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Although translation for Korean Studies, especially Korean literary translation, has long history and tradition, the results have not been satisfactory. This report seeks to propose future directions to improve the quality of English translations for Korean Studies. For discussion, this study analyzed the experiences of the first three years of the Korean Classics Library Project funded by the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology The Korean Classics Library Project includes one hundred Korean classics selected by the Academy of Korean Studies. The introduction of this paper presents four reasons why English translations for Korean studies are in great demand, what difficulties are there in producing quality translated works, and what measures need to be taken for improvements. This paper proposes four ways to further enhance translation for Korean studies: First, translations funded by the government should put more emphasis on appreciating the translators with translation specialty in a specific academic field and allowing translators to take enough time as required for translation, and less on the management of government grants. Second, it should be better understood that it takes much time to get translated works published at internationally-renowned academic presses. Third, the funding for translation needs to be increased to help translators treated better, including higher recognition in the academia. Finally, programs should be in place to nurture professionals with expertise in academic translation.

American studies began as a way of achieving independence in mind and of establishing an American identity distinguishable from the European. In the beginning, most American studies scholars did research and taught in the fields of literature and history. But American studies gradually expanded its scope to anthropology, sociology, and economics, namely social sciences. During the second world war, the American studies program was awarded a huge amount of funds from several prestigious foudations. With it, new programs of American studies were set up at universities over the country, and a lot of research on American studies within and outside the US was supported by these funds. However, with the decline of the ideological cold war, the importance of American studies also began to dimish. The most significant event showing the decline of American studies was the close of the department of American studies at the University of Pennsylvania in 1994. Because the American studies program at the University of Pennsylvania was leading direction of American studies in the US, the impact of the close of the department was enomous. This event vividly shows how difficult it is for American studies to be an independent scholarly branch without its own subject of research and methodology. This implies that Korean studies without its own subject of research and methodology which is distinguishable from that of other scholarly fields, will find it difficult to maintain its identity, and further, even survive.