earticle

영어

Maritime fiction and voyage narratives account for quite a large portion in English literature. However, translation of voyage narratives into Korean has been limited to a few well-known works, and when evaluated, the level of translated versions did not meet expectations. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe, which is set in the era of sailing ships, abounds with nautical terms, and understanding them plays an essential role in the successful translation of the work into Korean. The researchers selected nautical terminology from the English text and compared their translated equivalents in three different Korean versions. The research found diverse cases of inaccurately translated nautical terms. In particular, the fact that cases of inaccurate translation were not concentrated in one text, but appeared across the three versions suggests that nautical terminology is unfamiliar to Korean translators. In order to lay the foundation for better translation, the researchers suggest two strategies. First, building a corpus of nautical terms based on voyage narratives and compiling a standardized dictionary of nautical terminology could help translators in the future. Second, utilizing illustrations of sailing ships showing ship structure, and names of masts and sails could help both translators and readers visually understand unfamiliar terminology.