56th Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards Fiction Commendation Award winner Adelle Wee Xing Min
Fiction Commendation Prize winner Adelle Wee Xing Min / Courtesy of Adelle Wee Xing Min
Among the five winners of the 56th Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards, Adelle Wee Xing Min stands out for her singular focus and dedication to literary translation.
A Singaporean student at the Literature Translation Institute of Korea’s (LTI Korea) Translation Academy in Seoul, Wee is an aspiring literary translator. Before entering the academy, she earned her master’s degree in Korean-English translation from Ewha Womans University, following an undergraduate degree in linguistics.
Her dream of becoming a literary translator began modestly through fan translation work in the K-pop community.
“I actually started out doing fansubs and translating social media posts for an idol group I really liked,” Wee recalled.
“There were only a couple of fan translators because the fan base was really small, and fans would have to wait hours and sometimes days before they could read an accurate English translation. So I started subtitling and translating their content to try to shorten the wait time and bridge the gap between non-Korean-speaking fans and the idols they loved so much. I remember staying up all night subtitling their videos back when VLIVE was a thing, and I really enjoyed it. Then one day, it hit me that it would be fun to actually do translation for a living, so I decided to start learning it professionally.”
Cover of sci-fi short story collection which includes Choi Hee-ra's "Aeon" / Courtesy of Jaeum & Moeum Publishing
For the award, Wee translated “Aeon,” a science fiction short story by novelist Choi Hee-ra.
She said her choice of text reflected her own curiosity about technology like artificial intelligence (AI) and its moral implications.
“Ever since I learned about self-driving cars, a tiny part of my brain has always wondered who or what would be to blame if it injures or kills a human being while driving on the road, or if it’s possible for someone (or something) to even take full responsibility for such accidents. I eventually chose to translate this short story because it seemed to share my thoughts and worries regarding AI and the advancement of technology.”
Completing the translation — and winning the award — reaffirmed her convictions about the irreplaceable value of human creativity.
“I strongly believe that AI is as dangerous as it is convenient, and that some jobs should be left to humans,” she said. “It’s ironic that I’m saying this as translation is one of the jobs that people say is becoming redundant because of AI, but it’s important to remember that the human touch in literature isn’t something that can be easily replicated, and it might be a problem if we think our creations are better than we are.”
Wee said one of the most difficult aspects of her translation was the story’s title.
“Translating the title was definitely one of the most challenging aspects of translating this work. ‘Yeongwon’ means ‘forever’ in Korean, but it also sounds ordinary enough for native Korean speakers to just look at it and go ‘Oh, nice name,’ instead of doing a double take as native English speakers might do if we see a name like ‘Forever’ or ‘Eternity’… I spent a very long time just trying to find the right way to translate the name. I eventually went with ‘Aeon,’ and I’m glad I use British English because I prefer this spelling over the American ‘Eon.’”
Having won both the LTI Translation Award for Aspiring Translators last year and a Modern Korean Literature Translation Award this year, Wee says she feels more confident than ever about pursuing a career in literary translation.
“My journey thus far has been very exciting," she said. "Winning these awards has only propelled me further to pursue literary translation.”