Translation of Theme in Fiction with the Case of ‘Please Look after Mom’

윤후남 한국통번역교육학회 2014 통번역교육연구 Vol.12 No.2

In literary translation, fluent flow of reading is an important factor for the reader's immersion into the literary world the author creates. Linguistic interference in literary translation may be regarded as translationese, especially in the culture where fluency tradition is firmly established as a convention. However, in the process of transferring a text into such a culture, a literary theme may be reduced or erased in an effort to produce a fluent translation. Especially when lexical or syntactic devices are employed to convey the theme in connection with cultural memories already formed in the consciousness of the source text reader, fluent translation without consideration of such memories may cause bigger loss. This paper explores how such a fluent strategy may reduce or erase the literary theme using an example of the translations of “eomma-reul-ireobeorin” in Korean novel Please Look after Mom. The phrase “eomma-reul-ireobeorin” is one of the devices through which the author tries to convey the theme. When the phrase enter the relationship with cultural memories already formed in the consciousness of the Korean reader, it conveys another dimension of theme, but this dimension is reduced or erased in an effort to avoid linguistic interference. This paper asserts that translators need to adopt more creative approaches to translation of the literary theme.

영상번역과 공손성: <아메리칸 파이> 1, 2에 나타난 성적표현 번역을 중심으로

윤후남 한국통번역교육학회 2010 통번역교육연구 Vol.8 No.1

This paper explores the relation of politeness to translation of sexual expressions in screen translation by analyzing translation strategies of two films American Pie and American Pie 2. Brown and Levinson's concept of politeness is used to give a theoretical framework to this paper. Brown and Levinson explains the politeness, drawing on an abstract notion of 'face' which consists of two specific kinds of desires: the desire to be unimpeded in one's actions (negative face), and the desire to be approved of (positive face). Although politeness is one of the universal important contexts in human society, there are different politeness strategies in different cultures. Especially in Korean culture where “face” is regarded as important as one's life, the desire for face saving is strong. These desires are also reflected in translation of sexual expressions; Explicit sexual expressions are regarded as face-threatening in Korean culture. The analysis of translation of two films American Pie and American Pie 2 shows that translation strategies such as compensation, non-translation, substitution, and refined expressions are used to reduce or remove face-threatening factors for a Korean audience.

세계화, 정보화에 따른 번역시장의 특성과 번역사 교육

윤후남 한국통번역교육학회 2008 통번역교육연구 Vol.6 No.2

This paper describes the changes in translator training as the current translation market factors change. Translation Studies is a science in which its practical aspects are highlighted more because it deals with knowledge and skills which can be practically applied in the field. This means the science is influenced by market factors where or whenever it is applied. In fact, translation market factors have had an influence on Translation Studies externally and internally. As the demand for translators increased, the number of university-level institutions offering translation education dramatically rose. Other changes have also occurred in the subject of Translation Studies and in the methodology of translator training. Now unbridled globalization and information and communication technology govern our daily lives and world markets. This global phenomenon also affects the translation market. This paper is concerned with the changes in translation market factors caused by globalization and information and communication technology and offers suggestions for what should be taught in the translator training.

The Ambilaterality of Fluency in Translating Literature in Peripheral Contexts

윤후남 한국번역학회 2014 번역학연구 Vol.15 No.4

Translation history shows that linguistic ethnocentrism and cultural hegemony have influenced translating from antiquity to today. One of the prominent results of such influence is fluency in translating literature. As Venuti points out, in British, American and European contexts, fluency in translating foreign texts has prevailed over other translation strategies, constituting a melting pot where heterogeneous elements are melted together into harmonious ones which are acceptable to dominant cultures. In the process, the differences and the identity of other cultures are erased or reduced so as to be almost invisible. As an ethical strategy against such violence on the source culture, literalism or foreignization has been proposed among Western scholars. In peripheral contexts, however, literalism may not be an ethical strategy but instead may actually inflict violence on the source culture. When translating from a minority-status language culture to a dominant culture, for example, it may produce potentially unreadable texts, increasing the risk of readers being excluded, and thereby confining texts within the national border by closing off the possibilities of texts being circulated throughout the world. These peripheral contexts have rarely been discussed in translation studies. What does fluency strategy mean in peripheral contexts in the case of translating from a minority-status language culture to a dominant target language? What would be the influence of this strategy on the source culture beyond national borders? This paper aims to investigate these questions using the example of the Korean novel Please Look after Mom, a million-copy seller in South Korea, which was translated into English in 2009 and won popularity among English-speaking readers. It argues that fluency strategy constitutes a strategic progressive invasion into a dominant culture in peripheral contexts.

한국문학번역과 처방적 번역규범의 문제점 -한국문학번역원의 번역규범을 중심으로

윤후남 한국통번역교육학회 2012 통번역교육연구 Vol.10 No.3

This article explores the problems of prescriptive norms in translation of Korean literature and makes some suggestions to make Korean literature more accessible to the world market. For this purpose, it firstly investigates the translational norms of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea, which was founded by the Korean government with the aim of promoting Korean literature and culture overseas. Then the translational norms of Toury and Chesterman, and the influential factors on those translational norms are examined. While the Literature Translation Institute of Korea is bound by the prescriptive norms of faithfulness and readability in evaluating translations of Korean literature, this study points out that those norms are too restricted to accommodate the specific needs of various cultures. As a way to improve the acceptability of Korean literature in the world market, it suggests that norms should be laid down based on influential factors such as literary polysystem, translational tradition, readership, ideology of target cultures, power relationships, economic factors, and familiarity of the source culture.

문학번역과 묵시적 정보 - 관련성 이론에 의거한 앰브로스 비어스의 『폐쇄된 창』 을 중심으로

윤후남 한국통번역교육학회 2013 통번역교육연구 Vol.11 No.3

When we say the impossibility or difficulty of literary translation, we often mention literariness as its reason. The literariness may mean a theme, a plot, a style, a tone, a character, an author’s perspective, or an exotic element. One more element may be density, which convey “a richness of ideas, feelings and impressions that are not necessarily expressed in words, but communicated implicitly.” These constitute implicit information. Yet, implicit information in literary texts may not be conveyed by the text alone but may rely on the inferential combination of the text with a context. These peculiar properties of implicatures are of crucial importance of literariness and create poetic effects on literary texts by allowing the varying interpretations and stimulating reader’s imagination. This paper aims to investigate how the implicit information may be changed in the process of translation and raise the awareness of context which is essential in translating literary texts. For this purpose, it looks at relevance theory and analyzes Korean translation of American writer Ambrose Bierce's The Boarded Window.

영화제목의 기능과 번역

윤후남 한국통번역교육학회 2011 통번역교육연구 Vol.9 No.2

This paper explores how the conventions of a target culture affect translations with a focus on film title translation. For this purpose, using Christiane Nord's six functions of titles, which include distinctive, metatextual, phatic, referential, appellative, and expressive, this study makes a comparative analysis on the titles of original Korean films, English films and their Korean translations with the aim of finding out whether and to what extent hierarchical differences exist in their functions. The results are as follows: First, while the English titles of children's films and their Korean translations show the same hierarchy in their functions with the titles of Korean children's films with metatextual functions being most prominent, other genres of films for adults show differences in their hierarchy between the titles of English films and their translations. For instance, while the Korean titles of English comedy and horror films observe Korean conventions, the Korean titles of English drama films show correlations with Korean conventions. These findings suggest that the conventions of the target culture should be clearly taken into account in translating film titles.

Locating Irish Drama Translation in Modern Korean Theater under Colonialism

윤후남 한국번역학회 2008 번역학연구 Vol.9 No.4

This article is concerned with how translation is formed as a site of resistance and subversion in colonial contexts. Like other social practices in Bourdieu's terms, translation practice can be explained only when we understand the interplay between objective external structures (objective social structures and what Bourdieu calls the fields) and subjective internal structures (the producing agents and what Bourdieu calls 'habitus'). Drawing on Bourdieu's theory of social practice, this article attempts to explain translation practice as the interaction between external and internal structures. Using examples from Irish drama translated in colonial Korea from the 1920s to the 1930s, this article analyzes the process of formation of Irish drama as a site of subversion in modern Korean theater. It first looks at Irish drama translation in colonial Korea, then examines the resistant and subversive field of the modern Korean theater. Thirdly, it discusses the representation of the Irish dramatic movement in colonial Korea, which influenced drama translators and ultimately conditioned Irish drama translation. Finally it deals with social trajectories (as a series of positions successively occupied in translation field or adjacent fields) of Irish drama translators which reveal the influence on their choice of Irish playwrights.

Translating Poetry and Metaphor

윤후남(Yun Hu nam) 한국통번역교육학회 2005 통번역교육연구 Vol.3 No.2

은유는 우리가 사용하는 언어뿐만 아니라 우리의 사고와 행위 등 일상적 삶의 도처에 널려 있다는 레이코프 (G. Lakoff)와 존슨 (M. Johnson)의 말을 빌리지 않더라도 은유란 주제가 언어에서 차지하는 중요성을 생각해 볼 때 언어를 다루는 번역 이론에서 이러한 주제를 소홀히 하는 것은 중요한 핵심을 놓치는 일이 될 것이다. 본 논문은 번역에서 문제가 되는 은유의 번역방법과 번역 가능성에 대한 체계적인 논의의 일환으로 은유가 중요한 비중을 차지하는 시의 번역에 있어서의 은유의 번역에 관해 고찰하였다. 여기에 제시된 번역전략은 시 번역을 중심으로 제시된 것이지만 다른 텍스트 장르에도 적용될 수 있을 것이다. 다만 텍스트의 유형에 따라 적용되는 번역전략 또한 달라질 것이다. 예를 들어, 정보 전달을 위주로 하는 텍스트의 경우, 문체보다는 내용 전달이 우선적일 것이므로 독자에게 명확한 의미를 전달하기 위해 은유적 표현이 갖는 의미를 명시적으로 번역하는 것이 더 효과적일 수 있고, 심미적 기능을 중시하는 문학적, 시적 텍스트의 경우에는 텍스트의 긴장성을 약화시키기 않도록 은유적 표현을 그대로 살리는 방법 등이 효과적일 수 있을 것이다. 각 텍스트 장르에 대한 번역전략과 번역 가능성에 대해서는 더 많은 고찰을 통해 보완이 이루어져야 할 것으로 보인다.

번역교육에서 이론의 의미 고찰

윤후남(Yun Hu nam) 한국통번역교육학회 2009 통번역교육연구 Vol.7 No.1

This paper aims to explore the implications of translation theory in teaching translation with specific reference to functionalist approaches. For this purpose, it investigates the degree of intervention of translation theory in the process of translation practice and its influence on the result of translated text, by comparing two groups: one group is exposed to translation theory before translation practice and the other is not exposed to translation theory before translation practice. It is argued that translation theory, in this case, functionalist approaches, helps to raise awareness of translation problems amongst students and encourages them to make conscious decisions to solve those problems, and consequently, produce “adequate” translated text that can be acceptable in the target culture.