English to English translation
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From Alex Baumans:
Hyeri needs translation by Haneul while talking with Kiss of Life! #kissoflife #키스오브라이프 #혜리
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zv6hFvQyiDM
Alex explains:
Last summer I went to Japan, and I discovered that you could communicate quite readily in English, provided you transliterated it first to katakana, and then pronounced it as if it was Japanese.
From this clip it would seem that the same holds for Korea. In it, you see Hyeri (former idol and now actress) interviewing current idol group Kiss of Life. Now you first see Natty, who is Thai and then Belle, who is Korean-American, so it falls to Haneul (Korean born and bred) to translate the English.
No doubt Hyeri is exaggerating for comic effect (as indicated by Haneul's reaction) but I thought it would amuse you.
Here's the entire interview, for context.
It certainly does amuse me, and it points to a significant sociolinguistic phenomenon that merits discussion on Language Log.
Selected readings
- "Sabrina Carpenter" — from Quakertown, PA
- "K-pop English" (11/17/15)
- "Visual puns in K-pop" (1/10/19)
- "Visual puns in K-pop, part 2" (1/13/19)
Vincent Chen said,
July 27, 2025 @ 6:10 am
This reminds me of my experience with the anime version of _Parasyte_ by Hitoshi Iwaaki. It wasn’t until about the 20th time watching the intro that I realized the lyrics were actually in English!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdpHyrneZgo
John Maline said,
July 27, 2025 @ 6:46 am
Maybe 20 years ago in Japan. I have very minimal Japanese skills, coworkers have none. Riding in taxi home after long day at work. Driver has very limited English.
Coworker wants comfort food. We know a McDonalds is coming up (don’t judge).
Ask driver, in English, to let us off at McDonalds. No comprehension.
After we whiz past he says something like “oh, ma-ko-do-na-do”.
So even the simplest thing, the name of a very common fast food restaurant, was unintelligible in the original English.
Victor Mair said,
July 27, 2025 @ 6:55 am
Fantastic find, Vincent!
Marvelous memory, John!
Bob Ladd said,
July 27, 2025 @ 10:53 am
Many years ago I was acquainted with an elderly first-generation Japanese immigrant in California. I had not seen her for a couple of years when I returned from a long trip across the parts of Asia that were accessible at the time to long-haired people with backpacks, which included Japan. For the first time, I realized that she was actually not difficult to understand if I just processed her speech as katakana.
DDeden said,
July 27, 2025 @ 9:33 pm
While in Tokyo, I learned to get a big mac, saying "ma ku do na ru do" worked well. I also found that nobody knew of Emperor "Hi ro hi to", but "Hiroshto" was well known.
Chris Button said,
July 28, 2025 @ 6:38 am
@ DDeden
Love it! Sounds like you nailed the pitch accent beautifully!