Analysis of Sample Translation applying Chesterman’s Translation Strategies for Cross-Cultural Challenges

This study presents a sample translation from a Korean Editorial to English with focus on some of the translation strategies suggested by Chesterman (1997). Considering the cross-linguistic and cross-cultural differences that exist between English and Korean this paper aims to bring out some useful strategies, especially pragmatic types of textual strategies, that can be incorporated in teaching of translation. Because helping students recognize the presence of the culture behind the text and bring it to the surface is one of the aims of translation pedagogy, how to communicate what is unspoken in the surface text should be seen as a vital step in the production of a body of translation that is readable enough to gain non-Korean speaking readership. To do this, students need various tools or “strategies,” besides a bilingual dictionary. This paper, therefore, will use one sample translation to discuss how selected translation strategies can be introduced to an undergraduate Korean-to-English translation class.