You only need to understand the principles of English transliteration, it doesn’t have to be so accurate
From Feilengcui, Jiebo, and Humor to the necessity and principles of transliteration
Liao Kang
Xu Zhimo translated the name of an Italian city as "Feng Leng Cui", which Acheng admired very much; not only did it sound similar, but the meaning was also appropriate. Because the city's official residences and churches use a kind of green marble, which embellishes the city like a piece of emerald. However, such a beautiful translation has never been spread. But that city is known as Florence. Why? Although I have never been there, I can imagine that Feileng Cui is more representative. But it lost to Florence. The reason behind it makes me want to talk about the necessity of transliteration and the principles of transliteration.
The first person to mention the necessity of transliteration and establish principles was the Tang monk Xuanzang. Summarizing his many years of experience in translating Buddhist scriptures, he established the "Five No Translations" and guided many Buddhist scholars in the translation community to collectively translate scriptures. The "no translation" he said does not mean no translation, but "no free translation". He believes that transliteration is necessary in the following five situations:
1) Secrets (that is, Buddhist secrets, such as mantras, need to be transliterated)
So if Tang Monk’s Tightening Mantra is translated into Chinese is still useless. Want to catch Sun Wukong without learning Sanskrit? You have to use a voice that is difficult to pronounce, difficult to pronounce, and close to the original text in order to be effective. No wonder it doesn't work whether you say "Sesame, open!" or "Sesame, open!" It was originally Arabic magic. If you don't learn other people's languages, it won't work.
2) It has multiple meanings (it does not mean that a word has multiple meanings, but refers to concepts that require lengthy explanations, which should be transliterated first and then explained and popularized)
For example, the Sanskrit bhagavat Translated as Bo Jiao Fan. Although the original word refers to Buddha, it also contains six meanings: "freedom, blaze, solemnity, name, auspiciousness, and dignity." Simply speaking of Buddha is not enough to express the World Honored One. In the same way, the English translation of Kung Fu is now Kongfu to distinguish it from martial art, so as to show the essence of Kung Fu such as "time-consuming, energy-consuming, preserving the essence, and consolidating the foundation".
3) There is no reason for this (something that China does not have)
Compared with the other four categories, this type of difference probably refers to specific things and names of people and places that we do not have, which are also discussed below. A category that needs to be discussed in detail. No need to go into details.
4) Following the ancient tradition (the existing transliteration will not be re-translated)
Before Tang Monk translated the scriptures, the Sanskrit Anuttarasamyaksambodhi had been transliterated as Anuttarasamyaksambodhi , which means to be aware of all the truths of Buddhism and understand all things as they really are, thereby gaining omniscient wisdom. But this word is too long. Although Tang Monk continued to use it, it was later simplified to Ayun Bodhi. The classic modern example is Moscow, which is translated based on the English pronunciation. Although it is pronounced Moskva in Russian, as the Chinese have become accustomed to Moscow, they still follow the ancient name.
5) Produce good effects (if it can only be understood and cannot be expressed in words, it must be transliterated)
The meaning of Sanskrit Prajna is similar to wisdom, but Buddhists believe that it is the same as general wisdom. Different, it is considered to be special wisdom that directly understands the essence of all things. Those of us who do not believe in Buddhism probably cannot understand it and cannot agree with it. In any case, since the translator thought it was different, he translated it as Prajna, allowing monks, nuns and laypeople to concentrate on trying to figure out this elusive ability. "Tuina" is now translated as Tuina, which may be regarded as a modern example of this type of transliteration. In the past, massage was translated as massage, which not only belittled this therapy, but also easily confused with the sex industry. No wonder insurance companies refused to include it in the coverage; chiropractic therapy (chiropractic therapy) has another theory. Although it has similar techniques, it also has Out of place. The difference between them seems to ordinary people to be far greater than the difference between wisdom and prajna.
These five rules established by Tang Monk have guided transliteration for thousands of years. Many concepts that were not originally available in China began with transliteration, gradually became popularized through explanations, and were finally incorporated into Chinese. For a long time, we didn't even know they were foreign words.
For example: the word "kalpa" in the idiom "endless" is abbreviated from "kalpa", which is the transliteration of Sanskrit kalpa, which is an extremely long time unit. Ancient Indians believed that Brahma, the father of all living beings and the main god of Brahmanism, has one day equal to one calamity, which is equal to 4.32 billion human years (another theory is equal to 4.32 million years). "A day in the sky, a year on the earth" and "A few days in a cave, thousands of years in the world" all come from the concept of Buddhism, but the proportion is much smaller. No other ethnic group in ancient times had such a big word or concept as "tribulation". This is related to the fact that Indians like to think about things far away and the nature of things. Buddhism also believes that there are four periods of kalpa: "creation", "dwelling", "destruction" and "emptiness". During the "bad calamity", there will be three disasters: water, wind, and fire, which will burn everything and then severely damage everything. Therefore, "tribulation" is also extended to a huge disaster, so there are words such as disaster and catastrophe. The Chinese also creatively used the concept of "tribulation wave" and came up with the idiom "the aftermath of the tribulation wave". When we were in middle school, the teacher deceived us when explaining this idiom, saying that calamities can also be done on water, such as the deeds of Li Jun, the dragon in the river. It was many years later that I learned that this "tribulation" had nothing to do with the path of tribulation.
A modern example is the concept of "humor". This only entered Chinese in the last century and is still in the process of integration. I wonder if anyone has researched who first transliterated it from what language? Since the pronunciation of French humeur is closer to the pronunciation of "humor" than English humor, I guess it was translated from French. The original meaning of Spanish is "body fluid". Before the development of modern Western medicine, Europeans believed that humans had four body fluids: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Too much blood will make you lively; too much phlegm will make you sluggish; too much yellow bile will make you irritable; too much black bile will make you depressed. If the four body fluids are in moderate amounts, a person's temperament will be peaceful, his temper will be good, and his speech will be witty. Lu Xun and Lin Yutang had a dispute over this transliteration, representing two main opinions. One party believes that "humor" will mislead readers and make people think of "Chu Ci?" Nine chapters? The "Kong Jing Humor" in "Huaisha" is thought to describe silence, so it is better to translate it as "humor". The other side believes that "humor" is not enough to express this concept related to human nature. In order to "produce good effects", it should be transliterated and popularized. To this end, Lin Yutang took action and wrote many articles and gave many lectures to promote humor. Although it was untimely during the national crisis, it played an indispensable role in the development of cultural exchanges and popularized this concept. Nowadays, it is common to use the development method of "humor and silence". In a few hundred years, perhaps some misguided gentleman will explain humor as simply "recognizing it quietly and appreciating it silently".
In fact, more transliterations are not foreign concepts, but names of people and places. Although many foreign names have the same meaning as Chinese names, translators agree that the transliteration is better and easier to communicate. For example, the great hero Zorro we are familiar with, his original name in Spanish is Zorro, which means fox. Although Fox in English and Fox in Chinese are both surnames, no one has translated their names in this way. Not only is it difficult for Fox and "Fox" to convey the majestic impression given by the sound of the name Zorro, but also if a name has such different pronunciations in different languages, it is not easy for the reputation to spread. Not to mention that many names may not necessarily have the same meaning in other languages, and sometimes although the meaning can be translated, the meaning as a name in another culture may be funny. For example, the famous Italian composer Verdi, the original word Verdi means green. The surname Green does exist in English, but if someone says that he likes Green or the opera "La Traviata" written by Mr. Green (La Traviata is a free translation of "La Traviata"), it will definitely be confusing. Martin, the pioneer of the American civil rights movement? Luther? If Martin Luther King is translated as Mr. Wang, he will be mistaken about which country he is from. The famous Mrs. Thatcher. If Thatcher were translated as "thatcher's wife", it would not only be funny, but also disgraceful.
Transliteration is obviously necessary and important, but the three modern principles for transliterating names of people and places from Western to Chinese are not widely known, and even some professional translators are not clear about them. These three principles are: names follow their owners, names are meaningless, and names should be concise.
Chinese is different from most languages ??in that it is not a pinyin text; when transliterating, it is often not as convenient and accurate as when European languages ??are transliterated into each other, but not always. Although the corresponding letters in the name can be transferred to European languages, the pronunciation may be quite different when pronounced in each language. Chinese should be translated according to the original text, that is, the owner's own pronunciation, which may sometimes be more accurate. For example, Caesar, the most popular word in ancient Rome, is translated into Chinese as Caesar, which maintains the majestic pronunciation of Latin. However, the English sound when pronounced with a pursed lips is close to that of Caesar, which is far less sonorous than the original text. The name of the former Russian president is sometimes translated as Yeltsin or Yeltsin. Yeltsin is translated according to the English Yeltsin, but the L in Russian is pronounced as if it is followed by the vowel i, and the translation as Yeltsin is closer to the Russian pronunciation. Another example is the x in Mexico. The Spanish pronunciation is h, and in the Chinese transliteration, at least the middle syllable is more accurate than in English. This should be attributed to the translation of the name from the owner.
The purpose of the second principle is to avoid misunderstandings. Since there is no distinction between upper and lower case in Chinese and there is no printing compliance prompt, the names of people and places are entirely up to the readers' judgment. In the first 50 years of the last century, when people were not very familiar with Western names, some publishing houses added dashes under the translated names to help readers identify them. This practice has long disappeared, which requires the translator not to translate the meaning of the names of people and places, so that when readers see the new name for the first time, they will think that it is the name of a person or place because it has no meaning. For example, Costa Rica in Central America. If it is translated as "Rich Coast", people will certainly not think of it as a country; if it is translated as "Costa Rica", it may also be confusing. ?Bad and desolate and thirsty?School?The steep and sheathed tailor blows the Yin sword lesson and the money faints?The poor and dirty Mu family presses the Dan?The spoon coriander and the minced weapon are haggard and joyful ⅰ6 bright and the tearing eyebrows have just closed?Toss the falcon scabbard condemnation笪餮螅袢簦椤 mantle Rui簦椋浵恿摑榑榑曰GUIN簟t淅浵湔饷鰷尯 Lai Na? Kind? Cantonese? Cantonese? 袢? Faded and leech? Fortunately, Pao Dan? Faint? Quietly holding the bell? Sighing! Ao! Acne?Naiann?Feng Yu?Huang?Meilan?四?嘘ΦMuTaoMo?Xianxiaozhumanpiao螸灁椋Ruihu簦铮霜cyst?Peanutton", translated by Maryland as "Maililan", translated by Ohio" "Hungry is still hungry" is very interesting, and it also shows that the transliteration of the name should not be meaningful.
It seems self-evident that the translation should be concise, but there is another truth in it that is often ignored by translators. Some English names are longer, but they may not have many vowels. In Chinese, every word has a vowel. According to Chinese pinyin, it is a vowel. If you use Chinese characters to express each sound of an English name, you may be using Chinese characters. Vowels represent consonants, which is often a thankless task. For example, Spartacus, the hero of the uprising against Roman rule, is sometimes translated as Spartacus. The s at the end of the original text is a light consonant, and it seems better not to translate it. Translating McDonald as McDonald is not as good as McDonald, and in recent years it has been replaced by McDonald. Mc seems to have no vowels, because it is the abbreviation of Mac, and it has vowels when pronounced, plus Donald*** has three syllables. At first I was not convinced by the transliteration of McDonald's, but after I got used to it, I found that the translation of the name was concise, close to the original pronunciation, and also catchy. No wonder the owner adopted it and it was accepted by the public. Victor and Victoria have the same origin. One female and two personal names. I did not translate it as "Victor" to avoid misunderstanding as "Zhiduo", and I did not translate it as "Victoria" for the sake of simplicity. I once translated the name of a CEO, Fairchild, into Fairchild. Child, the proofreader suggested changing it to Fairchild, to become my one-character teacher. If the pronunciation is smooth and similar to the original name, as long as there is no misunderstanding, it should be as concise as the original transliteration of Aunt Bodhi. Although the reader is faithful, readers will omit it instead of wasting countless words... (There are garbled characters here)
By the way, Mc means "son of" in Scots, and someone once pronounced it McDonald. The combined translation as "Tang Nuozi" failed to spread. Firstly, it was too similar to a Chinese name, and secondly, this translation method could not be promoted.
Otherwise, "Jiangzi" (Johnson) sounds like a pre-Qin philosopher; "McQuire" (McQuire) is worse, disabled; "Mule" (MacLure) is even worse, not human; "Bunny" ( O'Toole or O'Hare) is a curse word (O' means "son of" in Irish; the first time I flew to Chicago, I couldn't help but smile).
Sometimes the transliteration must be combined with the translated meaning. For example, mango is translated from English mango and originated from Malay manga. The pronunciation is similar and the meaning is clear. You can tell at a glance that it is some kind of fruit. Looking through the dictionary, there are countless such good translations: there are spinach, which is translated from the Nepali palinga; it is translated from the Jurchen language xeko, which is watermelon derived from the Gordian seko; Toffee; pug translated from the Mongolian xaba; bowling and poker translated from the English; and typhoon translated from the English typhoon. This word actually originated from the Cantonese pronunciation of "gale". The West made a circle and returned to her parents' home, as if covered in meteorological terminology. People with a discerning eye can see that these words are names of specific things. They are different from names of people and places, and the last word is needed to help indicate "identity". Just to be different from such common nouns, proper nouns translated from foreign words should not contain meaning to avoid misunderstanding.
Every principle or rule has exceptions. Language is alive, and exceptions are common, such as product or manufacturer names: Benz, Star Buck, Coca-Cola, etc. But this kind of translation is different from ordinary transliteration, but more like naming in Chinese. You need to find a few good words to match them together to make it loud. If the client is wise, he will give the translator more freedom and time, actively create, carefully select, and even hold meetings to discuss decisions. This is far beyond the scope of responsibilities of general translators, and is naturally not bound by the above principles. When engaging in commercial translation, translators must be clear about their role. Is it helping communication? Or are you helping to promote it? Communication needs to be accurate, and sales need to be beautiful. There is also a contradiction between accuracy and elegance when engaged in literary translation. Sometimes "faithfulness is not beautiful, beauty is not belief", which makes people sigh: Translation is like a woman, the beautiful is not faithful, and the faithful is not beautiful (the ladies raised their boards)! This is a topic of free translation, but it is not unrelated to transliteration. Writing poems and compositions, translating the Italian city Firenze as "Fileng Cui" is indeed beautiful. But in general communication, it is better to use the meaningless Florence so that it is not easily misunderstood, even though it is transliterated according to the English Florence. If we follow the three modern transliteration principles of names of people and places, it should be translated as "Fierenza", but since Florence has already adopted it, we have no choice but to stick to the ancient times.