A Comparison of the Translation Styles and Lexical Choices of Underwood and Gale in Two Korean Versions of Tŏkhye immun 德慧入門

This study discusses the differences in translation style and choice of terms in two Korean translations of Dehui rumen (The gate of virtue and wisdom) and how these differences reveal the rapid changes taking place in the Korean language at the time. The translators, Horace Grant Underwood (1859–1916) and James Scarth Gale (1863–1937), adhered to different translation styles. In his 1915 translation, Underwood translated the original content using phrasal structures and native Korean and omitted nothing from the original. In contrast, in his 1927 translation, Gale often omitted the original content and added expressions not present in the source text. In addition, he tended to use sinographic terms and noun forms rather than paraphrases. I argue that these differences in translation style are due to Gale’s belief that “thought translation” (as opposed to “word translation”) helped readers better understand the book and that this led to his introduction of a variety of new terms to Korean speakers.