[KS] Re: Translation and Dialect

[Andrew P. Killick]

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Carlon-

The problem of rendering dialect is a perennial one for translators. I
think you're right to avoid using an English regional dialect as an
equivalent for a Korean one - it is bound to carry connotations that are
inappropriate.  Archaisms might work, or just some verbal tic that
doesn't correspond to any widely-known dialect. In our forthcoming
translation of Lee Ho-Chul's [his preferred romanization] "Southerners,
Northerners," my wife and I were lucky in that the narrator often
comments on the dialect of the character speaking, making it unnecessary
to use a non-standard form of English in our translation of that
character's speech. If yours doesn't, I think it's permissible to
interpolate discrete comments on the speaker's dialect in a few
strategic places. Footnotes are another possibility, but I try to keep
these to a minimum. Hope this helps.

Andrew Killick
Florida State University

At 07:13 PM 10/11/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Dear translators on this list,
>
>I have experience translating poems from Korean into
>English.  However, my most recent project is my first
>attempt to translate a Korean novel into English. 
>This poses some problems that do not come up when
>translating poetry.  So, I am looking for advice from
>those more experienced novel/short story translators
>on the list.  My main concern now is in the
>translation of dialect.  In this particular novel
>about a family, the head of the family speaks in North
>Korean dialect.  Personally, I do not wish to try to
>simply borrow an English regional dialect to
>correspond with his Northen dialect.  However, the
>rest of the characters do not use this dialect.  So, I
>feel that I SHOULD give the character a distinct
>voice.  I thought of borrowing old idiomatic
>expressions, since the character is quite old.  Does
>anyone on the list have any advice on this?  I have
>some other concerns, but will save them for a later time.
>
>=====
>Carlon Haas
>
>http://www.geocities.com/king_of_seoul