“I was a foreign wanderer when I came to Taiwan a year ago,” Kim Tae-sung quipped, reflecting on a transition that was as unexpected as it was deliberate.

「一年前來到台灣時，我就是個國外來的流浪漢」，金泰成笑著回憶那段既出乎意料、卻又深思熟慮的人生轉折。

“I didn’t expect to have so many opportunities to work with Taiwan’s literature-related institutions.”

「我完全沒想到，會有這麼多機會能與台灣的 文學機構合作」。

Kim, a Seoul-born native who was then 66, decided to relocate to Taiwan in February 2025, leaving his family behind to immerse himself in the landscape he had spent decades translating.

2025年2月，出生於首爾、時年66歲的金泰成決 定移居台灣。他告別了家人，隻身投入這個他花了 數十年時間透過翻譯去描繪的土地。

Now 67, Kim has translated more than 20 books by Taiwanese authors into Korean, establishing himself as the preeminent conduit for Taiwanese translation in South Korea. In September 2025, he became the first non-Taiwanese Asian to receive a Grade-III Medal of Culture from the Ministry of Culture.

現年67歲的他，已將二十多本台灣作家的著作翻譯成韓文，是將台灣文學翻譯引介韓國的領軍人物。去年9月，他更成為首位獲頒文化部「三等文化獎章」的非台籍亞洲人士。

In a recent interview with CNA, Kim discussed his serendipitous ties to Taiwan, his observations on the depth of its culture, and his decision to relocate to the island.

在最近接受中央社專訪時，金泰成談到了他與台灣之間不期而遇的緣分、他對台灣文化深度的觀察，以及他決定移居這座島嶼的心路歷程。

Charm of the inadvertent

偶然的浪漫

Despite holding a Ph.D. in Chinese studies from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and having translated over 150 Chinese-language works, Kim admits that Chinese was not his first choice.

儘管握有韓國外國語大學中文博士學位，且至今翻譯超過150部中文作品，但金泰成坦言，中文並非他最初的選擇。

“The score requirement for the Department of French was higher, and I failed to reach it,” he recalls. “So I enrolled in the Department of Chinese, which not many South Korean universities had back in those days.”

「法文系的分數門檻比較高，我沒考上」，他回憶，「所以才進了當時韓國沒幾所大學設有的中文系」。

He said it was a “miracle” that he entered the graduate program, as he had shown little interest in his major until his final semester in college and many peers with superior literary knowledge failed the prerequisite English exams. That stroke of luck brought him to Taiwan for the first time in 1983.

他表示，當初能考進研究所簡直是個「奇蹟」，因為直到大學最後一個學期，他對中文系的課程都還興致缺缺，而許多文學造詣比他優秀的同儕， 卻沒能通過入學必考的英文測驗。正是那份好運，讓他在1983年第一次踏上了台灣的土地。

During that trip, Kim met poet Lin Huan-chang, a selection of whose poems ended up being his first translation work by sheer “accident.”

在那次旅程中，金泰成結識了詩人林煥彰；而後者的一系列詩作，最終竟因一場純粹的「意外」而成了他的第一部譯作。

“At first it was a senior student slated to translate it, but he was involved in a traffic accident, so he sent the script to me, and I completed the translation in secret while serving my mandatory military service.”

「起初原本是由一名學長負責翻譯，但他發生車禍，所以他將手稿寄給我翻。我那時仍在服兵役，就偷偷地完成了那份翻譯工作」。

Taiwan as Taiwan

台灣就是台灣

“Taiwan literature possesses a delicacy of language and a profound concern for the island’s history. This is why Taiwan merits an important spot when South Korea introduces Chinese-language literature.”

「台灣文學擁有細膩的語言文字，以及對這座島嶼歷史的深切關懷。這就是為什麼當南韓在引進華語文學時，台灣文學理應占有重要地位」。

Kim’s greatest commercial success to date is Kevin Chen’s “Ghost Town,” which has seen approximately 30,000 copies printed in South Korea since 2023. He describes Chen’s work as being “equipped with all the elements required for great fiction,” which displays a storytelling skill better than any Chinese work.

金泰成至今在商業上最成功的譯作是陳思宏的《鬼地方》，自2023年以來在南韓已印行約3萬冊。他形容陳思宏的作品「具備了偉大小說所需的所有元素」，展現出超越任何中國作品的敘事技巧。

Also, he notes that the linguistic texture of Taiwan is becoming increasingly complex.

此外，他也注意到台灣的語言質地正變得日益複雜。

While translating Tiunn Ka-sióng’s “Late Night Patrol of the Abandoned God,” he began to parse the distinct identity of Taiwanese from Hokkien. He realized the tongue came into its form today under Dutch, Japanese and Indigenous influences.

在翻譯張嘉祥的《夜官巡場》時，他開始解析「台語」與「閩南語」之間截然不同的主體性。他意識到，現今的台語是在受到包含荷蘭、日本及原住民文化的共同影響下才形塑而成的。

Rejecting the use of Korean dialects to represent these passages, Kim used Korean notes to indicate when a character is speaking Taiwanese, honoring the equal status of the languages. “I expect Taiwanese to become another major writing language for Taiwan in the future,” he says. “It will be challenging for translators, but I 100 percent support such a change.”

金泰成拒絕使用韓國方言來對應這些台語片段，而是利用韓文註釋來標註角色何時在說台語， 以此尊重語言間的平等地位。「我預期台語未來將成為台灣另一種主要的書寫語言」，他說道。「這對翻譯家來說將是挑戰，但我百分之百支持這樣的轉變」。

A room of one’s own

自己的房間

His current residence in New Taipei’s Luzhou District is a modest, windowless suite where his desk sits just five steps from the restroom. Yet, Kim calls it “my paradise.”

他目前位在新北市蘆洲區的租屋處，是一間沒窗戶的簡約套房，書桌離洗手間僅五步之遙。然而，金泰成卻稱之為「我的天堂」。

“I grew up with five brothers, so my dream as a child was to have a room of my own.”

「我家裡有五個兄弟，所以我小時候的夢想就是能擁有一個屬於自己的房間」。

Kim’s collection contains 8,000 books including 2,500 Taiwanese literary works -- which he said exceeds the holdings of any single library in South Korea, adding that his long-term goal is to establish a two-story library in his home country to make these works available to the public.

金泰成的藏書多達8,000冊，其中包括2,500本台灣文學作品─他表示這已超過了南韓國內任何單一圖書館的館藏。他補充道，他的長期目標是在家鄉蓋一座兩層樓的圖書館，將這些作品提供給大眾閱覽。

“I have to work very hard now,” he laughed.

「所以我現在得非常努力工作才行」，他笑道。

Seeing growing interest in introducing Taiwanese works to South Korea, Kim advises the rising generation of his compatriots to “read more” and “read slow” while avoiding overconfidence in their linguistic ability. “The quality of a translator depends on how much they read,” he says.

眼見南韓對引進台灣作品的興趣日益增加，金泰成建議年輕一輩的譯者要「多讀」且「慢讀」，並避免對自己的語言能力過度自信。「譯者的品質取決於他們的閱讀量」，他說道。

With 12 Taiwanese works currently on his docket, Kim refers to his commitment to the island’s voice as an ongoing mission.

目前手邊已有12部台灣作品排隊等他翻譯，金泰成承諾持續推廣台灣的作品並視其為使命。

“I love Taiwan literature,” he says, “and I’m going to keep introducing it.”

「我很喜歡台灣文學」，他說，「之後也會一直介 紹下去」。

字詞解釋

quip（動詞）→隨口說俏皮話。例句：When asked about the tight deadline, the veteran reporter quipped that he had forgotten what sleep felt like. 當被問及緊迫的截止日期時，那名資深記者俏皮地說他已經忘記睡眠是什麼感覺了。

deliberate（形容詞）→深思熟慮的。例句：The committee took a deliberate approach to the semiconductor subsidy policy, weighing the longterm impact on the global supply chain. 委員會 對半導體補貼政策深思熟慮，權衡其對全球供應鏈的長期影響。

serendipitous（形容詞）→偶然的；命中注定的。例句：Their meeting at the tech conference was purely serendipitous, but it led to a highly successful business partnership. 他們在科技研討會上的相遇純屬偶然，但卻促成了一段非常成功的商業夥伴關係。

prerequisite（名詞）→前提；必備條件。例句：Extensive research is a prerequisite for writing a high-quality analysis of international trade policies. 廣泛的研究是撰寫高品質國際貿易政策分析的必要前提。

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