Two US university professors have been awarded for their outstanding collaboration in translating Korean poetry into English.

Song Chae-pyong and Anne Rashid were given the Grand Prize for Poetry at the 40th Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards, announced today. For the contest, they submitted a translation of six poems by Kim Hye-soon, winner of the 2008 Daesan Literary Award.

They chose the poetry of Kim Hye-soon because of "her strikingly unique images and her relentless commitment to social justice," said Song.

Rashid, of Carlow University, Pittsburgh, PA, and Korean-born Song, of Marygrove College, Detroit, MI, were motivated to enter the competition by the lack of English translations of Korean literature.

The "long and winding imagery" of Kim's poetry made translation a challenge, but the professors attribute their success to maintaining the delicate balance between the original language and the target language.

Song added that "translation is a constant process, just like any form of writing. One can become a good translator only by willing to revise one's draft constantly, we believe. Anne and I sometimes went through 10 revisions before feeling that a translation was finished."

Their accomplishment is all the more impressive in light of the judges' general disappointment with the quality of poetry translation in this year's contest.

The judges lamented: "It is clear that not many people are able to combine a deep understanding of Korean poetry with the linguistic and poetic skills required to produce convincing English poems as translations."

Despite this, they praised Song and Rashid, remarking that they "skillfully handled the rhetorical structure and lyrical flow of the original text."

Among the winners in other categories were Irene Park, for her translation of "Possibly" by Yoon Sung-hee, and Andrew McCullough, who translated "Ode for Longing" by Park Wan-suh.

01 November 2009

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