japanese wielded it harshly, and this trend continued during local authoritarian rule. For much of modern Korean history, the law was used as a blunt instrument by those in power. Since democratization, many Koreans have had little respect for the law or its enforcers: a friend in the legal profession tells me there is a widespread belief amon

Mar 19, 2012By Andrew Salmon
Andrew Salmon

Blindness to N. Koreans’ plight

By Andrew Salmon I recently covered a demonstration opposite Seoul’s Chinese Embassy. Mobilized by the “Save My Friend” organization, some 200 young South Koreans were protesting Beijing’s forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees. Among the demonstrators were movie actor Cha In-pyo and TV star Ricky Kim. Both spoke eloquently. I was interested to learn that Cha had contacted some 60 fellow entertainers to join the protest; apparently, around 20 showed up. Cha is the star of (among other movies), 2008’s “Crossing.” This film follows a North Korean defector and his desperate attempts to rescue his wife and son from that benighted land. As humanistic cinema, it compares to the finest works of Roland Joffe, director of “The Killing Fields,” “The Mission” and “City of Joy.” How heartbreaking is “Crossing?” The defector whose story it is based upon could not bring himself to watch it. Yet it was not a box office smash ― I assume because North Korean human rights issues are unfashionable among young filmgoers. But to return to the protest. Though the presence of star

Mar 5, 2012By Andrew Salmon
Andrew Salmon

De-caffeinated courtships

By Andrew Salmon Arguably the most pressing long-term issue confronting millennial Korea is its declining birth rate. According to reports, South Korea today has the fastest aging population on earth. This trend has ominous ramifications. Higher taxes will be required from a dwindling workforce to support an expanding populace of doddering droolers. Insurers and pension providers will go the wall and health costs will skyrocket as worm-feed proliferates. Korea’s tigerish national virility will be sapped as its cool, high-tech and energetic population morphs into a nation of geriatric zombies. What lies behind this worrisome trend? Pundits point to the decline of the traditional family and the rise of the nuclear family; a falling marriage rate countered by a rising divorce rate; a ``me” generation replacing the traditional ``we” generation; and so on, blah de blah. Me? I blame Starbucks. Pretty much anywhere you go in 21st century urban Korea, the once-customary waft of kimchi is overpowered by the bouquet of brewing beans; you can’t walk ten paces in Seoul witho

Feb 20, 2012By Andrew Salmon
Andrew Salmon

Standing tall amid ad storm

By Andrew Salmon There’s no escape. Offline, online, on street or on screen, we are battling a marketing barrage. Virtually every modern media is a sold-out platform for either over-the-top advertising or crafty viral marketing. Yet in this digital world, I am glad ― proud, dammit! ― to state that there stands one last bastion of information integrity. Yes, I am talking about good, old-fashioned newspapers like the one you are holding. Problem: Newspapers are sinking as revenues evaporate. Why can print media not come up with new financial streams by leveraging their core competencies ― professional word-smithing and credible information delivery? After all, traditional print media deliver professionally written content that is also straight dope, for a blazing firewall separates editorial from advertorial. Take this column. As a journalist, integrity oozes from my pores. This byline declares: ``You are about to be entertained, informed and challenged by copy that is untainted by corporate cash. Sell-out in this column will come over my dead body!” That, gentle re

Feb 6, 2012By Andrew Salmon
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