Bureau of Interpreters

[1] They were a vital part of the national foreign policies of sadae 'serving the great' (i.e. China) and gyorin 'neighbourly relations'.

[3] In 1393, the second year of the Joseon period, the Bureau of Interpreters was established as part of the Ministry of Rites.

[5] The bureau was based in buildings to the west of the Six Ministries in the central district of the capital, Hanyang (modern Seoul).

[8] The most important and most taught language was always Chinese, reflecting Korea's key foreign relationship and the sadae policy.

[11] The study of Mongolian had originally been introduced when Goryeo was a vassal state of the Mongol Yuan dynasty.

[13] The Jianzhou Jurchen (the Manchus) invaded Korea in 1627 and 1637, before overthrowing the Ming in 1644 and establishing the Qing dynasty in China.

[35][36] In addition, the Han Ch'ŏng mun'gam (漢清文鑑) was a glossary of Chinese, Korean and Manchu.

[40] The prescribed textbooks for colloquial Chinese were the Nogŏltae ('Old Cathayan') and Pak T'ongsa ('Pak the interpreter'), both originally written in the 14th century.

[41] The Nogŏltae consists of dialogues focussed on Korean merchants travelling to China, while the Pak T'ongsa is a narrative text covering Chinese society and culture.

[44] The Kyŏngsŏ Chŏng'ŭm (經書正音) consists of several Chinese classics annotated with pronunciations but not translations.

[46] The Oryun chŏnbi ŏnhae (伍倫全備諺解), based on the Ming drama Wǔlún Quánbèi by Qiu Jun (丘濬), was also used in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

[54] Two of them, both stories about children, are preserved in Manchu revisions from 1777, the Soa-ron (小兒論, 'Discussions of the Child') and P'alse-a (八歳兒, 'Eight-year-old Boy').