한국국제교류재단

1. This March, the Booker Prize announced its International Prize shortlist, which included Cursed Bunny by Chung Bo-ra, and longlist, which included Love in the Big City by Park Sang Young. The British-based award is considered one of the world's top three honors in literature along with the Nobel Prize and Prix Goncourt. As a translator of both Chung and Park's works, how do you feel about this development?

Having translated literature for a long time, I realize that Korean institutions that promote translation, domestic publishers, and people in related businesses abroad are prejudiced against translators who are native Koreans as opposed to foreign nationals or ethnic Koreans living overseas. After my translations were included in both the short and long lists for the Booker International Prize, such prejudice seems to have died down somewhat. Perhaps that's the power of a world-renowned prize. I've been translating all my life and constantly striving to enhance my ability and build an overseas publishing network. Being shortlisted for a big prize hasn’t changed me. My translation ability cannot improve magically overnight. But people’s attitudes toward me have definitely changed, something I find a little puzzling.

2. You are the only translator whose name appears twice on this year's longlist of 13 works. What is your secret for achieving this commendable feat?

I've been doing translation for over 20 years and reading books for a long time. I studied literature in graduate school and have been doing translation and interpretation ever since. I did general publishing translation for six years and took up literary translation as a profession five years ago. Since starting my study of literary translation in 2010, I spent 12 years getting to where I am in the professional today, a period that is roughly equivalent to that required to make a pre-med student a doctor and a medical student a specialist. There's no “secret,” actually. But if you insist that I name one, I would say something that seems cliché: time and effort. Many translators and people in Korea have good command of English, and many ethnic Koreans live abroad or have studied in other countries from a very young age. Because of this, the ability to translate has become much more common. But few are willing to spend the time and energy needed or accept the opportunity cost that is required to become a translator of literary works. Talent in translation is common, but effort is rare.

3. Cursed Bunny is classified as genre fiction, while Love in the Big City is classified as queer literature. Why did you translate these two works, which are vastly different in genre, readership, and public recognition?

To be an excellent translator, one needs to be an excellent reader. Surprisingly, there are many who want to be literary translators without loving literature. If you don’t read Korean literature, you can’t be a translator of it. Cursed Bunny and Love in the Big City are very different, and I translated them for very different reasons, but the two authors share one element: literary excellence. Ultimately, I was attracted to their styles. Park and Chung’s writings are fun, an element that seems to make critics and pundits often overlook the superbness of writing style. Chung in particular is at a disadvantage due to the prejudice of being a genre fiction writer who didn’t start her literary career in the orthodox way.

4. What things do you pay extra attention to while translating?

I try to pay attention to the voice of the narrator. The voices of the source language writer, (in some cases) target language writer, and myself need to be blended in a way that give the speaker new life in another language. That’s why I pay extra attention to this part, which is something that only translators who read broadly in the target language’s literature can do. So I try to read as many books in English as possible, including not only English literature but also books translated into English. By doing so, I can see how other translators deal with stylistic issues. Of course, certain works, like Chung’s, come to me in English the moment I begin to read them.

5. You do everything from choosing the text for translation, earning translation rights from domestic publishers, marketing your translations to foreign agencies and publishers, and then publicizing your translation. What is the most difficult part of this process?

Honestly, the reality of going through the entire process you just mentioned without any monetary compensation is the most difficult part. In the American TV series Mad Men, there’s a character who says it's “easier to do a job than get one.” Behind the splendor of an awards ceremony is the never-ending, extremely complicated, tiresome, and time and effort-intensive process of finding the right writers and works by reading newly-released Korean literature for hundreds of hours, persuading the writers and their publishers who own the copyrights of the target works, producing samples and proposals, networking with people in the target language market, and sending out samples to overseas publishers. That's why not all translators can do literature. In this regard, my wish is that Korean copyright holders be a little more courteous to translators. Most people in Korean publishing are nice, but I still encounter embarrassing situations from time to time. Considering that I still do translation despite such annoying moments, I guess I really like literature!

6. What do you think is the greatest appeal of Korean literature?

I do not think that Korean literature or the Korean language is “extraordinary.” It would be chauvinistic to think that Korean literature is “special” or “superior” to those of other countries. Meaningful, beautiful works of literature transcend national boundaries, a concept that is familiar in Korea while pervading its history. Such literature can be found anywhere in the world, even in the most remote areas: the only issue is the delay, in such cases, of their translation and distribution. Perhaps we could think that Korean literature has had a little more luck than that of other countries.

7. What are you translating now? What would you like to work on?

My English translations of works by Shin Kyung-sook, Djuna, and Yi Seong-bok will be published in 2023. While mentioning these names, I just realized that my translations cover diverse genres of literature. I really like these three writers and feel excited simply by thinking of their works and translating them. I guess that’s why I'm still in this line of work.