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31VOL.2 №1 2020
ISSN: 2686-9675
INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE JOURNAL I МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЙ НАУЧНЫЙ ЖУРНАЛ
ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ СОЗДАНИЯ КОРЕЙСКИХ АРХИВОВ: В НАПРАВЛЕНИИ ПРОЕКТОВ ПЕРЕВОДА, ОРИЕНТИРОВАННЫХ ПРАВИТЕЛЬСТВОМ КОРЕИ
A STUDY ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF KOREAN STUDIES ARCHIVES: FOCUSING ON THE KOREAN GOVERNMENT-ORIENTED TRANSLATION PROJECTS
Chun Hyunju
Shinhan University, Republic of Korea transju@shinhan.ac.kr
АННОТАЦИЯ
Исследование фокусируется на важности роли метатекста в обращении к Корее (корееведению) и рассматривает создание и использование архива корееведения, связанного с ориентированными на правительство проектами поддержки перевода, в качестве исходных данныхкоторые будут расширяться и распространяться для глобализации корейской волны и корееведения. Кроме того, представительные правительственные организации, такие как «Академия корееведения» (AKS), «Институт корееведения» (KSI), «Институт перевода литературы Кореи» (LTI Korea) и «Национальный исследовательский фонд» (NRF) в основном организуют проекты поддержки переводов истории и литературных произведений Кореи. Чтобы создать базовую инфраструктуру для распространения корейских исследований, необходимо признать важность перевода текстов, связанных с Кореей, которые играют роль метатекст и архив. С этой точки зрения, мы предлагаем следующие три требования: во-первых, создание общенационального агентства для обширной и систематической политики поддержки перевода и последующего управления; во-вторых, создание человеческой сети и рабочей силы для выполнения переводческих проектов; в-третьих, улучшение способа выбора жанра перевода и целевых работ, отражающих тенденции, популярность и индивидуальную реализацию.
Ключевые слова и фразы: архив переводов, метатекст, корееведение, переводческий проект, корейское бюро переводов.
ABSTRACT
This study focuses on the importance of the role of meta-text in approaching Korea (and Korean Studies) and examines the construction and utilization of the Korean Studies Archive related to the government-oriented translation support projects as a basic data to be expanded and disseminated for the globalization of Korean Wave and Korean Studies. In addition, representative government organizations such as 'The Academy of Korean Studies' (AKS), 'The Korean Studies Institute' (KSI), 'Literature Translation Institute of Korea' (LTI Korea), and 'National Research Foundation' (NRF) mainly organize translation support projects for Korean classics, history and literary works. In order to build a basic infrastructure for the dissemination of Korean studies, it is necessary to recognize the importance of translation texts related to Korea, which plays the role of meta-text and archive. In terms of this perspective, the writer proposes the following three requirements: First, the establishment of a nation-wide agency for extensive and systematic translation support policies and follow-up management; Second, the construction of a human network and manpower to carry out translation projects; Third, the improvement of selection way of translation genre and target works reflecting the trend, popularity, and customized realization.
This work was supported by the Core University Program for Korean Studies through the Ministry of Education of the Republic of the Korea and Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS-2019-OLU-2250001).
ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ СОЗДАНИЯ КОРЕЙСКИХ АРХИВОВ: В НАПРАВЛЕНИИ ПРОЕКТОВ У012 №1 2020 ПЕРЕВОДА, ОРИЕНТИРОВАННЫХ ПРАВИТЕЛЬСТВОМ КОРЕИ та 2686-9675
ЯЗЫКОЗНАНИЕ и ЛИТЕРАТУРОВЕДЕНИЕ / Chun Hyunju / transju@shinhan.ac.kr/ УДК 82
Для цитирования: Чон Хенджу. Исследование создания корейских архивов: в направлении проектов перевода, ориентированных правительством Кореи. Современные востоковедческие исследования. 2020; 2 (1): 10-17
I. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Necessity and objectives of research
'Korean Studies' Koreanology) is an
academic discipline that focuses on the study of Korea, and is researched in such fields as Korean language, history, geography, politics, economy, society and culture. Although it was also called National Studies, which has the conservative and nationalistic feeling, the terminology of 'Korean Studies' is now generally used like American Studies and Chinese Studies in the ways of 'area studies'. It has been mainly studied in historical, cultural, and socio -political approaches. In recent years, Korean Studies has expanded to include not only research on the past Korea but also modern Korean society and culture, and it is attracting attention as an interdisciplinary study at home and abroad.
This article focuses on the importance of the role of meta-text in accessing Korea as a basic data to be spread and disseminated for the globalization of Korean Studies, and discusses the present status of translation support projects and how to expand them. This is why the writer takes notice of the impact and influence on the target culture owing to the appearance of translation texts themselves. For example, when translation text (TT: target text) of Michael Sendle's Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? was introduced in Korea in the 2010s, people experienced a kind of syndrome that caused
Keywords and phrases: translation archive; meta-text; Korean Studies; translation project; Korea Translation Agency.
For citation: Chun Hyunju. A study on the establishment of Korean studies archives: focusing on the Korean government-oriented translation projects. Modern oriental studies. 2020; 2(1): 10-17
a great storm in Korean society by forming a huge innovative discourse related to 'justice' (Chun 2012: 261). This phenomenon, on the contrary, can be considered in order for the text written in Korean (ST: source text) to be accepted in various target cultures. It is possible to increase the possibility and influence of being able to approach the target readers and accepted by them when translating it into the language of the corresponding culture. In addition, translation and TT plays a great influence on the target cultural societies as well.
On the other hand, 'Korean Wave' (or Hallyu), which refers to the phenomenon in which Korean popular culture has hit and achieved fame through overseas, is also stamped by the world as unforgettable memory. As of January 2018, the number of Hallyu fans in the world surpassed the population of Korea (51,669,166, December 2018). However, they say the trend of the Korean Wave is a kind of temporary and weak one in that it is overly limited to an entertainment sector such as K-pop and drama, and it is hard to see that it is enjoying explosive popularity all over the world. Therefore, if we cannot develop and secure new contents to satisfy world consumers, the Korean Wave boom is a concern for sustainability. Fortunately, there has yet been a growing positive response to the increasing interest in Korean and Korean culture thanks to the Korean Wave influence, of course.
ISSN: 2686-9675
INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE JOURNAL / МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЙ НАУЧНЫЙ ЖУРНАЛ
This atmosphere is at an optimal time for international people to more easily access to Korea, so it is necessary to expand and disseminate various contents. In other words, elaborated archives of various fields related to Korea should be premised in order to continuously spread the Korean Wave.
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or the physical place they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of that person or organization. In addition, it consists of materials, and visual materials, and is open in the form of online archives or online digital libraries. In this regard, this paper focuses on the role of translated text as an initial channel and link for foreigners who do not know the Korean language to access information related to Korea and Korean Studies. This is because the translated text plays the role of meta-text, which contributes to the spread of awareness about the whole aspects of Korea. In other words, when a member of a different culture that does not use Korean language tries to access related data to expand his/ her interest in Korean Wave or Korea, presence of TT into his/her own language contributes to a clear and deep understanding Korea and anything. Therefore, the value of TT as a meta-text that plays a comprehensive role in accessing Korea's academic field is an important factor that should never be overlooked. This paper discusses the types and implementation agencies, publication history and genre distribution of translation support projects led by Korean government, and discusses the necessity and status of translation archive construction and operation strategy for the globalization of Korean Studies.
II. TRANSLATION ARCHIVE OF KOREAN STUDIES
2.1 The value of the translation archive
In order to escape the locality of Korea, expand, and spread it to people around the world, it is essential that primary materials such as texts, images, or internet sites, which allow them to access information in various fields covering Korea, and it should be ensured that there are various access routes and its convenience to use. In other words, the building of data in their target language and improving customized accessibility are preconditions for the dissemination of Korean and Korean studies to be a fascinating subject for world citizens. Therefore, the text selection to be translated, and systematic publication and promotion must be accompanied by in order to construct Korean (Korean Studies) data in their own target languages. The TTs constructed in this way plays the role of meta-text, which is the first gateway for the world to access Korea (Korean Studies), can be used as a collection of accessible meta-text, which is an archive as a form of convenience. If so, we need to discuss what the meta-text and archive are more specifically.
'Meta' is a prefix with the meaning of 'over', 'above', 'transcendent', etc., and is used in the English meaning 'about'. For example, 'meta-language' refers to 'language about language' and 'meta-criticism' refers to 'criticism about criticism'. Therefore, the concept of meta-text is related to the subject of this paper as text related to text, which is a basic data that can be used as a first guidance when approaching various fields such as Korean language and culture. Moreover, the me-ta-texts are collected and classified into meaningful themes so that they can be utilized by the masses.
ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ СОЗДАНИЯ КОРЕЙСКИХ АРХИВОВ: В НАПРАВЛЕНИИ ПРОЕКТОВ У01..2 №1 2020 ПЕРЕВОДА, ОРИЕНТИРОВАННЫХ ПРАВИТЕЛЬСТВОМ КОРЕИ та 2686-9675
ЯЗЫКОЗНАНИЕ И ЛИТЕРАТУРОВЕДЕНИЕ / CHUN HYÜNJÜ/ TRANSJU@SHINHAN.AC.KR/ УДК 82
2.2. Translation Archive Construction of Korean Studies
The government-led translation support projects mainly focus on Korean classics, literary works, and canonized masterpieces. Their typical supporting organizations are 'The Academy of Korean Studies' (AKS), 'The Korean Studies Institute' (KSI), 'Literature Translation Institute of Korea' (LTI Korea), and 'National Research Foundation' (NRF)'. Let us look briefly at the translation support programs led by these organizations.
First, 'The Academy of Korean Studies' (AKS) is organizing the 'English Translation of 100 Korean Classics' project as part of the Korean Studies Promotion Service (KSPS). KSPS supports a variety of programs such as domestic and international Korean studies research, education infrastructure establishment, Korean Studies popularization, research outcome promotion, etc., as well. The purpose of it is to expand the horizon of 'New Korean Studies' including humanities, social, arts and natural science fields and for the 'localization of Korean Studies', and tries to strengthen the synergy effect of Korean Studies research by planning creative programs and systematic project management and evaluation. Through this project, a total of 28 research projects were carried out from 2007 to present, and 72 books of 60 kinds were translated. The guideline of 'English Translation of 100 Korean Classics' is provided to applicants, including a list of designated books in the application form. It includes literature, art, history, and life, and ideology and religion genres. New applicants of translators should refer to original commentary etc. when there are recommendations of TTs in (intralingual) Korean version(s).
Second, 'The Korean Studies Institute' (KSI) is carrying out a translation support project for 'the Translation Anthology of Korean Literature' and 'the Classic Korean Translation' through 'Institute for the Translation of Korean Classics' (ITKC). Among the 'Anthology of Korean Literature', there are 'Taegae Pupils Collection' like 'Gumgae Collection', 'Yakpo Collection', 'Kumyeokdang Collection', 'Baekdam Collection', 'Songam Collection', 'Rongam Collection', 'Samsan Collection' and 'Korean Literary Collection' like 'Geomyeok Collection' and 'Geomyeokdang Collection' and 'Baikdam Collection', which are published intensively in the series. The purpose of this project is to systematically promote the intra-Korean translation agenda focusing on the collection and diary of Choseon dynasty, and to provide the sources of Korean storytelling. It is noteworthy that the collecting 'primary historic materials' and 'providing source for storytelling' are the recognition of the important role of 'meta-text'. The most distinguishing feature of translation promotion projects run by other government agencies is that they focus on intra-lingual translation rather than inter-lingual translation. This is because, in order to expand the readership of the paleographs within the source culture, translation work that reproduces the languages used in the past in modern languages must be preceded.
Third, 'Literature Translation Institute of Korea' (LTI Korea) is engaged in the translation support public offering project for translations of various Korean books such genres as literature, humanities and social studies, children's novels, literature and graphic novels quarterly. The translation period for each work is 6 months (extension is possible for 3 months), and the translation grant
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is about 5 million won (pre-paid installment). As of the fourth quarter of 2017, the record of translation support from 2001 to 2017 has been performed for 1,508 translation books in 37 languages. By genre, it is divided into modern, child, and human / social (classical): modern works (828), poems (213), and other essays and plays, and children (98), humanities (299), and society (classical) (349 (136)). Distribution of target language is English (364), French (141), Chinese (233), Japanese (147), Vietnamese (64), Russian (97), Azerbaijani (4), Uzbek (68). Moreover, 21 humanities and society (including classics), and 10 poetry has been translated into the three Russian languages. In addition, the promotion areas of translation include Korean literature, video performances, and publication of Korean literature. In 2016, 182 translations were supported in 22 languages including English, French, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Italian and Russian. In addition, in the performance subtitles section, LTI Korea supported projects in 25 languages of six languages zone including English, French, Japanese, Russian, Rumanian and Lithuanian. In addition, for the globalization of the classics, it selected 20 classical and classical humanities books and conducted publishing projects. Through the business agreements with leading publishing companies in major language zones, LTI Korea reliably published and distributed Korean classical collections. A total of 41 kinds of works in 11 languages was newly translated into 11 languages by 6 languages.
Finally, the 'Korean Masterpiece Translation Support Project' of 'National Research Foundation' (NRF)' is to provide a basis for scholarly translation through the masterpiece translation of Korean and Western philosophy, including
the basic theories of scholarship and ideology of wise men of the past. It is operated from 1998 to present for exclusive and joint research project with the purpose of spreading of scholars who have great academic value to public by raising readability through translation into Korean language. "As of 2015, a total of 696 volumes of 396 species (as of January) have been translated over the last 18 years. From the well-known classics such as Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan to the Yu Gum-wha's 1895~1979) 16-volume of 'Chinese
Ancient Philosophical Universe'. In 2015, the yearly budget for the official translation support project was 1.063 billion won (US$1 million), whose amount was half less than that of 2011's 2.4 billion won (US$2.2 million). The number of projects had also fallen drastically from 89 to 24 in the same period. Even in 2012 and 2013, there was no application for a new project, so they thought it was a suspension in the academic community. In addition, NRF's website has very limited information on the name and number of works selected and supported by the project, so it is also a pity not to get its accurate figures in this article. No matter how insufficient the information may be, it should provide the bibliographic and statistical data after final selection of the translation texts and their publication. If the organization does not improve this service immediately, it reveals a blind spot in the operation method.
2.3 Utilization of Korean Studies Translation Archive
Korean Studies has been dominated by interests of American foreign policy as a central state of the world order after World War II. Before being settled in Korea, Korean studies was already initiated
ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ СОЗДАНИЯ КОРЕЙСКИХ АРХИВОВ: В НАПРАВЛЕНИИ ПРОЕКТОВ У012 №1 2020 ПЕРЕВОДА, ОРИЕНТИРОВАННЫХ ПРАВИТЕЛЬСТВОМ КОРЕИ та: 2686-9675
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in the form of regional studies in global arena (Lim et al., 2012: 464-465). Therefore, the discussion about Korea would be described in inflected ways as observers' viewpoint, comparing with the neighboring countries such as China or Japan. In light of these unfortunate facts, it is a very encouraging phenomenon that the Korean government has been leading a series of tasks such as funding translation -related projects, selecting works to be translated and translators, in order to solidify the foundation of basic knowledge related to Korea (and Korean Studies). As a result, the scope of the Korean (Korean Studies) meta - text has expanded considerably both quantitatively and qualitatively, and these materials are of great value as meaningful archives. In this chapter, we will look at how the translation archive discussed in 2.2 above is open to the public and discuss how to use it.
In the case of 'AKS', 'Jangseokgak' (Classical Data Collection and Research), 'Korean Studies Information System' (New Korean Studies Knowledge System), 'International Cooperation' (Globalization of Korean Studies), and 'Korean Studies Support Project Home and Abroad (Korean Studies Promotion Agenda) has provided a vast amount of information that can be used to refer to basic information resources related to Korean studies. 'Korean Studies Library & The Korean Studies E-library' aims to contribute to the diffusion of advanced knowledge resources in the field of Korean Studies produced by AKS so that the knowledge resources of Korean studies can be distributed in the digital environment. In relation to various projects conducted for the Korean Studies Promotion Programs, there are four separate areas like 'Global Korean Studies',' Korean Studies Infrastructure Development', 'Korean Studies with
People', and 'Korean Studies Foundation Research'. Moreover, AKS has prepared the contents, managed the related projects separately, and provided detailed data so that the user-customized convenience of access and degree of open sources are very satisfied.
Next, KSI builds a collection database on the contents of 'Digital Kukhak' and opens 'ancient books', 'old documents' and 'diaries' to the general public. In addition, it also operates the 'Confucian Cultural Portal - COSNET (http://www.kosnet.kr)', which provides a comprehensive collection of multimedia and contents related to Confucianism as well as traditional documentary heritage. Then, LTI Korea provides 'Publications', 'Media Library' and 'Korean Literature in English' in 'Archive', and electronic materials like translated books, e-books, videos, audio etc. are provided in a comprehensive way by language, artist, and genre in 'Korean Literature Digital Library'. Finally, NRF does not provide a separate archive for translation support projects. In addition, it is somewhat wondered that there is no minimum data such as publishing or bibliographic information. However, it is possible to confirm the selection of the project through the 'Notice of Final Selection Task' on the 'Board' to announce the projects of the year. It is, however, very troublesome for the users to search for the data directly since we can get only the data after 2014.
To summarize the issues discussed in this chapter, we can confirm that not all four agencies responsible for government-sponsored translation projects such as AKs, KSI, LTI Korea and NRF have provided the archive separately. In the case of 'LTI Korea', however, it cannot be confirmed whether all of the 537 works translated into various languages provided at 'Korean Literature Digital Library'
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are the products of the translation projects. Whether project implementation or not may not be an important fact to be verified for the general public, especially for the world who do not speak Korean as their mother tongue. However, the writer thinks that it is necessary to provide the accurate bibliographic information separately for the work performed through the translation support project. It is a basic material that can be used as a meta-text to grasp the genre or the way in which the Korea (Korean Studies) spreads to the world, considering its value and utility.
III. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
So far, we discussed the establishment of Korean Studies archives centering on the government-led translation support project. Recently, the budget size and the number of selected tasks of the 'Korean Masterpiece Translation Support Project' operated by NRF have decreased dramatically due to the lack of understanding translation and translation work by the host organizations. This is an evidence that the government-led translation support project has also been facing external challenges with the crisis of humanities. However, in order to reduce the barriers of language and reach more readers of the target culture, to continuously spread the Korean Wave, and to build archives for globalization of Korea, it is necessary to establish the translation infrastructure of Korea (Korean Studies) related text regardless of the genre. It'll lead to overcame the reality of Korean Studies as regional research that has been typified by Western and American perspectives (Lim et al., 2012: 466) when Korean-related text written in Korean is translated into various target languages and reached to more global citizens, which means to open the ways of globalization in the world.
In order to build a basic infrastructure for the dissemination of Korea (Korean Studies), we recognize the importance of translating texts related to Korea, which plays the role of meta text, and propose some points to enhance the content expansion and foundation by building a comprehensive archive.
First, the establishment of a nation-wide agency for strategic and systematic translation support policies and follow-up management: NRF's 'Korean Masterpiece Translation Support Project' which does not meet the annual subsidy for just one project of science and engineering areas, is 11.4% less than the amount of 1.063 billion won in 2017, which is almost two thirds less than the 2.4 billion in 2011. This is an indicator of the recognition degree of academia and politics as to the importance of establishing infrastructure for disseminating cultural contents in Korea. This tendency clearly shows that Korean Studies will be limited to the status of regional studies in the near future. Even now, academia and politics should not hesitate to set up archives for expanding and disseminating publications through systematic postmanagement and establishment of active translation support policies. In addition, it is necessary to build a comprehensive archive that integrates the scattered Korean meta-texts that are managed sporadically by establishing a 'Korea Translation Agency' (a tentative name) exclusively dedicated to these projects, to make efficient use of these archives and to expand and spread them efficiently to the world (Chun 2017: 249).
Second, the construction of a human network to carry out translation projects and the establishment of a pool of human resources: In order to build a firm translation archive, human resources must be supplied and provided smoothly
ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ СОЗДАНИЯ КОРЕЙСКИХ АРХИВОВ: В НАПРАВЛЕНИИ ПРОЕКТОВ У012 №1 2020 ПЕРЕВОДА, ОРИЕНТИРОВАННЫХ ПРАВИТЕЛЬСТВОМ КОРЕИ та: 2686-9675
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without any problems. To do this, it is necessary to educate future generations of scholars. In addition, the foundation advantage of humanities should not be shaken to the edge of the brink. Legitimate compensation should be made for the effort put into translation to ensure that they have no difficulty in maintaining their jobs in translation industry. In the end, the circulation of the translation archive, the building of human and physical infrastructure, and the support policy should be carried out in a virtuous cycle, so that the dissemination and expansion of the Korean Wave and Korea (Korean Studies) can be smoothly carried out with determination and conviction.
Third, realistic enhancement of translation support genre and selection of target works: Currently, works that are subject to translation support are mainly composed of books selected in advance by the organizer and public recommenders, so that they are not limited to classical and contemporary, academic and practical fields. It is necessary to expand the scope of the target books as well as to introduce differentiated policies that apply time and cost in a flexible way to secure the quality of translations by shifting away from the convenience of operation of the organizer providing a consistent translator for each work. The translation infrastructure will gradually become more robust, starting with these changed policies. In the 21st century's global era, the necessity of Korean Wave spread through texts that contain Korean traditional values and spiritual culture in the light of global influence of Korean culture through so-called "Korean Wave" (Chun 2017: 235; 246-250). Therefore, it should not overlook the utility value of meta - text which can provide infinite value of storytelling and multi-use source.
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4. Jakobson, R. "Metalanguage as a Linguistic Problem", in The Framework of Language. Michigan Studies in the Humanities: 1980. 113-132.
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INFORMATION ABOUT AUTHOR
Chun Hyunju
Shinhan University, Republic of Korea
transju@shinhan.ac.kr
Принята к публикации: 14.02.2020
Submission Date: 2020.02.14
