Fun German Term: Schadenfreude

Today we're taking a moment to reflect on schadenfreude, a German term that means "taking pleasure from someone else's misfortune."

Before we get too far into this, the Buddhist concept of mudita, "sympathetic joy" or "happiness in another's good fortune," is sometimes suggested as the opposite of schadenfreude.

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Interestingly, people suggest there are few direct English equivalents for schadenfreude, with the exception of the archaic epicaricacy, or the idiomatic phrase, 'Roman Holiday'.

While trolling around on wikipedia, there were several interesting suggestions for the equivalents of schadenfreude in several Asian languages:

For Thai, it's suggested the phrase สมน้ำหน้า, som nam na, would apply, and would be interpreted as: "You got what you deserved"; "Serves you right"; or "I'm laughing at your bad luck". I'm sure Lao and Hmong both have a parallel phrase, but I really wouldn't be able to tell you what it is right now.

In Korean, the phrase 고소하다, go so ha da, translates to "to smell sesame oil". It's an elaborate idiom: The phrase apparently applies because in Korea the smell of sesame oil is regarded as very pleasant, and this phrase is used when one is pleased about a particular event. It is especially used when one is pleased about "an event involving the misfortune of another," according to the Wikipedia.

This could all just be rumor, mind you. So don't go running off to get it as a tattoo or use it as the key line for your novel.

For Chinese, the phrase xìngzāi lèhuò (Simplified Chinese: 幸灾乐祸; Traditional Chinese: 幸災樂禍) is apparently a classic idiom that directly translates to "enjoying (other's) calamity (and) laughing at (other's) misfortune". Very precise.

For Japanese, the phrase 他人の不幸は蜜の味, tanin no fukou wa mitsu no aji, translates as "others' misfortunes are the taste of honey". Mmmmm. Honey.

For Tagalog, it's suggested the phrase "Buti ngà sa iyó," fits. It's supposed to mean "Good for you", but can be translated as "Serves you right" or "Buti ngà sa kanyá" as "Serves him/her right." Apparently the short form is usually just "Buti ngà!"

In light of the Simpsons Movie coming out tonight, let's not forget the classic exchange between Lisa and Homer:

"Dad, do you know what Schadenfreude is?"

"No, I do not know what Schadenfreude is. Please tell me because I'm dying to know."

"It's a German word for shameful joy, taking pleasure in the suffering of others."

"Oh, come on, Lisa. I'm just glad to see [Flanders] fall flat on his butt! He's usually all happy and comfortable, and surrounded by loved ones, and it makes me feel...what's the opposite of that shameful joy thing of yours?"

"Sour grapes."

"Boy, those Germans have a word for everything."

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Be sure to check out the Simpsons rundown over at Tripmaster Monkey this week too!

A Quick MN Shout-Out

Welcoming East Coast-based poet, spoken word artist and community activist Ching-In Chen, who's coming to visit all of us in the Twin Cities over the weekend during her time with the Split Rock arts program. She's been keeping a super busy schedule, but we look forward to seeing her!


Ching-In Chen is the daughter of Chinese immigrants and a Kundiman Asian American Poet Fellow.

A community organizer, she helped to plan the 3rd national Asian Pacific American Spoken Word and Poetry Summit in Boston. Ching-In is currently working on a poetry collection about the travails, heartbreak and adventures of a Chinese-American girl called xiaomei. She will be entering the MFA program at University of California Riverside this fall.

Laotian Library, Books and Dictionaries.

An interesting day: SaoLao.Net recently posted up a nice article about their book box program to bring books to Laotian schoolchildren.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian newspaper Sin Chew Daily posted an interesting article about the plans of Laos to update the National Dictionary:

"The Lao government plans to set up a Council of Lao Linguistics to approve words for a new official edition of the national Lao dictionary, local media reported Tuesday (July 24th).

Lao people create new words all the time, from television, newspapers, foreign films and music, and integrate them into their daily speech, said Dr Thongphet Kingsada, director general of the Institute for Linguistic Research, according to the Web site of the English-language Vientiane Times newspaper.

The council, to be made up of linguistics experts from schools and government agencies, will discuss and approve new words for the dictionary, he said."The Institute for Linguistic Research doesn't have the power to decide on the official use of Lao words, which is why we need an officially approved council," he told the newspaper."

For some reason, whenever I hear the word 'dictionary' mentioned, it gets my attention, and it is with some fondness I think of the recent classic, The Professor and the Madman, which so ably demonstrated the strange process of creating a national dictionary for a culture, and the curious things required when we're dealing with humans.

On a very oblique side note, related to On The Other Side Of The Eye, in my end notes, I make a reference to a particular story by Jorge Luis Borges regarding Franz Kuhn's remarks on a certain Chinese encyclopedia entitled The Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge. This link may be of help later on to a young student who might not be you just quite yet.

It's a rather famous passage, eliciting remarks from no less a figure than Michel Foucault in his book, The Order of Things. Which in itself has some connections to On The Other Side Of The Eye, but that's neither here nor there right now.

OTOSOTE In The News

Keeping track of this at the moment for my own benefit here, more than anything else:

Probably up only briefly, but North News in Minneapolis has a nice blurb about me and my upcoming reading at the Loft on August 10th. The Otterbein College Towers alumni magazine is also due to cover the release of my book this season.

Asian American Press has joined City Pages in covering my story about my reading at DreamHaven, as did a microscopic line in the Twin Cities edition of The Onion. Other journals and papers that I know who've covered the pending release include:

The Asian Pacific American Librarian's Association Newsletter March, 2007

Asian American Press, March 22, 2007

The Center for Lao Studies Newsletter April, 2007

Hmong Times Article by Amy Douen, May 1, 2007

MN Artists.Org, May 31st, 2007

Saline Reporter, by Jessy Patterson, June 7, 2007

Minnesota Monthly, Front & Center Blog, by Tim Gihring June 28, 2007

Star Tribune, by Kay Miller, July 13, 2007

Asian American Press, August 02, 2007

Asian Pages August 1, 2007

To everyone who's interviewed me and mentioned On The Other Side Of The Eye, I appreciate it deeply, and we'll update this entry regularly as more articles come out.