§ 3. Transliteration

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Abroad, transliteration, defined as writing a word in a different alphabet,^{4 9} is often associated with transcription.However, strictly speaking, the notion of transliteration is based on representing written characters of one language by the characters of another language.

There are a number of different systems for transliterating the Cyrillic alphabet. Different languages have different equivalents for Russian letters. Thus, the Russian name Дапшин can be rendered in English as Lapshin or Lapsin, in French as Lapchine, in German as Lapschin, in Italian as Lapscin, in Polish as Lapszyn. Even in English there are several systems for transliteration of modern Russian, which range from the system suitable for works intended for the general reading public to those suitable for the needs of special in various fields.

The major systems for transliterating Russian words into English are the British Standards Institution (BSI), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the Library of Congress (LC), and the Permanent Committee on Geographic Names (PCGN) systems.⁵⁰ The chart in Appendix 1 will give the idea of the differences between these systems and will be helpful in practising transliteration.

When transliterating, it is best to use the version which most closely approximates the source language word. Thus the forms ruble, kopek, tsar are preferable to the alternatives rouble, kopeck, czar.

The mute r is always transliterated in Russian: Morning Star - газета "Морнинг Стар " whereas the mute e is usually omitted: Fosse - Фосс.

Transliteration and transcription often compete, so that sometimes it is difficult to state how to render a word (especially a personal or place name) in the other language. But transliteration is preferred to transcription

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in bibliographical citations found in publications: Arakin, V. Sravnitelnaja lipologija anglijskogo i russkogo jazykov.

I n the dispute between transcription and transliteration, some factors *!iould be kept in mind:

• modern and outdated traditions: these days the English great physicist Newton is known in Russia as Ньютон (transcription), though in the 18^lh century M. Lomonosov wrote about Невтон (transliteration).

• national traditions: in the source language the form of a name can follow the spelling traditions of its original country. The target language form often follows the original pronunciation tradition: Mozart - Моцарт; Dvouiak -Дворжак, Singer - Зингер.

Special attention should be given to transliterating Chinese words Inio Russian and English, especially in tertiary translation. There are Wo ways of transliterating Chinese syllables (and words) into English. In ihe English-speaking world since 1892 Chinese words have usually

I iccn transliterated according to a phonetic spelling system called Wade-(iilcs romanization, propounded by British Orientalists Sir Thomas Wade niul Herbert Giles. Since 1958 another phonetic romanization known as I'inyin (spelling) has had official standing in the People's Republic of China, where it is used for telegrams, mass media and in education. Therefore a Chinese loan word can have two English scripts: e.g., Mao

II iidyu - Mao Zedong, Mao Tse-tung; Пекин - Beijing, Peking (in these winds the forms are also different because of their different dialect origins). When translating words borrowed from Chinese, it is recommended to consult special charts of transliteration of Chinese syllables (see Appendix 2).

The main principles of correspondence between English and Russian syllables in transliterating Chinese words are as follows:

• the English combination ng corresponds to the nonpalatalized Russian н, e.g. kungfu - кун-фу;

• the English n corresponds to the the Russian palatalized нъ: fen - фэнь (фынь);

• the difference between voiced and voiceless consonants is phonologically irrelevant in Chinese; therefore, the Pinyin and Wade-Giles systems may differ: baihua, pai-hua - байхуа;

• in Pinyin, the vowel letter о before the non-palatalized ng corresponds to the Russian y; in the Wade-Giles it corresponds to u: e.g., Dong, Tung -Дун, Тун;

• the Russian Ж corresponds to the Pinyin R or Wade-Giles J (befor front vowels): renminbi - женъминъби;

• care should be taken not to confuse the Pinyin palatalized / (Wade-Giles CH) corresponding to the Russian ЦЗ: Jiang (Chiang) - Цзян; in Japanese words the letter / before a front vowel corresponds to the Russian ДЗ: judo - дзюдо;

• the nonpalatalized ЦЗ corresponds to the Pinyin Z or Wade-Giles TS: Zang, Tsang - Цзанг, Мао Цзэдун-Мао Zedong, Mao Tse-tung. TheJapanes Z corresponds to the Russian ДЗ: Zeii Buddhism -Дзэн Буддизм;

• the Pinyin palatalized Xis equal to the Wade-Giles HS and corresponds to the Russian C: Xianggang, Hsiangkang - Сянган;

• the Pinyin palatalized Q (pronounced [ф]) is equal to the Wade-Giles CH and corresponds to the Russian II: Qinghai - Цинхай;

• the Pinyin ZH, equal to the Wade-Giles CH, corresponds to the Russia^-ЧЖ: Zhejiang - Чжэцзян.