The linguistic, musical and cultural delicacy of translation: Korean, Japanese, English, and German versions of 'La Traviata'

This dissertation explores the linguistic, musical and cultural consideration made in the Korean, Japanese, and English versions of La Traviata, one of the most frequently performed operas. The opera, originally written in Italian, is based on French novel and play, La Dame aux Camelias adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas fils (the son of the Alexandre Dumas who wrote The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, among other works).;The examination is made using the prism of specific words and phrases in Italian and their adapted counterparts in translation. Generally Korean and Japanese have a strong tendency to change the words and syntax because of the disparate structure and the constraints of culture. The German version has more literal translations while the English version exhibits more poetic license.