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Korean children's book translation

matthew254
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Korean children's book translation

Postby matthew254 » October 28th, 2009 3:52 am

I posted something on my blog that I thought might be helpful. It's my first entry in a series of Korean children's books that I want to translat into English. I think it's a decent way to practice. If anyone's curious at the format and would like to try their own, please feel free to check outthe original post. Below is an excerpt:

Main Story:
피터는 팔을 한껏 뻗었어
Peter stretched his arm as far as he could.
됐다! 높은 빌딩이 완성되었어.
Done! The high building is completed.

와당탕! 어, 빌딩이 무너져 버렸네.
Oh no! the building collapsed.
엄마가 꾸짖었지.
Mom scolded me.
"쉬잇! 좀 조용히 놀아라.
"Shhh! Play quieter!
우리 집에는 갓난아기가 있어요."
There's an infant baby in the house!"

피터는 여동생 수지의 방을 들여다보았어.
Peter peeked inside Suzy's room
엄마가 요람을 가만가만 흔들고 있어.
Mom softly rocked the cradle.
피터는 생각했지.
Peter thought.
"저건 내 요람인데, 분홍색으로 칠해 버렸잖아!"
That's my cradle but it's painted pink!"

아빠가 피터를 불렀어.
Dad called to Peter.
"피터야, 네 동생 식탁 의자를 칠하는데 이리 와서 좀 도와 주갰니?"
"Peter, come here and help me paint your little sister's table (high chair)"
피터는 중얼거렸지. "저건 내 식탁 의자인데"
Peter grumbled. "But that's my table (high chair)..."

피터는 아기 침대를 보고 속삭였어.
Peter looked and whispered to the baby's bed.
"내 친대야. 그런데 이것도 분홍색으로 칠해 버렸어."
"My bed. But, this is also painted pink."
침대 곁에는 피터가 쓰던 의자가 놓여 있었어.
Peter's old chair was placed next to the bed.
피터는 소리쳤지.
Peter screamed.
"이건 아직 칠하지 않았잖아!"
"This isn't painted yet!"

피터는 의자를 들고 제 방으로 달려갔어.
Peter ran to my room holding the chair.
"윌리야, 우리 도망가자."
"Willie, let's go away."
피터는 쇼핑 백에 과자와 강아지 비스킷을 챙켜 넣었어.
Peter some snacks and doggie biscuits in order in a shopping bag.
"파란 의자랑 장난감 악어랑 내가 아기였을 때에 찍은 사진도 가져가자."
"Let's bring my blue chair, toy crocodile and pictures of when I was a baby."
윌리는 뼈다귀를 챙겼지.
Willie gathered his chew bone.

피터와 윌리는 밖으로 나와서 집 앞에 섰어.
Peter and Willie went just outside the house and stood.
"여기가 좋겠어."
"Here will be good."
피터는 가져온 것들을 깔끔하게 벌여 놓고서 잠깐 의자에 앉아 쉬려고 했어.
Peter took out the carried things to organize them and took a quick rest on the chair.

그런데 앉을 수가 없었어. 피터가 너무 컸거든!
But Peter couldn't sit down. He was too big!

엄마가 창가로 와서 피터를 불렀어.
Mom called to Peter through the window
"피터야, 집으로 돌아오지 않을래?
Peter, don't you want to come inside the house?"
점심에 아주 맛있는 걸 해 먹을 건데."
You gotta eat some very delicious lunch."
피터와 윌리는 엄마의 말을 못 들은 척했어.
Peter and Willie couldn't hear Mom's words.
피터에게는 따로 생각이 있었거든.
For Peter, he was thinking about everything

엄마는 피터가 집 안에 들어와 있다는 것을 곧 눈치 챘어.
Mom soon noticed Peter inside the house behind the curtain.
엄마는 마음이 놓여서 말했지.
Mom's mood became lighter.
"요 장난꾸러기가 커튼 뒤에 숨어 있구나."
"Hey you little rascal, you're hiding behind the curtain"

엄마는 커튼을 홱 젖혀지.
Mom suddenly pulled back the curtain.
하지만 피터는 거기에 없었어!
But Peter was not there!

피터가 소리쳤어. "나 여기 있어요."
Peter screamed "I'm here"

피터는 어른 의자에 앉았어.
Peter sat in a grown up chair.
아빠의 옆자리에 말이야.
Dad sat in the chair right next to me.
피터가 말했어. "아빠, 아기 의자를 분홍색으로 칠해서 수지한테 줄래요."
Peter said "Dad, can I paint the baby chair pink for Suzy?"

아빠와 피터는 의자에 분홍색 칠을 하기 시작했지
Dad and Peter started to paint the chair pink.



Amount understood without dictionary:
~60%

Some things I learned from this book:
불가능 = not possible
가능 = possible.
ex) I can't come to the meeting on Friday. I'll be in America. It's impossible.
금요일에 미팅에 갈수 어뵤어요. 그 때는 미국에 있을 거에요. 불가능 해요.


너의=네
나의=내
Ex) These are my shoes. Those are your shoes.
내 신발이야. 네 신발이야.


분홍색 = pink

Still some unanswered questions:
- 와당탕! - <?onomatopoeia?>
- Why was the baby's high chair translated as dining table? (식탁 의자)
- Why did the narrator say "my room"? Is Wilie the narrator? (피터는 의자를 들고 제 방으로 달려갔어.)
- Did Peter go just outside the house or just before going out of the house? 피터와 윌리는 밖으로 나와서 집 앞에 섰어.
- I don't understand the verb used here: 피터와 윌리는 엄마의 말을 못 들은 척했어. ]
- I think I did a bad translation here: (피터에게는 따로 생각이 있었거든. For Peter, he was thinking about everything)

Additional Notes:
The pictures helped with the translations. Also, having never read the story, I'm curious to see how accurate my translation is to the original English version. Perhaps something got lost in translation? All in all, a great starter but a little advanced for me at this point. I wanted to choose a book that was similar in writing style but a tad shorter. My first tutor once found me some awesome baby books which we dissected. Unfortunately, we only got around to doing one book at the time. Also, although western books translated to Korean are just fine, I would like to read some native Korean texts, too. Actually, I would prefer to read those as they are natively written texts instead of translated classics. But all in all, a great practice of typing and I hope to do more. Still can't figure out why Peter changed his mind, though...


hope this motivates others to do the same!

shanshanchua
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Postby shanshanchua » October 29th, 2009 2:53 pm

this is a great idea. Hope you get a lot of good out of it! :)

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kingplaya4
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Postby kingplaya4 » October 30th, 2009 1:56 am

I hope you keep going at it, I found your blog really helpful. Maybe you can post a particularly confusing/difficult sentence here and those with more knowledge than I do can help you translate it.

yhenry
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Joined: October 14th, 2008 11:52 am

Postby yhenry » November 21st, 2009 3:34 am

Hi, Matthew!
Long time no see. I've been busy elsewhere and thought to drop by to see how you're doing. Since I'm here, let me help you get some answers to your questions.


Still some unanswered questions:
- 와당탕! - <?onomatopoeia?>; basically it is the sound of something being crashed, like 'crash!' We just happened to say that way.

- Why was the baby's high chair translated as dining table? (식탁 의자)
We don't have a word for a high chair for kids because we used to sit on the floor doing everything living like sleeping, eating and all other things you do at home.
Kids can have their size table and chair if their family have the western style dining room.

- Why did the narrator say "my room"? Is Wilie the narrator? (피터는 의자를 들고 제 방으로 달려갔어.)
제 방 means his own room. If it is spoken in honorific way, yes, it could be translate as 'my room', other times 제 is used for a third person possessive 'his/her'.

We say 지방 instead of 제방, not correct but natural and popular language stake(ordinary Korean talk), like 'I'm doing bad' on your side.
Another example; 지가 뭔데 ㅣliterrally what are you?. You probably would say 'what do you think you are' on your end.

- Did Peter go just outside the house or just before going out of the house? 피터와 윌리는 밖으로 나와서 집 앞에 섰어.
나와서 come/go out **서 conjunctive suffix; after that, and then
섰어stood

Peter went outside and then stood in front of the house.
Peter went outside standing in front of the house.

- I don't understand the verb used here: 피터와 윌리는 엄마의 말을 못 들은 척했어. ]
pretended; 못 들은척하다 Peter pretended not to hear what his mom said.

- I think I did a bad translation here: (피터에게는 따로 생각이 있었거든. For Peter, he was thinking about everything)

따로 something else, different
he was thinking about something else.
Peter had a different idea/thought/plan.
I am a forever ESL student.

yhenry
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Joined: October 14th, 2008 11:52 am

Postby yhenry » November 21st, 2009 11:10 am

피터가 말했어. "아빠, 아기 baby의자를chair 분홍색으로 pink color 칠해서 paint 수지한테 suzy 줄래요give."
I want to paint the baby chair pink and give it to Suzy.
There are two verbs and first verb is with conjunctive suffix '서' meaning 'and then/after that.

Korean language is with various suffixes that have various functions.
Identifying those will help you understand Korean quicker and faster.
They are very important in our language.
Mood, tense, conjunction, honorific, adjective or adverbial - you name it and they got it all managing all such functions just by changing the rear end of a word.
I am a forever ESL student.

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