Current literary translation research in Korea is mainly conducted using the criteria of faithfulness and readability. This research focuses on translator’s linguistic ability. Such an analysis can enhance the quality of the translation and make a t...
Current literary translation research in Korea is mainly conducted using the criteria of faithfulness and readability. This research focuses on translator’s linguistic ability. Such an analysis can enhance the quality of the translation and make a translator more earnest about translation process. Still, there is some limitation wherein one can judge a translation always has inferiority and should be improved to attain the most ideal translation result. Two Korean translations of Chang-rae Lee’s Native Speaker are also judged in this linguistic translation evaluation.
In Korea, there are two kinds of the translations of Native Speaker. In 1995, Miraesa published NATIVE SPEAKER translated by Junman Hyun, and in 2003, Namuwasup published An Eternal Stranger , translated by Youngmok Jeong. Hyun’s version is seen to have many mistranslations. On the other hand Jeong was chosen by Chang-rae Lee to translate his first novel and also re-translated it. Critics say that Lee’s unique style is reflected in Jeong’s translation.
This thesis presents a comparative analysis of the two Korean translations of Chang-rae Lee’s Native Speaker, using narrative theory. This theory allows analysis to move beyond the current translation research in which translations are studied from a linguistic aspect. Narrative is a tool to recognize the world in which we live and the boundaries by which we act in that world both consciously and subconsciously. Mona Baker claims that a narrative of a source text can be either reinforced or enfeebled, or even transformed in a target text.
The narrative of Henry in Native Speaker shows a changed Korean identity and a Korean culture that are both different from pure Korean identity and Korean culture. When these aspects are framed in the two Korean translations, two different points of view appear. Hyun framed a translation that reveals the Korean feature more precisely than does Henry’s narrative in the source text by reflecting the angle of Korean sight. Consequently, Henry in NATIVE SPEAKER has a relatively strong Korean identity and seems a familiar person to Korean readers culturally. To the contrary, Jeong framed a translation that focuses on revealing the difference between the changed Korean Identity and Korean culture and the pure Korean Identity and Korean culture. Thus, Henry in An Eternal Stranger seems to have an identity that is closer to an American than the Henry in Hyun’s translation. These different points of view exhibited by the two translators appear in three categories, namely, the crossing of Korean and American culture: the translation of vocabularies that relate to Korean culture, the translation of conversation between Henry and his wife, Lelia and the translation of Asian silence.
The differences in the translation strategies of the two translators can be found by examining the three categories above. Hyun changed strangeness in the source text into familiar elements of Korean linguistic form and expressions by using a sense-for-sense translation. Hyun’s strategy extends its influence to Korean culture and identity. To make Korean readers feel at ease, Hyun actually changed the narrative in the source text. Jeong, however, used word-for-word translation and allowed Korean readers who read his version to notice the unfamiliar nature of the grammar in the target text. Jeong did not intervene in the Koreanness of the source text. Further, he sometimes didn’t use Korean words that are linguistically equivalent to the words of the source text so as to make his translation text strange to Korean readers.
Applying Baker’s narrative theory, the difference between the narratives by the two translators derives from the difference in the cultural factors that govern the two narratives. Hyun followed the definition of ‘Koreans in America’ and the flow that accepts the works of ‘Koreans in America’ in Korean literary circles. He wanted to find a Korean identity in Henry in Chang-rae Lee’s Native Speaker. Hyun regarded Henry as a person who misses his mother country and has a collective identity. This sense can be found in the works of first-generation, Korean American writers. On the other hand, Jeong framed his translation using the influence of research results that define ‘Korean American’ and ‘Korean American writer.’ Jeong also regards Chang-rae Lee as an American writer who is famous in the literary world in America.
This thesis presented a comparative analysis of Native Speaker’s two Korean translations based on an application of narrative theory. It was an attempt to escape from the bondage of linguistic translation evaluation. The theme of Native Speaker is the identity that is built into Korean-American culture. That feature allowed for a close comparative analysis of the two Korean translations based on narrative theory.
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