문학텍스트에서의 대화문 번역

Translating Conversations in Literary Texts: Focusing on Korean English Translation of “Scarlet Fingernail”

The purpose of this study is to investigate how conversations are translated in literary texts. Unlike direct quotes or speech representations in information oriented texts, translation of conversations in literary texts needs to consider different aspects in transferring meaning from Korean into English. Such difference stem from the stylistic and pragmatic differences between Korean and English with regard to how direct and indirect conversations are represented in literary texts. In addition, the fact that literary texts aim to convey not only the information contents but also transfer of delicate shades of meaning and nuances carried by the choices in expressions and sentence structure in the Source Text force the translator to intervene by making stylistic and expression choices. Sentence structure such as suspended quotation is such case in point. For the study, a short story by Minsuk Kim titled “Scarlet Fingernail” was analyzed. Previous studies show that translation of direct and indirect quotes in information oriented texts are subject to changes such as abridgement or expansion for emphasis or explication. Conversations in literary texts undergo stylistic changes to comply with the target language grammatical rules for speech representation but minimum changes are made in word choices.