“Changes in Korea’s Outbound Literary Translation: Who, How, and Why?”: A focus group discussion centered around a revised sociological model

Abstract

This paper summarizes the results of a Focus Group Discussion held in September 2021 to celebrate the inauguration of the international journal INContext: Studies in Translation and Interculturalism. Organized under the title “Changes in Korea’s Outbound Literary Translation: Who, How, and Why?”, the event was a response to the growing significance of and interest in Korea’s literary works worldwide, and marks the first time to employ the format of a focus group discussion in Translation Studies (TS) research in Korea. In a single-moderator event, seven discussants participated as representatives of stakeholders of translation: translator, journal editor, literary grantor institution, and literary agent. Following three brief presentations, the participants shared their expertise and experiences as prompted by the moderator on nine specific issues.

Section 2 outlines historical developments in Korea’s outbound literary translation practices, and the structure of the Focus Group Discussion. Section 3 discusses the theoretical background of the organization of the event and proposes a revised sociological model of translation adapted from Bourdieu’s field theory of cultural production. A summary of the three brief presentations and the subsequent discussion of the nine issues ensues in Section 4, and the conclusion in Section 5 includes suggestions for future research directions.

Significant findings include: (1) Although distinctively visible shifts are under way from the traditional, grant-centric system to a more market-driven one, the continued preference for keeping grant-funded translation projects in place reflects the still peripheral position and lack of economic ‘capital’ of translated literature in the literary system of Korea. (2) In the initial dissemination of Korean literature overseas, the use of the umbrella term ‘K-LITERATURE’ can be deemed useful, but authors need to compete individually based on their respective uniqueness and strengths while showing thematic universality. (3) Being a native speaker of the target language (TL), an alleged requirement of a competent translator much-touted in TS in Korea, did not draw the consensus of all participants. Several participants were of the opinion that a translator’s passion for literary works and the author under translation was a more critical factor in motivating her to complete literary translations.