2005, Vol.6, No.2

The Journal of Translation Studies 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.49

pISSN : 1229-795X
https://journal.kci.go.kr/kats

This paper argues that, contrary to the common view of translation as an individual act, translation is an eminently social act, involving complex processes, different roles, interpersonal relations, and power plays. Translation is increasingly being carried out in institutional settings such as international organizations, government agencies, media firms, religious institutions, and publishing houses. This trend, coupled with the recent development of various hi-tech translation tools such as translation memory (TM) software and computer-aided translation (CAT) systems, has fundamentally altered the way translation is carried out. This paper interrogates the social aspects in the production of translation in institutional settings in terms of the participation framework involved in text selection, hiring of translators, and processes and procedures of translated text production. From this survey, I found that more studies on social, cultural, institutional conditions under which translation texts are being produced, are urgently needed.

This paper has two main purposes: first, to review papers related to translation studies produced after the establishment of Korean Association of Translation Studies in 1999; second, to catch their trends and perspective afterwards. As a frame of division and analysis I use the scheme of translation studies suggested by Holmes. Having reviewed 113 papers in total, I found that the current research of translation studies is heavily theory-oriented(76 vs. 37). It is desirable for translation studies to overcome such a bias and keep the balance between theory and practice. It is required to unify technical terms in a natural way, not artificially. Furthermore, a kind of industry-university concept is urgently needed also in translation education in order to increase the quality of translated production of beginners.

The purpose of this paper is to study the present situation & problems of Arabic translation in Korea. Though the history of Arabic language in Korea passed 40 years, the standard of Arabic translation is on a low level. On the occasion of the globalization, it is necessary for us to devote our energies in order to introduce our culture and tradition to foreigners. Of course, the best way to achieve this is to raise the translation standard of the foreign languages. As I have had interest in Arabic translation for a long time and translated some Korean poems into Arabic, I choose this subject to find solutions of the problems resulting from the present situation & problems of Arabic translation in Korea. This paper consists of two main parts. Firstly, I classify the present situation of Arabic translation into four categories; dissertations, literature, religion and teaching materials. Unfortunately, until now there is no Ph.D in the field of Arabic translation at home and abroad among Koreans. Secondly, I propose the practicable proposals to overcome the problems facing the Arabic translation as follows; 1) absence of translation as a major in Arabic department, 2) absence of translation terminology between Arabic and Korean, 3) absence of data base of Arabic translation, 4) highbound of curriculum problems of graduate school of translation and interpretation in Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, 5) prejudice against Islam and Arabs, 6) absence of Arabic translation programme, 7) prejudiced education of Arabic as a second foreign language, etc.