ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the process of choosing the "best" word in translating from Korean to English and vice versa and focuses on K-E translation. It discusses some linguistic characteristics of Korean words in comparison to English words. Sino-Korean words, in particular one-syllable Sino-Korean words, are very common in Korean. One-syllable prefixes and suffixes are very popular in making new words in Korean. They are either Sino-Korean or Pure-Korean words. Korean vocabulary is characterised by a high proportion of Sino-Korean words. According to the Standard Korean Language Dictionary, around 57" of Korean vocabulary consists of words of Sinic origin. Anglo-Korean words are words which are complete copies of, or have at least fragments of, English words. Many of these words are labelled Konglish – a Korean, local variant of English which is often un-communicable to native English speakers. The Konglish has a derogatory connotation, but Konglish words are now becoming an essential part of Korean vocabulary.
