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

How set expressions are translated using chéngyǔ.

In the following lines of the ritual song, the `word` “саван” (shroud, grave-clothes) is mentioned, which came into Russian from the Arabic language and means “funeral robe of white fabric for the dead”.

In Chinese variant of the line “...в белый цвет облачена, словно в саване стоит” (dressed in white as if in a shroud), 她身着白衣若着白殓衣般, to convey the meaning of the `word` “shroud”, the functional analogue 殓衣" was chosen, which is translated from Chinese as “clothing for a dead person”. However, this lexeme does not contain a specific indication of the color of the robe, so the clarifying adjective 白 was added before it, since the shroud must certainly be white. Based on all this, we can make a conclusion that a functional analog, manifested through concretization, was used in this example as a translation method.

The `word` “shroud” was selected to translate the `word` “саван” into English, the main meaning of which is “to cover”, “to hide”. In addition, it is also used in the meaning of “a cloth in which a corpse is wrapped for burial”. Since the `word` “shroud” has a wide semantics, in our opinion, for a more complete and accurate translation, it can be added with an epithet “funeral”, “burial”.

The generic substitution was also chosen to translate the `word` “сундук” (chest) in the phrase: “Однажды море выбросило сундук” (Once a chest was cast ashore) 一天海上漂来一只大箱子. In Chinese, the unit 箱子 has a wide semantics and means any box without specific features. In other words, the translator selected an equivalent with a common meaning, and in order to make it closer in meaning to the original, the adjective 大 (big) was added before it. In the English version, an equivalent “chest” with a generic correspondence was also selected, which has the meaning of a box for transporting or storing things.

Consider the continuation of the above indicated phrase - “внутри было что-то невиданное” (there was something startling inside). The `word` “невиданное” is very often used when it comes to something previously unknown, unprecedented, something that the speaker has never encountered before. It is often found in literary discourse, for example, in A.K. Tolstoy “Prince Silver”:  “А по Оке-реке плывет чудовище невиданное, змей Тугарин” (And on the Oka-river floats a startling monster, the serpent Tugarin). When translating into Chinese, the descriptive method was used- 从未见过的东西, the unit means “an object, a thing that has never been seen before”, which made it possible to preserve the original meaning of the Russian original. In the English version of the translation, semantic loan- translation was used: “Inside it there was something startling”. The `word` “startling” with the meaning “shocking, amazing”, is derived from the verb “startle”, which is synonymous with the Russian `word` “пугать” (scare). In this case, the central meaning of the phrase is preserved, telling us about something unthinkable and extraordinary, while the nationally biased concept is not fully conveyed.