This chapter explores how Han Kang’s novel The Vegetarian, which won the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for Fiction, was translated into English by Deborah Smith. It claims that the translation quality is poor in terms of its content as well as in terms of its form. First of all, the translator has no good command of the Korean language and culture. Broadly based on the Translation Quality Assessment (TQA) model introduced by Julian House (and Julian C. Sager as well), this chapter attempts to identify and explain what she terms “overt errors”. Smith sees translation of a work of literature as rewriting it “creatively” in another language. Is what Smith has done in The Vegetarian an act of creation or an act of betrayal? A close reading of her translation reveals that the answer leans toward betrayal rather than creation.

中文翻译：

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韩康对素食者的“创意”英译

本章探讨了韩康的小说《素食者》是如何被黛博拉·史密斯翻译成英文的，该小说获得 2016 年布克国际小说奖。它声称翻译质量在内容和形式方面都很差。首先，翻译者对韩国语言和文化没有很好的掌握。本章主要基于 Julian House（以及 Julian C. Sager）引入的翻译质量评估 (TQA) 模型，试图识别和解释她所说的“明显错误”。史密斯将文学作品的翻译视为用另一种语言“创造性地”重写它。史密斯在《素食主义者》中的所作所为是一种创造行为还是一种背叛行为？仔细阅读她的翻译会发现答案倾向于背叛而不是创造。