Difficulties in Translating Concepts that Denote Objects and Phenomena of Material Culture of Central Asian Peoples, and the Principles of Overcoming Them (on the Example of the Translation of V. G. Yan’s Novel “Genghis Khan” from Russian into Chinese)

Abstract

The concept of national-oriented translation as a part of the cultural translation theory becomes most relevant during the translation of fiction books into languages where the native speakers’ cultural context is far from what is narrated in the text of the translated work. The problem may be even more complicated if the language of the translated work is not the language of the described culture. This problem is exemplified by the Chinese translation of V. G. Yan’s novel “Genghis Khan”, which was written in Russian and depicts the complexity of socio-cultural processes in Central Asia during the 13th century. The description of the most important elements of material culture presented in the novel reflects the diversity of the material culture of the peoples of Central Asia. The article analyzes typical errors and inaccuracies in the translation of concepts that denote objects of material culture of Central Asian peoples. The authors attempt to identify the causes of translation errors: translator errors that arose due to differences in the semantic systems of the Russian and Chinese languages, as well as errors related to cultural differences between the peoples of Central Asia and China. The methodological basis of the research is Yuri Naida’s concept of dynamic equivalence as well as the principles of functional equivalence of the original and translated texts proposed by L. K. Latyshev. The source of material for the comparative analysis is the translation of the novel “Genghis Khan” into Chinese by Chen Hongfa. As a result of the analysis of errors and generalization of theoretical provisions, the authors propose three translation principles in order to avoid errors in the translation of names for objects of material culture, namely: the principles of “Double definition”, “Semantic correspondence” and “Addition of translation by explaining the connotative meaning of the word”. Adherence to these principles will allow translators to bring the translated text closer to the original text in both functional and communicative as well as semantic and structural ways.