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Cross-Cultural Barriers in the Translations of Modern Korean Literature

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Abstract

Adopting a cross-cultural approach, this chapter aims to present how the translators of some modern Korean literature into English have made hardly acceptable errors or mistakes in one way or other. It focuses on mistranslations due mainly to a lack of cultural literacy on the part of the translators. More specifically, what types of translation errors occur? What makes the translators commit such errors? How can we explain errors in translation? Are there any possible explanations for the causes of errors? This chapter attempts to answer these questions. It deals with the “bad”, “inept”, “inappropriate”, or very “wrong” translations of some representative poems and prose works written by modern Korean authors.

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Kim, WD. (2019). Cross-Cultural Barriers in the Translations of Modern Korean Literature. In: Translations in Korea. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6512-6_5

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