I was pleased to learn Yonhap---Korea's wire service---did an article on the strangeness of the "Visit Korea Year: 2010-2012" campaign, using this post and comments to it for information.
"한국의 1년은 외국과 달리 730일이 넘고 계절도 8개는 되나 보죠?"
정부가 '한국방문의 해' 사업에 따라 선보인 영문 로고 '2010-2012 Visit Korea Year'를 두고 한 원어민 누리꾼이 쓴 내용이다. 2010년부터 2012년까지 기간을 '1년(Year)'으로 표기해 단ㆍ복수를 중시하는 영문법상 틀린 말이란 얘기다.
한국을 대표하는 영어 관광홍보 로고가 이처럼 실제 고객층인 원어민들한테 '엉터리'로 지적되는 수모(?)를 당하고 있다.
26일 국내 거주 외국인들에 따르면 전남 여수의 한 원어민 영어 강사가 운영하는 블로그 '브라이언 인 전라남도(http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com)'엔 로고를 비판하는 영어 원어민들의 댓글이 20여개 달렸다.
A few commenters had their comments translated into Korean. Thanks to Craig White for sharing the link on my Facebook wall.
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9 comments:
I wonder if this will just be used as ammunition against Lee Cham... 'See the damn foreigners don't even approve of your work!' Hope not.
Hey, that's awesome, I was quoted! And even after the translation into Korea, I don't think my quote was taken out of context. hehehe!
*...after the translation into Korean
ops, typo...
Cool.
I love how it leads off with 1994's line about how Korea has 730 days and eight distinct seasons. I wonder if they got his drift with his comment.
One would THINK that Korea would wake up and smell the coffee. They spend the most money of any country in the world on learning English, and yet, they make mistakes like this. Yikes. Guess that is job security for us? Personally, I would rather see some positive results and a bit less job security. It is so dang depressing....
I want to know who the 50 year old female professor who agreed with my comments is...
Ruth Liddle of Dongguk University.
Brian wrote:
I love how it leads off with 1994's line about how Korea has 730 days and eight distinct seasons. I wonder if they got his drift with his comment.
Maybe not, 2010 ~ 2012 would be 1096 days and twelve seasons. They might instead glean from it something about South Koreans being superior at math.
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