부산대학교 도서관

This study aims to review the theoretical assumptions of the Retranslation Hypothesis (Berman, 1990), and to test some of these assumptions by reviewing two translations of ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’ in Korea. The Korean retranslation of the first Harry Potter series was completed due to various factors and is reflected in various aspects within the text. The second Korean translation of the book, which was published with a difference of 20 years from the first version, could be classified as a “passive retranslation” according to Pym's classification (1998:82). However, upon analysis, the study finds that the retranslation was performed not simply for supplementation or improvement of the first text. Other factors that were determined are as follows: a better appreciation and understanding of the author and the work, meeting the expectations of the publisher and reader, the translator's personal affection for the original text, and a massive influx of new target readers. The retranslated version is an “active translation” (1998:82) in that it has a dynamic character in which various factors are intertwined. According to the Retranslation Hypothesis, retranslations tend to be more source culture oriented than the first versions. However, this study shows that the hypothesis is not a consistent phenomenon, and many cases of the opposite were also observed.