Bodegas Financieras

Translation, as a cultural exchange activity trying to cross different discourse systems, makes it possible for different nations to communicate and exchange at the level of ideology and culture. Without doubt, the translation of CSIs in Mongolia’s intangible heritage literature is a cross-cultural communication process. Considering the translation principles listed above, the translator should have deep insights into the source language culture and full understanding of inter-cultural communicative intention. With the aim of conveying Mongolia’s culture and achieving the purpose of cross-cultural communication, following the principles we discussed above, the choice of the translation strategy is made according to the target readers’ cognitive and cultural environments.

Transliteration with Annotation

Transliteration refers to the CSIs that are directly transplanted to the target language based on their pronunciation in the source language and are in accordance with the spelling rules of English pronunciation. In view of “zero equivalence” in the target language, transliteration can be adopted, particularly to proper names such as a place name or a person’s name. However, in most cases, since the cultural connotation of

CSIs cannot be fully expressed by means of transliteration alone, it is wise to supplement appropriate annotations to bridge the readers' cultural gap. It can not only create a strong exotic environment, but also further the readers' understanding so that they can receive effective and authentic information of the source language. Let’s look at the following examples:

1) 从前, 在一次那达慕大会上, 赛马刚刚收场, 看热闹的人呼啦一下围住了扎木苏 老人的姑娘其木格, 庆贺她赢得了第一名。

Once upon a time, as the horse race just ended in a Nadam Fair, or Mongolian traditional sports meeting and recreation, the spectators surrounded Qimuge, the old Jamusu’s daughter, congratulating her on her first prize.

In this sentence, the use of “Jamusu” and “Qimuge” belongs to direct transliteration of Mongolian names, while “Nadam Fair” (Nadam) retains an ethnic feature of the source language. The added information: “Mongolian traditional sports meeting and recreation” replenishes culture information and helps the target readers form cultural presupposition. In fact, the translation of most CSIs in Mongolian folk art literary works can be transposed into the mode of transliteration plus annotation. For instance, “好来 宝” can be translated as “Holboo, a kind of Mongolian traditional folk art, which rhymed the first syllable in each singing."

2) 在路上, 他不巧碰上了好占便宜的毫布达格诺颜。

On his way home, he came across a Nuoyan named Hobudage (greedy in Mongolian) who wanted to take advantage of others.

“Hobudage”, meaning someone who is insatiable in Mongolian, is translated by Mongolian pronunciation adding an annotation in a bracket to make the target reader understand better.

When translating place names in Mongolian, the method of transliteration plus categories can be used, which refers to the combination of Mongolian phonetic forms and its conceptual meaning. Thus, the following examples are as listed below: “Horqin steppe” (科尔沁草原); “Ejinord Salt Lake” (额吉淖尔); “Dolunord Lake” (多伦淖尔); “Dalenhala mountains” (答兰哈剌); “Altai Mountains” (阿尔泰山). Thus, the transliteration of the source language not only reflects the foreignization strategy, but also shows geographical and cultural features in the Inner Mongolia area, and the words next to it work for the target reader’s thinking pattern. The transliteration of CSIs in ethnic literary works embodies the localization trend when translated into English.

Literal Translation (Plus Annotation)

Literal or word-for-word translation is the direct transfer of explicit features of SL text into TL text. Literal translation refers to similar content that is conveyed by the same expression form when translating from the source language into the target language, so the same effect can be produced to the target readers just as the original readers. It functions as a cultural fax, which assumes the task of translation as stated by Sun Zhili (1999). The literal translation is characterized in that it can retain the ethnic cultural image of the source language, as well as satisfy the curiosity of foreign readers of the exotic culture. Furthermore, to a certain extent, it can enrich the vocabulary of the target language system.

3) 常言说: “不均匀的篮子难挑, 没有轴的车辆难行。”

As the saying goes: “It is hard to pick the pole without balanced baskets on two sides; it is hard to drive a vehicle without an axle between the two wheels.”

It is common that any kind of language will likely employ metaphors or other rhetorical devices in the expression of thoughts or ideas to get the effect of vividness. Therefore, the image in this Mongolian proverb is well expressed by literal translation within the range of the reader’s comprehension and perception.

4) 残暴的诺颜心里想: 啊! 你小子是在指桑骂槐地说我呢!

The brutal Nuyan thought: Ah! You wretches are insulting me like scolding the locust while pointing at the mulberry.

People in different countries tend to share feelings towards some animals and plants with cultural connotations due to cultural inclusiveness. In this sentence, “scolding the locust while pointing at the mulberry” is literal translation, in which the “locust” and “mulberry” plants serve as metaphorical objects and retain the same meaning in English. In this way, it becomes an easy task for target readers to learn its implicit meaning. However, in some cases, some ethnic cultural information can be lost by literal translation. Consequently, an added annotation is used to fill the cultural gap. The following translation of Mongolian CSIs can be cited as examples:

“ 面 鬼 ”: “dough ghost” (used as a substitute for the evil when Lamas chanted an incantation to exorcise the ghost);

“黑白灾”: “black and white natural disaster” (the black disaster is caused by less or no snowfall in the pastoral area during winter, while a white one with overall snowfall.) Free Translation

Free translation can be adopted in the translation of CSIs because language conventions and ways of thinking are different due to the different social and cultural backgrounds between different ethnic groups. Priority is given to functional equivalence over language form, so the informative content is emphasized to get the communicative effect. Free translation attains its goal by analyzing the denotative and connotative meaning of the source language words unconstrained by the language form.

5) 这真是强龙压不住地头蛇呀，没想到我巴拉根仓在这里要倒大霉！

Even the powerful person cannot suppress the local villain in his domain. I, Balagencang, will run into a big trouble here.

The Chinese words and 地头蛇, in this sentence denote, respectively, “powerful person” and “local villain”. The true meaning is that a powerful person from the outside cannot oppress the local power. The effect of literal translation here will be unsatisfactory, since the figurative meaning will make readers feel puzzled. In order to make it concise and comprehensive, free translation is used by giving up the original image.

6) “不成器的东西，那你自己看着办吧”老王爷狠狠地瞪了儿子一眼, 拂袖而去。 Such a never-do-well, then you may do what you like,” said the old Wangye glaring at his son, and left in displeasure (anger).

“不成器的东西” is used to express the speaker’s dissatisfaction, belonging to vulgar language, meaning that the person is capable of doing nothing. As there is no such kind of expression in English, the meaning can be conveyed by similar meaning in English. Similarly, the Chinese idiom “拂袖而去” describes that a person goes with a flick of his sleeves, meaning the person is ill-tempered. If just the action is translated, the target reader will feel at a loss. To avoid a semantic misunderstanding caused by the lack of cultural background knowledge, the implied meaning is translated instead of the original action.

Conclusion

The paper discusses and describes the different translation techniques and principles applied in the English translations of the Mongolian folk story, Balagencang, which is a text loaded with culture-specific items. The principle of translation leads to the choice of translation strategies, and the choice of strategy is based on a series of factors that constitute the context of translation. It is worthy of noting that translation technique is not simply one or two perspectives, but subject to internal and external factors of the translation’s situation. Among them, the most important factor is the purpose of translation, the type of translation text, and the characteristics of the target text receivers, and given these elements, there is a lot to be done in the field of ethnic CSIs translation. It is important to transmit the message adequately, or it may lead to loss of the ethnic culture. Great weight should be attached to the translation of culture-specific items in such kinds of intangible cultural heritage because they play a significant part in introducing and spreading our ethnic culture to the Western world.

Acknowledgement

This project was sponsored by the Humanities and Social Sciences Projects of Education Department of Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, “A Study on the Intercultural Translation of Mongolia Ethnic Folk Cultural Heritage ‘The Story of Balagencang’” (NJSY16273).

References

Álvarez, M., & Vidal, C. (1996). Translation, power, subversion. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Baker, M. (1992). In other words. London and New York: Routledge.

Larson, M. L. (1984). Meaning-based translation: A guide to cross-language equivalence. Lanham and New York: University Press of America.

Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China. (2008). The publication of the list of the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. Retrieved September 15, 2015, from: General Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, website:

http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2008-06/14/content_1016331.htm.

Newmark, P. (1988). A text book of translation. New York and London: Prentice Hall.

Nord, C. (2001). Translating as a purposeful activity: Functional approaches explained. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

Nida, E. (1999). The new theory of Nida’s translation. Tan Zaixi (Trans.). Beijing: China Translation & Publishing Company.

On the Reconstruction Method in English-Chinese Translation