Dazzled by Korean #03
The Little Prince and dialects
As a French person, I read The Little Prince as a child, long before I knew how big of a success this book was. Since then, I’ve learned there are over a hundred translated versions of it.
As a language addict, I love to find this book everywhere I go. It’s a constant reminder that stories can travel the world and that we’re all somewhat the same.
I bought a bilingual version of The Little Prince (어린왕자) back in 2010 when I first traveled to Korea. About a year ago, I learned there was an Ainu version so I bought it right away.
And, this month, I learned there was a version from the Gyeongsang-do dialect (경상도 사투리): aerin oangja (애린왕자) since 2020.
When seeing pictures of the text and listening to bits of the audio version, I was in awe but, then, my curiosity allowed me to discover something else too.
There’s a Jeollabuk-do dialect (전라북도 사투리) version since 2021! erin oangja (에린왕자)! 🤯
Now, obviously, my curiosity was picked so I dug the internet and found the German publisher that’s been publishing most lesser-known languages’ translated versions: Edition Tintenfaß.
And they have 190 versions, ranging from the recently released Polyglot version for which each chapter is in a different language (adding up to 27 languages in one book) to a Morse alphabet, Koalib (a Niger-Congo language), or even Spanglish and Singlish!
Well, anyway, let’s turn back to Korean.
You see, in my research to write about lesser-known languages, I’ve found that there weren’t really any other languages in Korea other than the Korean language as we know it and the Jeju language (about which I already dove deep into in the below piece).
Indeed, the information I found online said there wasn’t any other language apart from, maybe, the North Korean version of the language and its own dialect called Yukchin (륙친)1 which appears to be the only version of Korean left with tones.
I knew of the “Busan dialect” (부산 사투리) and the existence of others but I often simplified those as a version of the Korean language where some expressions were slightly modified and the rhythm of the language changed.
Now.
Shouldn’t that also be considered a language?
Well, this is a never-ending debate. Indeed, it looks like you could learn any Korean dialect swiftly by learning a few key changes in the grammar but the existence of 에린왕자 and 애린왕자 prove otherwise.
Indeed, look at how one short section changes in each version:
English: "Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret…”
Korean: “잘 가.” 여우가 말했다. “내 비밀은 이거야. 아주 단순하지…” | “Jal ga.” yeou-ga malhaetda. “Nae bimil-eun igeoya. Aju dansunhaji…”
Gyeongsang-do: “잘 가그래이.” 미구가 말해따. “내 비밀은 이기다. 아주 간단테이…” | “Jal gageuraei” Migu-ga malhaetta. “Nae bimil-eun igida. Aju gandantei…”
Jeollabuk-do: “조:심히 가잉.” 여:수가 말:했어. “내 비:밀은 이거여. 겁:나게 간단헌 거다잉…” | “Jo:simhi gaing.” Yeo:su-ga mal:haesseo. “Nae bi:mil-eun igeoyeo. Geop:nage gandanheon geodaing”
I mean. Sure. There are some similarities. In the context itself, I can kinda get it but it’s still very different.
I love how the construction of the verbs and intonation change. From the Standard Korean “this is” as igeoya to igida and igeoyeo.
In Korean, “Goodbye” here is translated as “Go safely” (a typical way to say so) but each version shows how this is done in each region:
Standard Korean: jal ga is an informal way of saying it
Gyeongsang-do: jal gageuraei adds a typical verb ending found only in this dialect, geuraei.
Jeollabuk-do: jo:simhi gaing keep the verb “to go” but uses another typical ending found in the region: ~ing. On top of this, the jal (literally “well”) is replaced by jo:simhi, a local pronunciation for the term josimhi which means “carefully, cautiously.”
Also, this colon found in Jeollabuk-do is a way to make the previous syllable longer. I had never seen that. While other dialects (and even Standard Korean) do pronounce some syllables longer than others, Jeollabuk-do is the first one I’ve seen that actually indicates it!
If you want to hear what they sound like, listen to the below 2 videos:
Gyeongsang-do 3 sentences (in the middle of an interview with the translator)
A little challenge
All these discoveries are making me extremely curious so I’m considering getting one of them to dig deeper into one dialect.
Oh, I get it.
Here’s a challenge I give myself in front of yall then. A friend will come to visit on May 12th. If I succeed in finishing one of the three Korean books I’ve started, then I’ll get one Little Prince version.
When I wrote the first version of this, the closest-to-the-end book was “Every Day a Good Day” (매일 매일 좋은 날) based on the Japanese movie 日日是好日. I had read 102 pages out of 279. Now, as I finish editing this on May 3rd, I’m at page 160. “Only” 119 left!
I did spend 3 hours reading on Saturday after all but I haven’t read yet this beginning of the week. We’ll see if I make it!
Oh again. Even if you didn’t ask, let me tell you one more thing: of course, I got the polyglot version in 27 languages.
How could I miss such an opportunity?2 😁
About which I’ll talk more about later this year!
Unfortunately, it’ll arrive in France so I’ll have to wait for my trip there in June before I can play with it!