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Post by BungalowDweller on Aug 16, 2005 15:30:47 GMT -5
This question is directed to those who speak and/or understand spoken Korean. The type of Korean spoken in the program--is it modern, such as a person speaks today, or is it more formal? Or is it like out of the Middle Ages such as Shakespearean English? Or is it simply "theatrical" Korean.
One thing that annoys me concerning Hollywood films is that, for a film depicting life in Victorian times,for example, the characters use modern vocal inflection and intonation. WWII characters sound like they stepped out of the 1990s, cowboys sound like someone on Cheers, etc. etc.
I hope that this question makes sense. My older sister is a Shakespearean actress who has lived and worked in London forever and a day. I remember her training at Sir John Geilgud's "Actors' Studio" and there was endless vocal training. Do the Korean studios offer the same? Thanks.
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Post by donilpark on Aug 16, 2005 17:35:20 GMT -5
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Post by skinz on Aug 17, 2005 8:23:05 GMT -5
WWII characters sound like they stepped out of the 1990s, cowboys sound like someone on Cheers, etc. etc. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! like Cheers... HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Anyway, I do think there is some difference between IYSS and the last historical drama series Ages of Warriors set in Koryo dynasty. For example, in Ages of Warrior the prince would call his father Pay-ha (forgive for my spelling, I'm just typing out how it sounds) but in IYSS the crown prince call his father totally different. Something like Omamapay-ha or something like that. I also realize that General of an army and an Admiral are called the same thing in IYSS. I remember Forel said that Historical dramas speak very differently than what teenagers or modern koreans speak. So I'm guesing its a formal speech. |
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Post by BungalowDweller on Aug 17, 2005 17:17:15 GMT -5
7 levels!!!!  It's amazing to me that any westerner can speak! And I thought the Slavic languages, particularly Russian with its Cyrillic alphabet, was a bear! |
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ronin
Junior Addict
Posts: 168
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Post by ronin on Aug 18, 2005 4:33:06 GMT -5
I also realize that General of an army and an Admiral are called the same thing in IYSS. The Japanese Ashigaru troops also call their Japanese Generals “Chungoon” instead of “Taisho” which is a rank for a Japanese General. |
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Post by kinoeugene unloged on Aug 19, 2005 4:00:29 GMT -5
They use formal and lots of aged vocabulary in the historical drama. Particularly the intonation they use is also old fashioned. I like the old fashioned language because it seems more polite than modern's.  |
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Post by donilpark on Aug 19, 2005 19:03:17 GMT -5
'Pyeha' means your imperial majesty and 'abamama' means father. So this is just a different context. Writer may just choose to let the prince refer to his father as his majesty or father.
I once had a chance to watch a documentary where they read some passages from Korean language textbook for foreighners that was published a little over 100 years ago.
And although I know Korean, that Korean 100 years ago sounded quite foreign, and it was pretty much unintelligeable.
So unlike English, they can't really use the Korean that was actually spoken at the time because people won't be able to understand. What's more, it's quite difficult to know exactly how they might have spoken because most of the records are written in Chinese characters.
But it would be fun if they actually educated the actors and actresses to speak like people back then actually spoke and do a subtitle. That would be quite fresh, although it deviates from the current trend of historical shows in Korea, where they focus more on expressing modern ideas by borrowing only the historical setting. So the tendency these days is to have lines in almost modern speach. The so-called 'fusion historical shows'.
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Post by florel on Aug 19, 2005 19:49:03 GMT -5
The language spoken in historical dramas is formal and theatrical one. It's a kind of mixture of ancient and modern languages. But generally intelligible for modern Korean public (except for the 2nd or 3rd Korean generation in foreign lands  ) because it's not real ancient language. The historical drama language has its specific intonation and vocalization. So it's different from modern language in everyday life. It often uses archaic conjugations and old expressions. For example, The verbal conjugation "-omnida" is not modern one. The famous "morra?" is, perhaps, an ancient expression. I never heard this word from my parents or from my Korean friends. But, recent "historical" dramas (the fusion historical dramas that donilpark mentioned) have tendency to use more and more modern language. I guess I heard DJG characters speak in modern language. But I'm not sure of it because I never viewed this drama. I think IYSS language is not entirely modern one (except Mijin's one). Generally its language is the mixture as its genre. The language spoken in french historical dramas and movies is not real old one like that of Shakespear. We call a french historical novel, written in the 21th century and imitating ancient language but not real ancient one, as using "faux vieux francais". I saw a french movie ("Les visiteurs" - not historical genre but comical one) in which actors spoke some passages in middle french but the subtitles were given at the same time for French public ! |
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Post by BungalowDweller on Aug 20, 2005 18:28:24 GMT -5
Thanks Florel, donilpark, and kinoeugene!!!! This is just the info I wanted to know and quite refreshing!! |
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Post by velvet inkbrush of YiSoonShin on Sept 20, 2005 18:01:44 GMT -5
think of the korean spoken on the show like older english
for example, instead of the king saying something like "i praise you and your virtues," he'd say it instead like "i praise thee and thy virtues."
the language is much more formal and dated.
another example:
asking, "Is that so?"
in modern korean:
geuh leh?
in old korean:
geuh luh soh ee ggah?
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It's amazing to me that any westerner can speak! And I thought the Slavic languages, particularly Russian with its Cyrillic alphabet, was a bear!
) because it's not real ancient language.
