Bad English in K-pop Songs

       I talked about the Korea's poor job at teaching English in a previous blog post, and now, I want to bring to focus the bad English that is used in K-pop songs. They're not only random, but it's just plain difficult to make sense of what's being said in the English line due to the horrible grammar. If you're unfamiliar with "Engrish", then check out this fun video of non-Kpoppers trying to decipher the English lines in the song! (Note: mild language used in video but censored).

        Here's a disclaimer: I actually find it cool that Korean songs have English lines in them, and that's the intention of putting in English because it's cool. It just sounds cool. But, if it's completely random and out of the context of the song, then it's not that cool. It's even worse when the grammar is so horrendous or the pronunciation of the English words make you want to cringe.

         A lot of people put up the defense that it doesn't matter if the English is wrong because it's for a Korean audience, so it's not like they know any difference. But that's an invalid defense because Korean students are not educated with English well enough in their schools, so having them listen and sing along to a bunch of incorrect English lines is further degrading their knowledge. I'm not asking for super-strict grammar to be enforced, such as always using "want to" instead of "wanna", in fact, using such commonly used terms like "wanna" is beneficial and educational for Korean students. But when we have lines like, "Kiss me baby I'm must be stay here day by day", that's when the sirens go off and it's not only harmful to Korean listeners but also to English-speakers who know better. Simon and Martina, the two Canadians who live in Korea in the video linked above, also say that Engrish is such a turn off to actually good songs. They'll try to get their English-speaking friend to get into K-pop, but once they hear the poor English, they just dismiss it before they can even fully enjoy the song itself. I mean, it's an incredible thing that foreigners take part in Korean culture, but that becomes a lost cause when some will only laugh at the few Engrish lyrics and not actually appreciate the songs themselves.

          There are some Korean songs with correct English with accurate pronunciations! Why can't all Korean songs involve English like that? I want to listen to some songs with my American friends but I don't really want to at the same time because it's embarrassing to have my friends hear how bad Koreans are at English. Not that Korean songs represent Koreans' English skills, but it can easily come off like that. Simon and Martina are willing to edit the English lines in songs before they're recorded and released, so why not take advantage of that, Korea? So there are a lot of cons to having poor English lines in Korean songs. They teach wrong grammar to Korean students (as if they don't struggle to learn English already), the meaning or quality of the song gets lost, and it prevents English-speakers from taking interest in Korean music. 

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