Intercultural Perception on the Cultural Objects in Korea Anthology Short Stories through the Malay Language Translation

Abstract

The Malay translation of the Korean creative texts on the design of its cultural objects has a distinction externalisation from the local Malay culture in Malaysia. However, this intercultural perception can be interpreted through the strategic meaning externalisation. Therefore, this study used a translation strategy approach by Keesing (1958) on 10 works of the Korean anthology short story entitled ''Sampoganun gil'' (The Road to Sampo) written in 1973. The selection of 10 works in the short story anthology organised and published by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in 1988 was due to the motivation of life reflected by the story in the Korean society that is still traumatised from the phase of Second World War. Based on the results of the text analysis on the work, interview was conducted on two group of Korean and Malay-speaking readers with Korean and Malay language proficiency and had an understanding of both cultures to assess the intercultural perception in the translation of the designs of cultural objects into in the context of Malay readers'' understanding. The findings in this article highlighted two types of translation division of cultural material from the subject of study, which are those that can be translated and those that cannot be translated. Furthermore, the description of reasons given by the participants on intercultural perception indicates that the ability to translate cultural element of material is limited to the concept of its form. The results of this study can contribute to the understanding on the evolution of the creation of cultural objects to undermine the survival value of a human clan. Therefore, this study can help design researchers to understand the similarities and differences in the concept of artifact creation with different cultural backgrounds through the translation works of two different languages in a comparative manner.