Стратегии перевода национально-ориентированных единиц с русского языка на китайский (на примере фильма "Он - дракон")

1. MATERIALS AND METHODS

We used the method of comparative analysis in our work, when considering translation options of Chinese and English phrases containing Russian culture-specific words. Further, we draw our attention to the semantic and lexical analysis of the original text translation, highlighting the correspondences and discrepancies in the translation.

It should be noted that, we applied the classification of V.F.Shchichko in this article, because he was not only an outstanding specialist in the field of translation studies, but also a leading Russian Sinologist. Due to this fact, we were able to fully consider the specific features of the of Russian culture-specific words translation into Chinese in the movie “He is a Dragon” (2015), which, after its release on the wide screen, was especially popular among Chinese youth.

We also carried out a quantitative analysis of translation strategies in two `target` languages, which helped to conveniently express the frequency of different translation techniques employment, and to determine the more frequently used as well as not very popular ones among the translators.

1. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The film “He is a Dragon” was released in 2015; it was directed by Indar Dzhendubaev, and appeared in Chinese film distribution in 2016. It is a film adaptation of the novel “Ritual” by Sergey and Marina Dyachenko. The events of the picture take us to the Ancient Rus' era, which is full of mysticism, magic and mythical images. The plot is based on a legend about a sad tradition, according to which young unmarried girls were sacrificed by the locals to the dragon in exchange for their calm and peaceful life. But one day the dragon failed to take one of the girls to his den: her fiancé set off in pursuit of the dragon and defeated the evil monster. Since then, the sacrifices have ceased, and the ritual of sacrifice has become simply a part of the wedding ceremony.

The time frame of the film events determines the speech of the characters, which is saturated with purely historical culture-specific concepts and filled with national spirit. In this respect, the translator has to present an adequate translation without losing the main meaning of the content, while conveying the speech patterns of the main characters, preserving and emphasizing the national identity and atmosphere of the work.

Most of the culture-specific concepts we have considered in the movie “He is a Dragon” are ethnographic, that is, “units reflecting day-to-day life process or national types of activity” ) (6, p.181). As a rule, a descriptive translation is employed for translation of such words, a generic replacement selecting or functional analogue methods.

Thus, at the very beginning, the narrator in the movie, introducing the legend to the audience and telling about the monster kidnapping brides, uses the word “дева” (maiden), which was translated in Chinese through a descriptive translation as 年轻的姑娘, which literally means “a young girl”. In the Explanatory Dictionary of the Great Living Russian Language by Vladimir Dahl the word “maiden” means “every woman before her marriage” ) (7). In Russian, this word is often used in fairy-tale discourse, for example, in the unit “дева-воительница” (warrior -maiden). The translation by the analogue technique was selected for the lexeme “дева” in English - “a young maiden”, meaning “a young and unmarried girl”, which fully corresponds to the definition of the original word in Russian.