Robert Koehler at The Marmot’s Hole has an interesting post up about allegations of sexism in the translations and dubbed versions of English films seen in Korea.
A women’s group has issued a report on the “sexist” dubbing of foreign films and dramas, reports women’s newspaper Ilda The group took a look at some 27 English-language dramas shown on terrestrial broadcasting in September and October. It found that most of them employed sexist sexist practices when dubbed into Korean.
Namely, male characters spoke in banmal, or “low language,” while female characters used jondaenmal, or “high/respectful” language, even though the original English dialogue made no such distinctions.
Even when the characters were married or a romantic couple, the men typically address the women using banmal, while the women use jondaenmal. In fact, it seems that in all situations in which a female character addresses a man she would use the more formal speech, while the male characters would use banmal.
The tendency continued regardless of characters’ social positions. In the film “Far From Heaven,” for example, the white female homeowner spoke to her black gardener or black maid in jondaenmal, while the white male homeowner spoke to the gardener and store clerks in banmal.
It made me wonder, is it customary for some Korean husbands and wives use formal language with each other? The ones I know don’t seem to. Wouldn’t this strike the listeners as odd, unless the speech of the characters reflected speech that seemed appropriate for the situation?
If not, inserting a subservient pattern of speech where none exists in the original can drastically change the way the plot and characters are perceived. So maybe there is something else at work here other than biased translation.
{ 8 comments }
its_figaro 11.19.06 at 7:16 pm
i’ve heard married couples talk like that together, the woman using jondaemal and the husband using banmal. i’ve mostly heard it amongst older couples, and on tv programmes. have to say, i’m not a fan of it.
Colin Choi 11.19.06 at 8:18 pm
I’m not sure Whether Korean men speak informal words to their spouses. These days most of Korean husband express sincere words to regard their wives and female colleagues at office and other gathering. As you mentioned there are few who still don’t care for using right and candid words.
I think there is much difference between Korean and expat like you on understanding mutual cultures. If available, I will talk and expand common ground in this blog.
Thanks
Cat 11.20.06 at 7:47 am
Hi, Colin,
Thanks for your comment! I agree that expats often misunderstand certain situations here because of cultural differences. I hope that you will continue to offer your opinion here to clarify and expand common ground, as you said.
And, figaro, I have wondered if this is an older, traditional way of speaking, one that is becoming less common among younger couples and younger people here.
Alice 11.20.06 at 11:53 am
I do believe, as figaro said, that this is much more common amongst the older generation. Korea being a Confucianist society, though more so long ago than now, there are distinct roles and rankings in all relationships. From the younger couples I’ve met, this is changing tremendously. Women still call their husbands ‘o-bba’, which literally means ‘older brother’, but I don’t hear the chondaemal.
I was irate when my (Korean) boyfriend told me that during the economic crisis of ‘97 companies were letting women go first because the men were the bread-winners and had priority over women in the workplace. Um, EEO, anyone?? I don’t know if the same thing would happen now, 10 years later, but I was glad to hear my Korean friend, who is a new and working mom, say that her company has many benefits and facilities specifically geared towards mothers.
Fortunately, my Korean boyfriend is very ‘Americanized’ and would never treat me as anything but an equal. His father, on the other hand, may be a different story so I anticipating having to do a lot of tongue-biting in the future!!
Rose Byrd 11.21.06 at 3:36 am
Cat, Alice and Figaro:From the moment I began reading this post, I was reminded of male customers requiring technical assistance vs. female customers requiring tech help here in the U.S. My experience is that MOST males here, except for those with multiple advanced degrees, are simply verbally lazy, as Colin seemed to imply about Korean males. Most females, however, seem to assume they will obtain more accurate and efficient assistance if they use formal, technically accurate language. Remember, Cat and Alice, the average homo sapien adult male has a slightly smaller portion of the brain dedicated to processing language than does the average adult homo sapien female. Personally, I have always found it simply more intelligent to use correct language as fluently as possible to oil the squeaky wheels of almost all human communications. Many males simply do not “get” this. Too bad,so sad. And when it comes to home life, many men have great difficulty transitioning from “Mama, gimme, gimme” to “Dear honorable wife, it would greatly expedite my ability to complete the purchase of your new monogrammed briefcase if you could please hand me the file on our credit card transactions from the desk drawer to which you are so conveniently located.” See, we wives knew these techniques before we were born. Poor guys!
Alice 11.21.06 at 7:52 am
Interesting point, Rose. I’ve also learned the hard way that men often *need* explicit language to understand us women. Perhaps it is partially our fault by assuming our mates will read our minds as easily as our girlfriends do. :)
I brought this up with my boyfriend and he gave an interesting perspective. He believes the reason that men and women speak differently to each other is due to the fact that traditionally the man is older than the woman and not related to the suppression of women. He also said that sometimes the man does use chondaemal with the wife even if she is younger, just out of respect.
We know a young couple where the man is older than the woman. They usually use banmal, though my boyfriend said the woman would likely use chondaemal in front of elders.
My boyfriend is a year younger than I am so I was curious; how would we speak Korean in front of his parents? He said that I’d use chondaemal to him (huh?) and, uh, he’d use chondaemal to me, too (good save).
See what you’ve started, Cat??
dust bunny 11.21.06 at 9:20 am
it is no secret that korea is incredibly chauvinist.
Cat 11.21.06 at 10:09 am
Ooops! I apologize. ;-)
Actually, it is an interesting discussion. I was talking with my mother (American) and she pointed out that her grandparents referred to each other, even when directly addressing the other person, as Mr. and Mrs. [Last name] in front of other people. It was an issue of appropriate formality and respect.
I don’t have a problem with that so much as one of the partners (male) using informal language to address the other (female), when she’s expected to use more formal language back. If it’s an age thing, that’s sort of another issue…
And to your point, dust, I don’t know about labeling Korea as incredibly chauvinist since it depends on perspective. From my perspective, yes, lots of the behavior of men towards women is chauvinistic. But, then also a lot of the way that men are toward each other I find wrong, based on my experience. The hierachical distinctions based on age, social status, marriage, etc.
Some day I hope to put together a coherent post about feminism in a Korean context. I wonder if it doesn’t necessarily differ from Western concepts of female/male equality, where the ideal is for everyone to be treated the same (at least the way that I understand it.)
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