Earticle

This study examines how intertextuality is reconstructed in Korean and Russian subtitles of K-Pop Demon Hunters. Drawing on intertextuality theory, audiovisual translation research, and descriptive approaches to translation analysis, the study proposes four translation strategies: compression, explicitation, cultural equivalence, and direct correspondence. The corpus consists of 1,384 subtitle lines aligned across the English source text, Korean subtitles, and Russian subtitles. Quantitative analysis shows that Korean subtitles tend to favor compression, reflecting subtitle length constraints and discourse naturalization strategy, whereas Russian subtitles more frequently employ explicitation, clarifying implicit semantic relations and contextual information. Qualitative analysis demonstrates that culture-specific references and genre conventions are not simply transferred but reorganized according to the interpretive norms of each target culture. Key intertextual nodes such as Hunters and Itaewon corn dogs function as anchors connecting the narrative to genre traditions and popular culture discourse. The findings suggest that intertextuality in subtitle translation operates as a dynamic meaning network shaped by linguistic structure, cultural accessibility, and global streaming environments.

This study examines the effectiveness of pre-training in asylum interpreter certification in Korea. The certification system consists of a screening test, an 8-week pre-training program, and a final certification examination. Using data from 185 participants who completed both the screening test and the certification examination, this study analyzes how initial competence and pre-training affect certification scores and interpreting performance through correlation analysis, non-parametric tests, and regression analysis. The results show a positive correlation between screening test scores and certification outcomes, indicating that initial competence is a strong predictor of performance. However, training effects vary across groups: lower-performing participants improved, whereas higher-performing participants showed a decline in scores. Attendance was found to have a statistically significant positive effect on certification scores only in the higher-performing group. These findings suggest that the effectiveness of pre-training should be understood not simply as overall score improvement but as a differentiated outcome depending on learners’ initial competence and engagement. The study highlights the need for more tailored training approaches in asylum interpreter education.

Drawing on Pascale Casanova’s model of the structure of the world literary space and her discussion of the role of translating mediators, this study examines the current position of Korean web novels within the global literary field, as well as the role of translation mediators in facilitating their movement from the periphery to the center. The analysis demonstrates that web novels display characteristics that diverge markedly from literary norms. Rather than relying on traditional forms of literary capital, they are more strongly shaped by commercial success and market principles. Web novels thus emerge as a genre in which digital platforms play a highly visible and influential mediating role. With regard to the translation of Korean web novels, the findings reveal that the role of ‘ordinary mediators’, who receive limited attention in Casanova’s model, is particularly salient in this context. At the same time, web novel platforms, which possess considerable literary and symbolic capital in the eyes of readers and fans, play a crucial part in the circulation and legitimization of these works. This study ultimately argues that the emergence of new literary forms such as web novels calls for a reconsideration and partial revision of established theories of world literature.

This study explores post-editing strategies for human-AI collaboration in audio description (AD) in the context of growing media accessibility demands and advances in generative AI. From a multimodal translation perspective, it analyzes the limitations of AI-generated drafts and the role of human intervention in reconstructing narrative meaning. Using Squid Game and Lee Seo-jin's Dalla Dalla on Netflix as case studies, AI-generated scripts produced by Gemini 3.1 Pro were compared with official AD scripts. A three-dimensional framework was applied: accuracy of signs, narrative cohesion, and stylistic and audience appropriateness. The results show that “Remove” and “Shorten” are the most frequent strategies used to control excessive description. The AI demonstrates limitations in information prioritization, narrative context management, and cross-cut editing, leading to omission and over-description. Human editors reorganize narrative focus, reconnect sequences, and selectively transform on-screen text. These findings indicate that AD post-editing functions as a process of narrative and effective reconstruction rather than mere textual correction, highlighting the potential of a collaborative model that combines AI efficiency with human interpretive expertise.

As the global spread of K-Culture continues to elevate international interest in Korean cuisine (K-Food), Chinese renderings of Korean dish names remain largely confined to ingredient- and technique-oriented informative translation. The official guidelines issued by the Korean Food Promotion Institute (KFPI) and the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) have made significant contributions to reducing mistranslation and ensuring terminological consistency; however, they fall short in conveying the expressive (aesthetic) and appellative functions required in tourism and culinary promotion contexts. Drawing on Skopos Theory (Vermeer, 1989; Nord, 1997) as its theoretical framework, Transcreation as its practical method, and the ya-cheng (雅稱, elegant naming) conventions of traditional Chinese gastronomy as an empirical model, this study proposes a suite of transcreation strategies designed to shift the translation skopos from information delivery to the elevation of cultural prestige (格, ge). Three core strategies - metaphor and metonymy, aesthetic chromatic borrowing, and cultural allusion and auspicious narrative - are systematically applied to thirteen representative Korean dish names, including japchae, bibimbap, and gujeolpan. The analysis yields practical implications for enhancing the international brand standing of Korean cuisine and offers a basis for developing supplementary transcreation guidelines to complement existing official standards.

As machine translation continues to reshape professional and pedagogical practice, translation studies must critically examine how the field has responded. This study maps MT research trends in Korean translation studies and identifies gaps warranting further development. Drawing on an analytical framework synthesized from Choi (2019), Lee (2020), and Shin (2020), this study analyzed 77 articles published between 2021 and 2024 across five Korean translation studies journals. The findings reveal that generative AI has rapidly emerged as a dominant research focus. Alongside this shift, research topics have grown more diverse as MT scholarship matures. Nevertheless, significant gaps remain: producer-oriented perspectives are underrepresented; specialized MT systems receive limited attention; error analysis risks becoming disproportionately foregrounded; classroom findings show inadequate transferability; user perception and acceptance studies address a narrow range of stakeholders; and productivity research seldom accounts for cognitive dimensions or multiple interacting variables. These findings point to the need for greater topic diversification, more rigorous and valid research designs, and sustained interdisciplinary collaboration to advance MT research within Korean translation studies.

This study explores learner experiences in interpreting training utilizing the STTKE (Speech-to-Text Keyword Extraction) model, a deep learning-based computer-assisted interpreting (CAI) tool that visualizes numbers and proper nouns in real time. Following a 15-week action research process comprising four cycles encompassing both consecutive and simultaneous interpreting in Spring 2025, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight graduate-level interpreting students across diverse language pairs and analyzed using Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis. The analysis revealed that (1) visual support reduced the note-taking burden while simultaneously inducing split attention due to gaze shifts; (2) learners developed strategies such as initial-consonant abbreviation, numerical pre-conversion, and numbering systems, with language-pair-specific preferences observed between keyword extraction and transcription models; and (3) reduced anxiety and enhanced self-efficacy were identified, accompanied by ambivalent responses toward tool dependence. The findings are discussed on the basis of cognitive load theory (Sweller, 1988) and the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989), among others, with implications for learner-centered CAI training design.

This study explores how AI adoption has transformed translation workflows in an in-house translation team at a single Korean corporation, investigating the experiences and perceptions of four stakeholder groups: translators, project managers, translation requesters from other departments, and a department head. Semi-structured interviews with nine participants were analyzed through inductive thematic analysis, supplemented by the researcher's work log data. Findings indicate a progressive shift from translators' autonomous AI use toward an organization-wide adoption of machine translation post-editing (MTPE). Although participants broadly shared an awareness of AI's benefits and limitations, significant differences emerged across stakeholder groups in their assessments of text-type suitability for AI translation and the prioritization of quality versus speed. The translator's role is being redefined from that of a direct text producer to a quality controller of AI output, with linguistic and cultural judgment increasingly valued over AI operational skills. Notably, AI-enabled back-translation has given rise to a new dynamic in which non-specialist requesters scrutinize translators' professional decisions. This study contributes to translation studies by empirically documenting how AI adoption intensifies the structural invisibility of translation value within corporate organizations.

This study examines the representation of focalization in literary translation through a comparative analysis of two Korean translations of Xiao Hong’s Tales of Hulan River. The novel constructs a distinctive narrative structure through the interaction of omniscient narration, child-centered narration, and retrospective narration by the adult “I.” Drawing on narratological theories of focalization, this study analyzes how shifts in narrative perspective emerge in the process of translation and how such shifts influence readers’ perception of the text. The analysis shows that the overall focalization structure is largely maintained in translation, but noticeable shifts occur in narrative distance, discourse mode, explanatory expressions, and the representation of perception. In several cases, the child narrator’s intuitive and fragmentary perception is reconstructed into a more explanatory and coherent form, while the retrospective distance of the adult narrator is also partially adjusted in translation. As a result, subtle changes occur in the emotional tone, narrative atmosphere, and aesthetic effects experienced by readers. This study argues that focalization is not only a major narrative device in literary fiction but also an important issue in literary translation. The representation of focalization in translation plays a significant role in reconstructing narrative perception and literary style in translation.