In a guest post for Language Log, I look at the translation strategies displayed in the various language departments of the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA, 조선중앙통신). The case studies are ‘running like a headless chicken’ and the mysterious ‘sorrow is laughter’s daughter’. The latter proverb is neither a literal translation of the Korean original nor the translator’s ad hoc invention; indeed, I managed to trace it back to Renaissance philosopher and mathematician Charles de Bovelles.
“Headlessness in North Korean propaganda”
My earlier Language Log post on KCNA vocabulary:
Propaganda in foreign languages (exoprop, as I like to call it) is a long-standing interest of this blog: China Radio International’s network of ‘borrowed boats‘ has been devoted a few posts, and more is to come.
jichang lulu 