לאפוחד

Two Koreas divided by a fractured language

Shampoo or 'hair water soap'? North Korean refugees face up to a North-South language barrier.

www.bbc.com

North Korean defectors who risk their lives escaping to the South face a language barrier in their new home because of the way vocabulary has evolved either side of the border.

Having risked death by escaping through China - which hands back refugees it captures - defectors often find themselves at a loss to understand words for tax, homelessness and rent.

All are alien concepts to northerners used to state ownership of everything.

North Korea’s closed society means its language has changed little since the post-WW2 division of the peninsula. Meanwhile, the southern version has developed rapidly due to exposure to outside culture and technology.

Facing discrimination and difficulties due to the language barrier, defectors are turning to new options. Translation apps aim to bridge the gap, while a vast unified dictionary of the Korean language is under development.