'There is a need to implement qualification tests for translators'

Kwak Joong-chol

By Kwon Ji-youn

Professor Kwak Joong-chol, president of the Korean Association of Translators and Interpreters, says that the country needs to establish a qualification test to improve the quality and accuracy of professional translators and interpreters.

According to Kwak, Australia and Canada already have such tests to minimize conflicts of interest.

“From about seven or eight years ago, many, regardless of their vocations, have been able to provide interpreting and translating services without graduating from a higher level institution that specializes in the field,” Kwak said during a recent interview.

“The problem is that interpreters and translators who are active now are unwilling to take such a qualification test.”

Kwak said it should be a job for the government, calling for it to create a state translation bureau to administer such examinations.

However, the government does not see a need for such a bureau, saying there are already enough civil servants, according to Kwak.

But if professors and other experts come together to put the plan into action, there may not be a need for additional civil servants to establish such a bureau, he said.

Kwak is one of the first-generation interpreters. During his time in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), he took a test and passed to serve as a translation liaison officer.

He then went on to serve as an officer of English instruction for six months before working for the Presidential Security Service for one and a half years.

“I used to translate uncensored articles in the weekly Time and Newsweek magazines and hand it in to the head of the presidential securities office,” he recalled.

Kwak graduated from the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) Graduate School of Interpretation and Translation.

“HUFS was my alma mater, and that’s how I learned about the new graduate school, which had become the first interpretation school in Asia,” he said. “Japan has yet to establish such an institution.”

Kwak, who was recently re-elected to the presidential post of the Korean Association of Translators and Interpreters, stressed that there are an increasing number of students and laborers who speak English fluently, but professional translators and interpreters possess a completely different set of skills.

“When there were more international congresses or conferences, there was a need for more interpreters and translators. But now, they’re saturated. Four of five have become in-house interpreters. We need to attend to such issues,” he said.