#108. 번역체 -- Five ways Koreans can tell that you are not a native speaker

Pyeongchang Olympics are all set to begin, and the excitement is mounting (well, a lot of Koreans are still unhappy about the flag fiasco...)

The American alpine skier Lindsey Vonn shares the sentiment, and she posted on her Instagram account about how her journey was delayed, yet how she is still very excited. The Korean media reported her Instagram post as front-page news of the sports section.

This is partly due to her success as an alpine skier, but mostly because she used a Korean phrase in her Instagram post. She wrote:

"나는 너무 흥분 돼." (I am so excited.)

The Korean media must have loved the fact that she went through the trouble of using Google Translate to post this short phrase, and the headlines reflect this.

The headline says: "Lindsey Vonn arrives in Korea, writes in Korean "I am so excited""

Wait, you might say. How do you know that she used Google Translate? Are you saying this because she's white?

Interestingly enough, I am not being a racist. I know that she is nowhere near being a native speaker, because she used the kind of Korean that the Koreans call "번역체." This word is a composition of two words: "번역" and "체." The word "번역" just means "translation."

The word "체," meaning "body" in Hanja, is a bit more complicated. It can be used to describe the form of anything related to a language. For example, it can describe physical attributes of letters. The font of your letters are called "글씨체" and cursive fonts are called "필기체." At the very beginning of this blog, I also talked about a specific Korean font called "궁서체," which refers to the font traditionally used within the palace. The font with which you write gives some character to the sentence itself -- in English, the big loopy and girly writings with hearts to dot your i's have a completely different character from Times New Roman, with which you write your college reports.

Here are some basic Korean fonts. From top to bottom, rounded font, palatial calligraphy font, standout font, clear gothic font, and basic font.

However, in modern Korean slang, it can also refer to the mood of the sentences. The most widely used example of this is the word "번역체," where people decide that certain sentences feel so "off" that they must have come badly translating another language. While the actual written letters have no physical characteristics, the overall mood of the sentence gives the sentence a character.

What Lindsey Vonn wrote is a clear example of "영어 번역체" (English-translated mood). While the correct translation of the word "excitement" is indeed "흥분," for lack of a better word in the Korean language, Koreans generally use the word "흥분" to mean "aroused." (As of recent, some Koreans use it to mean "excited" but this is an influence of Koreans who have become more fluent in English!) So when I Googled the phrase "흥분돼" I got a mix of Korean language lessons (where English speakers want to translate the phrase "I am excited"), and porn. Fun stuff.

Then there are other elements in Vonn's writing that seem slightly off to a native Korean. The use of "는" in "나는" seems wrong (I'd have suppressed it), and her spacing in "흥분 돼" seems off. While I could not tell you exactly why it is grammatically wrong, I just know that it doesn't sound right. And from experience (of having read many English sentences translated through Google translate), I know that her sentence has been auto-translated.

If it were a native Korean writing this sentence, she probably would have said something along the lines of:

"나 올림픽이 정말 기대돼." (I am really looking forward to the Olympics.)

or

"진짜 신난다." (I'm feeling the fun.)

 While these are not the exact translates of the sentence "I'm excited," the whole point is that there is no exact translation of this sentence in Korean, so any attempt at an exact translation will make it sound awkward. Young Koreans are beginning to adopt this phrase, by saying things like

 "나 지금 흥분함" (I'm excited right now)

but in order to use it in a non-awkward manner, you would need a complete mastery of the language, where you don't want to follow all rules of grammar, but you still want to follow enough. This is a subtle nuance issue that most learners will struggle with, as the 번역체 sentences are still mostly grammatically correct!

So, here are a few examples of 번역체 sentences that you could keep in mind. I am covering the ones coming from English, but many language-specific examples exist, and Koreans can generally tell apart the ones coming from English, Japanese, or Chinese.

1. Pay attention to the order of your phrases.

English and Korean have very different order of words. A silly 번역체 would be:

"나는 간다, 학교에." (I am going to school.)

While each word matches up the English counterpart, the natural Korean grammar would say "나는 학교에 간다." So if the ordering of your words are awkward, the Koreans can usually tell that you are not a native speaker. A more complicated example might be:

"와서 나를 봐 바쁘지 않으면" (Come see me when you are not busy.) 

The more natural translation is: "바쁘지 않을 때 들러."

2. Suppress your pronouns. 

Unlike the English language, Korean doesn't need a lot of pronouns, and they tend to be suppressed whenever it is clear from context. For example, the sentence "I love you" does not get translated in Korean as "나는 너를 사랑한다," which is definitely an example of 번역체. It is enough to say:

"사랑해."

It should be clear from context whether this sentence is an affirmation of love, or if you simply adore Korean fried chicken. Similarly, you don't want to translate "They're coming!" as "그들이 오고있어!" It is enough to simply say:

"온다!" 

3. Be more specific with your pronouns.

This sounds contradictory to point 2, but this rule covers a completely different set of cases. If the context is clear, you should suppress your pronouns. But suppose that you are about to open the windows in the classroom, and your friend happens to know that the teacher is allergic and he really hates it. Then she might tell you, "He really doesn't like the windows open."

In this case, the easiest Korean translation might be "그는 창문을 여는것을 좋아하지 않아." However, the usage of non-specific pronouns such as 그, 그녀, or 그것 is very rare in Korean. Instead, saying:

"선생님은 창문을 여는것을 좋아하시지 않아"

is a much better translation.

4. Learn the Korean equivalent of the English idioms (sometimes they don't exist).

You should think twice when an English sentence does not serve its literal purpose. For example, think about the sentence:

"Seulgi is nicer than you think, if you ask me."

While a literal translation might be: "만약 나에게 물어본다면, 슬기는 네가 생각하는것보다 착해," the phrase "if you ask me" does not literally mean that the listener asked the speaker her opinion about Seulgi. The speaker is using this phrase to emphasize the fact that she is stating an opinion. Therefore, it is unreasonable to expect that Korean would have a literal counterpart to this English expression. A better translation is:

"내생각엔 슬기는 네가 생각하는것보다 착해." (I think Seulgi is nicer than you think.)

Other expressions that sound awkward when translated directly into Korean include:

- "please" (for example, "Can you please help me" doesn't translate to "나를 제발 도와줄래?"  but rather "도와줄수 있어?")
-  "I say": use "내 생각엔," not "내가 말하길."
- "Give me a break": use "그만좀 해" and not "휴식을 줘."
- "take into account": use "고려하다" or "염두에 두다."
- "you know": use "있잖아."
- "I'm excited": use "정말 기대돼" (note the suppressed pronoun.)

5. "Oh" translates to a variety of different words in Korean.

While it is not wrong to translate "oh" into "오" in Korean, as soon as this word is inserted into a sentence, it smells strongly of a 번역체 sentence. In general, the better translation is "아," but it depends on the purpose of "oh" in the sentence.

If it precedes a revelation ("Oh, you live here too?") or an afterthought ("Oh, don't forget to buy some apples!"), then the Korean translation uses "아." For example, the two above sentences become:

"아, 여기 사시네요?" (Oh, you live here too? -- note the suppressed pronoun of "you")

and

"아, 사과 사는거 잊지마!" (Oh, don't forget to buy some apples.)

If it denotes a mild surprise ("Oh, is that right?") you can use "아", as well as "어" or "어라." So you can translate this sentence to:

"아, 진짜?" or "어라, 진짜야?" etc.

If "oh" is used as lamentation ("Oh no!") then you can use "아아," such as:

"아아, 안돼!!"

And above all, "Oh my god" does not translate to "오, 신이시여." Koreans are more likely to resort to profanity, but the most (politically) correct translation might be:

"아이구, 맙소사." 

Oh my god, indeed!

Of course, all of these things don't operate according to a well-defined set of rules, and most Koreans avoid these usages by the "ear test" -- they just don't sound quite right. The best way to avoid making these mistakes is just to expose yourself to more Korean, and get used to the way Korean sentences are constructed.

However, I also want to emphasize that the Koreans love it when foreigners speak Korean. I think the foreigners, especially anglophones, do not really understand just how happy it makes the Koreans to hear a foreigner speak Korean. Learning Korean generally does not advance your career except in very specific niches (although speaking more popular languages such as English, Spanish, French, or German probably will!) and so knowing any amount of Korean really demonstrates your interest in the Korean culture. So, you should continue to learn and speak Korean, whether you make mistakes or not -- it is flattery of the highest form to the Koreans. I mean, just look at how Lindsey Vonn made the headlines with just one Korean sentence!