Sunday, September 5, 2010

Konglish, Korançais, and....Kespañol?

If you find lexicon or grammar boring, you might want to skip reading this, because after writing it I realize that it *might* be pretty nerdy..... In any case:
       For those of you who aren't familiar with the term "Konglish" it has a couple of meanings.  The urban dictionary has several definitions, but here is the general gist:
  • some people call it Konglish when English is misspelled or misused in Korea, particularly hilarious on signs, T-shirts, or really any other document that might have English on it.  For example: 


  • it's also called Konglish when an English word is used as part of the Korean language.  For example: "Television" is written as 텔레비전 in Hangul, and it's pronounced "Tel-le-bi-jon." 
     Basically, it's a pretty flexible word that is used in a lot of different ways.   Konglish is something that never gets old for me.  It's given me some great laughs from just walking down the street and seeing a phrase on a sign that doesn't fit the context, or is mildly suggestive and inapprops., but completely unintentional.  Another one of my favorite things is the huge selection of shirts that are emblazoned with various random "catch phrases," or sometimes just a mix of letters all jumbled onto a shirt to create the odd word here or there, but nothing even remotely coherent... (Lisa I'm thinking of your "Shik" tank top). 
     I don't want to come off as totally patronizing here, because sometimes I find it mildly offensive when people talk about it in a really condescending way.  As though everyone should speak perfect English, or that it's a matter of intelligence or something. What I am trying to say is that I really LOVE Konglish!  There's also something so fun and exciting about sounding out a word in Korean (Hangul) and discovering to your delight that you understand what it says because it's Konglish!!

Me reading a take out menu:
수프림피자   "Su..peo...rim...pi...ja.  Hm... Supeorim..pija?  OH!  Supreme pizza!"

     Having said that, if there's one thing I love more than Konglish.... it's Korançais!  What is Korançais, you ask?  Well, some of my friends at work and I were talking and we discovered that there are some words that are actually rooted in French that are commonly used in Korea, and they are also spelled in Hangul using a French, rather than an English pronunciation. 

Paris Baguette anyone?
One morning I was asking my Korean friend where the nearest Paris Baguette was, and he had no idea what I was talking about.   I was like "Paris Baguette! Come on, there's no way you can live in Korea and not know what Paris Baguette is!?"  They are literally everywhere!  After several attempts to explain myself, he eventually realized what I was going on about, and he said "Oh!! Paris Baguette!" (said in a French accent).   So he didn't understand me because I was totally bastardizing the French words like "Paris," and "Baguette,"  with my English accent, rather than pronouncing it with a French accent.  Of course!  It makes sense!  

     After discussing this-at what some would consider excessive length-with my friends, we decided the best name for it would be Korançais.  One person was really fond of "Krench," but Korançais just sounds so much more dignified (plus, it's more accurate).  Since coining the term, (or maybe we just think we coined it, but don't burst our bubble) we've been finding Korançais everywhere!  

Such as:    빵 which is pronounced "pang" which sounds an awful lot like  "pain" in French!
We're trying to find some more examples of Kespañol, but all we've got so far is "olleh!" that our students always shout when something good or exciting happens.  

Korançais is usually not as funny to me as Konglish, due to my limited French, but just another little thing that makes me love Korea.
































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