정부가 톡톡히 망신을 당한 사이트는 16일 방송통신위원회에서 개설한 '재한 외국인 인터넷 본인확인 안내 홈페이지'(www.ifriendly.kr). 이 사이트는 국내에 머무는 110만명의 외국인들이 외국인 등록번호나 여권번호를 이용, 각종 인터넷 사이트에 가입하는 방법을 안내하기 위해 우리말, 영어, 중국어, 일본어 등 4개 국어로 개설됐다.
그러나 영어 사이트의 경우 수준 이하의 영어로 제 구실을 못하고 있다. 이 사이트는 핵심 내용인 '본인 확인'(identify person acknowledgement)을 여러 군데서 'identify'대신 'identical'로 표기해 외국인들을 어리둥절하게 만들고 있다. 'identical'은 똑같은 혹은 일란성 쌍둥이라는 의미, 'identify'는 확인하다, 식별하다는 뜻이다.
유명 블로그 '브라이언 인 전라남도' (http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2009/11/what-was-wrong-with-ifriendlykr.html)를 운영하는 전남 여수의 원어민 영어 강사 브라이언은 자신의 블로그에 'ifriendly.kr의 잘못된 점은 무엇인가'라는 글을 올리고 "ifriendly.kr 사이트를 방문했으나 무슨 뜻인지 알 수 없었다"며 "다른 외국인들조차 알아들을 수 없는 영어"라고 지적했다.
That particular post has been passed around by numerous Korean twitterers, including those who work on the internet for a living, and was read by thousands of others, so people are certainly paying attention to what English-language bloggers have to say, especially, in this case, to the accessibility of the Korean internet and the language used to explain it.
You probably know I don't live in Yeosu---I live in Gwangju---and that my name isn't "Brain," but that's the way Naver.com labelled my site in August, 2008:
전라남도 여수시 영어교사 Brain 블로그, 한국문화, 역사, 뉴스, 축제 등 수록
I went with it since it was nice to get some attention from Korean readers. I need to find a new page description, I think.
18 comments:
I think you should just give in, change your pen name to "The Brain," and go with it.
You da 남자!
Who's Pinky then?
In honor of this post I have whipped together a new banner for you.
full size version available if you want to really use it.
Well, you do do the same thing you do every night...
If Brain's doing something with Brains for his banner, I insist that this picture, or one like it be used.
http://media.photobucket.com/image/tmnt%20krang/TimothyKelly/Krang-colors.jpg
(appropriately, verification word is "hokey")
"Well, you do do the same thing you do every night..."
Huh?
"Pinky and the Brain", a segment from WB's Tiny Toon Adventures. (Brain is an evil genius, and Pinkya dullard).
Every episode begins thusly:
Pinky: "So Brain, whattdya wanna do tonight?"
Brain: "The same thing we do every night, Pinky... Try to take over the WORLD."
They changed the website design!!!
It now works with Firefox, and they fixed some (but not all) of the grammar and spelling mistakes.
Brian, I tip my hat to you and your "web presence".
They changed the website design!!!
That was awfully quick for such a complete shake-up of the content.
Wow, that was a huge shake-up. I wonder who they called?
Thanks for the kind words and the visits, these past two days have been the busiest in Brian in Jeollanam-do history. Without all the good comments to the first post, I wouldn't have compiled the second one, and it wouldn't have been spread around the Korean internet fast enough to get picked up by the paper.
I'm happy to see things fixed, really I am, and not to sound like a complainer, but do they have to refer to us as "aliens"?
"Aliens should input..."
"Only the aliens currently..."
"...for aliens who will be..."
Alien is the correct term. I get called an alien when I enter the US, in the official forms etc., and in most other countries as well.
Hmm, spammers came out to play this week.
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