韓國近代의 西洋語 通譯史1885년 까지

Interpretations of Western languages in Korea before 1885

Koreans in the traditional period did not have any opportunity to learn the Western languages until the 19th century. Direct and indirect contacts with the Westerners were occurring from the early 17th century, but they were not enough to agitate the Koreans to learn any of the Western languages. Similarly the occasional contacts kept the Westerners also uninterested in learning Korean. The result was that there were no single soul on earth who could speak Korean and a Western language until 1883, when Yun Chiho(尹致昊 1865-1945) became the first speaker of English and Korean. Before 1883, however, the translations and interpretations between Korean and a Western language had been processed occasionally, al though they were done through double routes like Korean = Chinese= English or Korean=Japanese=English. A typical example for this case can be found in the first Korean embassy to America in the fall of 1883 . The embassy had employed one Japanese and one Chinese as interpreters for the embassy. Though they were ignorant of Korean. the embassy had members who had some command of Chinese and Japanese among them. It was the same year of 1883 that English was for the first time began to be formally educated among the Koreans in the first foreign language school in Korea --Tongmunhak(同文學)' Also known as the School of Interpretation(通弁學敎). the institution had recruited 40 students in the early period for English teaching. The school had been replaced three years later in 1886 by Royal English SchooI(育英公院). So English became slowly spreading among the Koreans. Then it was followed after with the emergences of various foreign language schools. including French. Russian. German in that order in the mid 1890s.