Radical feminist translations and strategies: A South Korean case

What is it about?

This article discusses the textual representation of radical feminist translation in the context of South Korea, with an emphasis on the diversity and categorization of radical feminist translation strategies. In feminist translation studies, the theories and praxes of translation strategies have long been topical subjects (Yu 2015, 21). However, there is still a relative lack of research on how feminist translation is practiced in a non-Western context and how feminisms are represented in languages of lesser diffusion (von Flotow and Farahzad 2017, xiv). Radical feminism—“a branch of feminism that locates the root cause of women’s oppression in patriarchal gender relations” (Pullen 2008, 1349)—has rarely been explored as a strong motivation for translatorial action.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

In this article, we explained various textual representations of radical feminist translation in terms of lexicogrammatical formation. The examples showed that the translator adopted several micro-level strategies to foreground her political views of radical feminism. She uses new personal pronouns to reject the male-as-norm principle and express strong disapproval of transgender men. She also amends traditional (misogynistic) equivalents in ways that legitimize women’s existence and remove phallogocentric elements. In addition, she inserts both lexical and gramamtical markers to stigmatize terms that misrepresent the sexual exploitation of women. Furthermore, she deliberately overtranslates some phrases to make women’s suffering more visible and adds many footnotes to encourage readers to take part in feminist (re)reading. Considering these examples and the peritexts aforementioned, it can be argued that Yu Hyedam is a feminist translator well-versed in encoding source-language meanings in a creative and disruptive way. She critically examines the way language is used, and utilizes multifarious aspects of lexicogrammar to accentuate social practices that engender sexual oppression against women. She does not aim to make her translation more readable or natural. Rather, she gives readers some pause to think about “the unnatural”—non-conventional language that rejects male-centeredness and visualizes women’s presence. She is also an evolving translator who reflects on her previous decisions. According to the translator’s prefaces, she often mulls over what impacts her translation could have on the victims of sexual oppression and ordinary readers. She also engages actively in critical dialogue with other feminists and, if need be, revises her previous translations.

Perspectives