What constitutes a translation graduate school in South Korea?

South Korea is the first country where the translation education has operated at a postgraduate level in Asia. The first graduate school, the Graduate School of Interpretation and Translation, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, operated at 1979. As of 2006, there are ten translation and/or interpreting departments at graduate level in South Korea.

The curriculum of translation graduate schools in South Korea should be examined from a theoretical standpoint. This article is the answer of what constitutes a translation graduate school in South Korea in terms of its title, its commencement date, type of school, division of departments, admission requirements, and the duration of the programme and what is an appropriate curriculum for a translation graduate school in South Korea.

For this study, I have conducted interviews with heads of translation departments at South Korea’s graduate schools in the first place, with a view to establish the real situation of graduate schools that teach translation in South Korea.

I adopted Renfer’s model for analysing the programme of the graduate schools. Renfer (1991) presents four basic programme models of translator and/or interpreter education training for western countries such as Two-tier system, Parallel translator and interpreter training model, Y model, and Postgraduate interpreter training or intensive on-the-job training in international organisations.

The results of the data analysis are discussed, and lastly suggestions for translation students to develop and improve their translation skills are presented.