"Korean Literature Translation Is a Series of Hesitations... Attractive Writing Style Invites Challenges"

2023 Korean Literature Translation Award Grand Prize
3 Works, 4 Translators Awarded

"Translation is a hesitant task."

This was the remark made by awardee Lia Jovinetti at the 2023 Korean Literature Translation Award press conference held on the 6th at a restaurant near Gwanghwamun, Seoul. Having translated Kim Hye-jin's About My Daughter, she said, "There is no end to hesitation in translation. In the novel, the mother does not understand her LGBTQ+ daughter and conflicts with her, calling the daughter and her partner 'aeya' and 'yaedeul-a,' but I could not translate these terms literally. This was a challenge for the translator." She added, "When a 65-year-old grandmother entered as a customer, the clerk called her 'eomeonim' (mother), but a literal translation would lose meaning, so I tried to preserve the author's intent."

The grand prize winners of the 2023 Korean Literature Translation Award are taking a commemorative photo. (From left) Jean-Claude De Crescenzo, Kim Hye-kyung, Oh Young-ah, Lia Jovinetti, translators. [Photo by Korea Literature Translation Institute]

This year’s Korean Literature Translation Award, hosted by the Korean Literature Translation Institute, honored a total of four recipients, including Lia Jovinetti from the Italian language group. Kim Hye-kyung and Jean-Claude de Crescenzo from the French language group, and Oh Young-ah from the Japanese language group also received the award. Each winner was granted a prize of 20 million won.

Oh Young-ah, who translated Jo Hae-jin’s Simple Sincerity, also expressed the difficulties of translating Korean. She said, "It is very difficult to translate the meaning of the white space in Korean. In the novel, there is a part where the letter to the mother shouts 'Mom! Mom!' but it was hard to preserve the meaning no matter how I translated it into Japanese. In the end, I used Japanese katakana notation alongside the Korean." She explained, "I know this is not the best solution, but knowing the specialness of the word 'mom' in Korean, I kept it as is."

Oh Young-ah is a third-generation Korean-Japanese translator who, while preparing to study in the U.S., came to Korea to study Korean first following her father’s advice to "learn Korean first and then do what you want," and discovered the charm of Korean literature. She said, "I was very surprised by the writing styles of Eun Hee-kyung and Kim Yeon-su. I started translating because I wanted to introduce such wonderful authors to my Japanese friends."

Kim Hye-kyung, who co-translated Lee Seung-woo’s novel Kangtang, set in France, with her husband Jean-Claude de Crescenzo, explained that they faced difficulties from the very first sentence, "Kangtang, a small coastal town not appearing on the map." In France, a town cannot be so small as to not appear on maps, and the mention of a "three-story hospital" was also an unrealistic hospital size for a small town. She said, "When I feel there is no answer while translating, I usually call the author. This time, I also called Lee Seung-woo directly to reach a conclusion."

The couple runs a Korean literature specialized publishing company in France to promote Korean literature. Jean-Claude de Crescenzo said that they have introduced many authors such as Lee Seung-woo, Kim Ae-ran, Kim Jung-hyuk, Pyun Hye-young, and Han Kang to France, adding, "For Korean literature to stand shoulder to shoulder with other literatures on the global stage, not only easy-to-read works but also various works with deep literary value, even if not widely read, need to be translated extensively." He continued, "While Korean literature introduced to France in the past had a certain weight, the recent trend is toward lighter and more easily readable books, but we will not only introduce bestsellers."