One Whacked Freshman Blogger’s Comic Take on “KorEngrish”
Thursday, 13 March 2008 Clay Burell 
Print This Post
Sometimes an introduction is unnecessary. Let me just announce this new student blogger debutante by letting her show you her stuff. All I’ll say by introduction is, warts and all, I love the sheer joy in writing she displays in this post – not “schooly,” not academic, but wonderfully creative, thoughtful, and writerly, with a voice deserving my megaphone. I’m going to post the first half, and hope you click through to read the rest on her blog. Announcing the inimitable 15-year-old “Flying Backwards,” and her post:
Language Barrier
Though many people are offended when someone teases us Asians about our horrid “Engrish,” it’s quite hard to defend our stance when we have grammatical atrocities like these plastered across the malls in Korea:
^ Apparently, when I “put first step” in their shop (Artbox), I “can have a big smile“. “Can.” But not necessarily. It’s optional. I could have a big frown if I wanted to. Or a big dump.
^ I’m not even going to TRY to decipher this one. But one thing I know for sure is that this sign does NOT make me “everyday smile and happy.” More like “everyday make odd finger gestures at grammatically mangled signs“
The people who were in charge of creating these signs for Artbox have not just butchered the English language, they have strangled it, hacked it up with a ten-foot long machete, and then proceeded to eat its raw flesh. In the rain.
Ironic considering that most Korean mothers will gnaw off their own hamstrings in order for their child to become fluent in English. I mean, even the CIA factbook has gone through the trouble of mentioning that “English [is] widely taught in junior high and high school.” (If you want proof CLICK HERE and look under the “Languages” part of the factbook.) . . . .
[Again, click here to read more.]
- Another Brilliant Student Blogger: Beatrice’s 30-page Comic Life Satire on Grade Mania
- Freshman Arthus Invades Korea to Co-Teach with Me
- On the Psychology of Blogger Identity
- “Blogger-Training School” for a Student “Blogging License”: A Silver Bullet?
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
No. 1 — March 13th, 2008 at 6:12 am
Sadly, I see the same signs here in the US!!! And we supposedly *know* how to read and write!
Can’t wait to click to read more!
Reply
No. 2 — March 13th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Thanks for sharing this and I just had to go to the her blog and leave a comment. I even had to show the pictures and read the post to my hubby!
Pat’s last blog post..The 162nd Carnival of Education
Reply
No. 3 — March 13th, 2008 at 9:48 am
I see these signs in the states especially at some of our fine asian dining establishments. Some times I think it is deliberate.
Charlie A. Roy’s last blog post..Possible Bullying Speaker to Share
Reply
No. 4 — March 13th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Yeah, too bad she doesn’t have clustrmap added. She would get surprised by the increased number of dots on her thing after coming back from Beimun.
Really interesting how a single link makes a blog (or a person) famous.
Reply
No. 5 — March 16th, 2008 at 2:53 am
[...] I’m sharing a lot of student bloggers on Beyond School lately, it’s because we only launched our high [...]