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Opinion

Columnists

Lost in 'Squid Game' translation

All the controversy around the translation of “Squid Games” got me thinking, for the first time in a long time, about how things really do get lost in translation. As a Korean American who's bicultural, I have been interpreting and translating my share of Korean-English for the last 20 years plus, albeit not professionally.

2021-10-17 16:48

To eat or not to eat (dogs)

By Jason LimWhen I lived in Korea in the late 1990s, I remember visiting the city of Jeonju in central Korean, famous for its bibimbap, and walking through a local market lined with dog meat butchers. They had dogs ― fairly large ones ― in cages lining the market street, and would actually be butchering them for customers for specific orders, not unlike the fish in aquariums that you see in seafood markets. I remember espying a large dog's carcass basically halved across the torso and lying bloody on the floor of the butcher shop's waiting to be carved out. A dark mass of brown and red in t...

2021-10-03 17:00

Metaverse is the Matrix

A recent Wall Street Journal article headlined, “Digital Addictions Are Drowning Us in Dopamine,” has an interesting subtitle: “Rising rates of depression and anxiety in wealthy countries like the U.S. may be a result of our brains getting hooked on the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure.” It's basically talking about the surge of games, social media, and other behavioral addictions facilitated by the proliferation of smart phones, tablets, and, in Korea's case, cheap PC-bangs. The COVID lockdown of the last 18 months didn't help, of course.

2021-09-22 17:05

Hurrah for tasty cultural appropriation

A recent AP article titled, “New Asian American bakeries find bicultural sweet spot,” tells the story of Asian American bakeries innovating on traditional American cookies with ingredients from their cultural culinary traditions. For example, the article highlights a “Dimsum Cookie” that's infused with sesame seeds and red beans. But if you lived near a “Korea Town” in well-known center with a Korean population, bakeries that sell traditional Korean baked goods next to American staples infused with ethnic flavors is nothing new. At least in the Northern Virginia area where I live, Korean bak...

2021-09-05 17:05

A token, but not tokenized

I grew up in New York City in the 1980s, but went to a school that was largely devoid of Asians. In a class of a little over 100 students, I had one Korean kid who stayed for a year and another Japanese kid who stayed for two. At the same time, I had my own clique with good buddies belonging to the nebulous grey area between jocks and nerds. Despite the absence of others who looked like me, I felt as if I belonged.

2021-08-22 17:00

Korean men triggered by pinch symbol

An San, a member of the Korean women's archery team, won three gold medals in the Tokyo Summer Games. You would think that would earn her unconditional acclaim from all Koreans, especially since she achieved them in Japan. Apparently, however, her short haircut, attendance at a women-only university, and specific expressions used in her past social media posts drew suspicions of her as a potential feminist, attracting online attacks from presumably young Korean men. These suspicions quickly devolved from there into a surreal fight between those supporting An and petitioning the Korean Archer...

2021-08-08 17:02

Olympics and multiculturalism

“Hafu” is the term that's used in Japan to denote someone born from parents of different ethnicities. Apparently, 35 members of the 583-strong Japanese Olympic team are multi-ethnic. “Hafu” is the term that's used in Japan to denote someone born from parents of different ethnicities. Apparently, 35 members of the 583-strong Japanese Olympic team are multi-ethnic. What undoubtedly struck me watching the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics was seeing the tennis champion Naomi Osaka, daughter of a Haitian father and Japanese mother, a hafu, light the cauldron after walking up the mock-up of ...

2021-07-25 17:00

From Korean War to armistice

Growing up in Korea, the Korean War was always referred to by the date when it started: 625, for June 25, 1950, the date when well-armed North Koreans invaded South Korea across the 38th parallel. Referring to important historic events by their dates is typical in Korea, so I never questioned that 625 was the definitive term we would use to refer to the Korean War.

2021-07-11 17:05

We don't live on Planet Vulcan

An Economist article titled, “Closing the world's schools caused children great harm,” made the point that governments around the world closed schools for two-thirds of the school year due to the pandemic, even though the probability of a child between the ages of 5 to 14 years old dying from COVID-19 was only one in 500,000. The implication is that governments made a hasty decision that unnecessarily took educational opportunities away from children.

2021-06-27 17:00

Hell Joseon comes home to roost

This past week, Lee Jun-seok, 36, became the youngest ever to take the leadership of a main political party. Lee will now lead the conservative main opposition People Power Party (PPP), as it tries to win back the presidency next year. While Lee's been around for about 10 years ever since he was recruited by former President Park Geun-hye basically as window dressing for her appeal to younger voters, he has held his own since then against much more experienced and well-heeled politicians. Nevertheless, nobody expected a Lee victory this time around, especially against two well-entrenched vet...

2021-06-13 17:08

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