Thank you Dear Javabeans

Haha, I loved this. :) Thank you very much for posting.

Javabean,
Thank you for the information.

Javabeans,
Thank you for sharing the article to your readers.
from the article:
"the audience has found more favorable meaning in the homosexual relationship issue than the producers, for which I feel very thankful, and also somewhat embarrassed.”

why would she be embarrassed!! this is an interesting comment from the writer! she should be proud of her work and impact she created. maybe, it is not a big one but it opened another side of a relationship that could be acceptable in the future.
audience accepted and got excited to the relationship because it will be accepted in the end of the story. but what if EC is really a MAN and HG is in love w/ "him". will it be acceptable to us as the audience? are we still be here talking about it?

i enjoyed the summaries you shared to us and the most of all the comments from the readers. i am from Silicon Vally (California) and it is my pleasure spending my Monday and Tuesday nights reading blog site. hope you'll continue it. see you in your next KOREAN Drama summary.

thanks for post, it always a pleasure read your insight.

Thank you javabeans.
I am intrigued on how the materials would have been presented if the writer had intentionally scripted a story revolving around same-sex relationship. I think when (not if) the time comes (and i do hope that it is soon), this female/PD combo would be qualified to tackle the project. If this is an indication, the Korean (and Asian) public is ready to embrace the idea of love-has-no-gender-boundary. If i am not mistaken, the positive responses for CP's success are more toward the thoughful presentation of self/sexuality discovery than the show's handling of Eun Chan's love. The love story of a girl masquerading as a boy has been explored ever since Elizabethan time. However, it is CP's incomparable treatment of the story that earns it well-deserved praise and recognition. And intended or not, it has lifted the taboo that once surrrounded the term "homosexuality". That alone is a great and memorable achievement in itself.

now that coffee prince is almost over.. i need to find another korean drama to obsess over..i was thinking hello franceska cus i trust your recommendations :) and it sounds good but i cant find a single clubbox with the first season :( javabeans where can i find it?

It is admirable that she notes with specificity -YEH's level of acting in creating those feathered nuances that make her male gender plausible.

Thanks for sharing this interview. Thanks also for explaining what the writer might mean by "embarrassed." Her use of this word was really bothering me. Parts that really stood out for me (as excellent writing/acting in their openmindedness to homosexuality) were

1) after MY kisses EC, HR asserts that Chan is his, and HK says something like "Yours? He's mine." GY carries this off perfectly. He delivers the line so naturally so that HK doesn't notice when HR does a doubletake.

2) HK's jealousy on the car ride home. Again, the acting makes the dialogue really shine. YEH really looks/acts like a guy during this exchange, and GY makes HK seem happy that EC liked HK's kiss more. EC backpedals and HK teases him/her, but HK's mood has gone from dark jealousy to playful happiness.

3) (Again, props for GY's acting) HK seems to really enjoy EC's discomfort when he/she tries to explain to HR (at the CP) that his idea that EC and HK are dating is totally baseless. HK seems to enjoy watching him/her flustered more than he is alarmed by HR's question.

4) (Again, props for GY and YEH's acting) HK would rather be in a homosexual relationship than believe (at first anyway) that EC lied to him. Likewise, EC also finds the shameful idea to be her lie, not homosexuality. EC doesn't say this, but (thanks to YEH's performance) EC seems to be wishing that she could tell HK that she really is a man, rather than that she lied to him.

hurray for progressive korea!

Thanks for the translation! I agree with the positive comments. I was a bit opposed to Yoon Hye playing Eun Chan since I didn't believe that her girlish personality and appearance would suit her character, but now I find her quite charming.

I keep forgetting to mention this; thank you for sharing songs in your blogs. I check your site regularly now to see what kinds of witty things you write and what kind of music you share. Before, I didn't know much about Korean music so I just stuck to the same mainstream songs, but I find that I enjoy the less popular songs that you've posted more. Thank you again!

I guess CP struck a goldmine being aired at the right time (when people are more acceptable about what's been there all along.) The writer had a simple lovestory to tell - yes, love as the most used and abused universal theme - and she admitted that the gender-bender issue isn't exactly original and homosexuality was just an afterthought and not the main issue. I think the favorable responses can be largely attributed to the entire CP's creative production for tastefully executing the whole drama, giving it more heart than we can imagine.

i don't really have anything to say but i wanted u to know that we are thankful for any update u share about Coffee Prince and so i write a comment in all your post :)

thanks javabeans!

oh, and while i'm sad the drama is airing, i'm happy for everyone involved (PD, writer, cast) coz they got recognition for all their hardwork :)

It's often the way that when a writer (or anybody for that matter) writes something with a specific idea in mind, he/she often finds that on top of their idea, the audience find something else, something unexpected to think about or to relate to. Maybe the time was right for the drama, in that it made people think about the acceptance of certain topics into the public domain. I think it certainly helped that it was done in a way that wasn't 'in your face', allowing the watching audience to absorb it to the level that was comfortable to them.

For someone like me who has only been watching kdrama for a limited time, it has certainly upped the level of expectations which I will be expecting from future projects. QSS was the beginning really. But CP was something else. Like I've said before, I had a grin on my face through the entirety of the show (so far). There may have been times where the script got a little predictible or where the excitement of the conflicts had died down (because regardless of what anyone says it can't all be fireworks all the time), but I doubt that we will be seeing another drama like it - some may come close, but never close enough.

Thanks, Sarahbeans, it was very interesting to read abt her reaction.
And I agree wholeheartedly...YEH's amazing portrayal of Eun Chan has a lot to do with how the love was percieved, accepted and analyzed. I think at one point every viewer understands EC's own dilemma...she's not a boy, not a girl, but whatever she is, she's very lovable. Kudos to this WONDERFUL actress.

i don't know if it's because i'm biased or what but what i really love about YEH is that she makes everyone in the cast shine.. like she gives this feeling of being generous that whoever she's with in the scene, she doesn't look like she's trying to hog all the limelight to herself.. i first felt this on Goong (not only with JJH, KJH but with the queen, king, moms, etc).

i don't know if i'm making sense but seriously, whoever YEH gets partnered with or work with (like in xman), i end up liking them too hahaha

First, many thanks for posting up articles about Coffee Prince! It's a nice thought to know that Coffee Prince is being greatly admired in Korea =)

I have to admit, when I first watched Goong, I did not expect much from Yoon Eun Hye, because she was a new actress, but the moment - and I say, the moment, she was acting with her friends, I loved the drama already. She's fun, outgoing and enthusiastic, and her passion for acting is clearly visible in the drama. When she's laughing, crying in both Goong and Coffee Prince, I can really feel what she's trying to say. The success of Coffee Prince is of course, not only because of Eun Hye's efforts, but also the amazing cast - Gong Yoo, cute but oh so sexy haha; Kim Chang Whan, really into his character haha; Lee Eon - comical and very cute with his smile =); and of course, the really mysterious but sophisticated Jae Wook, all contributed in each way, along with other characters in the drama. I love how there's really no "real" antagonist against the relationships; it's really the couple working together...brilliant, saving the audience from the angst caused in Goong and My Girl haha!

YAY!! YEH's fans get validation from the writer.
Heh. The writer's being very generous eh? First, GY, now YEH. Step up to the plate and get your own fair share of accolades, woman!
I'm glad I'm a YEH warrior. Otherwise, I would never get the chance to see this wonderful drama and be exposed to such insightful and rational posts over here at dramabeans.
To comment specifically on the issue of homosexual love, I do feel that that was never the issue in CP. I did feel that the writer and crew and cast were really all about potraying the intricacies of love, not limiting it to a specific type. However, the way it was handled, made CP a great platform to discuss homosexual love and when a drama, initially thought to just be a fluffy romance comedy, can initiate such discussions is commendable in itself.

For me the success of the gender bending aspect of the drama is Gong Yoo's genuine and natural acting making it so believeable that he was indeed falling in love with a "man". Not a false step nor untimely raised eyebrow - everything about Han Gyul was seemingly effortlessly brought to life by this great actor. While it is expected that he brings to life the charm and personality of Han Gyul as the role was tailor made for him, his take on a confused man thinking he was falling for a man exceeded expectations. I expected a more slapstick approach when I first heard of the storyline but his characterisation is subtly layered and perfectly nuanced. Bravo ! Gong Yoo - your talents will be missed when you go to the army.

thanks for the translation....
i have been really thinking about this issue since COFFEE PRINCE started - the issue of homosexuality. in my opinion, coffee prince didn't really focus on that issue although it showed a bit of it when Han Kyul didn't know Eun Chan is a girl. BUT --> knowing that Eun Chan is a girl (in a viewer's perspective), that should not be criticized mainly as homosexuality. For Han Kyul, it's like a male's natural attraction to female species...
Surely, the coffee prince director and production have tackled the homosexuality issue lightly for this drama and didn't drag the secret up to the end (just like what happened in the novel wherein Han Kyul only found it out at the final chapter). The novel and the tv drama was made differently, while still following the concept of the novel. in the tv drama, they revealed everything to Han Kyul in the middle of the series, thus, limiting the issue of homosexuality (which is - i think - not really intended) and got it more focused on the relationship between HK and EC, and the rest of the cast.
as for the actors, they really did a wonderful job in portraying their respective roles.
Yoon Eun Hye - she is really awesome here. she did good in Goong(Princess Hours) and did great here too. It's really a good that she decided to do coffee prince despite her issues with 8Peaks. she's absolutely adorable.
Gong Yoo - i admit i didn't like this guy the first time i saw him. I was like "what the heck, this guy is not cute at all - they've better had Kim Jeong Hoon or Lee Dong Wook played the role". But as i've watched the drama further, I found him very suitable for the role. It's not just because he pulled it out great on his role, but because he really knew how to act. his expressions are so nice and his charisma shows more as you look at him more... and just realized how sexy he is. he kisses so good here too. hehe. but moreover, he really have shown the proper facial expressions that could really make the viewers intensified. haha. i like his hairstyle here more than his previous ones.. he looked younger and more decent.
to the other casts - Kudos to them too. since i've watched My Girl (Lee Da Hae and Lee Dong Wook), this is the 2nd drama that i've approved of to be recommended watching (with my family and friends). they did a great job...
regarding the shooting locations - it's kind of refreshing to see new spots. since i've started watching korean dramas, i've kept on seeing familiar places wherein they just changed the wall decors and rearranged the place but still the same (there are many to mention). good job to all the people of COFFEE PRINCE.

Thank you very much for translating this article Javebeans! I'm glad our Young Girl Warrior has recieved such praise, after all the hardships she's had to endure, I used to hate it because others would always mention the fact that her career so far has been so smooth, when in fact she's been through more then enough of the cruelty of Netizens alone. Despite her issues with 8Peaks, and her health problems, she's still pulled off Eun Chan perfectly. To be perfectly honest, if not for Yoon Eun Hye, I wouldn't have watched Coffee Prince or put away so much time obsessing over it. On Monday, I know they'll finally pass 30% nationwide, the PD and producers are brilliant and deserve as much credit as they are given, Kudos to them!

Give credit when credit is due...
CP owes it to Gong Yoo and the rest of the cast of CP for making this work. Bleh. Giving all credit to YEH is so pretentious.

But I don't think anyone has given ALL the credit to YEH. The writer has praised GY before. And now, YEH. So, really, everyone's getting credit.
Even as a YEH fan, I would find it weird to give all the credit to YEH. However, I would credit the fact that I'm even watching CP to YEH.

I am glad Javabeans...because I think GY is way more talented in CP.

ginnie, although CP's may have initially relied on YEH's starpower to gather its audience, i too am glad that it gave Gong Yoo more exposure and recognition. This is my first time seeing his work (yes, i am not actually a true K-drama addict), but i was totally won over. Even though YEH did a fine job in CP (her acting has improved tremendously), it was Gong Yoo who took off with his character and in turn exceeded my expectations. There seems to be confidence and intuitive feel for acting that make his work a standout. So yes, i do think that his performance is awesome.

ginnie so much hate on YEH? I dont think you are being very fair here...it just looks to me as if you wanna give the whole credit only to Gong Yoo, while disregarding every effort that Yoon Eun Hye has also made.

I've seen you in Que Sera, Sera before could it be that you are still bitter because YEH's company pulled her out of QSS?

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Give credit when credit is due…
CP owes it to Gong Yoo and the rest of the cast of CP for making this work. Bleh. Giving all credit to YEH is so pretentious.
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^Baloney! What r u trying to say here, that everyone did a great job except for YEH? Do you realize how idiotic that sounds?
One must learn to put their personal biases aside and look at the big picture here.
Sorry buddy, but that little comment u just made was totally uncalled for!

i am originally a YEH fan so i really anticipated this drama ever since it was announced she's doing it. i've never seen GY before CP but while CP is airing, i was completely won over by his performance and charm so now i am also a fan of his. I believe this is the case for a lot of YEH fans. SO, i really think those two are great artists and both have a contribution to the success of CP, along with the other cast (3 princes, moms, dad, ES, grandma, mr hong, mr gu, etc) and of course the writer and the PD and the other crew. giving praise to someone does NOT mean we have to belittle another.. GY is a fabulous actor (his facial expressions are so eloquent!), anyone who watches CP knows that, no need to defend the statement by saying YEH is mediocre coz she's not (she's not yet great, but she's learning and that's what matters). YEH fans are not saying that ALL the credit goes to her (definitely not!) but she is a part of it, so is GY and everyone else :) oh and the music and cinematography give major contributions too!

it's the last ep of CP on monday, and up until this time CP addicts have gotten along very well, i hope we still continue to support CP and everyone involved in it TILL THE LAST DROP OF COFFEE :)

I absolutely agree javabeans.

Just like most people I was a bit offended by ginnie's comments.

Gong Yoo was also praised in an article all by himself http://www.dramabeans.com/2007/08/gong-yoos-han-gyul-exactly-as-writer-pictured/#more-2185 by the writer Lee Sun Mi, so I dont understand that little temper tantrum just because it was Yoon Eun Hye's turn to get her praise this time around, which she also deserves if I may add, let's face it, if there's no Gong Yoo as HK this show would suck, and if there's no YEH as EC the show would suck as well.

And you are 100% right javabeans..it is not cool to bring one person down to build up the other. The best thing about this cast is their chemistry and their talent. They just click as a team, each one portay their character in a unique manner that makes them stand out, which is why it is absurd seeing them pitted against one another.

Sorry, I just had to voice out my 2 cents.

My reaction to the article that Javabeans translated remain the same. To clarify, I was reacting to this particular answer by the writer:
>> The writer also expressed her gratitude, saying, “The fact that viewers are able to accept this issue of homosexual love so naturally is owed to Yoon Eun Hye, acting so lovably as the character of Eun Chan.”

My honest reaction to the news was that GY needs to be acknowledged just as much (if not more) for his portrayal of a man struggling with his sexuality and his turmoil while going through this process. Not only that, it is his portrayal as well as the director's approach to this topic that made this issue of homosexual love in CP natural and worth-noting. The viewers' acceptance of the said issue has more to do with GY's subtle and natural performance.

By praising GY and saying that he deserves praise more than any other casts for CP does not mean that I hate other actors in the ensemble or does it mean I want to bring down any other factors that contributed to CP's work. I am just more impressed with GY, that is all. Also, it would be irrelevent to bring QSS into this discussion. I am very impressed and satisfied with Jung Yoo Mi in QSS. I am proud and continue to be in love with QSS, which does not have any influence on my comments on CP here.

Javabeans....yes, CP is an ensemble work. For the overall series, of course, one cannot just credit Gong Yoo. I am not an advocate for a one-man show either. LOL.
I am sorry to have caused you some trouble within your blog. Let's keep it happy. =) Amen to that.

You knew very well that by adding ur little comment:
"I am glad Javabeans…because I think GY is way more talented in CP" that the comment was bound to create trouble

There r many ways to get ur point across without sounding demeaning ex: Gong Yoo needs to be credited for his acting too and etc... instead of being insulting as if YEH's acting is mediocre compared to his, and the rest of the CP cast...cause let's be honest, you could have done better with ur choice of words.
As a fan urself, u wouldn't like it either if anyone made ur fave celeb seem less deserving of praise compared to his other co-stars.

I am sorry javabeans for this last response regarding this matter...I dont want to turn it into a fan-versus-fan thing either, but I felt that I had to speak up so that maybe the next time, some people will try to be more tactful.

Yoon Eun Hye and Gong Yoo fans REALLY get along in soompi even to the extent that we camp in eachother's thread to support them both, it's the first time that this ever happened...but yeah I will shut up now.

I'm sure we all agree that the outburst of inter-fan skirmishing should be allowed to die down and not be revived. But while we're all camping out around the virtual barbecue stove in javabeans' cyber-backyard, impatiently waiting for Monday to arrive, I'd like to offer a few thoughts a bit more closely related to the aims and achievements of her blog. Mainly because I think this tiff can actually be traced back to one of the features that make the blog unique and important: its role, in a number of senses, as a magnificently successful example of translation. Not just of media articles or drama dialogue, but of understandings in different cultures about what matters and why it matters, both in drama and in that elusive place called "real life" some of us try to visit from time to time.

There's a downside to being such an excellent (and apparently effortless) translator as javabeans is: her translations read so well and yet are so faithful that people tend to forget that they are indeed translations; and that all translations have intrinsic limits, no matter how gifted and accurate the translator. There are significant differences between cultures, reflected in the languages of those cultures, which sometimes defy translation; but a translator nonetheless has to do what s/he can to get at least a portion of the sense across that cultural barrier. The resulting inevitable compromises mean that it isn't always wise to build arguments, let alone base more or less impassioned reactions, on the translation alone as understood within the value-system of the target language.

Consider the word "embarrassed" which led to the earliest comments above. One of the big problems translators between all languages face is that the complex "embarrassment-shame" is highly culturally specific and shows considerable variations between cultures. Since different cultures regard different things as "embarrassing" or "shameful" for different reasons and to different degrees, they differ in what precise sort of inner state or observable behaviour they label as "embarrassing", so that matching up appropriate words across languages can be a tricky business.

The operative part here is the cited remark of LJA which is echoed in the title and then varied again a little further into the piece:

"... 감사하고 때론 민망한 마음도 크다" which comes out here as "... feel very thankful, and also somewhat embarrassed".

As far as I understand it (and let's remember here that here a rank novice in Korean is rashly commenting at leisure on the translation work of a bilingual genius who was working at high speed, but hey that's the sort of bumptious creep I am, and I'm too old to change now) the key term here is 민망한 a "modifier" attached to 마음 and derived from 민망하다, an "adjective" in the special Korean sense of stative predicator, sometimes called a "descriptive verb", with a meaning spectrum stretching from "miserable" through "sad" and "sorry" and reaching to "awkward", "embarrassed". So obviously, "embarrassed" is a perfectly fine translation of it. The snag is that in this context, an English-speaking reader tends to assume that LJA means that she felt "embarrassed" because she had somehow done something wrong, unseemly or inappropriate, and that she was in some way apologising for that. Hence the reaction in comment #3 "why would she be embarrassed!! [...] she should be proud of her work". If we search some of the Korean on-line corpora for the stem 민망(not easy to do if you don't have Korean Windows plus a lot of patience, thanks to the "foreigners go hang" attitude of so much of Institutional Korea as embodied in the corpus websites) it seems to occur quite frequently in the sense of "taken by surprise and not knowing quite what to make of the situation", which is of course also within the scope of English "embarrassed". But my own inclination would have been to sacrifice fidelity in the interests of nudging Anglophone readers into the right portion of the semantic field, and translate here as " a little taken aback" rather than "somewhat embarrassed". Because I think that's what LJA is in effect saying. She was slightly bewildered to be praised for something that hadn't been her conscious intention and a little unsure as to whether it was OK to take credit for it. Though I agree that then gives rise to the question: if she meant something more like 당황 than 민망 why didn't she say so?

Which brings me (at last!) to the remark that triggered the exchanges of fire, especially in the way that in #34 ginnie clarifies what it was that invoked it, namely where LJA is quoted/translated as saying : “The fact that viewers are able to accept this issue of homosexual love so naturally is owed to Yoon Eun Hye, acting so lovably as the character of Eun Chan.” Now here, in a belated attack of due humility, I have to admit that there are parts of the syntax of the original Korean in this particular passage that fox me, so I'm now relying on hunches as much as proper linguistic data. But my sense is that what LJA is here saying is not "YEH is a lovable actress, and that's why viewers could accept....", but more like "LJA plays the part of EC in such a way that the character seems undisputably, spontaneously lovable and attractive to viewers of both genders, so that they are led to question their assumptions about the interconnections between gender, sexuality and love, and to view HG's self-questionings about his own sexuality from that revised perspective. And if YEH hadn't managed to bring that off, the efforts of all the rest of the team would have been much less fruitful, without being any the less admirable or important". Pithy, huh?

Anyway, time I shut up. Since all this waiting (and typing) is giving me chopstick-finger cramp, maybe one of my fellow-campers could wrap me up a few nice morsels in a lettuce leaf with a dab of soyabean paste and stick it in my mouth. That way, they get to enjoy the silence and I get to enjoy the food.

CP adDicT,
Don't put words in my mouth, I said what I said no more no less.
.

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