The past and future of translation studies in South Korea

ABSTRACT

Translation Studies has largely centered around Western translation traditions but the discipline is developing rapidly in other parts of the world. In recognition of the growing diversity of translation research, this paper presents an overview of how Translation Studies became institutionalized in South Korea over the past two decades. We start by tracing the history of local training institutions, journals, and doctoral programs related to the discipline. We examine the main actors involved in founding each type of institution, their motivations and needs, and how that determined the character of these institutions. We then identify the most prevalent research interests of South Korean translation scholars by analyzing PhD dissertations and articles published in major local journals. Finally, we look at the external and internal challenges facing Translation Studies in South Korea today and stress the importance of collaboration among local translation scholars as well as with international scholars.

KEYWORDS:

• Institutionalization
• translation studies in South Korea
• translator training institutions
• translation journals
• doctoral programs

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Hyang Lee received her MA in Korean-French interpreting/translation and her Ph.D (translation studies) from the Graduate School of Interpretation and Translation at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. She worked as a freelance interpreter/translator for more than 15 years; and she is professor at the Department of French Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies since 2013. She has published articles mainly focusing on various issues concerning translation revision, translator training, philosophical reflections on translation in France, History of translation studies, institutionalization of translation studies.

Won Jun Nam majored in Korean-English T&I (MA) and translation studies (PhD) at the Graduate School of Interpretation and Translation (GSIT) at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. He is professor at the Department of English for International Conferences & Communication, College of English, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. His main research interests are undergraduate translator education, application of translation theory to practice, and cultural translation from Korean into English.

Notes

1. We are grateful to all colleagues and other persons who accepted to be interviewed within the framework of this study. They confirmed our findings, but we take responsibility for any errors.

2. In South Korea, English is taught from the third year of elementary school. Students may choose to learn Chinese or Japanese as a second foreign language only when they are at high school.

3. The NRF was not able to give a definitive answer on when ‘Interpreting and Translation Studies’ was listed. To the best of their knowledge, it was listed between 2000 and 2004 (personal communication with NRF staff).

4. An annual week-long combination of lectures and tutoring sessions for graduate students majoring in TS, initiated by Korean TS scholars in 2012. The school ran successfully until 2017, and a total of 180 students attended.

5. For example, the first IATIS Conference was held in Seoul in 2003, and KATS hosted international conferences in 2009, 2013, and 2014.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund of 2018.