In my collection of books I have a phrase book targeting Koreans who want to learn English. There are some decent expressions in the book for both Koreans learning English, as well as English speakers learning Korean, but it is obvious that the author did not consult a native speaker at all, as there are several mistakes, and countless oddly phrased expressions, anyone familar with English would have noticed immediately. So as a service to 박선화 (the woman who assembled this book), I am going to point out, mock, and subsequently correct some of the more obvious mistake.
Original English: My sister get higher salary than I.
한국어: 제 여동생이 저보다 금료가 높아요.
Comments: For starters there is not subject-verb agreement in this sentence. It should be “gets” as opposed to “get.” Additionally in English to say “I get a salary” doesn’t make sense. “My sister makes more than I do,” or “My sister’s salary is higher than mine,” would be better.
Original English: Would you mind if I just call you a Duck?
한국어: 그냥 당신을 ‘덕 (오리)’ 이라고 불러도 괜찮겠어요?
Comments: The grammar in this sentence is fine, but I have no idea why this sentence is included. Why would you ask someone if you could call them “a Duck?” Sentences are broken down thematically and the other sentences grouped with this are things like “Can you do me a favor?” and “May I ask a favor of you?” So I really have no idea what this is all about.
Original English: He has a good hand in riding.
한국어: 그는 승마를 잘합니다.
Comments: Except for the fact that no one uses the expression, “has a good hand in…” this sentence is fine.
Original English: I’d like to see an affective movie.
한국어: 애장 영화를 보고 싶어요.
Comments: Affective movie? I’m pretty sure the author was going for “an affectionate movie,” which still is wrong. “Romantic movie” or “love Story” would have been better choices.
Original English: What was the movie you saw lately?
한국어: 최근에 본 영화는 무엇입니까?
Comments: The Korean question would have been better translated as “What’s the latest movie you have seen?”
Original English: I’m hungry for hotdog.
한국어: 핫도그 먹고 싶어요.
Comments: The Korean version has nothing to do with hunger, nor should the English version. This is one of those cases where the author is trying to be too complex, keep it simple people! The Korean is “I want to eat a hotdog,” the English should be the same thing.
Original English: Could I burn a cigarette?
한국어: 담배 한 대 태워도 될까요?
Comments: If “I’m hungry for hotdog,” suffered due to the author not being literal enough in the translation this one suffers from being too literal. It seems that the author was simply rocking a dictionary to look up words on this one. ‘태우다’ literally means to burn, in this case a cigarette (담배). The sentence however in English would be “Could I smoke a cigarette?” or “Could I light up?”
And here I chose to put an end to this madness, for now. There are countless more mistakes in that book, and that book is not unique at all. In Korea, there are countless text books, phrase books, and television shows that “teach English,” but many of these educational tools have not consulted any kind of native speakers, or if they did, consulted really ignorant ones.
