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A Study of Translations of Through the Looking-Glass from the Perspective of Relevance Theory −Focusing on Poetic Language

So Young Yoon 1 Kim Hyekyung 2

1건국대학교
2배재대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Lewis Carroll’s Alice Series comprise dual readership between adult and child. Among them, Through the Looking-Glass is a salient text for his particular language in use related to nonsense, coinage, wordplay, etc. Thus, this study aims to reveal the aspects of different cases of translated and parodied words in poems. Translating children’s literature requires more speakability and readability than adult literature for better understanding of texts. Translators adopt translation strategies including ellipsis, replacement and explanation, to narrow the gap between ST and TT with a view of equivalence. For this analysis, five Korean translations are selected to show various aspects of translations of poems in Looking-Glass and what translators put emphasis on in electing proper words. In particular, its main focus is on poems: there can be found many long poems, which are meaningful to show the path to understand this text. First of all, “Jabberworky” reveals various kinds of new nouns, which cannot be easily deciphered even in ST. For example, two-word combination words like "galumphing" and "chortle" are not easy to translate into TL. Especially when applying relevance theory to these words, Korean translators produce appropriate words for domestic readers. Also, coinages in “Jabberworky” reveal diverse translated aspects in each translation. This study shows how difficult it can be to translate figurative language and parodied words. From this perspective, TT1 seems to be a proper translation for children; TT2 for adults. In conclusion, translators’ roles are very important in mediating readership and relevance theory in translation processes.

Citation status

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