English in Korea #5: “Marry Christmas”

This holiday season, the Lotte Hotel near City Hall Station in Seoul would like to wish you the very best in your new life together with Christmas. Confused? That’s reasonable, considering that the hotel is suggesting that its patrons and visitors “marry” Christmas as opposed to enjoying a “merry” Christmas. An easy and nearly invisible mistake to your average person, but still proof once again that Korean companies, in their efforts to use English to better promote their business, need to get a little better in the editing department.

 

English in Korea #4: “Doosan We’ve”

The Doosan Group is one of the largest and best known conglomerates in Korea, but apparently the people who work on their slogans need to take more English lessons. Usually, you see “두산We’ve” billboards around Seoul-town, but here near Yangjae Station we’ve got the real Romanized-deal. I’m not sure if we have Doosan or Doosan is telling us that they have a mystery, but I do know this is another bizarre usage of English in Korea.

 

English in Korea #3: “Very & Good”

While it’s commendable that the Lex Hotel near Sinsa Station wanted to express its superior accomodations to potential customers in the English language, they seem to have forgotten a word (or added one too many?).  On and above the doors of the Lex Hotel are the words “Very & Good”, exactly as is written.  Since “very” is an adverb and “and” is a conjunction, there is some obvious confusion in the statement.  One must assume they mean to either say “very good” or something else described by “very” that complements “good”.  Regardless, the absense of that secret word and addition of the ampersand create yet another perplexing usage of English in Korea.

 

English in Korea #2: Mona Risa Cosmetics!

OK, not specifically English, but worthy of mention!  The proprietress of the Mona-risa cosmetics store can attend to all of your cosmetic needs, but she cannot get past the difficulty some Koreans have with “r” and “l”.  The consonant “ㄹ” represents sounds that are somewhere in the area of “r” and “l”, but not exactly.  Also, depending on the position in a word or syllable, the Korean language favors one sound over another.  Therefore, it’s not a surprise for a business to misrepresent the correct letter.  Also, the hyphen joining “mona” and “risa” is also amusing.

 

English in Korea #1: Black Slamer!

I just learned that there is a basketball team here called the Incheon ET Land Black Slamer!  What makes this awesome?  Is it the missing “m” in “slamer”?  Or the fact that it doesn’t end with “s” (they’re not the “slammers“)?  Why are they called the Black Slammers (they’re not)?  Why do you see an elephant as the mascot?  This is fascinating on all levels, and my first pick for a new segment I’m starting; amusing uses of the English language in Korea!  More soon!