Movement Constraints and Translating Korean wh-Questions into English

Abstract

Movement Constraints and Translating Korean wh-Questions into English Lee, Kwangho (Gyeongsang National University) There may arise various kinds of translation problems due to the syntactic differences between Korean and English. In this paper I discuss constraints on English wh-movements and how they are relevant to Korean into English translation problems. In English wh-phrases have to move to the beginning of sentences. However, when there are more than one wh-phrase in an English sentence, only one can move to the beginning of the sentence. It has been argued by transformational-generative syntacticians that there are various kinds of constraints that restrict wh-movement. I argue that literal translation of Korean wh-questions into English does not work in many cases and that translators need to understand the constraints on wh-movement so that they won’t make errors in translating Korean wh-questions into English. They have to know what kind of wh-movement is possible and what kind is not, since not every kind of wh-movement is allowed in English although one wh-phrase has to move to the beginning of English interrogative sentences. This paper shows how important it is for translators to know the linguistic principles underlying the languages they translate, especially when they are so different like Korean and English. Korean translation schools need to include the courses in Korean and English linguistics into their curriculum so that they can educate and train their students of translation properly.