Peculiarities of Korean language translation

orean is the official language of South Korea and North Korea but its speakers are much more numerous than the total population of these countries. Approximately 80 million people consider it native and speak it constantly, at least in interpersonal communication.

The demand for translations from Korean is constantly growing. It is widespread in many countries of the world. A significant number of native speakers live in the Russian Federation, North America, China, and Japan. The language is quite distinctive and extraordinary, so the translator must know its specific nuances.

The Korean language and its peculiarities

First of all, it is necessary to take into account the main peculiarities of the Korean language, including:

• a significant proportion of borrowed words from English and Chinese;
• the existence of different styles of writing and speaking; and
• the active use and importance of suffixes.

Loanwords are most often encountered in South Korea. Their number depends on the social status of the native speaker and his/her age. You should also pay attention to the topic of the conversation or the subject of the text. Special attention is required due to the large number of analog words that the Korean language has.

Written Korean language

It is important to remember that at home and in everyday life Koreans use Hangul, i.e. phonetic writing. The difficulty lies in the fact that this style was not actively used until the middle of the 19th century so books and other scientific publications are written in Hanja, i.e. transcription of Korean using Chinese hieroglyphs.

It is especially difficult for a translator to work with written sources or representatives of South Korea, which uses both styles, unlike North Korea, where only Hangul is actively used. It is necessary to additionally know Chinese hieroglyphs in order to ensure correct translation. Hanja is traditionally used for official printed publications such as books and newspapers.

Dialects of oral speech

A professional translator won't do without knowledge of dialects. There are two main and officially recognized dialects, Seoul and Pyongan. The first one is the state language of South Korea and the second one, respectively, of North Korea. There are also 8 dialects that have gained regional distribution, which differ significantly from each other. Not all indigenous people are fluent in several dialects, and it is a much more difficult task for a translator to master them.

A special role in the Korean language is played by paremiae, i.e. folksays, proverbs, and sayings. They are used quite often in oral speech. This makes translation more difficult if the translator is not familiar with the traditional culture of the Korean people. A literal translation will not convey any meaning at all, you need to know the essence of the expression.

It is especially difficult to correctly translate words and expressions that do not have a semantic equivalent in the language, into which the translation is being performed. In this case, transliteration is used, especially in the course of translating international documents.