Through translations, a national government informs an international audience about political positions, policies and ideologies, and in this setting, translation changes are often made in a way to reflect and reinforce them (Gagnon 2006, 2010, Li 2013). Based on a tripartite comparative analysis of audiovisual recordings, Korean transcripts, and English translations, this study investigates changes of the spokesperson’s press briefings of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in South Korea, delivered especially when political and diplomatic tension between the two Koreas reached the highest peak because of North Korea’s nuclear threats between March to April 2013. The data include 17 spokesperson’s press briefings’ audiovisual recordings, Korean transcripts, and English translations available on the MOFA’s website. The analysis has revealed that reiterative content and hesitations are often deleted and subtitles are added in the Korean transcripts. In addition, the study has identified a frequent tendency of addition and alteration of information, which otherwise may threaten an American audience, correction of vague information, addition of conjunctive adjuncts, and deletion of typical speech characteristics such as hesitation, thereby making the translations clearer, more explicit and cohesive.
카카오톡
페이스북
블로그