Kpop | Language Log » K-pop English

Posted: 17 Nov 2015 03:54 PM PST

[This is a guest post by Alex Baumans]

I've been following the Kpop scene for a bit, and I noticed that there is a special flavour of English being used on websites and the like. This is different from the English being used in the songs themselves, which is also worthy of study. In the major websites (Koreaboo, Allkpop…) the English is basically OK. However, there are obviously specific Korean terms (oppa, maknae, aegyo), and English words that are used in a specific Kpop sense (visual, bias, schedule, stage…). This makes this English slightly strange, though not actually weird.

Things do get weird in fansubbed reality programs and variety shows. You get a number of literal translations (work hard, youthful feeling pictorial) and odd sentence constructions (girls fooling around cutely – hamburger deliciously cooking). Now, these expressions appear consistently in various shows, it is not just an idiosyncracy of a single translator. I have no idea why this is so, nor whether the phenomenon also occurs in other languages (Viet of Spanish, for instance). My guess is that it is some kind of machine translation of the text that appears in the Korean original. Anyhow, the result is that there now exists a specific variety of Korean English (K-English?) that is used in fansubbed programs.

The examples come mainly from this series [4MFSUBS] 140721 Hyunah's Free Month E01.

November 17, 2015 @ 6:54 pm · Filed by Victor Mair under Language and culture, Language and music, Language and the media

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K-Pop Crossover: Vogue Highlights Diplo And Katy Perry's ...

Posted: 17 Nov 2015 11:07 AM PST

Anticipation for 2NE1 frontwoman CL's international solo debut has been growing during YG Entertainment's recent comeback teasers. One such example is Vogue's latest feature on the K-pop rapper.

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On Monday, Vogue magazine published an article, calling the 24-year-old the "next big pop supernova." In addition, the feature also highlights the praise she has garnered from celebrities like Diplo, Katy Perry, Jeremy Scott and Karl Lagerfeld.

"With a rumored solo album scheduled to drop any minute now (as well as a possible reunion with 2NE1), there's no better time to get to know this crossover star," wrote contributor Janelle Okwodu.

As previously reported, Diplo has been heavily involved in CL's English solo debut, including possibly having the K-pop star release her music through his record label Mad Decent. Similarly, CL has been spotted bonding with Jeremy Scott and Katy Perry.

"K-pop is a weird term because K-pop has everything-rap records, it's very pop-sounding, there are really boy-band sounding records," said the 36-year-old DJ-producer to Time magazine.

"It's going to be [labeled] K-pop because she's doing it, so it's going to be coming from another place and there's going to be Korean lyrics. But for the most part it's eclectic. She's very rap-leaning, she's very fashion forward. She's like the Nicki Minaj of that world."

Recently, CL's Korean label YG Entertainment has been teasing a comeback that many speculate would be either be CL or 2NE1. The latest teaser images appear to hint at the former.

As noted by Twitter user Taeyhugns, the various letters presented by the YG Family seem to spell out "Hello Bitches," the name of a track that will serve as CL's lead single.

According to Fuse, the track was originally named "Asian Bitches" with collaborator M.I.A., but was later changed as the theme became "too categorized."

"I wanted to make this EP like a sampler," said CL. "I kept thinking, 'my fans should know where I'm going.' I didn't want them to be completely confused, because it's not going to be a Korean album."

Oh Kpop News

Thursday, 19 November 2015

Kpop | Language Log » K-pop English

Kpop | Language Log » <b>K-pop</b> English

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