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??south korean tech workers are having a?lousy?time at work韩国科技工作者的艰难职场生涯
new internet firms suffer from many of the same problems as old corporate giants
新兴互联网公司面临着许多与传统巨头相同的问题
when park hae-ryung started her job at a big internet company near seoul, south korea’s capital, she had high expectations. “they promise you flat hierarchies, flexible work and a young, innovative workplace,” says the 26-year-old graduate.?
当朴海荣刚入职韩国首都首尔附近的一家大型互联网公司时，她对工作满怀期望。这位26岁的毕业生表示：“他们承诺给你扁平的等级制度、灵活的工作方式和年轻、创新的职场环境。”
“but what actually happens is that they give you tons of work without telling you how to do it. there’s no structure and no communication. and you can’t complain to hr because the person in charge probably went to school with your boss.” ms park (not her real name) is planning to quit as soon as she can. she says many of her colleagues feel the same.
但实际情况是，他们给你安排了一大堆工作，却不告诉你怎么做。公司没有结构，也缺乏交流。你不能向人事部抱怨，因为人事部主管很有可能和你的老板是同学。”朴海荣（化名）正计划尽快辞职。她说，她的许多同事也有同样的感受。
south korea’s work culture is?notoriously?punishing. its people work some of the longest hours in the 
oecd, a club mostly of rich countries. office-goers have scant control over their time and little chance to escape from bad management.?
韩国的工作文化是出了名的让人身心交瘁。在世界经合组织（一个主要由富裕国家组成的俱乐部）成员国中，韩国人的工作时间是最长的。韩国的上班族几乎无法自己安排时间，也几乎没有机会摆脱糟糕的管理。
they have long complained of gapjil, the authoritarian attitude of senior managers who abuse their power to shout at underlings, insist on unpaid all-nighters and weekend work, assign personal?errands, and force juniors to go out drinking for hours upon hours.
长期以来，他们一直对 gapjil 心怀不满，gapjil 指的是高级管理人员专横的态度（滥用权力对下属大吼大叫、坚持无薪通宵加班和周末加班、安排处理私人事务、强迫下属日复一日地参加酒局）。
the country’s most prestigious employers, such as samsung, a technology conglomerate, attract the best-qualified jobseekers with well-paid jobs and generous benefits. but the perks come with strict?hierarchies, long hours and no doubt numerous opportunities to experience gapjil.
韩国最负盛名的雇主（比如三星集团）以高薪的工作和丰厚的福利吸引着最优秀的求职者。但这些额外的福利还伴随着严格的等级制度和长时间的工作，毫无疑问还有无数体验 gapjil 的机会。
by contrast, relatively newer firms such as naver (a search engine, among other things), kakao (messaging) and coupang (e-commerce), as well as many smaller startups, model themselves on their forerunners in america’s silicon valley.?
相比之下，一些相对年轻的公司（比如搜索引擎 naver、即时通讯应用 kakao 和电子商务公司 coupang 等）以及许多较小的初创公司都以美国硅谷的先行者为榜样。
they promise a meritocratic idyll where workers refer to each other by their made-up english names instead of their job titles, are valued as individuals and are judged on the basis of their ideas rather than the hours spent at a desk.
他们承诺将创造一种精英主义的田园生活，在那里，员工们用自己取的英文名而职称来称呼彼此，他们作为独立的个体而受到尊重，并且根据他们的想法而非呆在办公桌前的时间进行评价。
yet a string of incidents in recent months suggests that south korean workplaces—and bosses—are proving hard to change. in february workers at kakao took to blind, an app that allows verified employees to?whinge?anonymously, to?lambast?their company’s peer-rating system, which they said encouraged personal attacks and poisoned the atmosphere.?
然而，最近几个月发生的一系列事件表明，韩国的职场（以及老板）很难改变。今年2月，kakao的员工在blind（一款允许认证用户匿名评论的应用）上抨击公司的同行评级系统，他们称该系统鼓励人们相互进行人身攻击，从而破坏了工作氛围。
in april employees at krafton, the company behind “player unknown’s battlegrounds”, a popular online game, petitioned the labour ministry to stop their boss forcing them to work overtime without time off.
今年4月，热门网络游戏“绝地求生”的开发商魁匠团的员工向劳动部请愿，要求他们的老板不再强迫他们加班不休息。
in may, an employee at naver committed suicide after being bullied at work, causing outrage in the press,?sermons?from concerned politicians and union protests outside the company’s headquarters.?
今年5月，naver 的一名员工因在工作中受到欺凌而自杀，这引发了媒体的愤怒、有关政界人士的声援以及公司总部外的工会抗议。
coupang, the country’s biggest delivery service, which has long been criticised for the conditions endured by its logistics workers, faced a consumer boycott in june after a blaze at one of its warehouses killed a firefighter. white-collar employees grumble about overbearing bosses and erratic decision-making at the firm.
韩国最大的快递公司 coupang 长期以来一直因其物流工人恶劣的工作条件而饱受批评。今年6月，该公司的一个仓库发生火灾，导致一名消防员死亡，随后该公司遭到了广大消费者的抵制。白领员工对专横的老板和反复无常的决策表示抱怨。
some observers attribute the misery to growing pains at companies that are making the transition from startups to big corporations. one worker told a local news outlet that korean tech firms seemed to be incorporating the worst aspects of korean corporate hierarchies coupled with the american obsession with performance ratings. others see the challenging work conditions as par for the course in a new industry.?
一些观察人士将这种苦难归因于那些正在从初创公司向大公司转型的公司所面临的发展困境。一位员工向当地新闻媒体披露，韩国科技公司似乎将韩国企业等级制度中最糟糕的方面与美国人对绩效评级的痴迷结合了起来。还有人则认为，在一个新兴行业，工作环境具有挑战性是很常见的。
(黑标注词为重难点词汇)?
本文翻译：vinnie
重难点词汇：
lousy?[?la?zi] adj. 讨厌的；多虱的；污秽的
notoriously?[no??t??ri?sli] adv. 声名狼藉地；恶名昭彰地
errand?[?er?nd] n. 差事；使命
hierarchy?[?ha??rɑ?rki] n. 等级制度；统治集团；等级体系
whinge?[w?nd?] v. 哀鸣；抱怨 n. 嘀咕
lambast?[l?m’best] v. 狠打；猛烈抨击
sermon?[?s??rm?n] v. 布道；训诫
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