2025, Vol.26, No.2

The Journal of Translation Studies 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.49

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

The origin of Translation Studies in South Korea can be traced back to the late 1960s, when translation had not yet been acknowledged as an independent subject of study. During this formative period, Song Yo-in, a professor of English Language and Literature at Dongguk University, sought to develop his own translation theory. Song earned his doctorate in 1974 with a dissertation on translation theory, which later became the foundation for his first book, Translation: Theory and Practice (1975). His engagement with translation studies deepened over the following decade, culminating in the publication of Topics in Translation Studies (1985). Until his passing in 1989, Song remained a leading figure in the field, producing a significant body of work now considered central to Korean Translation Studies. Nonetheless, his legacy has not received the recognition it merits, even within the field of translation studies. Considering this gap in the literature, the present study examines Song’s life and contributions, with an emphasis on four key concepts in his work: Weltanschauung (world view), Sprachgefühl (language feeling), the translatable core structure (the minimal essential structure for translation), and transeme (an autonomous unit of translation). By analyzing each of these concepts in detail, this essay explores both the significance and limitations of his academic legacy.

This study examines four Korean translations of Guy de Maupassant’s Boule de suif, all published in the 1960s—one in North Korea and three in South Korea. While the original story depicts French citizens enduring the hardships of the Franco-Prussian War of the 19th century, these Korean translations were produced for readers who had survived the Korean War and subsequently lived under the Cold War tensions between the two ideologically opposed Koreas. Against this background, the study compares the translation methods and strategies employed by the North and South Korean translators, focusing on how they rendered the portrayal of female characters. The findings illustrate how their political intentions and textual choices shape and convey specific representations of women in wartime to their respective readerships. These translations, often more explicit than the source text, either reinforce the female characters’ patriotism or expose their hypocrisy.

This study explores how non-binary gender identity, particularly the use of the singular ‘ they/them’ pronouns in English, is translated into Korean. Through a comparative analysis of character descriptions from four online games (Rainbow Six, Valorant, Overwatch, and Apex Legends), the study aims to demonstrate how translation strategies differ between non-binary and binary characters. The analysis reveals three dominant strategies: substitution, omission, and acceptance . While omission rates were similar between binary and non-binary characters (approximately 58%), reflecting Korean’s tendency to omit personal pronouns, non-binary characters experienced significantly higher substitution rates (39.5% vs 15.5%) and dramatically lower acceptance rates (2.5% vs 24.5%) compared to binary characters. These differences were statistically significant across all grammatical positions. Additionally, while binary character translations varied according to anaphoric position, non-binary character translations maintained consistent strategies regardless of context, suggesting translators face stronger constraints when representing non-binary identity than when managing general linguistic considerations . The findings indicate that non-binary identity translation into Korean faces significant linguistic and cultural challenges, reflecting both the absence of established gender-neutral pronouns in Korean and possible resistance to or unfamiliarity with non-binary concepts . This research contributes to our understanding of how gender identity is linguistically negotiated across languages and cultures, while highlighting the need for more inclusive translation practices in response to the evolving global landscape of gender representation.