The Origin of Korean English Learners’ Errors in Translating English Passive Constructions into Korean

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the origin of the errors Korean English learners make translating English passive constructions into Korean. In fact, a number of Korean English learners often use double passive forms such as –cye-ss-ta or –toyecye-ss-ta. Although these are wrong, they don't realize it. First, this paper assumes the general characteristics of passive constructions suggested by Siewierska(1984) and Shibatani(1985) and discusses the differences between Korean and English passive constructions, based on Yeon’s (2011) analysis. Second, this paper discusses how the way Korean teachers teach Korean school grammar to their students influences their learning of passive forms. In this paper, I pointed out that Korean teachers have taught that Korean active forms can be converted into synthetic passive forms simply by adding passive suffixes or auxiliary verbs like –ci-ta or –toyeci-ta to verbs. The double passive forms widely used by Korean learners are awkward and unnatural, and they are not accepted as grammatical forms in the school grammar. Nevertheless, most Korean students don't realize that they are unnatural and ungrammatical expressions. Finally, I argue that the double passive expressions Korean EFL leaners use in translating the English passive construction are errors, which result from synthetic passive forms of Korean.