TRANSLITERATING CHINESE

WORDS

•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. kung fu

– кун-фу;

•the English n corresponds to the the Russian palatalized нь: 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 o before the non-palatalized ng corresponds to the Russian у; 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 (before front vowels): renminbi – женьминьби;

•care should be taken not to confuse the Pinyin palatalized J (Wade-Giles CH) corresponding to the Russian ЦЗ: Jiang (Chiang) – Цзян; in Japanese words the letter J before a front vowel corresponds to the Russian ДЖ / ДЗ’: jiu jitsu – джиу-джитсу, дзю-дзюцу;

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

•the Pinyin palatalized X is equal to the Wade-Giles HS and corresponds to the Russian С: Xianggang, Hsiangkang – Сянган;

•the Pinyin palatalized Q

(pronounced [t ]) is equal to the Wade-Giles CH and corresponds to the Russian Ц: Qinghai – Цинхай;

•the Pinyin ZH, equal to the

Wade-Giles CH, corresponds to the Russian ЧЖ: Zhejiang – Чжэцзян.

CАLQUE TRANSLATION

•Blueprint translation is the translation of a word or a phrase by parts:

•kitchen-ette – кух-онька, brainwashing

– промывка мозгов, AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) – СПИД (синдром приобретенного иммунодефицита), Залив Золотой Рог - Golden Horn Bay.

HALF-CALQUES

•There can occur half-calques in cases where half of the word is borrowed through transcription or transliteration and the other half is translated: South Korea – Южная Корея, Old Jolyon – Старый

Джолион.

•Calque translation can be very tricky as it may result in “translator’s false friends”, i.e. misleading translations:

•high school – средняя школа (not высшая школа);

•restroom – туалет (not комната

отдыха);

•дом отдыха – resort (not rest home).