This study explores the connection between the language learning experience of foreign translators who acquired Korean as a foreign language and their translation practice. Specifically, it analyzes the accumulation and exchange of cultural capital, s...
This study explores the connection between the language learning experience of foreign translators who acquired Korean as a foreign language and their translation practice. Specifically, it analyzes the accumulation and exchange of cultural capital, social capital, economic capital, and symbolic capital within this process, grounded in the conceptual framework of Pierre Bourdieu. By qualitatively analyzing specific cases where advanced learners' language proficiency is converted into the social activity of translation practice, this research empirically demonstrates that Korean language education can serve as a foundation for practical engagement and the formation of social relationships, extending beyond mere language acquisition.
The main findings reveal distinct roles for each form of capital in the translator's trajectory. Embodied cultural capital, encompassing learners’ attitudes and experiences related to learning, acted as the initial motive for Korean study, expanding into institutional cultural capital such as graduate school enrollment. Crucially, social capital—the network of professionals including editors and agents —was found to be the most decisive factor for market entry, often formed on the basis of existing symbolic or institutionalized cultural capital. Furthermore, translators actively struggle for symbolic capital through efforts to enhance their social visibility and role recognition within the translation field, with the increasing symbolic capital of the Korean language contributing to translator diversity. Lastly, while economic capital is acknowledged as a motive for practice, it is not as central as the other forms of capital in shaping the overall career path.
This research illuminates that the practice of foreign translators is not merely a technical skill in language use but involves sophisticated strategies for gaining recognition as a sociocultural agent. By analyzing the nexus between their Korean learning experience and translation practice, this study reveals the process through which advanced learners' language use expands and materializes into social relationships and cultural practice, moving beyond simple linguistic mastery. Consequently, by positioning translators as social agents rather than mere text producers, this research offers a new perspective for understanding the global reception process of Korean language and culture.