Korean Characteristics of OkJoongHwa and J. S. Gale's Translation Practices in "Choon Yang"

『옥중화(獄中花)』의 한국적 고유성과 게일의 번역 실천 - J. S. Gale, "Choon Yang"(The Korea Magazine 1917.9~1918.8)의 번역용례를 중심으로

The objective of this paper is to investigate translated individual words in J. S. Gale's "Choon Yang" in comparison with its original OkJoongHwa("獄中花") while referring to early modern bilingual dictionaries and missionaries' ethnography. Gale faced a lot of translation difficulties because the source text had a very different cultural system from the object text. OkJoongHwa was a Korean pansori novel which meant it included many Korean characteristics. However, Gale considered its Korean characteristics were deeply connected with Chinese classics. Even famous people and place names cited from the Chinese classics in OkJoongHwa represented the Korean thinking. Gale tried to faithfully translate the source text as much as possible whether the words were Chinese or Korean. In this paper, we deal with mostly various translation aspects of the Chinese-letter words in OkJoongHwa. Gale's first method to translate words made of Chinese Character is transliteration, the examples of which are the name of Chinese famous people and places, and Chinese poems. The second method is to parallel transliteration and English interpretation equivalent to the Chinese Character. The examples are the names of main characters like "Spring Fragrance or Choonyang," "Mongyong, or Dream-Dragon" and in his translation of word play in Osa (Commissioner), or Kamsa (Governor), kaiksa (a dead beggar). The third is literal translation of Chinese idiomatic phrases as Gale translated 侵魚落雁 into "She'd make the fishes to sink and the wild-geese to drop from the sky." The fourth is a little free translation of the title of public office, the various names of Korean yamen servants and the unique Korean clothing and ornaments. We expect Gale's many translation difficulties as we can see the translated long list of yamen clerks and Korean clothing and ornaments. After our investigation of his translation practices in "Choon Yang" we conclude that he tried to translate its literary language very faithfully though he could not avoid inevitable loss caused by the cultural difference involved in two languages. Gale's "Choon Yang" contributed to introducing the uniqueness of the classical Korean novel and Korean culture to the world more than any other English translation works of that time through his faithful translation.