The Korean Wave in Translation

The Korean Wave in Translation series will aim to discuss issues of translation, invisibility, and the meanings of 'K-ness' in conjunction with the cultural phenomenon, the Korean Wave.

Following the explosion of K-Wave products into the global mainstream, this series comes at an opportune moment. Though there has been study into the difficulties and nuances of translation of Korean into English, recent smash hit films, record breaking TV shows, and successful bands – i.e. Parasite (2019), Squid Game (2021), and BTS, to name a few – demonstrate that the K-Wave is influential on such a scale that specific attention must be paid to the translation of K-Wave media. This series will consider how K-media is being translated for the global audience and how depth of meaning has thereby been limited. This study is both a linguistic and cultural study, examining the process of translation and meaning-making engendered by the ever-successful K-Wave, with specific focus on the role of consumers in crowd-sourced meaning-making.　

The series will primarily consist of monographs dedicated to discussing the following issues:

• Dialogue translation for K-Film and K-Dramas
• Lyric translation for K-Pop
• Narrative translation for K-Literature　
• How to tackle translating the ‘invisibles’ of Korean language　
• Crowd-sourced meaning-making　
• Social media and its impact on translation　
• The K-Wave as a harbinger of diversity and the desire for diversity in Western-centric popular culture　
• The K-Wave as a model for other Asian countries to export popular culture products　
• The role of Hangeul in K-media translation