After long split, 2 Koreas face increasing linguistic divide

March 14, 2015 01:55 am | Updated 01:55 am IST

North Korean defectors are often baffled by English words they hear in South Korea such as like “shampoo” and “self-service” — none of which is used in the reclusive North. And South Koreans are puzzled by home-grown North Korean words like “salgyeolmul,” which literally means “skin water.” (It’s “skin lotion” south of the border.)

The two countries share a language, but the Korean Peninsula’s seven-decade split has created a widening linguistic divide that result in misunderstanding, hurt, and sometimes laughter. The gap has grown so wide that scholars say about a third of everyday words used in the two countries are different.

North and South Koreans are generally able to understand each other given that the majority of words and grammar are still the same. But the differences show how language can change when one half of the country becomes an international economic powerhouse and the other isolates itself, suspicious of outside influences.

America’s huge cultural influence has flooded the South Korean vernacular with English loan words and “konglish,” which uses English words in non-standard ways, like “handle” for steering wheel and “hand phone” for cell phone.

In North Korea’s view, all that is just further evidence that the South is an American cultural colony.

The North’s isolation and near-worship of the ruling Kim family has also skewed the language. “Suryong” is the revered title for the North’s founding leader and his son. But in the South it simply means “group leader.”

Pyongyang is so eager to “purify” its language under its guiding philosophy of self-reliance that it vigorously eliminates words with foreign origins and uses home-grown substitutes. Shampoo is called “meorimulbinu,” or “hair water soap,” and juice is “danmul” or “sweet water.”

Misunderstandings can arise to seemingly innocuous Korean phrases like, “Let’s do lunch sometime,” which those in the South frequently use as a friendly ending to conversations. But newly arrived North Korean defectors take such invitations literally, and are often dismayed or offended when they don’t get a follow-up phone call. “If someone uses such empty words in North Korea, they’ll see their relations with others cut off,” said a defector who asked not to be identified.

Even language experts from the two countries can have trouble understanding each other. Over the past 10 years, there have been efforts to produce a joint dictionary containing 3,30,000 words from both countries a rare example of cooperation. But as is often the case, political tensions have interfered with progress. The meetings only resumed last July after a more than four-year hiatus following the 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship. A new round of meetings, tentatively set for last month, hasn’t been held as North Korea bristled over the annual springtime joint U.S-—South Korea military drills.

Even language experts from the two countries can have trouble understanding each other.

During last year’s meeting in Pyongyang, South Korean linguist Kim Byungmoon said he tried to explain how South Koreans use the English word “glamour” as a noun to refer to a voluptuous woman, but North Korean scholars had difficulty understanding its usage.

Given the completely different political and economic systems between the two countries, it also takes a while to learn the connotations and associations that some emotionally—laden words have.

In South Korea, “spec” refers to qualifications and credentials that college students need to land a good job. While defectors can quickly learn what the word literally means, it takes much longer to understand the immense stress associated with the word for young job—seekers in South Korea’s ultra—competitive society, said Jeon Young-sun, a research professor at Seoul’s Konkuk University.

Those in the South, meanwhile, may struggle to understand the emotional impact of “saenghwal chonghwa,” the regular meetings in the North at which people are required to reflect on their behavior and criticize each other. The phrase, which literally means “group discussions on daily lives,” isn’t used in South Korea.

“We were sick and tired of it,” Pak said. “I still get goose bumps whenever I hear that word.”

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