Introduction
Catalan is a branch of the romance language divided from Latin. In terms of language family, this language holds the same status as the other romance languages: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Rumanian, Galatian, and Provenial language. Regarding this issue, F. Diez, the founder of the romance language studies, recognized the independence of Catalan on the account of the historic time of its division and distinctive phonetic characteristics. In other words, apart from the official Spanish language, which is Castilian Spanish, Catalan coexists with Basque (historical classification unknown), which is used in various self-governing provinces, and Galatian, which is the language spoken in the northwestern region. Historically, secular Latin languages, which developed in various regions after the fall of the Roman Empire, grew into various romance languages, and Catalan is one of the languages thus developed.
After the fall of the Roman Empire through the Spanish domination by Visigoths (a tribe belonging to the German race) and even during the reign of Arabs in 1492, Catalonia was a completely independent kingdom with its own governing laws enacted by its government, the Generalitat. The territory of Catalonia at the time included the vast land that comprised one third of the Iberian Peninsula, the Baleares Islands on the Mediterranean Sea as well as Provence, Corsica, Sardinia Island, and Sicily Island.
The historical, cultural, and linguistic independence of Catalonia holds great historical significance, which could have resulted in a country akin to Portugal, a sovereign state that grew out of an independent kingdom of the Iberian Peninsula in the early 12th century. After being temporarily weakened when the unification of the Peninsula in 1492 has commenced, Catalonia once again formed a Generalitat through the Succession Wars in the early 18th Century and the 2nd Republic in 1931. The Spanish Civil War and the long dictatorship under Franco, however, erased the Generalitat and stripped all rights, including Catalan education, which put Catalonia into a dark age in its literal sense. The revised Constitution of 1978, enacted after death of Franco, repaired all the harms previously inflicted, making Catalan the official language of Catalonia Province today. Catalan recovered its status as the official language through the “Language Normalization Policy” of the Generalitat, the main office of the Province. Public documents are prepared in Catalan, and it is also indispensable when it comes to trade with other countries. Thus, knowing how to speak and write in Catalan has become the consideration for those seeking entry into the region.
Catalan is spoken by some ten million people residing in Catalonia, Valencia, Baleares Islands, Andorra and Rosellon (France), and Alguer, Sardina (Italy). Although the status of Catalan is higher than other minor languages in terms of the regions and its speaker pool, only falling behind the major languages, such as English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, it hardly received any attention from the South Korean academia. Although a Catalan conversation class was provided in HANKUK UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN STUDIES as a liberal art class, South Korea has yet to see the publication of even a basic grammar textbook or dictionary. At this juncture, we believe this dictionary publication project will provide an ample opportunity to learn the history, culture, and language of the region. With the establishment of special tourism districts and schools through the sisterhood established between Catalonia Province and Gyeonggi-do as a part of the mutual economic cooperation between Spain and South Korea, it seems that there has been no project better-timed than this. Considering the various macro-level projects currently under implementation between the two countries, the Catalan–Korean Dictionary will provide a crucial learning material for training experts who specialize in the region to ensuring cultural exchange and economic cooperation between the two countries.
With funding from the National Research Foundation of Korea (formerly Academic Promotion Foundation) for a year in 2004, the research team collected some 1,500 terms selected from 20 areas related with Korean clothing terms that were used for the last two millennia.
To ensure efficient archiving, maintenance, and utilization of the outcome of the previous research, the researchers constructed a database and a search system for construction of the Korea Clothing Dictionary database for six months from December 2011 to June 2012 with sponsorship from the National Research Foundation of Korea. The database and the search system employed intuitive navigation and web search engine to provide information on numerous terms as fast as possible.
Project Title : Dictionary Publication
Research Title : Spanish Catalan–Korean Dictionary Publication [KRM Task Information]
Chief of Research: Choi, Nak-Weon
Research Institution: Jeonbuk University
Research Period : 1 year (January 1, 2004 – December 31, 2004)
 
Project Title : Tracking and DB Construction for Foundational Researches
Research Title : Spanish Catalan–Korean Dictionary Supplement and DB Construction [KRM Task Information]
Chief of Research: Choi, Nak-Weon
Research Institution: Jeonbuk University
Research Period : 6 months (December 30, 2011 – June 29, 2012)