Before Departure
You may have heard the departure of popular Korean idol Park Jae-bum, the leader of 2PM, because of his controversial remark toward South Korea which he published before his debut.
Many people nay even the older generation who have no interest in idol-group don't turn aside this affair as a mere scandal of the entertainment world. Because not only is he a popular star among the people, but also a Twinkie (American sweet thing, the surface is yellow but the inside is filled with white cream) -boy ('Twinkie' means here Asians in the U.S who make great efforts to assimilate the main stream American society).
In the midst of many diagnoses to this affair from each circle of society, some people pointed out the lack of understanding in Korean society toward the Korean abroad, who are second or third generations, born to a Korean family there.
People who know well about American Born Korean (ABK) said quarter of them(ABK) are Twinkie. Park, for example, grew up in Palisade, a town in New Jersey that has one of the highest concentrations of Koreans in America. The young Koreans there have a tendency to display the trait of "Twinkie". Moreover among the Korean Twinkies, there is a culture that if you don't humble Korea, you are regarded as a nerd. It seems that even though their effort to assimilate the mainstream America society they are treated distantly by the society because of their appearance so they express their identity in the way of abasement at their parent's country.
However, unnamed American Born Korean said it is wrong to conclude Twinkie as a person who has a serious identity chaos without any patriotism to their root. He said whether being Twinkie or not is private choice and normally people admit each other's choice and at last he added "Among Twinkie, there are many of them, reflecting their root while growing up"
Park Jun-kyu, who is professor in Chonnam University and who himself is a 1.5generation Korean-American told that the term Twinkie is a symbol among young Korean American who struggle with their self-identity. In addition he told the Korean society overacted to Park's remark, which he published long time ago in his hard time(the time of training to be a singer).
This letter is written by one of Park's friend from U.S.
Lined part: "...and go to land we always made fun about, to become a star..."
What do you think about the use of the work "Twinkie"? In your translation, the term is used quite a bit, but without any reference to the fact that it is a derogatory term.
ReplyDeleteHello, Prof.Craig.I'm translator of this News.
ReplyDeleteI think the writer of the original text(It is from Hankyoreh News)wanted to let some Koreans who see this affair at one angle know about this tendency(make great affort to assimilate the main stream American society and the culture of the youngster's who live in the U.S society). Owing to this news people will have an opportunity to view the matter from another angle. That's why I think the word "Twinkie" is not a derogatory term. In my opinion the use of the word in here, in this text is unavoidable to circumstanciate the back-ground of his controversial remark.
That's a great point. However, I would think that a large media source could address this issue without using "Twinkie" as a defacto term referring to this perceived cultural issue. Addressing the term and both its meaning and connotation is completely acceptable, but wholesale use of the term is not.
ReplyDeleteI'm certainly not taking you to task on this. It is the language of the Hankyoreh that I have a problem with. There seems to be a certain joy that they take in throwing the term around.
Maybe I'm dwelling on it too much, but it seems to be rather unprofessional from my perspective.
Dan