『조선왕조실록』 한일관계기사 번역 검토

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the Korean translated parts of The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty which are related to Korea and Japan relationships. There are many errors found in Korean translation, most of which are the Japanese names. The reasons of the mistranslation are various. The most common ones are from the confusion of people's names, and this leads to the miscount. The second most are from misunderstanding the names of people and institutes. The third ones are from the confusion of the Japanese social positions and official posts. Besides these, there are several other kinds of mistakes discovered. In some cases the names of places are interpreted instead of being translated. The titles of government posts don't have unity owing to the lack of the coherent spelling standards when they are written together with the names of places. Also, there are no coherent standards applied of the government offices and posts. Diplomatic terms used between Korea and Japan during the Joseon Dynasty are also translated with no standards. The titles of diplomatic delegates should be translated with its unique terms but are often interpreted precisely instead of being translated. There are often some translations which can invite misunderstandings. Japanese names in the Joseon Dynasty were used mixedly with those of places, government offices, official posts, and families. And there were some cases in which their last and first names could not be discerned. Thus, when the current explanatory notes are applied with no further investigation, this could bring serious mistranslation. In addition, to get clear translation, it is desirable to make standards of common historical terms which are frequently used in the history study of Korea and Japan relationships.