Is moeg.
Het sopas terug gekom na 'n kuier met 'n Koreaanse vriend. Sy Engels is so beperk soos my Koreaans. Jy sal nie glo hoe uitputtend dit is om in twee gebroke tale te kommunikeer nie.
Ek het die vriend seker 'n jaar en 'n half, moontlik twee jaar, gelede laas gesien. Volgens hom het my Koreaans baie verbeter. Persoonlik dink ek dat ek net 'n paar bywoorde by gekry het.
Dankie tog vir vertalende woordeboeke!
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Just Some F-ing Thoughts on Hate-Speech and Other Words
I've always been a little on the edge regarding this whole hate-speech thing. I'm speaking specifically about Julius Malema's rally songs in which he sang “kill the boer” / “dubhula ibhunu”. Yes, it makes me uncomfortable, but I am a supporter of freedom of speech and expression. Drawing the line between what is allowed and what is not, is a very delicate matter. I have to agree with Chris Chameleon who recently tweeted (@chrischameleon) that he has always been more offended by the “kill” in the slogan, than by the derogatory term for “boer.” Being called names, even derogatory names, is just an oppinion. But this is not what the slogan “kill the boer” is all about. The slogan, if taken as it is, is a call to action—a call to murder. So as I understand it, that is what Judge Collin Lamont basically said in his recent High Court ruling: Julius Malema's singing “kill the boer” amounts to hate-speech.
A few months ago I posted a song by Miriam Makaba, “Kwawuleza”. It is a song in which a child warns his mother that the police are coming. During the apartheid regime a slang word for a policeman developed: “boer”. The word for white farmer became synonymous with white policeman. So the phrase “kill the boer” could be interpreted to mean “kill the policeman”; the basic suggestion is to overthrow those in power. With Malema's rhetoric that white people are still, even now, yet in power, it continues to be a troubling thing to say.
But back to Makaba's song “Kwawuleza”. The hypersensitive and ridiculously politically correct may claim this song to be inappropriate. What about that beautiful poem by Ingrid Jonker, speaking of a “kafferboom”? When will I be indicted for inappropriate speech—possibly hate-speech—for using a word like “kaffer” in a poem? I haven't yet used this word in a poem, but since it is such an emotionally charged word it is obviously a word any poet would take note of. Is Jonker's poem on some blacklist as something that is potentially inappropriate?
Yes, words and their associations are terrible, and insults like “kaffer” and “nigger” and “white pig” and “coolie” and “chink” and the list goes on, are definitely inappropriate. However, how we respond to these insults are equally important. Take for instance that African-American man that assaulted an elderly Korean man because he thought the Korean called him “nigger”, when in fact he said something completely different. (I posted about it here.) Who is the most serious offender here—the person that possibly said the N-word, or the person that physically assaulted someone.
There's a saying that “words can kill” and the Bible says that in the tongue resides the power of life and death. Yes words matter. But so does freedom of expression. When you force people to keep silent you are not necessarily doing a good thing. What we are allowed to say or not to say is the topic of many a dictatorial regime. Orwell spoke not for naught about the muting of words as a means of control in his famous novel, 1984. As a person that spends a lot of time with words, I want the freedom to use any word I so please. And because I know the power of words, because I know the value of words, I use them carefully. I do not use derogatory words, and cussing comes uncomfortably to my mouth. Not because I'm afraid to say these words, but because I am free to use them and know their power. In any case, if I use the F-word as my main adjective, what will I say when something really F-worthy happens?
A few months ago I posted a song by Miriam Makaba, “Kwawuleza”. It is a song in which a child warns his mother that the police are coming. During the apartheid regime a slang word for a policeman developed: “boer”. The word for white farmer became synonymous with white policeman. So the phrase “kill the boer” could be interpreted to mean “kill the policeman”; the basic suggestion is to overthrow those in power. With Malema's rhetoric that white people are still, even now, yet in power, it continues to be a troubling thing to say.
But back to Makaba's song “Kwawuleza”. The hypersensitive and ridiculously politically correct may claim this song to be inappropriate. What about that beautiful poem by Ingrid Jonker, speaking of a “kafferboom”? When will I be indicted for inappropriate speech—possibly hate-speech—for using a word like “kaffer” in a poem? I haven't yet used this word in a poem, but since it is such an emotionally charged word it is obviously a word any poet would take note of. Is Jonker's poem on some blacklist as something that is potentially inappropriate?
Yes, words and their associations are terrible, and insults like “kaffer” and “nigger” and “white pig” and “coolie” and “chink” and the list goes on, are definitely inappropriate. However, how we respond to these insults are equally important. Take for instance that African-American man that assaulted an elderly Korean man because he thought the Korean called him “nigger”, when in fact he said something completely different. (I posted about it here.) Who is the most serious offender here—the person that possibly said the N-word, or the person that physically assaulted someone.
There's a saying that “words can kill” and the Bible says that in the tongue resides the power of life and death. Yes words matter. But so does freedom of expression. When you force people to keep silent you are not necessarily doing a good thing. What we are allowed to say or not to say is the topic of many a dictatorial regime. Orwell spoke not for naught about the muting of words as a means of control in his famous novel, 1984. As a person that spends a lot of time with words, I want the freedom to use any word I so please. And because I know the power of words, because I know the value of words, I use them carefully. I do not use derogatory words, and cussing comes uncomfortably to my mouth. Not because I'm afraid to say these words, but because I am free to use them and know their power. In any case, if I use the F-word as my main adjective, what will I say when something really F-worthy happens?
How to Swear in English
In the YouTube-video below a Korean teacher teaches his students some English swear words. If you are sensitive to bad language (whether in English or Korean, do not watch the video).
The instructor makes an important point: even if you don't use swear words yourself, it is important to know the swear words in the language you are studying in case someone is cussing at you. For this reason I bought the little book "Making Out in Korean" which lists the most common Korean swear words.
This is the only language book that supplies a list of swear words.
The instructor makes an important point: even if you don't use swear words yourself, it is important to know the swear words in the language you are studying in case someone is cussing at you. For this reason I bought the little book "Making Out in Korean" which lists the most common Korean swear words.
This is the only language book that supplies a list of swear words.
Koreaans
Aangesien my kontrak hernu gaan word en ek vir ’n verdere twee jaar in Korea gaan aan bly (indien dit God se wil is) het ek besluit dat ek pertinent aandag moet gee aan die aanleer van die Koreaanse taal. Ek ken genoeg Koreaans om relatief gemaklik oor die weg te kom. Ek kan dinge bestel by restaurante, taxi-bestuurders aanwysings gee, en die assistente in die boekwinkels vra om my te help as ek opsoek is na ’n spesifieke titel. In gesprekke met Koreane kan ek met verbasende gereeldheid, met my 10% luisterbegrip en uit die konteks, aflei waaroor gepraat word. Die probleem is egter dat ek myself nie regtig kan uitdruk met enige ware gemak nie. En terwyl ek sowat 10% verstaan en dit my instaat stel om te oorleef met my woordeboek in my hand, is dit steeds nie genoeg nie. Ek is steeds gestrem. Ek sou baie graag Koreaans formeel wou leer maar my werksure laat dit nie toe nie en my aande is vol met krygskunsklasse sodat ek ook nie na-uurse Koreaanse klasse kan neem nie en ek is nie van plan om my krygskunsaktiwiteite af te skaal nie – dit was een van die redes hoekom ek terug gekom het Korea toe.
So wat is die oplossing? ’n Nuwe gedetermineerdheid om Koreaans te leer. As ek aan bly in Korea wil ek regtig my self meer verdiep in die kultuur. Ek weet dit sal altyd onmoontlik wees om “een van hulle” te word. Die blote feit dat ek anders lyk sal altyd van my ’n uitlander maak, ongeag my vlotheid aan die taal. Nietemin, ek wil ten minste ’n basiese gesprek kan voer voordat my lewe in Korea tot ’n einde kom.
Ek het daarom besluit dat ek Hollym se “Alive Korean Language Series” gaan aanskaf. Dis ’n reeks van vier boeke wat die vier taalvaardighede dek: gesprek, luister, skryf, en lees. Dalk kan ek hierdie naweek nog by ’n goeie boekwinkel uitkom en sien of ek hierdie boeke in die hande kan kry. Ek het verskye ander boeke omtrent Koreaans, maar hulle is almal “survival Korean” tipe “phrase books.” Wat ek kort is iets meer gestruktureerd.
Ek het ook besluit dat ek ’n lys van die mees algemene werkwoordfrases moet kry. Koreaans spil rondom die werkwoord. Dit is die belangrikste deel van ’n sin. Koreaanse sinne is gereeld sonder ’n subjek. Partykeer selfs sonder ’n objek. Maar nooit sonder ’n werkwoord nie. ’n Frase soos 합니다 (“doen”) is ’n volledige sin in Koreaans. Ek is oortuig dat indien ek meer werkwoorde en hulle verbuigings ken, selfekspressie in die taal baie makliker sal wees.
So wat is die oplossing? ’n Nuwe gedetermineerdheid om Koreaans te leer. As ek aan bly in Korea wil ek regtig my self meer verdiep in die kultuur. Ek weet dit sal altyd onmoontlik wees om “een van hulle” te word. Die blote feit dat ek anders lyk sal altyd van my ’n uitlander maak, ongeag my vlotheid aan die taal. Nietemin, ek wil ten minste ’n basiese gesprek kan voer voordat my lewe in Korea tot ’n einde kom.
Ek het daarom besluit dat ek Hollym se “Alive Korean Language Series” gaan aanskaf. Dis ’n reeks van vier boeke wat die vier taalvaardighede dek: gesprek, luister, skryf, en lees. Dalk kan ek hierdie naweek nog by ’n goeie boekwinkel uitkom en sien of ek hierdie boeke in die hande kan kry. Ek het verskye ander boeke omtrent Koreaans, maar hulle is almal “survival Korean” tipe “phrase books.” Wat ek kort is iets meer gestruktureerd.
Ek het ook besluit dat ek ’n lys van die mees algemene werkwoordfrases moet kry. Koreaans spil rondom die werkwoord. Dit is die belangrikste deel van ’n sin. Koreaanse sinne is gereeld sonder ’n subjek. Partykeer selfs sonder ’n objek. Maar nooit sonder ’n werkwoord nie. ’n Frase soos 합니다 (“doen”) is ’n volledige sin in Koreaans. Ek is oortuig dat indien ek meer werkwoorde en hulle verbuigings ken, selfekspressie in die taal baie makliker sal wees.
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