This study seeks to answer the question, "Why are retranslations being made?" The phenomenon of retranslation being as complex as translation, the author employs a variety of perspectives and approaches, including examining periodical characteristics of target countries' systems and the current state of publication translation, as well as analyzing translations in an attempt to find an answer to the research question.
Out of all the translations of Stendhal's The Red and The Black (Le Rouge et Le Noir) that have been published since the independence of Korea in 1945, the author looked into 66 versions(in 79 volumes) possessed by the Korean National Library and made the following conclusions:
First, changes in the political system of target language countries provide a motive for retranslation. As Korea had not embraced western literature before foreign powers forced an opening up of the country's ports in the late 19th Century, adaptations rather than translations of the originals were common for some time after the initial acceptance of foreign literature. The author recognized that adaptations in those days involved not only rewriting of an original text to suit what the Korean readership might find familiar but also a genre switching (e.g. from novel to drama).
Further, indirect translations via an intermediate language such as Chinese or Japanese commonly took place. Indeed, the portion of indirectly translated texts based on Japanese translations increased during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The translations that use Japanese translations as source text display a number of shortcomings such as foreign words written according to Japanese convention, unfamiliar Japanese expressions, and omissions without any pretext even considering linguistic or cultural differences.
The bigger problem relating to this phenomenon is that the practice of using Japanese translations as source text survived covertly and continued even after the independence from Japanese rule, prolonging Korea's cultural subordination, albeit undisclosed, to Japan. By today's criteria, adaptations or indirect translations can hardly be seen as faithful to the originals in genre, content, and form, raising the need for a new, full translation of the original text.
Second, diachronic changes in language lead to retranslation. The texts written at a certain point of time when the source language undergoes changes and fully integrated into the language are endowed with perennial vitality. However, this is not the case for translations. Translations are inevitably dependent on the situation of the target language country in the process of producing texts that have identical function, meaning, and effect to the original. From the diachronic perspective, retranslation done to reflect the shifting language situation of the target language country may reveal the fact that a translation does not last indefinitely. On the other hand, however, it can be seen as a process that resuscitates the original in the target culture by restoring to it the vitality.
Despite the fact that what the author has analyzed is limited to the books published over the past 50-60 years, common lexicons archaically written in Chinese characters, Chinese loan words, Chinese appellations and other awkward words apparently borrowed from other languages were common in the relatively older translations. The words and expressions are unfamiliar to modern readers, even if not to the extent that it hampers the understanding of the translation. However, these aged translations can give an impression that the translated text is out of date, thereby serving as major motive behind retranslation. Against this backdrop, this study analyzed retranslations diachronically produced over the long term and recognized that modernized retranslations have been made as part of efforts to reflect the latest language conventions.
Third, changes in linguistic rules in the target language country relating to transliteration of loan words and punctuation marks, or the array of characters, are a powerful cause for retranslation. When publishing firms that commission the translation of literary works voice the need for retranslation on grounds that the existing translations have aged and thus need to be replaced by modernized translations more suited to the taste of modern readers, it is easy to conclude that changes in language are the sole factor to cause the phenomenon of retranslation. However, the author recognizes that retranslation caused by changes in the transliteration of words or punctuation marks, the array of characters, and other linguistic rules, are as common as that resulting from changes or losses in the meaning of words as they become archaic or obsolete in the target language. This demonstrates that changes in transliteration as much as changes in language can give readers the impression that the existing translation is out of date. To arrive at this conclusion, the author compared translations from different periods by a single translator in order to control the variable - in this case, the translators' varying, subjective choice of words.
Fourth, numerous plagiarisms and repeated publications explain why there have been such an excessive number of retranslations of The Red and The Black published in Korea since the country's independence. Phrases or sentences virtually identical to those in the existing translations were found in the versions retranslated not only by the original translator but also by other translators. The retranslations that display no difference from the existing translations are thought to infringe on the intellectual property rights of the secondary sources.
In addition, 16 out of 28 translators who translated The Red and The Black have had their translations published by the same or by other publishers. Their translations exhibit few significant differences from the previous versions except in the transliteration of loan words and punctuation marks. Given that these translations hardly vary in textual content and only differ in price and in the form of the books such as format, binding, and other paratextual features, they must be considered to be republications rather than retranslations.
An edited version of an existing translation is thought to infringe on the copyrights of a secondary source if the publisher releases the version without seeking the translator's permission and without stating 'Reprinted' or 'Second Edition' on the book, even if the translator had worked with the publisher. The phenomena of plagiarism and republication of existing translations are not limited to a certain time period but are found during the entire time since Korea gained its independence in 1945, revealing how far Korea's publishing lags behind in terms of translation of literary classics.
Fifth and finally, retranslation can reflect the translator's unique perspective on what translation should be as well as delivering the diverse charms of the original text. Simply because the existing translation has aged or is flawed does not lead to the retranslation of the text. Literary works are open to diverse interpretation and appreciation not only by the general reading public as the final consumer but also by translators who exert efforts to understand the texts as objectively as possible in order to reproduce them in another language. Although translators strive to make sense of the original work in the most unbiased manner possible to produce a translation, it can vary from translator to translator how he or she interprets and re-expresses the elements that determine the literary qualities of the original text.
Since the linguistic and cultural systems of source and target language do not correspond to each other, a single translation can hardly create the same meaning and value as in the multi-level, complex literary text whose meaning and form are inseparably integrated as if it was a living material. Retranslation made diachronically and synchronically, however, does not necessarily signify the inferiority of translation to the source language text. Rather, it should be seen as a process by which an individual translator bestows new life on the original text through integration of the latest language conventions, and diverse interpretation and appreciation of the text. Moreover, different translating methods adopted by different translators are complementary rather than contradictory to one another. These varying methods help reconstruct the comprehensive meaning of the original text, which eventually will allow readers to fully understand the work.
As such, this study suggests the five presumed motives behind retranslation. Each motive, closely associated with key research tasks on publication translation, requires more in-depth individual study. Notwithstanding the limitations expected to be pointed out, this study is significant in that based on system theories and other various theories concerning literary translation, it categorizes retranslated versions synchronically and diachronically published by the main factor causing such retranslations to display the characteristics of each category. Another significance lies in the fact that before this study, no descriptive and systematic study analyzing retranslations has been conducted in the field of translation studies. Retranslation can uncover hidden charms of literary classics loved beyond time and therefore allow readers to discover their essence. In this light, it will continue to be planned and conducted. The author hopes that the findings of this study will serve as a reference in the process. The author also expects that based on this study, further studies on retranslations of other French literary works will be carried out from various perspectives.
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