Famous Translation Errors / 번역/통역의 잘못

I am by no means the measure of perfection but then again I am also not the one pushing myself off as a professional at Korean/English translation. I just wanted to put forth the below examples of bad errors within major dictionaries that I have come across, mostly in the way that things are worded.

저는 완벽하지 않지만 저는 사전 아니고 다른 사람에게 한국말을 가르치고 있지않아요. 사전에 이렇게 틀린 말을 보면 저에게 조금 좌절해요. 전 그냥 여기서 이런 잘못을 붙이고 싶어요.

견학 (naver): (learning by) inspection[observation] ―하다 learn by inspection;visit 《a firm》 for study;study and observe

A native speaker would never talk about ‘learning by inspection.’ Learning by observation? Yes. However, inspection has a far different connotation and I was surprised to see this error.

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Go to the Naver dictionary and look at this entry:

영국(英國)

England;Great Britain 《G.B.》;the United Kingdom 《U.K.》;the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland(공식명);the (British) Commonwealth of Nations(영연방);the British Empire(대영제국);the British Isles(영국의 여러 섬)

Anyone who is from the UK will tell you that ‘England’ does not equate to Great Britain, and that these are two separate words that should warrant separate entries.

However, the entry for ‘England’ in English is correct by providing the first definition as a Hangeulized ‘England’ and the second, tertiary definition as ‘the UK.’

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허전허전

tottering;faltering;staggering;teetering;shambling

  this word comes up when searching for 허전하다 — as in, 허전해 보인다 — for something to look too dull or plain. A regular 허전하다 needs to be added.

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환하다

is listed only as being ‘bright’ amongst other definitions when in many contexts it means to have a ‘red face.’ 환한 얼굴 does not really mean “a bright face” unless we are talking about a ‘bright, red face from embarrassment.’

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The entry for 위상 is dramatically off. The examples listed below clearly list that the word corresponds generally to ‘prestige’ yet the definition given does not include that.

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In the film 500 Days Of Summer the main characters roommate is asking how far he got with the new girl he is seeing named Summer; while asking, at one point he says “Handjob?”

Handjob is translated as “손을 잡아봤어요?” (Did you hold her hand?)