Monday 30 August 2010

Meet the Korea Times' Copy Editor: "It's Hard Typing in Perfect English with One Hand"

From the Korea Times Handbook of Style and Journalism Ethics

Dokdo Is Ours recently had the opportunity to talk to the copy editor of The Korea Times.  The interview transcript follows:

DIO: So, your job is copy editing for the Korea Times: that means you check for English errors in the article?

Korea Times Copy Editor: Boobs. Blondes. Boobs. Blondes.

DIO: Lately, it seems like there have been numerous English errors in the Korea times: especially in articles about western celebrities.  Do you have anything to say about that?

KTCE: Boobs. Blondes. Boobs. Blondes.

DIO: So did you read this article as carefully as you normally read articles, checking for mistakes?

KTCE: Boobies.  Boobies.  Lesbian.  Boobies.  Lesbian.  BLONDE LESBIAN!  Jessica Alba!

DIO: Did you notice there was an article attached to this picture of Jennifer Aniston?

KTCE: ANNNNISSSSSTOOOOOONNNNNN!  Boobieboobieboobieboobie.

DIO: No, no.  The ARTICLE!

KTCE: What article?

DIO: Is the Korean translation of the article grammatically correct?

KTCE: Yuh yuh. yuh.

DIO: Don't you feel bad for the Koreans who read these articles to try and learn English, and are presented with so many English errors that the article's English translation isn't only useless, it's actually HARMFUL to their English study?

KTCE: Boobies.

DIO: You're a terrible reporter!  You can't even write in fucking English!

KTCE: Hey back off, man.  It's hard typing with one hand; you want me to do it in perfect English, too?

Rule 72 in the Korea Times Handbook of Journalism Ethics and Style Rules:

If it's about naked hollywood stars, google translate will do.  'cause nobody's reading the articles except Dokdo Is Ours.
(article here)

The rest of the article was about the KTCE's hobby, drumming.  In it, you finally get to see Dokdo Is Ours' face, after many years of anonymity:


Update:

to stop the bleeding, and the humiliation, Korea Times has shortened and edited the article in question: compare this screencap with the previous one.  Maybe the KT should pay DIO for his/her editing services, if they plan to continue use this blog as a content quality control indicator.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Would you mind posting the link to the original article? I want to see how crappy the article is for myself.

Dokdo Is Ours said...

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2010/08/178_72185.html there's the url. it's all in the screencap, bud.

stekome said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Dokdo Is Ours said...

hey don't spam my shit, yo.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Dokdo Is Ours said...

No spam, K?