Keyword: DYNASTY | Deciphering Chinese language II

China had emperors (帝) for about 4,000 years. The character 帝 can mean “emperor” and “god”, as the emperors were considered gods on Earth. The character represents an altar, where sacrifices could be made by the emperor as a gift to Heaven. Emperors were represented by the colour yellow (黄), therefore, the buildings directly related to the emperor as, of course, his vests and objects were all yellow. Actually, the character representing the colour yellow was inspired by the emperor’s looks.

Colour coding has a huge weight in Chinese culture. For example, the colour red (红) is the most auspicious colour and it is used for wedding dresses for good luck, while white (白) is definitely not used in weddings as it is a funeral colour, thus, connected to death. Each one of the five elements has its own colour, which is also linked to a cardinal direction and to an area of life. For example, red is linked to Fire (火), South (南) and to fame and reputation while green (绿) is linked to Wood (木), East (东) and to family. Chinese people not only organize their home according to these principles, but also organize their whole life.

Dynasties are all about family. The character 家 can mean “family” and “home” and represents a pig under a roof. In the old days, people would live together with the animals they were raising to eat. When together with other characters, 家 can change slightly its meaning. For example, if we put it together with “person” (人), 家人 means “family member”, and if we put it together with “whole” (全), 全家 means the “whole family”.

Royal families shaped the country, by adding (or losing) terrain, and by developing the cultural scene as well as the education system. They also regarded the country as the centre of the world. That is why China is known as the “Middle Country”: 中国, where 中 is “middle” and 国 is “country”. Probably, in the old days, it was known as the “Middle Empire”: 中帝国, where 中 is “middle”, 帝 is emperor, and 国 is country (“the middle country of the emperor”).

宫 means palace, where the emperor lived with his wife, his children, his servants and his concubines. The character shows a kind of house, with blocks and a roof. If we add the character 女 (woman), we get “palace woman/lady/maid” (宫女). 女 is also present in concubine (妾, below) and wife (妻, below). The character 宫 helps to translate “White House”: 白宫, where 白 is “White” and 宫 serves as “House”. It is also used to tell “maze”: 迷宫, where 迷 is (among other meanings) “confusing”. So, in China, “maze” is a confusing palace.

This article is part of the BRINGING ACROSS series
“Translation” in different languages comes from or is based on the meaning of two similar Latin words which convey the idea of transferring something from A to B… “bringing across”. In this category, we aim to explore how to “bring across” meaning between languages.

Key place: CHINA | Deciphering Chinese language I

As any (good) translator will tell you, translating is not about translating words, it is about translating an entire culture. Language is closely related to culture and it reflects the environment and the landscape in which such language was developed. The classic example is Greenland. Inuit languages are the ones which have more words for different types of snow and ice. It is literally a matter of life or death to know exactly what kind they are encountering.

European languages are based on an alphabet that is used to build words and those words are organised in sentences. The Chinese language is based on characters, which basically are images. If in European languages you can learn how to “make” words and build sentences, in Chinese language you need to memorise all the characters. Yet, there are some clues that can help you with that.

Chinese culture is rooted in nature, especially animals and the five elements: Earth (土), Water (水), Fire (火), Wood (木), Metal (金). For example, in China, the years are counted according to the moon cycles, but they are not numbered; they are named. Each year represents an animal and an element. 2026 is the year of the Fire Horse (火马年) – 火 means fire; 马 means horse; 年 means year. Last year was the year of the Wood Sake (木蛇年) – 木 means wood; 蛇 means snake; 年 means year. There are twelve animals and five elements, which results in sixty year cycles.

Characters can be composed by repeated characters. For example, Fire (火) represents a bonfire. If you put two bonfires, one on top of the other, you get “burning hot” (炎). If there are three bonfires, you get “flames” (焱). The same for Wood (木), which represents a tree: two trees are a forest (林) and three trees are a dense forest (森). Now, putting a character next to another character can change their meaning. For example, Fire (火) and Mountain (山) results in Volcano (火山), which basically is a “fire mountain”. If instead of “fire” you have “ice” (冰), you have an “iceberg” (冰山). Although there is logic, you still need to know it by heart.

Some characters can work together to compose new characters. For example, “fire” is in the character 灯, meaning “lamp”, because in the old days lamps only existed with fire. Likewise, “wood” is in the character “bed” (床), because in the old days beds were made of wood.

The characters for Feng Shui (風水) literally mean “wind” and “water”. It is a theory to organise one’s house according to the five elements and the cardinal directions. Each house is divided into nine dimensions of life and each division is located geographically in certain directions. For example, the life dimension of “career” is located in the north (北) direction. Interestingly, this is where the emperor’s accommodation is located, as well as the accommodation of the “head of the house” in family homes, meaning the provider. On the other hand, the office where the emperor would receive their visitors and ambassadors was located in the south (南) direction, which corresponds to the “fame” dimension. It was also where the families would probably receive their visitors, or would have their shops. The “career” dimension is also related to the element “water” (for the career to run like the water and overcome all obstacles with relative ease) and the “fame” dimension is related to the element “fire” (for their reputation will light up like a bright fire).

As the cardinal points are important, it is not surprising that many cities and regions have a reference to such points in their names. The classic example is Beijing (北京), which literally means north (北) capital (京). Before Beijing, the capital of China was Nanjing (南京), the south (南) capital (京). Hainan (海南) is an island in the south, not very far from Vietnam. Its name literally means sea (海) in the south (南). The references to natural landscapes are also very common. There is a region called Shandong (山东), the mountain (山) in the east (东), and a region called Shanxi (山西), the mountain (山) in the west (西).

Keyword: MARRIAGE | “Wife” in different languages

If you look for films, TV series, or books with “wife” as a keyword, you will have a lot to choose from. There are titles for all tastes. Whatever the title is, it is clear what “wife” means: a woman who has acquired a new social status after marrying. Such a woman can also be called “spouse”, although “wife” is most widely used.

So, a married woman is a wife. This “transformation” does not happen in other languages. For example, in German, a married woman is still a woman (frau). The same is true for Latin-based languages: femme (in French); moglie (in Italian); mujer (in Spanish); mulher (in Portuguese). In these languages, “wives” can also be called “spouses” in more formal contexts: épouse (in French); sposa (in Italian); esposa (in Spanish); esposa (in Portuguese). “Spouse”, and its direct translations, come from the Latin spondeo / sponsus, meaning “a promise to marry”. This word is valid both for women and men, with the appropriate masculine/feminine change.

In some film/tv series/book titles, the translation is quite straightforward. For example, “The Story of My Wife” can be translated as: “Die Geschichte meiner Frau” (in German); “L’histoire de ma femme” (in French); “Storia di mia moglie” (in Italian); “La historia de mi mujer” (in Spanish); “A História da Minha Mulher” (in Portuguese).

But things can get complicated very fast… For example, how to translate “The Good Wife”? If you translate “wife” to its usual translation as “woman”, “The Good Woman” can be either married or single. However, in this case, the fact that she is married is essential for the story. Therefore, the title has to reflect her social status. One option is to maintain the title in English and not translate it at all, which was what countries like Ecuador, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and Sapin did. Another option is to change the title in some way:

In Brazil, they opted for a mix title: “The Good Wife: Pelo Direito de Recomeçar” [The Good Wife: For the Right to Start Over Again”].
In French Canada, they changed the title slightly: “Une femme exemplaire” [An exemplary wife/woman], which is very similar to the original title.
A similar option was used in Uruguay, but using the other possible word for “wife” (“spouse”): “La esposa ejemplar” [The exemplary spouse].

Changing the title entirely is another option, which was what they chose to do, for example, in the title “The Time Traveler’s Wife”. In many countries, this film was translated as “I will always love you”, focusing on time and not on the wife. This is interesting. There are many English titles like this: “The Zookeeper’s Wife”, “The Preacher’s Wife”, “The Bishop’s Wife”, “The Serial Killer’s Wife”, “The Astronaut’s Wife”, among others. Yet, in non-English speaking countries, the tendency is to choose a different title, more tuned with the story itself and not focused on the wife and whom she is married to.

“Wife” and “woman” have the same origin: Old English wif, meaning “human female”. “Wife” is connected to an expression meaning “a woman in a legal relationship” while “woman” is like a kind of “female man”. Nordic languages follow the same logic and they have the same distant origin, but have evolved differently. In French, “femme” comes from the Latin femina, meaning female, and, in the other Latin-based languages, the word originates from the Latin word mulier, meaning “woman”, especially “married woman”. “Frau” follows exactly the same logic. In Italy, “wife” can also be called “donna”, which comes from the Latin word domus, meaning “house”. Therefore, “donna” is the “mistress of the house” (her house as a married woman).

Therefore, in reality, a “woman” is a “married woman”. Unmarried women are usually called “girls”, assuming that only young women are unmarried. This is valid for the other languages here analysed. This situation is reflected in women’s titles in society: if single, they are called Miss, Fräulein, Mademoiselle, Signorina, Señorita, Menina; and if married they are called Mrs, Frau, Madam, Signora, Señora, Senhora.

We can see that the words to designate women are rooted in the patriarchal system: their destiny was to get married and take care of their home and children. Therefore, they had two statuses: girls (as children, thus, unmarried) or women/wives (married). Unmarried women were unheard of or did not make sense. Or they were witches. Or spinsters, who were not well regarded in society. Or they would become nuns. Or, at the beginning of the 20th century, they were considered hysterical and locked up in madhouses.

Nowadays, more and more women are choosing not to get married and actually having a professional career. There are those who do not marry and just get together. Therefore, the concept of “woman” in all these languages is changing. It is not equivalent to “married woman” any more and women are becoming persons by themselves, not existing as a “wife/woman” of a man. Maybe new words were needed, but we have to work with what we have…

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