김치의 중국어 번역에 대한 提言 - 어원 沈菜를 대역어로 활용하는 새로운 방안

Abstract

In the past, in Chinese-speaking countries, kimchi had been translated into words such as “辣白菜Labaicai,” “ 菜Xiancai,” and “泡菜Paocai.” Among them, the most common today is “泡菜Paocai.” However, when Korean kimchi is translated as “泡菜Paocai,” there can be confusion with Paocai (泡菜), a Chinese salted and fermented food. Therefore, in 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of Korea coined the word “辛奇Xinqi” as an Chinese translation of kimchi, which ended up as a failure due to low popularity with the Chinese public. Until recently, it has been constantly pointed out that a new Chinese translation of kimchi is necessary, but in fact, kimchi is a Sino-Korean word from the first, and can be written as “沈菜Chimchae” in Chinese characters.<BR> In the Greater China region, there is a long tradition of translating proper nouns from neighboring countries in the Chinese character cultural sphere with Xingyifa (形法). This means that the proper nouns from other parts of the Chinese character cultural sphere are not simply transliterated, but the Chinese characters used for the words in the countries are taken and read in Chinese to establish their Chinese translations. Of course, in general, food names are not considered proper nouns, but in view of their translation practices, Chinese translators would not have objection to adopting “沈菜Chimchae” as a Chinese translation of kimchi once they understand that it is the original Chinese character notation for kimchi.<BR> This presumes, of course, that much effort is made in the future to spread “沈菜 Chimchae” as a Chinese translation of kimchi instead of “泡菜Paocai,” which is already widely in use. In this regard, rather than taking a hard-line approach, it is deemed desirable to promote the fact with the Chinese public that “沈菜Chimchae” is the original Chinese character notation for kimchi and can be written as “沉菜Chencai” in modern Chinese. It is also recommended to encourage them to think about which translation is a better choice by continuing the promotion efforts through education and popular culture.