Neither version is any worse than the putrid original hit by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. I saw her open several shows in the 80's and 90's for "real" rock and roll bands and always found it to be annoying, lightweight, television inspired type pop poop. They were a great excuse to go and grab a beer before the headliners came on.

I really can't think of of many (actually any) actors/actresses who are better suited as singers, but I will say this, LDH looks better than any of them!!

LOL, what the hell is 'greasy'? ...OMFG HAHAHA, no seriously? *_*

#19 Kelly
"Australians do have an accent when compared with other English speakers..."

See Let's Speak Strine by Afferbeck Lauder, a wonderful spoof "Australian to British Dictionary" ("Afferbeck Lauder" being itself a piece of Strine, the guy's real name was Alastair Morrison). I don't know whether it's still in print, but it ought to be.

Though in terms of linguistic history, the Australian family of accents (like East Coast American ones) are really just former British accents shifted into a time-warp where they've evolved differently from in their home country.

"... but it’s one that definitely doesn’t come through in song."

Ah now, that's a different matter. It doesn't come through in pop songs because of a deliberate decision to adopt a mid-Pacific twang, just as British pop uses a mid-Atlantic synthetic version that sounds "American" to British ears and "British" to American ones. But there are plenty of Australian folk-singers who perform in Strine, and good for them.

Korean is one of those languages (French is another) that has such a highly distinctive sound system that those who don't learn it in infancy (and lay down the required motor neuron pathways and speech organ habits when those things are developmentally still up for grabs) have huge difficulties acquiring accurate pronunciation later. And vice versa.

The world is full of Germans, say, who speak acoustically as well as grammatically near-perfect English after learning it in their teens. But how many French people do you meet who learned English after infancy and who speak it without a noticeable accent? Same goes for Koreans.

Sadly, though, whereas a strong French accent, in either gender, is regarded as sexy or at least charming, a strong Korean accent is, with the best will in the world, very hard indeed for English-attuned ears to understand at all. And that's before the Korean speaker hits the even bigger obstacle of having to operate with a radically different grammar and syntax, and very different notions of what to make explicit and what to leave unsaid, in order to get Korean thoughts into English word patterns.

Exactly the same problems, though in reverse, face the foreign learner of Korean. Even Japanese learners (who have the advantage of having already internalized a grammar and syntax closer to Korean than any other language) still have the massive problem of the sound system.

So I'm always impressed at the level of English some Koreans who didn't learn in infancy nevertheless manage to achieve, and I'm reluctant to scoff at those who simply can't manage to make the right noises.

That said, this is (like the grotesque Ingrish dialogue in LSIH) a rehearsed performance. And there are voice coaches who can work wonders in such circumstances. But voice coaches seem to be thin on the ground (or maybe just not very competent) in Korean media circles. Someone mentioned Memoirs of a Geisha (the movie) in another comment recently. The DVD set has a fascinating "bonus item" on how the voice coaching there was done.

is tablo the rapper dude? oh btw..I love Jin Bora she's so awesome in playing the piano..she's now oficially my idol!! :))

Hi javabeans! I saw that episode many months ago... I thought it was hilarious. Most of all, I thought then that it was pretty good publicity for Rain. I mean, they wouldn't devote a whole segment on him if he were a nobody.

Continuing my highly significant research announced in #13: though I was disappointed to see that no native speakers were willing to offer views on the laughter-sound doctrines of the Integrated Korean authors, I noticed this in the script for Insoon is Pretty (start of the first cafe scene)
상우 ; 하하, 달라지긴!
But what Kim Min Joon in the Sang Woo role says is very plainly 허허.

So -- Integrated Korean 1 : Sceptical Gramps 0 after that round.

I was really disappointed to miss out on a potential equalizer though. When Insoon trips and spills the contents of her bag in the employment agency, including what in those circumstances seems a highly suspicious item, she's anxious to assure everyone that's it's an innocent bread knife (as if we all carry those around), and the script has

인순 ; ...빵...(눈치 본다) 빵칼...이네......하하

But in production, the nervous laughter bit at the end was cut, so we never get to know whether Kim Hyun Joo would have turned it into an Integrated Korean Conformant "feminine" 호호.

I post this in this long-defunct sequence merely for the datestamp, so I can establish priority if I am ever considered for an Ignoble Prize for useless linguistic investigation.

Sawadee ka,
Many thanks for sharing all songs.
Especially coffee prince's ost.
Now I add your site to my favorite for update Korean entertainment.

Friend from Thailand

Heh, all I can say is good try on the English. But I had to stop playing it. I was cringing a lot... But the Korean Version is better obviously because I'm not as fluent in Korean as I am in English, so I just kind of listen to it rather than interpreting/translating/understanding the lyrics. I have to listen to a Korean song a couple of times before I start understanding what they're saying, lol.

Well to me, the picture on this post right now is making me feel a little awkward 'cause she's so dang skinny/fit, hahaha. How much more awkward is the mv? hahaha I think I'll pass before I begin to feel self-conscious...lol jk. But really, the english version? Just...no. No. No thank you.

I admire MinWoo for his talents in composing and arranging his own music, as well as his choreography, but I really don't like his greasy image. I loved "The M Style" off his new album... until I saw him perform live with all those sexy dancers and another rapper instead of Tablo... The MV is even worse...