The State of Translation and Language Studies in Korea

Abstract. Translation and language studies in Korea have been very much influenced by the political and social changes in the country, which in turn affected by its geopolitical positioning. Although each stage of the developments in the language and translation shares the very influence of the social, political and economical changes in the country, language studies and Translation in Korea seem to have developed independently of each other. From Ancient Korea to the present day, language has been through many different developmental stages, from the borrowing from Old Chinese to the invention of hankul. As for translation activities, neighboring countries such as China and Japan have played a key role in the development of translation. They are the source of translation needs, as well as the indirect source of translation from other languages. This paper will give an overview of the history of Korean language and translations of Korean � translation both to and from Korean � by sketching the nation's history. It, however, does not aim to evaluate the relationship between the development of the language study and the translation activities. Rather, it aims to present a historical account of the two.