2009, Vol.10, No.2

The Journal of Translation Studies 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.49

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

The present paper addresses translationese and translatorese. This issue is raised with the two points of departure: Can translatorese be considered identical with translationese?; Can translationese examplified in most of previous studies be generalised as “a systematic influence of STL on TTL”? The research shows that this is not always true with the two case observations--Korean translations of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff series(by Richard Carlson) and The Secret(by Rhonda Byrne)--in point. In a broad sense, translationese includes translatorese but translatorese does not always result in translationese, a “fingerprint” or “mark” of source text language on target text language. Translationese is a kind of dialects while translatorese is idiolect. With translationese becoming a part of normal standard language rapidly over time, some argue that it can make a creative, poetic contribution to enriching STL. This argument brings about another issue of poetic diction realized by poets’ idiolects as well shown by Reynolds’ essay, “Browning and translationese.” As translationese usually carries negative connotation, Newmark uses a different term, ‘interference,’ to suggest some positive function of interlanguage. Meanwhile, translatorese always refers to as awkward uses of language in translated texts which are hardly found in non-translated texts.

There’s a radical difference, in the grammatical categories and usages of tense and aspect, between English and Korean. Tense, in English, is a grammatical concept of verb that indicates the past, the present, or the future, while aspect as a time of situation stands for a grammatical representation of duration, completion, and repetition of event or state. However, Korean represents tense, aspect, and mood in various ways beyond verb-level. This study, therefore, aims at revealing English-Korean translation strategies on tense and aspect. To accomplish the purpose of the study, it conducted literature review ranging from linguistics of both English and Korean as well as in the field of English-Korean translation. Consequently, this study suggests that English-Korean translators need to use two strategies for a better translation of tense and aspect: ‘translation through conversion of parts of speech’ and ‘translation through grasp of contexts.’ The former strategy reflects lexical/syntactic differences between English and Korean. That is why Korean tense, unlike English tense, is not always expressed by verb, but often implied by adverb, and sometimes tense information appears in the inflection of adjective, and even in noun and article with a verb-like quality of tense/aspect. The latter strategy means translating by way of grasping the effects of semantic performance within underlying structure without using external tense/aspect. That is why Korean tense/aspect can be often situated and decided in the sentence context. Considering the above strategies, it is necessary to develop further detailed skills of translation on time-related expressions between English and Korean.

Translated works have traditionally emphasized “faithfulness” over domestication. For most audio-visual texts, this can result in poor translation. In support of the domestication of audio-visual texts, the Skopos theory, developed by Katharina Reiss and Hans Vermeer in the late 1970s, provides a useful means for analyzing translated texts. This theory states that translations can take different forms based on a complex interplay of varying factors that include the purpose of the translation, the client’s requirements, the genre, the audience, practical reasoning, and the impression of the target audience. Thus, the purpose of the target text is the most important criterion in the Skopos theory. This study shows the application of the Skopos theory to an audio-visual text through the analysis of the film Hoodwinked, a piece adapted from the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. A research by Ryu claimed that the translation of Hoodwinked was unnatural and lacked quality because it did not adhere to the strategy of faithfulness. However, the target audience enjoyed the dialogue, which was produced through the domestication approach. For Hoodwinked, the Skopos theory shows that domestication was a successful strategy. Thus, the Skopos theory demonstrates the following: (1) the function of translation decides the appropriate translation strategy, (2) varying factors related to translational action interact to create unique translations, and (3) the quality of translation depends on the impression of the recipient or audience.