Linguistic Gap Analysis
Linguistic Gap Analysis — Acts 1–28 (English → Korean)
Purpose and Method
This analysis extends the baseline Romans translation_memory.json gap-analysis method to the Acts curriculum. It does not re-derive any baseline term; it (1) audits the nine Acts doctrine areas against currently available Korean vocabulary, (2) identifies missing vocabulary requiring new coinage or explanatory phrasing, (3) fences crowded semantic neighborhoods where an existing Korean word serves both biblical and competing folk-religious/Confucian/political senses, (4) records transliteration-vs-paraphrase decisions, and (5) ranks the book’s highest-risk ambiguities for Phase 2 review routing. All findings are consistent with, and feed directly into, assets/translation_memory.json, assets/bible_term_registry.json, and assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json for Acts.
Book name convention: Acts = 사도행전 (Sadohaengjeon), per Korean Revised Version. Citation format: 사도행전 2:1 (not “Acts 2:1”).
1. Doctrine Vocabulary Matrix
| Doctrine | Available Korean Term(s) | Weaknesses / Collision Risk | Recommended Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Holy Spirit and Pentecost | 성령 (baseline), 오순절, 성령 충만함을 받다, 방언, 부어 주다, 성령의 선물 | 방언 is the acute gap: Korean charismatic practice already uses 방언 for ecstatic prayer-tongues, and Korean shamanism (무속신앙) features mudang trance-speech understood as spirit-channeling during 굿. 성령 충만 also risks assimilation to 신들림 (spirit-possession) imagery if described with entering/mounting verbs. | Retain 성령/오순절 as established. For 방언, mandate an explanatory qualifier at every occurrence in Acts 2 (“실제로 알아들을 수 있는 다른 나라 말,” i.e., real intelligible foreign languages) to fence off the ecstatic-utterance and trance-channeling senses. For 충만, restrict verb choices to reception/indwelling verbs (받다, 채우다) and forbid possession-verbs (들리다, 임하여 지배하다 in a possession sense). |
| The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | 복음 (baseline), 이방인 (baseline), 하나님을 경외하는 사람, 하나님께서 깨끗하게 하신 것, 할례, 이방의 빛 | 이방인 risks reduction to 외국인 through Korea’s 단일민족 ethnic self-conception. “God-fearer” (하나님을 경외하는 사람) has no native sociological analogue and can be misread as simple piety rather than a technical liminal-membership category. | Reuse baseline 복음/이방인 unmodified. Add a standing explanatory footnote template for 하나님을 경외하는 사람 clarifying it as a synagogue-adjacent, not-yet-proselyte Gentile category (needed at every Cornelius-narrative occurrence, 사도행전 10장). |
| Repentance and Baptism | 회개하다 (new, High), 세례 (new, High), 죄 사함 (new, High) | 회개 risks collapse into Buddhist 참회 (karmic ritual penance) or Confucian 반성 (social self-correction); 세례 risks confusion with shamanistic ritual purification (부정을 씻음) aimed at removing misfortune rather than moral guilt. | Fence both terms with explicit doctrinal glossing at first occurrence in each lesson: repentance = Spirit-produced turning to God, not karmic self-purification or social propriety-restoration; baptism = identification with Christ and entrance into the covenant community, not misfortune-removal ritual. |
| The Church as Community | 교회 (baseline), 떡을 뗌, 모든 물건을 서로 통용하다, 장로, 감독, 그리스도인 | 모든 물건을 서로 통용하다 is the sharpest NEW Korea-specific risk in the whole curriculum: modern Korean historical memory of national division and North Korean collectivization gives “common ownership” language an unavoidable 공산주의 (communism) political charge absent from the Romans baseline entirely. 장로/감독 carry heavy contemporary Korean denominational-office connotations (Presbyterian 장로교, Methodist 감리교) that can eclipse the NT functional sense. | Never render 2:44-45/4:32-35 with any phrase resembling 공산주의 vocabulary (공유제, 사유재산 폐지). Use the established descriptive phrase 모든 물건을 서로 통용하다 exclusively and pair with an explicit teaching note: voluntary, Spirit-motivated generosity, not a prescribed economic system. For 장로/감독, add a standing note anchoring both to their shared NT congregation-shepherding function (사도행전 20:17, 28) rather than assuming modern denominational equivalence. |
| Apostolic Authority and Miracles | 사도 (baseline), 권능과 기사와 표적, 예수의 이름으로, 안수하다, 마술, 점하는 귀신 | This doctrine area contains the single densest cluster of shamanism-collision terms in the entire curriculum: 능력/권능 (mudang’s claimed 영력), 예수의 이름으로 (talismanic 주문/부적 formulas), 안수 (shamanistic touch-healing during 굿), 마술 (무속 itself), 점하는 귀신 (living 점/무당 fortune-telling practice). | Treat this doctrine as requiring the highest density of forbidden-substitution enforcement in Phase 2. Every occurrence of 권능/기사/표적, 예수의 이름으로, and 안수 must carry the standing distinguishing note that the power is Christ’s own authority mediated through faith, not an independently effective ritual technique. 마술 and 점하는 귀신 occurrences (ch. 8, 16, 19) should be flagged as the text’s own explicit verdict against the parallel living Korean practice, not softened into neutral “spiritual power” language. |
| Persecution and Bold Witness | 증인, 담대함, 돌로 치다 / 순교, 공회, 박해 | 담대함 risks flattening into natural bravado or the culturally prized face-saving composure (체면) rather than Spirit-given courage rooted in gospel conviction. 증인 must not be prematurely rendered 순교자 before an occurrence actually involves death. | Maintain 증인 across its full range (eyewitness → willing-to-die witness) without early collapse to 순교자; reserve 순교 for Stephen’s actual death (사도행전 7장) and any subsequent realized-martyrdom context. Anchor 담대함 explicitly to Spirit-empowerment (4:31) rather than natural temperament. |
| Conversion of Paul | 하늘로부터 빛, 도(道), 택한 그릇, 비늘 같은 것이 벗어지다, 네가 어찌하여 나를 박해하느냐 | 도(道) is the single highest-risk term in this doctrine and arguably in the whole book: it is the load-bearing term of Korean Confucian ethics, Korean Buddhism, and Korean new-religious-movement recruitment language (e.g., “도를 아십니까”). 택한 그릇 risks a merit-based-selection misreading given Korea’s competitive exam/hiring culture. | 도(道) must NEVER appear unglossed; require the qualifying phrase “그 도, 곧 그리스도의 도” (this Way, that is, the Way of Christ) at every occurrence (사도행전 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22), with a standing footnote distinguishing it from self-cultivation paths or new-religious-movement usage. 택한 그릇 should always retain “sovereign, purposeful” framing language adjacent to it, echoing the baseline 선택 caution. |
| Justification apart from the Law | 의롭다 하심 (baseline, Critical), 율법 (baseline, High), 주 예수의 은혜로 구원을 받다, 우상의 더러운 것/피/목매어 죽인 것/음행 | The central risk is NOT vocabulary availability (Korean already has clean established renderings via the Romans baseline) but cross-document consistency: 사도행전 13:38-39 and 15:11 must match the Romans package word-for-word, and the apostolic decree (15:20, 29) must not be misread as a partial reinstatement of law-keeping that would contradict 15:11 within the same chapter. | Lock 13:38-39 and 15:11 renderings to the Romans translation memory before any Phase 2 work begins; treat any deviation as an automatic Critical-tier flag. Require an explicit pastoral-accommodation framing note wherever the apostolic decree list appears, cross-referencing 15:11 to prevent a law-as-justification-requirement misreading. |
| The Great Commission Fulfilled | 땅끝까지, 따로 세우다/파송하다, 거침없이 전파하다, 선교 (baseline, Medium) | Korea’s status as one of the world’s leading per-capita missionary-sending nations means these terms risk being read through a success-and-growth-oriented missions-metrics lens rather than as descriptions of gospel scope and divine momentum — the inverse of the foreign-stigma risk seen elsewhere in this pipeline. | Consistently pair 땅끝까지/거침없이 전파하다 with teaching language emphasizing gospel-motivated proclamation over numerical/institutional achievement, reusing the Romans baseline’s mission caution rather than introducing new vocabulary. |
2. Missing Vocabulary vs. Crowded Semantic Neighborhoods
2.1 Genuinely Missing Vocabulary (no existing Korean lexical item; requires descriptive phrase or new compound)
| Concept | Gap Description | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| God-fearer (εὐσεβὴς καὶ φοβούμενος τὸν θεόν) | No Korean sociological term for a Gentile synagogue-adherent short of proselyte status. | Descriptive phrase 하나님을 경외하는 사람 + mandatory explanatory gloss at first occurrence per lesson. |
| Spirit of divination / python spirit (πνεῦμα πύθωνα) | No neutral Korean term preserves both “spirit” and “divination-enabling” without importing either 점 (fortune-telling) or 귀신 (evil spirit) connotations wholesale — but here that collision is the point. | Retain 점하는 귀신 deliberately, since the text’s own polemic requires naming the exact living Korean practice it confronts (점/무당 divination), then teach the term as Scripture’s verdict, not an implicit label for all Korean shamanistic categories. |
| Chosen instrument / vessel (σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς) | 그릇 (vessel/container) is a natural literal rendering but carries no inherent “selection” force on its own. | Compound 택한 그릇, always taught adjacent to 선택’s sovereign-not-merit-based framing. |
| Tongues of fire (γλῶσσαι ὡσεὶ πυρός) | No single Korean noun for this specific theophanic image. | Retain the established descriptive phrase 불의 혀같이 갈라지는 것들 (already fixed in Section A/B of the core glossary); no further coinage needed. |
| Utterance (ἀποφθέγγεσθαι) | No single-word Korean equivalent conveying “solemn Spirit-enabled declaration” without oracle-channeling overtones. | Retain descriptive phrase 말하게 하심을 따라 말하다; avoid single-word candidates like 신탁(을 전하다), which imports oracle/divination framing. |
2.2 Crowded Semantic Neighborhoods (existing Korean term serves both the biblical concept and a live competing referent; requires fencing, not new coinage)
| Korean Term | Biblical Sense Needed | Competing Occupant of the Same Semantic Space | Fencing Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 도(道) | “The Way” — the Christian movement/path of following the risen Christ | Confucian ethical Way; Korean Buddhist Way; new-religious-movement recruitment usage (“도를 아십니까”) | Mandatory qualifying gloss (“그리스도의 도”) at every occurrence; never allow bare 도 to stand alone in Acts text. |
| 방언 | Real, known human languages given by the Spirit for cross-cultural proclamation (사도행전 2장) | Korean Pentecostal ecstatic prayer-tongues (private devotional use); shamanistic trance-speech during 굿 | Explicit “actually understood by hearers as their own native language” qualifier required at 2:4, 10:46, 19:6. |
| 능력/권능 | God’s power specifically for salvation and gospel-confirming signs | Mudang’s claimed 영력 (spirit-power) for healing/exorcism/fortune; Korean charismatic “signs and wonders” ministry culture | Always anchor to gospel-confirmation/salvation purpose per baseline; never let 능력 stand as generalized this-worldly power language. |
| 안수(하다) | Biblical commissioning, blessing, healing-prayer, Spirit-impartation gesture | Common Korean Pentecostal/charismatic healing-prayer practice (안수기도), itself vulnerable to conflation with shamanistic ritual touch during 굿 | Anchor every occurrence to its specific NT function (ordination, blessing, healing-by-God’s-will) rather than to an independently efficacious touch-technique. |
| 세례 | Christian baptismal rite of union with Christ and entry into the covenant community | Shamanistic ritual purification removing misfortune/pollution (부정을 씻음) | Explicit framing: baptism marks entrance into Christ, not removal of ritual impurity or bad luck. |
| 모든 물건을 서로 통용하다 | Voluntary Spirit-motivated mutual generosity in the Jerusalem church | Modern Korean political vocabulary for communism/collectivized property (공산주의, 공유제) — a NEW risk not present in the Romans baseline | Use only the established descriptive verb phrase, never a noun like 공유제; always pair with “voluntary” (자발적) framing. |
| 장로 / 감독 | NT congregational elder/overseer function | Contemporary Korean Presbyterian (장로) and Methodist (감독) denominational office and social-status title | Anchor to shared NT shepherding function (사도행전 20:17, 28); note historical interchangeability predates modern hierarchical distinctions. |
| 조상 | Historical-genealogical patriarch reference (다윗, patriarchs) | Confucian ancestor-veneration object addressed in 제사 rites | Purely descriptive-historical framing; explicitly not an invitation to ritual veneration. |
| 회개하다 | Spirit-produced repentance grounded in Christ’s finished work | Buddhist 참회 (karmic ritual penance); Confucian 반성 (social self-correction) | Distinguish explicitly at first occurrence per lesson: turning to God, not self-generated karmic or social correction. |
| 말세 | Inaugurated last days beginning at Pentecost (Joel 2:28 citation, 2:17) | Popular/new-religious-movement doomsday sensationalism (“the end is near”) | Frame as inaugurated-but-not-yet-consummated eschatology, not date-setting fear rhetoric. |
| 음부 | Neutral biblical-theological state of the dead awaiting resurrection | Korean shamanistic 저승 (the afterlife realm reached via psychopomp guidance in funerary ritual) | Teach as a biblical-theological holding category distinct from both 저승 and 지옥 (final hell). |
| 제비를 뽑다 | One-time apostolic-era method of discerning God’s choice (Matthias, 1:26) | Living Korean divinatory practices (점, 사주, 제비뽑기 in folk-religious use) | Frame as a closed, non-repeatable apostolic-era act reflecting confidence in God’s sovereignty, not an endorsement of ongoing divination. |
3. Transliteration vs. Paraphrase Decisions
| Category | Examples | Decision | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transliterate (proper names, established loanwords) | 예수, 그리스도, 바울, 사도, 오순절, 그리스도인, 아멘, 할렐루야, 다윗, 이스라엘, 아데미 | Transliterate per established KRV convention | These are either proper names with no doctrinal content to translate, or loanwords already fully naturalized in Korean Protestant usage with no live competing referent. |
| Paraphrase (compound/descriptive Korean phrase, no single-word gloss) | 성령 충만함을 받다, 성령의 선물, 권능과 기사와 표적, 예수의 이름으로, 모든 물건을 서로 통용하다, 하나님을 경외하는 사람, 하나님께서 깨끗하게 하신 것, 택한 그릇, 눈을 뜨게 하여 어둠에서 빛으로 | Paraphrase with fixed, non-varying wording | Single Korean words in this semantic space are already occupied by shamanistic/folk-religious/political meanings (see Section 2.2); a full descriptive phrase is required to carry the specific biblical sense without triggering the collision. |
| Hybrid — retain native-Korean root term but require mandatory gloss | 도(道) → “그 도, 곧 그리스도의 도”; 방언 → “실제로 알아들을 수 있는 다른 나라 말” as qualifier | Keep the historically established single-character/short-form term (since Acts itself deliberately co-opts existing vocabulary as a self-designation) but bind it permanently to an explanatory qualifier | Full paraphrase would lose the text’s own rhetorical move (early Christians claiming an existing culturally loaded term as their self-designation); pure transliteration/bare use would surrender the term to its competing occupant. The gloss preserves both fidelity and doctrinal safety. |
| Reuse baseline unmodified (no new transliteration/paraphrase decision needed) | 복음, 은혜, 믿음, 의, 의롭다 하심, 구원, 부르심(을 받은), 거룩한, 성도, 성화, 부활, 주님, 하나님의 아들, 화평, 은사, 교회, 하나님의 나라, 율법, 죄, 이방인, 영광, 믿음의 순종, 능력, 선지자, 예언, 언약, 선택, 중보기도, 섭리, 선교, 하나님, 성령, 아버지, 권면하다, 다윗의 혈통, 의로 여기심 | No change | Full-book-coverage mandate confirms these terms recur in Acts with the same sense fixed in the Romans baseline; re-deriving them would risk cross-curriculum inconsistency, which is itself flagged as a Critical-tier error class in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md. |
4. Ranked List of the Book’s Highest-Risk Ambiguities
Ranked by (a) doctrinal centrality, (b) density/directness of collision with a living Korean religious or political practice, and (c) frequency of occurrence across the book.
- “The Way” (도, 사도행전 9:2 et al.) — Highest risk in the entire book. A single Korean character simultaneously anchors Confucian ethics, Buddhist practice, and active new-religious-movement recruitment rhetoric. Unglossed use would functionally rebrand the Christian movement as one more 도-based self-cultivation path.
- “Other tongues” / 방언 (사도행전 2:4; 10:46; 19:6) — Direct three-way collision: Pentecostal ecstatic-tongues devotional practice, shamanistic trance-channeling during 굿, and the text’s own actual referent (real known human languages for cross-cultural proclamation). Central to the core passage (2:1-41).
- “All things in common” (사도행전 2:44-45; 4:32-35) — The one genuinely NEW Korea-specific political-collision risk absent from the Romans baseline entirely; modern national-division history makes any “common ownership” phrasing politically radioactive if mistranslated toward 공산주의 vocabulary.
- Spirit of divination / 점하는 귀신 (사도행전 16:16-18) — The single most direct real-world behavioral collision: contemporary Korean 점/무당 consultation, often for payment, is precisely what the passage names and condemns. Mishandling risks either offending sincere folk practitioners without clarity or, worse, blunting Scripture’s own verdict.
- Sorcery / 마술 and Simon Magus (사도행전 8:9-24) — Direct extension of the baseline’s Critical 기복신앙/영력 caution; the narrative is the book’s own extended refutation of pay-for-spiritual-power religion, a live pattern in Korean shamanistic and (self-critically) some Korean charismatic practice.
- “Filled with the Holy Spirit” (사도행전 2:4; 4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9) — Risk of assimilation to 신들림 (shamanistic spirit-possession) if rendered with entering/mounting verb choices rather than reception/indwelling verbs.
- “Name of Jesus” as locus of healing authority (사도행전 3:6, 16; 4:10-12; 16:18) — Risk of reduction to a talismanic 주문/부적 formula whose mere utterance is believed to carry automatic power, contrary to the text’s own faith-mediated, Christ-authorized framing.
- Justification apart from the Law (사도행전 13:38-39; 15:11) — Not a vocabulary-availability risk but a cross-document consistency risk of the highest doctrinal stakes; any drift from the Romans translation-memory wording here would create a direct internal contradiction across the curriculum library.
- “Chosen instrument” / 택한 그릇 (사도행전 9:15) — Risk of merit-based-selection misreading, amplified (beyond the baseline 선택 caution) by Korea’s intensely competitive exam/hiring culture, which could recast sovereign grace as an earned outcome.
- Miracles, wonders, and signs / 권능과 기사와 표적 (throughout, esp. 2:22, 43; 4:30; 5:12; 14:3; 15:12) — High-frequency term requiring constant re-anchoring to gospel-confirmation purpose against the backdrop of both shamanistic power-claims and Korean charismatic “signs and wonders” ministry culture.
- Laying on of hands / 안수 (사도행전 6:6; 8:17; 9:17; 13:3; 19:6; 28:8) — Extremely common contemporary Korean charismatic practice (안수기도) creates a risk of treating the gesture as independently efficacious rather than as an occasion for God’s sovereign action.
- God-fearer category (사도행전 10장) — Lower doctrinal stakes than items above, but a genuine comprehension gap: without explanatory scaffolding, Korean readers may miss the significance of Cornelius’s liminal status entirely, weakening the Gentile-inclusion argument’s force.
- Elders/overseers institutional titles (사도행전 14:23; 20:17, 28) — Risk is comprehension-distorting rather than doctrine-destroying: readers may import full modern Korean Presbyterian/Methodist denominational assumptions onto a simpler NT congregational office.
- “Last days” / 말세 (사도행전 2:17) — Risk of sensationalist doomsday misreading via popular/new-religious-movement usage, obscuring the Joel-citation’s inaugurated-eschatology point central to the core passage’s Pentecost sermon.
- Casting lots / 제비를 뽑다 (사도행전 1:26) — Lower-frequency but notable risk of implicitly endorsing ongoing divinatory practice (점, 사주) if not explicitly framed as a closed, one-time apostolic-era act.
5. Summary Recommendations for Phase 2 Preparation
- Load this analysis alongside the Section B entries of
analysis/08_core_glossary.mdbefore finalizing Acts-specific additions toassets/translation_memory.jsonandassets/doctrine_risk_registry.json. - Every term in Ranked Items 1–7 above must carry a mandatory, non-optional translator-note template in Phase 2 output, per the escalation rules already established in
12_ai_translation_requirements.md. - Item 3 (모든 물건을 서로 통용하다) requires a NEW forbidden-substitution entry not present in the Romans baseline; this must be added explicitly to the Acts AI Translation Requirements document (Step 12 deliverable) as its own flagged category, since no Romans-era precedent covers this collision.
- Items 1 and 2 (도, 방언) require the highest density of standing explanatory glosses of any term in either curriculum processed so far in this pipeline; Phase 2 workers should treat any unglossed bare occurrence as an automatic validation failure.