Translation of Korean Hangul

[Last Fearner]

I am posting this article from a Seoul, Korea Newspaper. I have transcribed some of the words, but I am not fluent enough in the language to translate the entire context of the article completely in English. If someone here can, or if you know someone who can, please post the exact translation, then I will tell you the story behind the article.

 

[Carol]

Could you please reattach or send me the article? There is someone here at work that can read Hangul, if he comes in before I leave this morning I will ask for his assistance

 

[Last Fearner]

There you go. I had a little trouble with the attachment, but I got it straightened out now!

Thanks,
Last Fearner

 

[Carol]

Thank you so much!

If anyone else here can read Hangul...please have a go at it. With my oddball hours, there is no guarantee that I will cross paths with my colleague, althought I will try my level best.

 

[MSUTKD]

I just got on and will translate it today.

ron

 

[MSUTKD]

This is the fast read. Last Fearner, if you want I will give you a direct translation.

First it is written “old” style (top to bottom/ right to left)…cool. The title is funny; it means “trash can”. I think in Korean it is like “catch all”. The story quickly is:

An American taekwondo instructor visiting Korea, Ei sen hart, a 37 year old, 5th Dan– from Michigan, St Joseph? helped to stop a robbery. A guy took a purse for a woman and Ei sen hart chased him 200 meters and caught him.

Last Fearner I will pm you a direct translation, with annotations when I have time. Cool story.

ron

 

[shesulsa]

Good show, Sir!

 

[crushing]

I am posting this article from a Seoul, Korea Newspaper. I have transcribed some of the words, but I am not fluent enough in the language to translate the entire context of the article completely in English. If someone here can, or if you know someone who can, please post the exact translation, then I will tell you the story behind the article.

Last Fearner,

Hmmm. . .Let's see, you're both from Michigan, both BBs in TKD, him a 5th - you a 6th Dan, there is a 9 year difference in age between you and the person described in the article, BUT, the article is from 1996 . . .

 

[matt.m]

Good show bub. Good show.

 

[terryl965]

It is what happen when Last Fearner was in Korea training 9 year ago.
Do I win anything.
Terry

 

[IcemanSK]

It is what happen when Last Fearner was in Korea training 9 year ago.
Do I win anything.
Terry

As long as the prize isn't a 10 second head start behind LF while carrying some lady's purse....you'll be ok.:ultracool

 

[Miles]

Nice story!

Miles

 

[Last Fearner]

Last Fearner I will pm you a direct translation, with annotations when I have time. Cool story. ron

Thank you carol, if your colleague wants to give it a shot, it would be interesting to compare translations.

Ron, thanks so much! Your translation skills are awesome! :asian:
I had figured out that it was from top to bottom, and I used my Korean/English Dictionary to translate several words, but I did not know it was from right to left! That's good to know! lol

I would very much like to have a word for word translation if you could.

Here is the background on this story.

In December of 1996, I finally got the chance to visit Korea. The Korean Jidokwan Taekwondo instructor that I was working with at that time, was taking his wife and two small children back to visit family in Korea. He invited me to go, and I brought my Senior Assistant Instructor, a 3rd Degree Black Belt Female (We are now married with three young boys).

When we first got to Korea, my assistant and I stayed in the high-rise apartment of one of the Korean Masters who owned a dojang where I was to teach classes. After a few days of teaching and learning from the Grandmasters, my assistant and I moved into the Mirabeau Hotel in downtown Seoul. While touring the city, and walking through the little shops, and alley ways in Irondong Town, I noticed how shop owners left tables and racks of products outside their front doors. They set up displays on the sidewalks and left them unguarded; trusting the customers to bring an item in and pay for it, and trusting that no one would grab some items and run.

We quickly became aware of the night-life, and saw the local street gang members walking from club to club. However, to me they looked a lot like young thugs from the 1950s in America (James Dean type bad boys). They wore jeans, t-shirts, and would often have a cigarette hanging loosely from their lips.

On the morning of December 26, my assistant and I were sitting in a side hallway of the Hotel, near the front desk, waiting for the Korean Grandmasters to show up. We had seen the same desk clerks, and bell hop for several days, and began to know each other in passing. The hallway led to a back door which exited onto a side street. Near this exit was a staircase that led up to the various floors where the guest rooms were located.

As we sat there waiting, I heard some shouting coming from the stairway, and the sound of feet running rapidly down the steps. Suddenly, a young man dressed in black pants, black t-shirt, and wearing a black leather jacket jumped off of the stairs and stopped by the back exit. Right behind him was the familiar bell hop - a young slender boy with glasses.

The two struggled and shouted for a moment, and exchanged heated words (in Korean, of course). I guess my Martial Art/police officer instincts kicked in, and I hurried down the hall to assist the bell boy. The man then punched the bell boy in the face and his glasses were almost knocked off. Not knowing much Korean, I relied on Taekwondo terms and the few words I did know. I shouted to the man, "Geuman," and "Hajima," which meant to "stop" or "do not do that."

As the man saw me approaching he pulled a medium size black purse out of his jacket, and shoved it at the bell boy. The bell hop tried to restrain the man, but he broke free, and ran out of the door. I verified that the bell hop wanted to capture this apparent hotel thief, so I dashed out the door with the bell hop right behind me. I chased the thief down the sidewalk, around the corner, through some alleys, and around parked cars.

The bell boy and I almost had him cornered, then he dashed out into a two lane street with me right behind. I grabbed his shoulders and brought him tumbling to the pavement. I put a wrist-lock restraint on him and brought him up, face down on the trunk of a parked car. The Bell hop pulled out his cell phone, and called the police.

Apparently, this guy had obtained a stolen pass key to the hotel rooms, and had been stealing money and items from guests for awhile. As we waited for the police, four older Korean men stopped their car and asked the bell hop what was going on. After he told them, they began to verbally chastise the man while slapping him on the back of the head as I held him on the trunk. I felt uncomfortable with this, but it was a different culture, and I was a lone American holding a Korean - I thought it best to keep my mouth shut since I do not speak fluent Korean anyhow.

When the police arrived, they took the thief into custody, and the bell boy explained what happened. They asked me a few questions in English, and the next day, the above article appeared in the Seoul paper. The Korean Master that I was traveling with said that the Mayor of the city of Seoul had a commendation award to present to me, but for some reason, he never took me there to receive it. Oh well, it was quite an experience, and I just thought I would share it with all of you here at MT.

CM D. J. Eisenhart

 

[Last Fearner]

I just wanted to say thanks to all of you here who posted kind words, and comments (shesulsa, crushing, matt.m, terryl965 "Master Stoker," IcemanSK, and Miles). Also, a special thanks to Carol, and Ron for offering to translate this article for me.

Master Stoker, your prize for guessing is a weekend get-away in Michigan. Do you like to go camping? Let me know when you want to come.

Iceman, your joke about the 10 second head start was funny! I laughed about that one. :lol:

Thanks everyone!
CM D. J. Eisenhart

 

[terryl965]

I just wanted to say thanks to all of you here who posted kind words, and comments (shesulsa, crushing, matt.m, terryl965 "Master Stoker," IcemanSK, and Miles). Also, a special thanks to Carol, and Ron for offering to translate this article for me.

Master Stoker, your prize for guessing is a weekend get-away in Michigan. Do you like to go camping? Let me know when you want to come.

Iceman, your joke about the 10 second head start was funny! I laughed about that one. :lol:

Thanks everyone!
CM D. J. Eisenhart

Sir when I get up to Michagan you are on my list to visit and train with. Thank you for all your wonderful input on this chat line, you are a class act my MA brother.
Terry

 

[crushing]

Master Stoker, your prize for guessing is a weekend get-away in Michigan. Do you like to go camping? Let me know when you want to come.

Doggone! I shoulda just come out and said it rather than beat around the bush. Maybe I'll win next time?

Also, thanks for the sharing the article and explanation.

crushing
Fellow Michigander

 

[Miles]

We seem to have quite a few Michiganders/Michiganians TKD MTers. Maybe we should have a training session and social get-together?

Miles

 

[Last Fearner]

I just realized that I never posted the entire translation of my Korean Newspaper article that Master Southwick (MSUTKD) was so kind to translate for me.​

Here is what he shared with me in a private e-mail.​

(I made a couple of spelling corrections before posting)

An American taekwondo master made a topic of a talk as he caught a thief after a fight.
The thief was stealing a wallet and running away … Darwin Eisenhart (37, St. Joseph, U.S.A.) entered S. Korea with a Korean taekwondo master on December 15th. In
Mirabeau Hotel where he was staying, there was a thief (Jeongho Ahn, 24, Yongsan-Gu,
Seoul) stealing a wallet with 300,000 won (about 300 USD). Eisenhart saw that the thief
was hitting a hotel employee and trying to run away through the back gate at around
9:30PM on December 25th. Eisenhart chased the thief for about 200-meter and fought
against him. Afterward, the thief was handcuffed by a police officer…… Eisenhart
has been studying taekwondo since 16 and is now 5 th degree black belt. He said that
taekwondo spirit is not tolerant of any immorality. With a humble attitude, He said I just
might well do that as a taekwondo practitioner. (Reporter Jeongyoung Shin)

Although the article mistakenly said it was around 9:30PM on the 25th, the incident actually occurred around 9:30AM on the 26th. I'm not sure what the last line of the article was supposed to be quoting me as saying, but I am sure it was something brilliant, er... uh, I mean humble! :ultracool Whatever it was, I guess it didn't translate to Korean very well.

Thanks to Master Southwick for the translation.​

 

[rmclain]

That is a great story. Martial arts needs more positive press like that in the public.

R. McLain

 

[TKDmel]

Well done Sir!