Book_Lost in translating Hwang Jin Yi’s Sijo and poems
Project Date : September 2024Tools Used : Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign
[concept]
For the graduate exhibition, a project was conducted on Hwang Jin Yi's Sijo and poems, exploring ways to minimise semantic errors and losses in translation.
Dissertation:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZzEb4e_ZiBL-nsnWWY-U9g2KPcYEe023/view?usp=drive_link
Book Cover(Envelope):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z2_txtP08DoE_hPDaU-0vpVR6a8efcG7/view?usp=sharing
Book:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hl1lxGybsQ1lmIhFH-iNzeD6x2QO1S5_/view?usp=sharing
Process Book:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XB4EomMR2bwbTuRfhO5CUuq0OUL2PUfd/view?usp=sharing
[Mindmap]
There are several reasons why Hwang Jin Yi's work was chosen for translation among other poets. First, as a renowned female poet of the mid-Joseon Dynasty, her work contains candid insights into the experiences and feelings of women of her time, providing valuable context for her social and cultural background. Second, her poetry is characterised by authentic emotional expression and depth, which presents unique challenges and opportunities for translation. Third, Hwang Jin Yi's works hold significant importance in the history of Korean literature, and translating them can help bring the beauty of traditional Korean literature to the world and enhance understanding of Korean culture.
Hwang Jin Yi's Sijo and poems served as a means of conveying her longing for a loved one, which led to the decision to design not only books but also postcards and stamps to enhance their emotional impact.
To effectively convey Hwang Jin Yi's Sijo and poems, inspiration was drawn from the traditional book-making methods of the Joseon Dynasty. Elements such as binding, font, layout, and paper were carefully designed to reflect historical authenticity:- Layout: Place a rectangular frame with vertical lines, as shown in the photo on the left, and design it to encourage reading from the top right to the bottom left.
- Paper: Use hanji, a traditional Korean paper, to give the book a Joseon Dynasty feel.
- Fonts: The typeface and font size should be larger than those of modern books to give an old-fashioned feel, and fonts that can accommodate both English and Korean should be used.
- Binding: Use a thread binding method as shown in the photo on the left, with the thread on the right.
- Cover: Place the text vertically in a rectangle with a border at the top left.
Original
Translation Image
Footnotes Images
1st test
2nd test
At first, one of Hwang Jin Yi's poems was selected and represented solely through images. However, this approach led to greater confusion compared to using only text, revealing that translation relying exclusively on images was not suitable for the topic.
During the research process, Typographic Poems were explored. While this approach allowed for more creativity, it made it challenging to fully capture the essence and mood of the original poem. Additionally, the design appeared less effective as it duplicated both the meaning of the words and the way they were expressed
From the above two trials, it was concluded that a combination of images and text would be the most effective approach.
Book:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hl1lxGybsQ1lmIhFH-iNzeD6x2QO1S5_/view?usp=sharing
This book addresses the theme of "minimising meaning loss and errors in the process of translating Korean to English" through a four-step translation process. Each step is outlined as follows:
1. Translating the Overall Atmosphere into Images(p44):
Relevant images were selected to visually convey the overall atmosphere and emotions of the poem and Sijo. This helps readers better understand the original meaning of the poem and Sijo.
2. Translating Images into English(p45):
Based on the selected images, English text was added to explain them. This expresses the meaning conveyed by the images and the overall atmosphere in English, allowing readers to understand the visual information through text.
A hole on p.45 shows the language gap, since some untranslated Korean words appear again on p.47.
3. Translating Untranslatable Korean Expressions in the English Text into Images(p46):
Korean expressions that are difficult to translate into English were reinterpreted into images, enabling readers to visually grasp their meaning.
4. Writing Explanations of the Images in Footnotes(p47):
Additional explanations of the meanings conveyed through the images were written in footnotes at the bottom of each page, helping readers gain a deeper understanding.
Here's an example of my physical book.