Last January vs. This Past January

Another very common point of confusion: last vs. past.

99% of my students translate "지난 something" automatically to "last something." But note that in the Korean language "지난" could simply mean "past (이미 지나간)," not "most recent (현재를 기준으로 가장 최근)," depending on the context. For example, if you say "지난 1월" in May 2010, you are referring to January 2010. You should say "작년/지난해 1월" for January 2009. But if you say "지난 1월" in January 2010, you are referring to January 2009.

In the 2005 Foreign Service Exam, students were asked to translate "올해 초 동북아시아 세 국가는 서로 협력적이고 우호적인 관계로 나아가기로 되어 있었다. 지난 1월 서울에서는...한일 우정의 해가 선포되었다." The formal announcement of the friendship year by the Korean and Japanese governments took place in January 2005. But a lot of students said:

• Earlier this year, the three Northeast Asian countries—Korea, Japan, and China—were expected to follow the path towards a cooperative and amiable relationship. The Korea-Japan Friendship Year was announced in Seoul in last January...

This is incorrect as "last January" here refers to January 2004. The correct answer is:

• Earlier this year, the three Northeast Asian countries—Korea, Japan, and China—were expected to follow the path towards a cooperative and amiable relationship. The Korea-Japan Friendship Year was announced in Seoul in January...

You could say "this past January" but it is already clear from "earlier this year" that you are talking about 2005. So it sounds a little redundant to say "this past."

For another example, take a look at the following excerpt from an August 2, 2010 New York Times Op-Ed.

• From the start, President Obama made clear that recovery from a crisis of this magnitude would not come quickly and that the recovery would not follow a straight line. We saw that this past spring (i.e. Spring 2010), when the European fiscal crisis posed a serious challenge to the markets and to business confidence, dampening investment and the rate of growth here...Panicked by the collapse in demand and financing and fearing a prolonged slump, the private sector cut payrolls and investment savagely. The rate of job loss worsened with time: by early last year (i.e. early 2009), 750,000 jobs vanished every month. The economic collapse drove tax revenue down, pushing the annual deficit up to $1.3 trillion by last January (i.e. January 2009)

In conclusion, think about when things actually happened before translating "지난" to "last."

과학기술

On July 20, I wrote a post about "infrastructure vs. social infrastructure." Today's post is along the same line. Often times, Korean students add unnecessary or awkward English words in their translation because they are so focused on translating every single Korean word into English.

A good example is 과학기술. When asked to translate "science and technology" into Korean, most students correctly say 과학기술. But when asked to translate 과학기술 into English, a lot of students say "scientific technology." This could sound awkward as you are not necessarily contrasting "scientific" and "unscientific" technology. The correct expression is "science and technology," or simply "technology." Take a look at the following example:

• China's focus on science and technology is relentless, and it's occurring at all levels of its society. Its labor pool is becoming increasingly sophisticated, its leadership is focused on innovation, and the country is adopting policies designed to pressure U.S. firms to transfer their technology. (Bloomberg Business Week, July 9, 2010)
  

surveillance vs. monitoring

On March 30, 2010, I wrote a post about the difference between government control and government regulation. Today's post is along the same line. Although both surveillance and monitoring can be translated as 감시 in Korean, they are used in very different contexts in English.

Surveillance means a watch kept over a person/group, especially those who are under suspicion, such as a suspect or prisoner. Take a look at the following example:

• Congressional Republicans and Democrats alike demanded answers from the Bush administration on Thursday about a report that the National Security Agency had collected records of millions of domestic phone calls, even as President Bush assured Americans that their privacy is "fiercely protected." ... Fifty-two members of Congress asked the president to name a special counsel to investigate the N.S.A.'s domestic surveillance programs (New York Times, May 12, 2006)

Monitoring means overseeing/regulating/observing/detecting something by checking it continually and keeping track of it. Take a look at the following:

• Autonomy, the UK search specialist, has launched a product that monitors what is being said on internet social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. Autonomy argues that as social media come to affect more businesses, they need to spot potentially compromising blog posts, tweets or online comments. (Financial Times, June 16, 2010)
• Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told survivors in the central Indian city that he will head a panel set up to monitor the government's effort to decontaminate the site, which activists say has polluted the groundwater in the neighborhood and led to chronic ailments (Washington Post, July 9, 2010)
  

But note that surveillance in the field of public health may have nothing to do with suspicion. It means a type of observational study that involves continuous monitoring of disease occurrence within a population.

• Surveillance is systematic ongoing collection, collation and analysis of data and the timely dissemination of information to those who need to know so that action can be taken. Tobacco control surveillance includes prevalence of tobacco use, its health and economic consequences, its socio-cultural determinants and tobacco control policy responses and tobacco industry activities. (Excerpt from WHO, Tobacco Free Initiative)
  

사회기반시설

When asked to translate infrastructure to Korean, most students correctly say 사회기반시설. But when asked to translate 사회기반시설 to English, most students say "social" infrastructure, which does not mean the same as infrastructure.

Infrastructure means "the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities needed for the operation of a society or enterprise" (Oxford Dictionaries Online). Although people define and categorize infrastructure differently, it generally includes:

• economic infrastructure (e.g. distribution networks and financial institutions)
• political infrastructure (e.g. legal systems and government institutions)
• technological infrastructure (e.g. computers and wireless connectivity)
• physical infrastructure (e.g. roads, buildings, and sewage)
• social infrastructure (e.g. education, health care, and social networks)
  

That is, social infrastructure is a particular kind of infrastructure. The correct English translation of 사회기반시설, therefore, is infrastructure, not social infrastructure!

~이 최저/최고를 기록하다

When you want to say A가 최저/최고를 기록하다 (A being a statistical index like unemployment rates), you could say "A hits its lowest/highest level" or "A is at its lowest/highest level."

A lot of people say "A records its lowest" but this is not correct. You could say "area/person/thing records its lowest/highest rate" instead.

Take a look at the following examples.

• The divorce rate among young adults has been falling continuously over the past 10 years, and is now at its lowest level since 1990
  
• The average interest on a 20-year, fixed-rate mortgage hits its lowest level in 5 years
• State revenues usually decrease when unemployment hits its highest rate
• Seoul records the highest number of car thefts in Korea, and, understandably, it has the highest auto-insurance rates
• Our evening news recorded the lowest viewership in 4 years. We need to do something about it or my boss will kill me!
  

prevalent vs. prevailing

When translating ~한 여론이 우세하다/지배적이다, a lot of my students say "the prevalent opinion is that..."

However, prevalent means widespread/in general use/commonly accepted, 일반적인/널리 퍼진 in Korean. Depending on the context, it could mean having the superiority or ascendancy, but not always. Take a look at the following example:

• The company sponsoring the dot-xxx domain, the ICM Registry, said it had a vision of a red-light district in cyberspace that was a clean, well-lighted place, free of spam, viruses and credit card thieves. Content would be clearly labeled as adult and the whole neighborhood would be easy to block. Anyone offended by pornography could simply stay out...That did not satisfy religious groups that opposed the dot-xxx domains, fearing they would make pornography even more prevalent online (New York Times, June 25, 2010): Here, prevalent simply means commonplace. That is, it is not hard to find pornography online.
  

Prevailing means predominant or having superior influence, 우세한/지배적인 in Korean. When you are talking about an idea/sentiment/opinion that predominates a society, it is better to say prevailing than prevalent.

• Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele's most recent gaffe...has effectively eliminated any chance he might have had to return to his post after the 2010 election, according to a number of individuals close to the committee. However, those same sources insisted that Steele is likely to survive until the election...the source said, "the prevailing sentiment is that it's not worth the commotion with four months to the midterm [elections] and six months until a new chairman." (Chris Cillizza on Washingtonpost.com, July 6, 2010)

Acronym rules

According to the Chicago Manual of Style, one of the most widely used writing and citation style guides in America, there are some basic rules about acronyms.

1) Spell it out on first use!
Unless an acronym is so well-known that spelling it out is silly and almost insulting (e.g. CD-ROM), you should spell it out upon first reference. Put the acronym in parentheses on first use, and starting the second reference on, just use the acronym. Take a look at the following example:

• The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is an organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia. ASEAN was created in 1967 and aims at promoting economic growth and cooperation among its member nations: (o)
  
• ASEAN is an organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia. ASEAN was created in 1967 and aims at promoting economic growth and cooperation among its member nations (x): some readers may not know what ASEAN is. you should spell it out on first reference!
• The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is an organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations was created in 1967 and aims at promoting economic growth and cooperation among its member nations (x): repetitive and wordy! use the acronym to make it succinct.

2) Lowercase vs. Uppercase
There is no reason to capitalize the first letters of a noun just because it has an acronym. You only uppercase first letters when the noun is a proper noun.

• Lowercase (non-proper nouns): free trade agreements (FTAs), improvised explosive device (IED), standard operation procedures (SOPs) ...
  
• Uppercase (proper nouns): American Bar Association (ABA), North Carolina (NC), Department of Defense (DOD) ...