영어의 번역과 오역사례 연구

Abstract

This paper, by analysing the mistranslated materials done by some students and translators at different levels, aims at discovering some major causes of mistranslation or misinterpretation in turning the source text in English into the target Korean version, and offering several general suggestions to be of help for better translation. According to Wikipedia, 'translation' is the interpretation of the meaning of a text in one language (the "source text") and the production, in another language, of an equivalent text (the "target text," or "translation") that communicates the same message. Translation must take into account a number of constraints, including context, the rules of grammar of the two languages, their writing conventions, their idioms and the like. The translator's grammatical and pragmatic competence in the two languages is unavoidably requisite for a better and more correct translation, which raises the very causes of mistranslation. A column in 'HangyeoreSinmun', one of major Korean newspapers, revealed an alarming problem in the translated versions far beyond seriousness with the headline 'No Translated Works Keep Credibility and Recommendation'. Consequently, one factor that should always be seriously considered is the favorable attitude of translators, to say nothing of their grammatical and pragmatic competence in two languages, idiomatic usage, ways of expression, parameters and the like, so as to make the translated version equivalent to the source text, creating the phrase "One translates best into the language that one knows best." One possible suggestion for the enhancement of the level of the art of translation could be to set up a professional organization, national or government-supported, to grade and publicize the levels of translated works.