The Grand Narrative

(Photo by Yume_Love) 

Blog Plans 

Like Aaron’s post over at East Windup Chronicle has reminded me, I’ve always had a strange mix of subjects on the blog, but I really do seem to have been all over the place recently, with posts like Lee Hyori’s taste in men at one extreme and others like my “Search for the Korean Fantastique” series and Lee Myeong-bak’s plans to disband the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family at another. The former post is light and fun, and - let’s face it - certainly does no harm with getting hits, but the latter posts aren’t some sort of compensation for it. No, really. Actually, it’s more the other way round: these days, I put a lot of time and effort into my long posts, and in the process of writing them I usually learn a great deal about the subject and sometimes even myself too, so much so that, to be honest, I’m really not all that concerned about their popularity. But after sometimes up to a week of writing and research spent on a single post, it’s sure good to unwind with Lee Hyori in a bikini. I’m “rested” now though, and despite this post’s sex-related subject, it marks a return to more serious posts for the next few weeks (hence I didn’t use this photo to accompany it instead). I could also mention that I’m applying for some editing jobs, and with this blog taking pride of place on my resume then that picture of Lee Hyori really needed to be shunted down the page a little, but I’d better not.

Article Choice

After my last choice of subject, I really wanted something more serious to practice Korean with today, and so I started by checking out the “Society” section of the Korean MSN news rather than the “Soft Porn and Smut” “Entertainment” section like I normally do. Unfortunately(?), just like everyone’s eyes are instantly drawn to anything with the word “sex” in it, mine are also drawn to “성” (pronounced “song”), which is the Chinese character “性” meaning “sex” or “nature,” and so I quickly plumped for the link which had “성매매” in the title, which strangely isn’t in any of my dictionaries but I know literally means “sex-buying-selling,” or prostitution. Seeing as I have the Bible of Korean Study in front of me as I type this, let me warm my brain up and offer something to readers beginning to study Korean by mentioning some sex-related words with “성”  in them:

• 성규육 - sex education
• 성기 - sexual organ
• 성욕 - sexual desire
• 성교 - sexual intercourse
• 남성 - man
• 여성 - woman
• 동성 - same sex
• 이성 - opposite sex
• 성병- …

(Photo by isto-ica)

And so on. I should note that the “성” in “성인,” or “adult” is a different Chinese character - (成) - which also has the “성” sound in Korean but means ” to complete,” and so you have “complete person” = “adult.” Also, many of the words above are only medical and/or legal terms really, Koreans usually saying “섹스하다,” or literally “sex do” instead of “성교하다” or “sex exchange” for instance, but you get the idea. If I’ve piqued your interest in this vocab-learning method, then then try to figure out what “성병” means for starters (hint: what’s a “병원”?) and then check the second half of this post out for more. Now for the more difficult stuff:

교육부, 중고생에 “성매매한적 있냐” 설문 물의

Controversy Arises as Education Department asks Middle and High School Students: “Have you engaged in prostitution?”

교육인적자원부가 학생 정신건강 관리를 위한 설문조사를 시.교육청에 하달하면서 학생들의 수치심을 자극하는 부적절한 설문을 문항에 포함시켜 물의를 빚고 있다.

A planned survey of middle and high school students by the HR Department of the Ministry of Education has aroused shame and controversy with it’s inappropriate questions.

11일 교육부에 따르면 ‘청소년 정신건강 및 문제행동 선별 행동지’에는 원조교제, 성폭력 경험 여부를 묻는 질문이 포함됐다.

Yesterday, the Department said that city and regional education offices will give a survey entitled “Teenage Mental Health and Behavioral Problems” to students which will ask, amongst other things, if they have experienced sexual violence and/or engaged in prostitution.

교육부는 이같은 내용의 설문지가 포함된 ‘2008학생정신건강관리방안’을 하달하고 이 지침을 기본으로 시ㆍ도교육청 여건에 맞게 구체적인 계획을 수립ㆍ추진하라고 지시했다.

These survey questions will be included as part of the Ministry’s 2008 ‘Student Mental Health Care Plan,’ and aimed to obtain concrete data about each city and region’s individual circumstances.  

학년, 반, 번호, 실명이 기재되는 이 설문지는 (지난 한달간)’여자(남자)친구와 성행위를 하고 있다’, ‘원조교제나 성매매를 한 적이 있다’, ‘성폭력을 당하거나 한적 있나’ 등을 물었다.

Completion of the survey will be mandanatory for students, and they will have to include their year, class, student number, and real name. The questions will ask if students have, in the last month: engaged in a sexual act with a boyfriend or girlfriend; had a “compensated date”; and if they have engaged in prostitution.

(”원조교제” is the Korean term for “compensated dating,” which refers to teenage girls having sex with an older men for money. If you’re interested, I wrote two posts about it last year here and here, and more recently I discussed some news about this phenomenon in Japan here. As for today’s translation, I have no idea why the survey makes a distinction between it and “성매매,” which like I said just refers to “prostitution”?)

(Photo by Suzÿ_Quzÿ)

교육부는 이들 문항을 ‘위험문항’으로 분류하고 원점수 총점이 기준점수 이하라도 위험문항에 대한 긍정반응(2점이상)을 보였다면 심층면접이나 정밀점진이 필요한 학생으로 포함키시라고 지시했다. 설문결과 정밀검진이 필요한 학생의 정신전강정보는 반드시 가정에 통보해 정신보건센터, 병.의원을 통한 치료를 받도록 했다. 선별검사결과를 통보할 때는 반드시 담임교사가 직접 방문하거나 유선으로 통보하도록 했다.

If students answer “yes” to 2 or more of these and similar questions, then teachers will be obliged to notify the student’s parents, and then contact a medical health center, with the aim of ensuring that students that need an examination will receive one. When notifying parents, teachers will be under strict instructions to do so face to face or by phone if necessary.

교육부는 오는 3월까지 학생정신건강 실태조사 실시학교를 선정하고 5~6월 학생.학부모.학교관계자에 대한 교육을 진행한 뒤, 전국 245개 학교를 대상으로 선별검사를 실시할 예정이다.

245 schools to be surveyed will be selected by March, and then the survey will be carried out in May or June.

이에 대해 교사 A씨는 “이 설문의 실효성이 있을지 의문”이라며 “성관계, 원조교제 여부를 묻는데 누가 사실대로 응답하겠느냐”고 지적했다. 국가청소년위원회 청소년성보호팀 천상기 팀장도 “실명으로 이같이 물으면 본인의 인권에 문제가 있다고 보여진다”며 “보통 소속이나 반 같은 것은 공개하지 않고 설문을 하지 않느냐”고 말했다.

Of the planned survey, one anonymous teacher complained: “If students have to give their real names, who on Earth is going to answer that they have engaged in prostitution?” Cheon Sang-gi, the head of the National Teenager Committee’s Teenage Sexual Health Protection Team (James: hell, you come up with a better translation!), agreed, saying that “having to reveal their names is a violation of students’ fundamental human rights,” and that “if their answers are going to be revealed to teachers and parents, then the questions simply should not be asked.” 

한편 지난달에는 국책연구기관인 한국직업능력개발원(원장 이원덕)이 전국 전문계고 학생 등 수천 명을 대상으로 ‘성폭행(가담)과 부모 이혼 여부’ 등을 물어 물의를 빚은 바 있다.

Meanwhile, this planned survey comes on top of a similar one recently conducted by the Korean Industrial Development Center (Head: Lee Won-dog), which asked several thousand students nationwide if they had participated in sexual acts and if their parents were divorced.

And there you have it. On the one hand, it is ludicrous that so much time and money will be going into what will be a completely useless survey, but at least some teachers and individuals have the sense to notice this and the gumption to point it out. Meanwhile, please focus on the gist of the translation and not specific terms I’ve chosen, as the ”National Teenager Committee’s Teenage Sexual Health Protection Team” for instance, rolls off the tounge very well in Korean, but that monstrosity will hopefully never been seen again in English. And the connotations in one language, lacking in another? Please don’t bring that up either, otherwise the only translations I’ll do will be of the “See Spot Run” variety!

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