1 in 2 People "Feel Difficulty Reading Reports and Proposals"
'Sah-eul' Became a Popular Search Term in 2020
On the 20th, a company issued an apology for a system error that occurred during the reservation process for a webtoon artist's autograph session, using the phrase "deepest apologies." Photo by Twitter capture
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] "I offer my sincere apologies." , "I'm not bored at all."
Recently, a phrase "sincere apologies" used in an apology statement by a company has caused controversy among some netizens who misunderstood the word 'sincere' (심심) as meaning 'boring,' sparking a literacy debate. The company's intended meaning of '심심' is 'from the bottom of the heart,' expressing a deeper and more sincere apology.
On the 20th, a cafe in Seoul, where a popular webtoon artist's signing event was scheduled, apologized for a system error that occurred during the reservation process. The company stated, "All sign-up reservations have been completed," and added, "We once again offer our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused during the reservation process."
Some netizens who saw this misunderstood the meaning of 'sincere apologies' and criticized it. They said, "Sincere apologies? I'm not bored at all. The response is amusing," "From now on, only people with common sense should post announcements," and "What kind of company uses 'bored' in an apology?" expressing strong criticism.
Eventually, on the 21st, the company posted another apology stating, "We sincerely apologize for the confusion and inconvenience you experienced during the reservation process." They replaced 'sincere apologies' with 'heartfelt apologies.'
This incident sparked debates about 'functional illiteracy' and 'literacy skills' in online communities. Since the webtoon is adult content, most buyers were likely adults, so it was surprising that they did not understand the expression 'sincere.' Additionally, even if they did not know the expression, critics pointed out that they did not try to look it up or infer its meaning from the context and instead showed a confrontational attitude.
Some netizens misunderstood the expression "심심하다" used in the company's apology statement and poured out criticism. Photo by Twitter capture
This is not the first controversy of this kind. In 2020, when Monday, August 17, was designated a temporary holiday, reports said there would be a three-day holiday. Citizens who thought three days meant four days searched the meaning of 'three days,' making it the number one trending search term on portal sites. There is also a famous anecdote where someone used the word '금일' (geumil, meaning 'today') to a business partner and was told, "Didn't we agree to meet on Friday?" '금일' refers to the current day, that is, today.
Meanwhile, a survey shows that one in two people has difficulty reading and understanding written content. Last year, job portal Incruit and the immediate interview app AlbaCall conducted a survey on 'literacy and vocabulary skills of modern people' targeting 1,310 office workers and self-employed individuals. When asked, "Do you find it difficult to read relatively long and technical business documents such as reports or proposals?" 6.3% answered "mostly yes," and 44.5% answered "sometimes."
Also, when those who admitted their literacy and vocabulary skills were insufficient were asked if they thought their skills had declined compared to their school days, 9 out of 10 (89.4%) answered "yes." They cited reasons for their lowered literacy skills as ▲ monotonous language use due to messenger apps and SNS (95.4%) ▲ lack of reading (93.0%) ▲ increased video watching such as YouTube (82.1%) ▲ difficulty reading long texts (67.7%) ▲ lack of studying classical Chinese characters (36.7%).
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