And now for something completely different…
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When it comes to bad English, not much surprises me after 10 years in Korea. But seriously, can you think of a more inappropriate name for an ambitious “fashion and music entertainment” label? Even if it has been endorsed by the likes of Miss A, Sistar, 2pm, and Ha Ji-won?
If it was a play on ddong (똥) though, the Korean word for feces, and the similar sounding and meaning English word, then it would actually be quite clever, Korean popular culture literally being full of the stuff (no pun intended). But, alas, it’s actually a bad Romanization of “러벤덩” instead, the “덩” in the last syllable sounding more like dong (or “deong” according to the official system), with the “o” the same as in “hot”. And unfortunately the Korean itself doesn’t even mean anything either, nor is there an explanation of the name on the website.
Not that the clothes themselves are bad of course. But I do have my doubts about the company’s global expansion plans!
Korean Photoshop Disaster #8: The 100% Korean Lady Burger
A photoshop disaster, or a deliberate satire of the way models are typically presented on women’s magazine covers?
Alas, given how difficult it is to find this particular version, then unfortunately probably the former. But with that face held fast between the “A” and the “D”, as if prepped for cosmetic surgery? That X-line? And especially that emaciated look of her skin? Then for her at least, Lotteria’s Hanwoo Lady Burger is a “must eat” indeed.
But much more interesting than the bad photoshopping though, or what the ad says about women’s body images in the media, is the explicit gendered marketing contained therein. After all, you can’t call something a “Lady Burger” – and not even allow men to buy it – without explaining what it is exactly that supposedly makes it only appropriate for women.
Yet there are no physiological reasons why men and women can’t and don’t enjoy the same foods and drinks, so branding is the only real reason many are still marketed to only one sex nevertheless. Woe betide the company that actually admits that though, and hence Lotteria’s public rationale for Lady Burgers below comes across as rather artificial.
As indeed, do Lotteria’s products themselves, and not for nothing have I completely avoided the chain for the last 5 years (source, above):
롯데리아, 女心잡는 ‘한우레이디버거’ 출시 Lotteria Launches the ‘Lady Burger’ to Catch Women’s Hearts
한우레이디버거는 100% 한우 패티에 국내산 쌀 떡이 첨가된 떡갈비 형태의 프리미엄 버거로, 여성들이 선호하는 파프리카, 토마토, 양상추 등의 야채로 뒷맛이 상큼하고 깔끔한다는게 회사측 설명이다. 특히 쌀떡의 쫄깃함과 한우의 고소함의 조화도 느낄수 있다고. 가격은 단품 4500원, 세트 6000원.
As the company explains, the Hanwoo Lady Burger is a premium burger made from 100% Korean beef patty with ricecake made from Korean rice added, giving the form of ddokgalbi [ribs with ricecake added]. To that is added what women prefer: paprika, tomato, and lettuce, making the vegetable aftertaste both fresh and clean, and in particular, the ricecake’s chewiness and the Korean beef’s sesame taste harmonize well. The price for one is 4500 won, and for a set 6000 won.
특히, 전국한우협회가 인정하는 100% 한우만을 사용, 매월 1회 DNA 판정 검사를 실시해 인증을 받고 있다.
In particular, only beef that has been approved as 100% Korean beef by the Hanwoo Association is used, and every month its DNA is examined in order to receive that certification.
롯데리아 관계자는 “‘한우레이디버거’는 철저한 고객 세분화 전략으로 여성의 입맛을 고려한 제품”이라며, “기존의 한우불고기와는 제품에서부터 차별화시켜, 여성을 위한 햄버거로 자리잡을 예정이다”라고 설명했다.
According to a Lotteria spokesperson, “after formulating a strategy based on the segmentalization of the market, the Hanwoo Lady Burger was considered a product appropriate for women’s tastes”, and that “this is a means to distinguish the product from existing barbecued Korean beef dishes, and we expect it to dominate the market for burgers aimed towards women”.
롯데리아는 출시기념으로 세트 구매 고객에게는 치즈스틱과 알뜰 디저트 쿠폰을 무료로 증정하는 행사를 11월30일까지 진행한다. 알뜰 디저트 쿠폰은 콜라, 콘샐러드, 포테이토 등 디저트 3종을 1000원에 구입 가능한 것으로, 해당쿠폰은 12월 말까지 사용 가능하다.
To commemorate the launching of this product, until the end of November customers that buy it will receive a free cheesestick and a “Thrifty Desert” coupon, allowing them to buy desserts of either cola, corn salad, or potato for the price of 1000 won. These coupons will be valid until the end of December (James: yes, those don’t sound like “desserts” to me either).
한편, 롯데리아 한우제품은 한우레이디버거와 한우불고기버거 등 총 2가지로, 일반 버거 대비 1.5배 사이즈인 한우 불고기 버거는 폭넓은 남성 선호층을 확보하고 있다.
This is the second Korean beef product sold by Lotteria, the first being the Hanwoo Bulgogi Burger. In order to make sure to appeal to men’s preferences, that is 1.5 times larger than normal burgers. (end)
And with translating that last, I suddenly remembered this segment about the financial rationale to gendered burger marketing from page 91 of Essentials of Contemporary Advertising, by William Arens and David Schaefer (2007 edition):
Sorry for the poor quality: it was difficult to fit into the scanner. By way of compensation then, I’ve managed to find the 2003 ad with model Cameron Richardson referred to:
See here, here, here, and here for more examples of Korean gendered marketing, and here for more posts in the Korean Photoshop Disasters series. Meanwhile, have any readers actually tried one of those Thickburgers of Hardees’? Only 1,410 calories!
Update 1: See here for a much better version of the original Lady Burger ad, taken of a poster in a Lotteria window.
Update 2: The Bobster also has an interesting post on the Lady Burger.
Lupin (루팡) by KARA (카라): Lyrics, Translation, & Explanation
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Well, this is embarrassing.
Now as you’re probably aware, I simply love this song, and must have listened to it well over a hundred times. And the music video is amazing too.
But now that I’ve actually studied the lyrics? Hell, but for the word “2010″ at the beginning, I actually had no idea that so much of the song was in English.
On the positive side though, that’s given me a renewed appreciation for the difficulties many Koreans have in realizing that a (frustrated) foreigner is actually speaking Korean to them, albeit in a strange accent. And I don’t mind how nonsensical all the English in the song is either, as that’s quite normal for K-pop.
But unfortunately the Korean too seems literally thrown together in many places, which made it difficult for even my Korean wife to understand. And as you’ll soon see, the small amount of it below belies how much time and effort went into translating it.
And knowing all that about the song now? To be frank, it’s made it lose just a bit of its magic for me.
Lest the same happen to you, read on at your peril!
The first part obviously doesn’t need an explanation, although I’d be interested in learning what “la couture” means exactly:
Sing it with me now
2010, We bringing new love to the floor
Rocking what’s real la couture
We opening new doors new show new world new control
Can you keep up oh!
Hallo! Hallo! Hallo! Hallo! Hallo!
Hallo! Hallo! Hallo! Hallo! Hallo!
Hallo! Hallo! Hallo! Hallo! Hallo! Catch!
Hallo! Hallo! Catch! Catch! Hallo! Hallo!
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겁먹지마 니 심장소리가 들켜 (쉿!)
뒤에 서서 침착하게 지켜봐봐
탐난다고 서두르단 결국 Game set
유연하게 행동해봐 As usual it’s mine
Hide your fear, your heartbeat will be detected (shh!)
Stand behind [me], calmly try to keep watch
Even if it is desirable, if you hurry in the end Game set
Try to be flexible As usual it’s mine
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Most of that was pretty basic, provided you know that adding “보다” to the end of a verb, and conjugated in banmal (반말; informal speech) as “봐”, simply means try to do the verb. At the end of line 2, it’s added to “지켜보다” (to keep watch), hence the “지켜봐봐”.
But I don’t understand line 3 at all: “탐난다” means “be desirable” (not “burn” as given everywhere else: that’s “타다”), which is simple enough, but then it’s given as indirect speech, as indicated by the “~ㄴ다고” ending. But who said what is desirable? And what’s the connection to “서두르다” (hurry) after that for that matter, and while we’re at it what’s the “ㄴ” doing at the end of that too?
To make sense of it then, I suggested to my wife that possibly something like “탐나더라도” was intended, the “더라더” being a grammar pattern meaning “no matter how much, even though, I don’t care if”, and so on, and she concurred.
Finally, line 4 is literally “flexibly act/behave-try-to”.
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Next, there’s the main chorus. As you can see though, there’s just one Korean line in it, and its simply “Go/climb high, try to grab/take all the world”:
(Eo eo eo) It’s mine
(Eo eo eo) This is mine
(Eo eo eo) This is mine
(Eo eo eo)
높이 올라 가 (Ye Ye Ye) 세상을 다 가져봐 (Ye Ye Ye)
Never back it up Back it it up (it it up)
Never turn it up Turn it it up (it it up)
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Hallo! Hallo! Hallo! Hallo! Hallo! Catch!
Hallo! Hallo! Catch! Catch! Hallo! Hallo!
한눈팔면 기회조차 뺏겨버려 (쉿!)
누구보다 한발 먼저 다가가 봐
남들처럼 티내다간 결국 Game set
유연하게 행동해봐 As usual it’s mine
If you so much as glance away, you’ll throw away your chance (shh!)
You should take the first step and try to approach
If you have the air of everyone else in the end Game set
Try to be flexible As usual it’s mine
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In Line 1 (of the Korean), “한눈” is literally “one eye”, and “팔다” sell, but hopefully it’s not too much of a jump to see that “selling one eye” means “look (or glance) away”, especially as the listener was already told to keep watch in the last verse.
Then, next to “기회” (chance, opportunity) there is the grammar pattern “조차”, which basically means “even, to boot, in addition”, as in “목이 아파서 밥은커녕 물한 잔조차 마실 수 없다” for example, or “My throat is so sore that I can’t even drink a glass of water, let alone eat rice”.
But with the next, “뱃기다” (be dispossessed of) plus the grammar pattern “버리다” added to it, which adds a sense of completely ruining or throwing away something, then in English the “even” seemed a bit awkward. So I came up with “If you so much as glance away, you’ll throw away your chance” instead.
Then line 2 is literally “who than- one step – first – approach try to”, so I think “You should take the first step and try to approach” gets the gist of that. And the “who” (or rather “they”) referred to is the “남들” in line 3, which I originally thought was an abbreviation for men (“남자” plus the plural marker “들”), but it turns out to mean “other people” instead. But note though, that that’s not in the sense that the male is used the default for both genders like in Spanish(?), as they’re different words: the “남” in “남들” has no hanja (Chinese character) root, whereas that for “남자” does, and indeed you’ll often see it – 男 – on doors to toilets and men’s changing rooms and so on (and while we’re on the topic, here’s the one for women {여} too: 女).
Finally, in line 3 “티내다” wasn’t in my electronic dictionary, but “티” can mean “an air”, and pulling a thick print dictionary from my bookcase with more examples of that usage confirmed it.
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Next, the chorus is repeated, then you have:
이제 차근차근 걸어나가봐
세상 하나하나 전부 가득 담아봐
특별하길 원하니 네 것이길 바라니
시작해 Uh! Yeah, yeah!!
Now try to step out slowly and carefully
Try to fill in each and every part of the whole world
Do you want to be special? Do you hope it will be yours?
Start Uh! Yeah, yeah!!
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First up, in line 1, “차근차근” can mean “scrupulously”, “methodically”, “systematically”, and so on, but the final, more literal meaning of “step by step” seems most appropriate here. But then “Step out step by step” sounds awkward in English though, so I changed it to “slowly and carefully” instead. That does seem to contradict the carpe diem spirit of the song a little unfortunately, but I think that’s the fault of the original Korean!
Then you have “걸어나가다”, which was annoying for me as a beginner (Yet another word for “walk”?? And Koreans complain about learning English!), but is quite easy to understand really. You see, “걷다”, which is irregular and so conjugates as “걸어~”, is your basic “walk”. But then you can have things like “가다” and “오다” added to them, giving “걸어오다” and “걸어가다”, and which simply mean “walk” plus “come” and “go” respectively, or “walk towards [the speaker]” and “walk away from [the speaker]” in English. And with “걸어나가다” in the song, “나가다” simply means “go/step out”, giving “walk out”. Granted, it can also mean “walk towards, approach” according to the dictionary, (and don’t forget that “다가가다” from the last verse means “approach” too!), but “walk out” seems much more appropriate given the context of the previous verses.
Line 2 was very annoying though. Literally, it is “world – one by one – all parts/whole – full – fill/put in try to”, which can probably be translated many different ways (but not one by one as in separate worlds though), and “Try to fill in each and every part of the whole world” was the best I could do.
But that was a doddle compared to line 3. First up, “특별하다” means “to be special”, but then adding “기” at the end changes it to a noun, and then the “ㄹ” makes it the object. So, “specialness”, with the “원하다” being “want” plus the “니” at the end being an informal question form, and usually implying that the speaker places themself slightly higher than the listener – usually determined by age, as explained by Seamus Walsh in his comments to a translation of another song (a belated thanks for those by the way!). Which gives “Do you want specialness”, or “Do you want to be special?”.
Then you have “것이길 바라니”. “바라다” means “desire”, “hope for”, and “look forward to” (you’ll often see the formal form “바랍니다” at the end of signs on the subway and so on), and it includes the “니” form at the end as just explained. But “것이길”? I guess it’s “것” (thing) plus “이다” (to be) plus “기” to make it a noun, then “ㄹ” to make all that an object. So literally “your thing – the act of beingness – hope for”!
And that’s it, but for the 2nd half of the chorus again:
높이 올라 가 (Ye Ye Ye) 세상을 다 가져 봐 (Uh yeah)
Never back it up Back it it up (it it up)
Never turn it up Turn it it up (uh yeah, yeah!!)
As a reward for slogging your way through all that, let me present you with the DJ Amaya vs Groovebot Hard Club Edit, which reminds me a lot of what I used to dance to in clubs 10-15 years ago (wistful sigh):
Originally, this particular KARA fan didn’t like it much. But it rapidly grew on her, and you can see how she felt when it finally finished:
Next week: I Don’t Care by 2NE1.
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