Korean literature in translation enjoys growing universal appeal - 코리아타임스 - Translation

From left, book cover of "Whale," "Violets" and "Love in the Big City" / Courtesy of Literature Translation Institute of Korea

By Kwak Yeon-soo

As Korean literature in translation continues to reach more international readers, Korean authors are achieving a growing presence in the global publishing market. So far, a total of eight novels have been nominated for prestigious literary awards this year.

Although it missed out on the 2023 International Booker Prize, novelist-director Cheon Myeong-kwan's "Whale," translated by Kim Chi-young, was shortlisted for the British literary award. He is the third Korean writer to be shortlisted for the award following "The Vegetarian" and "The White Book" author Han Kang, who was selected in 2016 and 2018, and "Cursed Bunny" author Bora Chung, who was selected last year.

"Whale," a multi-generational tale that sheds light on growth and modernization in Korea after the 1950-53 Korean War, is set to be translated into several languages.

The U.K. edition was released in January while the U.S. version was dropped in May. The novel was published in other languages, including German, Russian, Japanese and Turkish, with assistance from the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea).

"In recent years, there's been an uptick in the number of Korean novels translated into foreign languages, and the literary world has taken note with Han Kang receiving the International Booker Prize in 2016 for her novel 'The Vegetarian,'" an LTI Korea official said.

"Modern Family," also by Cheon, will be published into six languages including English, French, Russian, Chinese, Mongolian and Romanian.

Novelist Park Sang-young's "Love in the Big City," which was longlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize, has also been longlisted for the 2023 Dublin Literary Award. This year's prize went to German author Katja Oskamp and translator Jo Heinrich.

Shin Kyung-sook's "Violets" was longlisted for the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Awards and also shortlisted in the fiction category for 2023 Firecracker Awards, which will announce the winners on June 22. Both Park and Shin's novels were translated into English by Anton Hur.

In Russia, a Russian version of "Summer Outside" by Kim Ae-ran and "Sweet Violence" by Jeong Yi-hyun were nominated for the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award. The winners will be announced in October.

In Japan, a local translation of "Becoming Cyborg" penned by Kim Cho-yeop and "Prism" by Sohn Won-pyung were each nominated for the Japanese Translation Award and Japanese Booksellers' Awards in the category of translated fiction novel.

"The Hellbound," the comic series that was adapted into a 2021 Netflix series, has been nominated for a Will Eisner Comic Industry Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the comics industry.

"The Hellbound Volume 1-2" by Yeon Sang-ho and Choi Gyu-seok, translated into English by Danny Lim, was nominated in the category of Best U.S. Edition of International Material. The winners will be announced on July 21.

"The hard work of Korean authors and dedication of translators give Korean literature a growing universal appeal," the LTI Korea official said.

Adblock test (Why?)

The First 10 Words of the African American English Dictionary Are In - The Philadelphia Tribune - Dictionary

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

The First 10 Words of the African American English Dictionary Are In  The Philadelphia Tribune

Barcelona loanee hits out at media for ‘incorrect translation’: “Call me if you need help” - Barca Universal - Translation

Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti has hit out at media outlets after an incorrect translation of his interview, which many translated as he felt ‘imprisoned at Barça for four years’.

“To all journalists and newspapers… If you need help translating, you can call me next time. Depression equals depression, nothing to do with “prison” or jail. Thank you very much,” wrote the defender on his Instagram account (h/t Mundo Deportivo).

The exit-bound Barcelona defender recently spoke with Canal+ where he talked about his frustration at Barcelona, saying that the last four years were very difficult for him.

“I’m fine. I’ve spent four years in the Galleys, they’ve been hard four years, but now I’ve rediscovered my smile and the joy of playing football. They have given me this confidence here and I’ve been able to express myself as I did years ago,” said the defender.

“I don’t know if it was depression, but it was really complicated and difficult at all levels. I closed myself off a lot with my close people.” 

“There were times in Barcelona when I didn’t want to leave the house. My friends told me to go out to change my mind, but I told them no, that I wanted to be alone. It was very complicated,” said the defender, who in no way described his Barcelona tenure as a prison.

Umtiti moved to Serie A outfit Lecce on loan at the beginning of the ongoing season. Ever since moving to Italy, the French defender has found a new life and is one of their top performers of the season. 

As a result, the Serie A team is now exploring the possibility of signing the defender on a permanent transfer while there are other reports that he wants to move back to Olympique Lyon.

In any way, it is certain that Umtiti has no place in the current Barcelona team and despite his emotional comeback from mental trauma, he will be sold in the summer.

Adblock test (Why?)

AI4Bharat: Putting India on the global map of cutting-edge AI innovation - Economic Times - Translation

When Microsoft chief Satya Nadella visited India in January this year, a unique app caught his attention.Jugalbandi, a chatbot which leverages language models from ‘AI4Bharat’ along with reasoning models from Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI can be used to get information on 170 government schemes in local languages. The chatbot, which combines speech recognition, translation, text-to-speech, and large language models, has been created to allow people

Adblock test (Why?)

African American English Dictionary gives first look at 10 words - New York Daily News - Dictionary

Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.

Adblock test (Why?)

Oshi No Ko Opening's Artist Releases Official English Cover & Translation - Screen Rant - Translation

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Oshi No Ko Opening's Artist Releases Official English Cover & Translation  Screen Rant

Burnsville native who dreams in Bulgarian wins share of International Booker Prize - Star Tribune - Translation

When Angela Rodel studied linguistics at Yale University, she didn't know translating was a legitimate career. On Tuesday, she shared the prestigious International Booker Prize for translating "Time Shelter," by Georgi Gospodinov, from Bulgarian into English.

"We've had eight hours of interviews today. It's insane! But I'm not complaining," Rodel said by phone from London, where the Booker ceremony took place. She and Gospodinov share the roughly $62,000 prize for the best work in translation published in the United Kingdom.

The 1992 graduate of Burnsville High School studied Russian and German at Yale, partly because, "I was a dark, angsty teenager." But she had sparked to Russian in high school: "This was totally strange but I guess the winds of perestroika made it there because one of the French teachers started teaching Russian, too."

At Yale, Rodel joined a Slavic chorus after hearing the music and thinking, "I want my voice to sound like that."

She went to Bulgaria as a Fulbright scholar after Yale, then earned a master's degree in linguistics from UCLA. On a return visit to Bulgaria in 2004, "I decided to stay. My husband at the time was a musician and poet and Sofia is a really small town. We all knew each other, so I met all these writers. Someone would give me a poem or story and I would translate it, just for fun."

Almost by accident, she became a full-time translator, which she now balances with being executive director of the Bulgarian Fulbright Commission.

Rodel hopes the Booker recognition helps change the notion that translated works are "second-hand goods."

"There's a perception that it's somehow 'less than' because it wasn't originally in English. But there are brilliant, talented writers all over the world," said Rodel, who speaks Bulgarian at home with husband Viktor and daughter Kerana and often dreams in the language.

Her job is not line-by-line transcription but something more artful.

"You want the reader to have a similar emotional experience in the translation as they would in the original. You try to capture the atmosphere, the style of the work. So, if there's something experimental, there should be something experimental in the translation," Rodel said. "If there's a humorous novel, with plays on words, maybe you can't do the exact same pun in a given sentence but there may be an opportunity to do one a few sentences later that works in English."

The Bulgarian language presents challenges for an English translator, including different verb tenses and gendered nouns.

The Burnsville native has worked often with Gospodinov, who also lives in Sofia. When the two learned in March that "Time Shelter" made the 13-book longlist, she said, "We thought, 'This is amazing. A Bulgarian book has never even made the longlist, so this will be the end of that.'"

They won the whole thing at a ceremony that included actor Toby Stephens reading from "Time Shelter."

"The invitation said to 'dress smart,'" said Rodel, who nodded to the art of translation by pairing a cocktail dress with a Bulgarian folk-art necklace. "It all started at 6 but they didn't announce the award until 10, so we were all just dying."

Rodel is working on several projects, including a translation of a Bulgarian novel to be published in January. Meanwhile, she and daughter Kerana will visit Eagan in July for a family reunion and lots of time in Minnesota parks.

Adblock test (Why?)