Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Heard any good Korean expressions lately?

Koreans have a way of saying things sometimes that make me think, "Wow, I like that expression." Some of the expressions may seem plain to Koreans, but to me they have a certain elegance. Here is one expression that I found elegant in a recent letter from a Korean friend:

살아온 세월만큼 아는 것이 인생인데.

  1. Life is what we learn along the way.
    -
  2. Life is learning from our years of living.
    -
  3. Life is what we know from our years of living.
I think the Korean can be translated in both the ways I did it above. In my friend's case, I think she was referring to the second translation.

Update: I have thought about it and think that Sentence 3 is the most accurate translation of the Korean.

4 comments:

  1. It has a total lack of political correctness, but:

    잡은 물고기에 먹이를 주는 거 봤어?

    Struck my fancy the other day. It doesn't actually have anything to do with fish, it's basically what a husband says to a wife after he's married her and she complains that he doesn't treat her special anymore.

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  2. That's a funny one, Sub8hr. I had never heard it before.

    잡은 물고기에 먹이를 주는 거 봤어?
    Have you ever seen someone feed a fish he has already caught?

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  3. I like "힘내세요!" as it encourages people. But I do not know to translate it into English. I wonder if "You can do it!" fits as given in
    http://www.tipskey.com/traveling/common_expressions_translated_into_korean.htm

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  4. Jesse,

    Yes, "You can do it," sounds like a good translation for 힘 내세요, but I also think it can be used to mean, "Be strong," which could be used to encourage someone during an emotionally difficult time.

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