＂각양각색의 사람들이 각양각색으로 이야기했노라＂: 캔터베리 이야기 번역 검토

Abstract

Since the early 1960’s Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales has been translated in parts or in its entirety into Korean. The four published translations chosen for the purpose of this review paper ― the translations by J. Kim, B. Song, and Dong-il Lee and Dongchoon Lee ― are examined according to three criteria: (1) Was the work translated with a historical, cultural and religious understanding of the medieval text?; (2) Does the target text reflect the literary aspect of the source text?; and (3) Does the target text as a whole reflect a consistent philosophy or principle of translation? J. Kim’s translation, first published in 1963, is by far the best complete translation yet with its faithfulness, readability and equivalence. The translation by Dong-il Lee and Dongchoon Lee covers 7 tales. It is also a highly accurate rendering with considerable readability even though some critical judgements the translators made seem rather random. These two translations are highly recommended for readers who seek a reliable guidance to a Middle English work they may not be able to read in its original language but would like to appreciate in its closest approximation. B. Song’s translation comes short of those two translations in terms of faithfulness to the source text even though it is reasonably readable. The fact that the translator is not a medieval English literature specialist by training may be detected in inaccurate or inappropriate rendering of some heavily ironic or syntactically complicated passages. Another translation that unfortunately claims for its translator the same name as the first translator, J. Kim, has no justification to be on the market or on a school library shelf. It is an utterly inaccurate translation that only does violence to the original work.