‘경기전’ 경내 영어안내판의 오류 실태 －왕의 안내판을 중심으로

Abstract

There are seven kings’ portraits and as many information boards in Gyeonggijeon sanctum area. The portrait of Lee Seong-gye is a national treasure and the rest are not nominated as treasures or historical relics, etc. Each king’s portrait has its information board written in Korean and English. This paper examined the seven kings’ information boards focusing ellipsis, addition and grammatical errors. Lee Seong-gye’s information board is examined in all the three aspects, but the other kings’ information boards are examined in one or two aspects. There are too many ellipses or omissions. In some cases, as more than half of the source text is omitted, the information of the source text cannot be transferred correctly to the English readers. There are too many additions, too. As the translator added too much unnecessary information, the sentences become unnecessarily longer and more complex. The addition brings forth more grammatical errors than can be found without the addition in the target text. The errors seem to be made by the translator’s inability, lack of patriotism and the sense of duty. Some kind of action should be taken to correct the errors urgently, for the English information board is a kind of Korea’s face to the foreigners. One action can be to publicize the translator’s name on the information board.