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A Comparison of Translations of Animal Farm: Focusing on Stylistic Characteristics of Orwell and Translation Strategies

KIM SOON YOUNG 1 박소영 1

1동국대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This study aimed at examining, drawing upon the seven translation strategies proposed in Kim(2012), how stylistic characteristics of Orwell’s Animal Farm were addressed by translators. First, it reviewed stylistic characteristics of Orwell based on his own essay on writing, and related previous studies by other scholars. It then conducted comparisons of four translations, two published before 2000 and two after 2000. Orwell, in his essay, Politics and the English Language (1946), overtly stated five rules of writing and they are: (i) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print; (ii) Never use a long word where a short one will do; (iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out; (iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active; (v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent; and, perhaps Orwell’s most important rule, (vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous. Kim translated Orwell’s six rules into Korean translation strategies which he deemed equivalent. This study compared the applications of Orwell’s rules in English with their translations into Korean by the four translators of Animal Farm, using Kim’s translated version of Orwell’s writing strategies.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.