Yesterday, I had an incident in one of my classes that was pretty interesting. J, the same boy from my earlier post, evidently had called an older girl (S) something like "cheeky." (건방져) He also said she was "unlucky." (재수없는)
S explained it to me by showing me the word in my dictionary, but words like "cheeky" and "unlucky" have absolutely zero effect when translated into English, so I didn't realize what was going on. In Korean, however, I guess they're pretty strong. Don't ask me why -- curses rarely ever make any sense outside their host language.
Well, by S telling me about it, I guess Jerry "lost face" (체면) and in his embarrassment he threw his workbook at S. No damage, but for me that was the signal that something was wrong. Without knowing who actually "started it," I sent both of them outside to talk to my director. They came back later a bit subdued, but otherwise fine.
In addition to the surprise that "cheeky" and "unlucky" are bad things to say to a person, I was also surprised by the way my director handled the situation. To me, all the students are on the same level. I would have said that, as equals, they should be mutually respectful.
However, in Korea, status is always a part of the equation, and because J was younger and had lower status (he's actually the youngest in the class), his saying bad words to S became more serious.
My director told J he should be more respectful to his older classmates, and told S she should be more generous. In the end, they both got yelled at, which is what I would have done, but for entirely different reasons than what I was thinking.
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4 comments:
hello, there. was just passing by and wanted to explain those korean words.
건방져 (cheeky). to be frank, i'm not sure what "cheeky" really means here (explain to me, plz!). to me, 건방져 is more like "u arrogant, bast**d/bit*h".
재수없는 (unlucky) (제수(X): i spent a forever time to find "재" cuz i can't type korean ^^;). it's only partially correct, i'd say. it means literary "u r draining my luck" or "u unlucky one". but if i were to use 재수없는, it'd mean more like "u disgusting (or sometimes discusting) bast**d/bit*h, i don't fu*king wanna deal with u".
now, here i have a question for u. does the term "lost face" really exist in enlish? cuz, i think i've heard or read of it a few times. if so, could u explian its nuance as best as u could in your next post for me?
oh, btw, 체면(O) (채면(X)) actually does not have the meaning of "lost face". literary it means "face" as the frontal surface of face. but mostly it indicates more like "one's dignity".
i'm explaining this as best as i could (in fact, i'm terrible at korean along with english. in all those corses i took in my high school years (korean, literiture, writing, grammar), i was a horrible/terrible/u name it whatever it is bad student.) becuz i think u need to know at least what they mean. n of cuz, i do hope u never have to use them to someone else.
oops. i made a critical grammatical error in the previous post. did u notice?
Ahh.... Thanks for the corrections. I've fixed the original post.
"Cheeky" is an infrequently used word the describes the kind of attitude a child has when they're doing something wrong and the know it, but don't care. "Bold," can also describe it, but I chose "cheeky" for my post because it conveys the sort of meaninglessness words can have when translated through language and culture.
"Face" as an English word has only its literal meaning. However, as a transliterated, imported Asian concept, 體面 (체면) is one of those words that needs several others to define it. Its figurative meaning can be translated as honor, reputation, integrity, or dignity.
"To lose face" is also an imported concept derived from 면목을 잃다 (Japanese: 面目を失う) It's more than just embarrassment; it's a humiliation. Insubordination (like yelling at your boss in front of everyone) is recognized in the West as a bad thing to do, but it's pretty much limited to employment because Western countries are less status-oriented than Asian countries.
Now imagine a society where there's a pecking order in everything you're a part of. Concepts like status and insubordination are much more wide-ranging. You can see it in international politics, too -- for North Korea to succumb to U.S. demands for a unilateral, complete, and verifiable dismantling of its WMD program would cost it a great deal of self-respect. It would "lose face."
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