Translation Works Help Immigrants

By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

Three Korean films and a cartoon have been translated for immigrant workers and foreigners married to Koreans here. About 10 immigrants from Southeast Asian countries participated in the translation project to help people settle down in Korea more easily.

Three movies, ``Wolf Daddy,'' ``Stand by Me’’ and ``Walking in the Rainy Day’’ and a cartoon cooking guide were translated into four languages, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Chinese and English. The cartoon contains recipes for various Korean dishes and is already popular among foreign workers.

``My Filipino friends asked me to translate a Korean cartoon and movie into Tagalong and I did the job for almost three months from September last year,’’ said Maria Judids Bublacion, 38. Maria is married to a Korean here. ``It is my pleasure to help them. I hope to get more opportunities to do this kind of job for immigrants here,’’ she added.

Cultural Action (CA), a non-profit civic organization, organized the translation project, which it pursued in cooperation with a cartoon company and the Association of Korea Independent Film & Video funded by the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs.

They said they did this to help incoming migrant workers.
``I initiated the project to help lonely immigrant laborers feel more comfortable with living in Korea. If possible, our group will further translate more films and books into their language so we can build up a friendly environment for those foreigners,’’ CA activist Chang Young-rahn, 26, told The Korea Times.

Initially, many foreign nationals were scheduled to join in the translation but many of them gave up due to a crackdown on illegal immigrants by the Korean Immigration Authority between August and December last year.

For instance, A.B. Monirujaman Masum, general director of the Migrants' Trade Union planned to translate the films and book into Bangladesh with other Bangladeshis. However, Masum was deported as an illegal alien last December.

kswho@koreatimes.co.kr

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