Korean literature in Arabic

Egyptian translator Radwa Ashraf translated eight short stories by eight famous Korean female authors, including Kyung-sook Shin, and published them in Arabic as one collection. 

By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Mohamed Elzeny

Photos = Radwa Ashraf

"Language is the foundation of civilization. It's the glue that holds people together, and it's the first weapon drawn in a conflict."

I really like this quote. We may disagree about the veracity of it and debate what really is the foundation of civilization, but language remains one of the most important foundations of human civilization.

Crossing the language barrier between two societies is very useful to both sides, and it can be done in many ways. Today we will talk about one way to do so. Today, we will talk about translation.

If you're fluent in another language besides your mother tongue, then you can do a favor for the people who speak your mother tongue and for the people who speak your second language. This favor is to convey the voice of the owners of any language to the other people in the other language. That, of course, enriches libraries with more translated books.

Also, it opens new areas to writers from other societies. That's exactly what Radwa Ashraf did.

Radwa is a young Egyptian translator born in 1991. Radwa graduated from Al-Ahram Canadian University after studying journalism, but she found her passion in translation, especially literary translation. Also, she found her passion in the Korean language ever since she was in high school. When her passion for translation met with her passion for all things Korean, she translated eight Korean short novels into Arabic and published them as one book, called "Scarlett Fingernails: Women Stories from South Korea." 

She chose novels by famous writers, but all the authors were women. You may wonder why only women, as I did, but you'll certainly find the answer, as I did, too. Over the next few paragraphs, we'll get to know more about Radwa's experience with Korean stories in Arabic.

Radwa Ashraf wants to give her readers in the Arab world, a literary community where female voices are not so prominent, a glance into Korean literature. 

- How did you first learn about Korea? What attracted you to Korean literature, in particular? 

I first learned about Korea during secondary school. I noticed all the TV soap operas and songs that were coming out of Korean media conglomerates. They weren't famous in Egypt yet. Before Korea, I was interested in Japan. However, the "Korean life," so to speak, attracted me, as well as the language and the social norms there.

- What's the most interesting thing you like about Korea?

By virtue of it being near both China and Japan, Korea gained a lot from them, as they gained a lot from Korea, too. However, Korea has maintained many of its own traditions, too. Korea didn't allow the former colonialization or the current openness to affect it. I like its attachment to its traditions and, at the same time, the tremendous progress it has achieved.

- When have you traveled to Korea?

I moved to Korea in June 2015 and returned in June 2016.   

- It can be very difficult for people to travel to new countries. It can be even harder if they don't speak the language, and even more difficult for a woman to do so. What was your motive in taking this step? Was there any opposition from your parents? Oppositely, how did they support you?

Before l traveled to Korea, I had already traveled twice before on business trips. Each was two-weeks long. From the very beginning, I was looking forward to having the experience of living and working alone in Korea. Korea is welcoming to non-Koreans and it's encouraging to live there. That was one of the factors that encouraged me to travel there. My family didn't have any objections to me travelling there, just the usual anxiety, but they supported me before my travels and even during my stay in Korea.  

- Is there any racism in Korea? Can anyone from any race or religion live there without problem?

I didn't feel racism. I think we can characterize the situation as a lack of knowledge about the rest of the world. It's not exactly "racism," per se. Knowledge of Islam and the Arab world is not very strong there, and most of the time it's based on what they see on TV. Over recent times, the image isn't very good. Nonetheless, Korean society doesn't care about your religion. Koreans won't change their treatment of you based on your religion. They're actually curious to learn more.

- What's your opinion about the Korean language? Is it easy to express yourself in Korean? 

The Korean language is not difficult, but it needs a lot of practice. I consider it an easier language than simplified Chinese and Mandarin, or Japanese. It's a language that depends on the tone of one's voice. The same sentence turns from a question to a statement, depending on the tone of your voice. Korean contains many literal words, but with more time and practice you can express yourself quite easily.  

- To what extent are Koreans proud of their own language?

Koreans are extremely proud of their own language. This was evident in the very distinctive way that people there treated a non-Korean who spoke in Korean. They aren't "racist," exactly, but they have a lot more interest in non-Koreans who can actually speak Korean. The best piece of advice was, "As long as you're in Korea, learn Korean".

- What was your first book in Korean?

My beginning with Korean literature was the Arabic translation of "Please Look After Mom" by author Kyung-sook Shin. 

- Who's your favorite Korean author?

I can say that Kyung-sook Shin is my favorite Korean writer. After I read her novel "Please Look After Mom," I made sure to have a novel by her in my translated collection, because she was one of the best writers who I read, with an expression of feelings and of the human soul.

- How did your trip to Korea change you?

My love of traveling and my self-reliance has grown as I met new friends from different countries almost every week. These were but some of the advantages and achievements that I was able to achieve during my time in Korea. For me, when I came back from Korea, I found myself still sticking to some of those work habits, and I began to appreciate the allocated holiday time and fun time a lot more. Koreans are some of the most hard-working people that I've ever seen.

Radwa Ashraf (center) likes Korea for its attachment to its traditions. 

- What was the best thing that happened to you there?

My openness to different social norms increased, not only to Korean ones. Seoul is host to a great number of wonderful exhibitions that are devoted to the arts and cultures of the world. In terms of human treatment, there wasn't any "racism" based on religion. In terms of the private transactions I observed, religion is the last thing that anybody cares about when they meet another person.

- After learning and gaining some proficiency in the Korean language, you translated eight short stories by eight famous Korean authors, and published them as one book. How did you choose your articles for translation?

I wanted to share these stories because they're all women's stories with similar ideas. Most of them express "Korean" ideas from different generations, but I found their embodiment in many Korean young women I met, so I felt the true extent of the veracity of their stories.

- Why did you decide to convey women's stories to your Arabic readers?

Female voices in the literary world are not as prominent as they should be. I wanted to give my readers a glance into Korean literature, and this would be in the words of female writers, not male writers.

- While you were doing your translations, did you feel that there would be any turnout from Egyptian readers for something like your final work?

I had hoped so, after seeing the success of "Please Look After Mom." I realized that at least a section of Egyptian readers are interested in Korean literature, and that Korean women writers would have some audience among certain types of Egyptian readers.

- Are you planning on translating any other Korean works?

I hope I can achieve this soon. I'm still interested in conveying other writers' works. Also, I have an interest in the writers' voices in general, not only Korean writers' voices.

- What's your advice to someone who wants to begin to learn Korean?

Constant practice. Take care to listen to the correct pronunciation of the Korean language during your studies. The Korean language depends mostly on pronunciation. Korean soap operas are great fun, but they're only one of the many successful methods to learn a language and to understand the terminology of everyday life.

- Do you intend to go back to Korea again? 

It's in my plan to travel there again, yes.

- As a representative of both Egypt and the broader Arab world, did you feel that there's a passion for anything Arabic among today's Koreans?

Koreans have a passion for anything non-Korean; anything from the world, not just Egypt or the Arab world. They search for new things, but the problem is that the means upon which they depend don't always convey the best image. They have passion, but are not always full of proper information.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Radwa for sharing her experiences with Korea.net readers. To be honest, Radwa didn't only convey with us what she saw in Korea. She even filmed some videos of her journey, and they're available at Radwa's great YouTube channel. You'll find some interesting videos there under the title "Discovering Korea," like this one here.

There are also links to many interesting review videos about what Radwa was reading.

Enjoy.

wisdom117@korea.kr

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