China News Service, Beijing, April 22 (Reporter Ying Ni) How many languages ​​and translations of foreign languages ​​have been translated into "Red Mansion"? What language is the first complete foreign language translation? Which language is the translation with the greatest impact? What is "Sister Lin" in the English world? A few days ago, Li Jing, an associate research librarian of the National Library of China and an executive director of the Chinese Dream of Red Mansions, was invited by the People's Literature Publishing House to share these cold knowledge of Dream of Red Mansions with readers.

Yang Xianyi and Dai Naide jointly translated three volumes of the English version of "Dream of Red Mansions" in hardcover. Photo courtesy of People's Literature Publishing House

　　"Sister Lin" in the eyes of foreigners is "black jade"

　　The English title of "Dream of Red Mansions" was translated into "A Dream of Red Mansions" by Chinese translators Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidi, and "The Story of the Stone" by British Sinologist Hawkes ). But in the English-speaking world, the most well-known and established convention is the early translation of "Dream of the Red Chamber"-this is the title of the 1929 section translation of the Chinese-American professor Wang Jizhen of Columbia University.

　　Academia had some controversy about the translation of the characters in "Dream of Red Mansions". In Wang Jizhen's version of "Dream of Red Mansions", Dai Yu's name is translated into two types: transliteration and free translation. The transliteration is Tai-yu, and the free translation is Black Jade (black jade). Some scholars believe that translation into Black Jade is not good. The mention of Lin Daiyu on Rice University ’s homepage also lists transliteration and free translation, and points out that “Black Jade literally means black jade. She is the daughter of the Lin family and the cousin of Baoyu .... Talented, beautiful, slim, Not very healthy, suspicious, jealous, and negative, Baoyu's 'girlfriend'. "

　　Li Jing said that although the image of Lin Daiyu in English is not as attractive as it is in Chinese, it is also more objective. It is basically consistent with the identity, character, appearance and talent in the original book. Black Jade has become a well-established and freely accepted free translation for English readers.

The Qing Dynasty painting "Yihong Night Banquet" is now in the National Museum of China. Photo courtesy of the National Museum

　　All English and French translations were born in the seventies and eighties of last century

　　The late 1970s and early 1980s were an important historical year for the translation of "Dream of Red Mansions". At that time, the famous French sinologist Lei Wei'an counted: translated by Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidi in 1978 The first volume and second volume of the English translation of The Dream of Red Mansions were published, and the third volume was published in 1980. The first volume translated by the English Sinologist Hawkes was published in 1973. The second volume was probably around 1977, and the first three were published around 1980. Volume; full translation of French published in 1981. The publication of these three translations—two full English translations and one French full translation—is a particularly important historical event in the history of the introduction of "The Dream of Red Mansions" and even the history of literary exchanges between China and foreign countries.

　　The full French version published in 1981 was jointly translated by Chinese translator Li Zhihua and his French wife Jacqueline Aléza? S, and their cooperation runs through all 120 times. The famous French sinologist Andre d'Hormon helped them review and revise them. Dolmen is an old-school Sinologist in the past. He has lived and worked in Beijing for nearly 50 years. He is one of the founders of China-France University and a teacher of Li Zhihua.

　　The publication of "Dream of Red Mansions" caused a strong response in the French literary and media circles. The French weekly "Express" published a comment in late 1981: "The translation of the full text of the most magnificent and most touching piece of Chinese classics is undoubtedly a major event in the French literary world in 1981." "The book is now published The complete translation of, has filled the distressing gap of two centuries, so that people seem to suddenly discover Cervantes and Shakespeare. "

　　Li Jing believes that, compared to French readers, Cervantes and Shakespeare are foreign literary masters. They compare Cao Xueqin with them, and you can see the status of "The Dream of the Red Chamber" and Cao Xueqin in the hearts of French readers and researchers at that time.

　　For the evaluation of "Dream of Red Mansions" by the English academic community, you can refer to the foreword written by the English Sinologist Minford in the preface published in 2010 in the English translation. The essence from ancient times to the present: what is Chinese, what is Chinese life, what is Chinese feeling. "

　　How many complete translations of foreign languages ​​are there in "Dream of Red Mansions"?

　　What is surprising is that the world's earliest full translation of "Dream of Red Mansions" is Korean. Li Jing introduced that this translation was completed in the 21st year of Gojong of North Korea, around 1884. The translator was North Korean translator Li Zhongtai and others. The original text has 120 volumes, and there are about 117 line-ups in existence. The full Korean version is more than 70 years earlier than the full Western version. The earliest full translation of Western languages ​​is the Russian text, published in Moscow in 1958, and the translator was Panathok.

　　There are seven kinds of translations of "Dream of Red Mansions" in Asian languages, including Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Burmese, Arabic and Malay.

　　The European languages ​​are relatively speaking, and there are Romanian, Hungarian, Greek, Czech, Slovak, and Russian-Russian is also the first of the Western languages ​​to have a full translation of "Dream of Red Mansions"-there are Italian, Dutch, German, Spanish, Bulgarian, Swedish, French and English.

　　In addition, "Dream of Red Mansions" has a total of eight national minority language translations: Manchu, Tibetan, Xibe, Mongolian, Uyghur, Kazakh, Yi and Korean.

　　Li Jing concluded that an excellent literary work carries the language and historical memory of a nation, and it is also an encyclopedia of traditional Chinese culture. Translating "Dream of Red Mansions" into other languages ​​and putting it into the forest of world literature is to add Chinese literary memory to other countries and add new literary materials, social concepts and life experiences to readers of other nationalities. The same world, hear different voices. In this sense, the translation and introduction of "Dream of Red Mansions" is also a contribution of Chinese culture to world culture. (Finish)