DoubleSpeak Staff
on translating Kim Sowol
Translating on one’s own is difficult enough, but translating as a diverse group of seven women is infinitely more difficult. The fact that two of us speak Korean was helpful, of course, but even those of us with no knowledge of the language felt strongly about each choice. There were often moments when those who spoke Korean felt that the others’ translations were not close enough to the original, and so it became a tug-of-war between staying true to the original and trying to convey the sense of resignation that we all were wrestling with. There were times when feelings won, such as the choice to translate with minimal punctuation or capitalization — though the original has periods that lend it a sense of finality, we all felt that this love story was unfinished, and so we chose to not use any punctuation aside from the occasional comma. Other times, we stayed true to the original. Our decision to rhyme the last line of every stanza came from the rhyming and melodic sounds in the Korean. Though this made our translation process more difficult, we were all very pleased with the results. Poetry is perhaps the most universal and yet the most intimate form of language. This paradox (or this serendipity) emerged at each step of our process.
about the author
Kim Sowol (김소월) was a famous early modern poet from Northern Korea, when Korea was not yet divided. He is best known for his collection The Azaleas, which was published in 1925 when Kim was twenty-five years old. He was most adored for incorporating Korean folk rhythms into his poetry, as these rhythms touched the hearts of his audience. They also create an additional challenge for translators of his work. Despite his short-lived life, Kim Sowol is considered one of Korea’s most beloved twentieth-century poets.
about the translator
DoubleSpeak’s editorial staff is a combination of eight strong women. We love translating and writing and eating pizza and fava beans and being with other strong women who translate and write and love. We come from College Station, Texas, Seoul, Korea, China, Canada, and California, from Seattle, India, and from Philadelphia. Between us, we speak Hindi, German, Korean, Chinese, French, Spanish, Hebrew, and many different versions of English.
