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Reading different cultures through cultural translation On translation of site names in Macau Historic Centre Meifang Zhang University of Macau
1. Introduction Cultural translation, or cultural approach to translation, is a term widely used “to refer to types of translation which function as a tool for cross-cultural or anthropological research, or indeed to any translation which is sensitive to cultural as well as linguistic factors” (Shuttleworth and Cowie 1997: 35). Such kind of sensitive translation has been widely discussed in the past decades, and theories raised by different scholars from different perspectives. However, up to now, very little research has been done on translations related to Macao, China, which has rich historic cultural legacies and is growing very fast into an international tourist city. Macao was under Portuguese administration from the mid-sixteenth century until 1999 when it was returned to the sovereignty of China; therefore, Macao bears a unique testimony to the first and longest-lasting encounter between Western and Chinese cultures. The impact of this encounter can be traced in the fusion of different cultures that characterize the Historic Centre of Macau, which consists of historic piazzas, streets, religious and public Portuguese and Chinese buildings. As the Historic Centre of Macau is a melting place of aesthetic, cultural, architectural and technological elements of East and West, it was successfully inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in the year 2005, thus enforcing Macao’s position as an international tourist destination. This paper attempts to examine translation of names of the tourist sites in the Macau Historic Centre. Site names bear information and even stories of the historic places and buildings they stand for; however, when translated into another language, the original name might be replaced with a concept or term which is different from the original but may in some way be considered to be culturally ‘equivalent’ to the original. A case in point is the translation of ‘Ruins of St. Paul’s’, Babel 58 : 2 (2012), 205–219. © Fédération des Traducteurs (fit) Revue Babel doi 10.1075/babel.58.2.05zha issn 0521–9744 e-issn 1569–9668
206 Meifang Zhang
Figure 1. Ruins of St. Paul’s
Figure 2. Site names of Macau Historic Centre
a landmark site of Macao (see Figures 1, 2), which is transmitted to 大三巴牌坊 in Chinese (Chinese pinyin: dà sān bā pái fǎng) the literal meaning of which is three big arch gates. The difference between the ST and TT is very obvious, but the English and Chinese names have been co-existing harmoniously, enjoying popularity among people from different cultures. This kind of phenomenon of site names and their translations in the Macau Historic Centre aroused the present author’s interest and triggered this research which was started with the following questions: How are the site names of the Macau Historic Centre translated? Are they all translated in a linguistic form different from the original like that of ‘Ruins of St. Paul’s’? If there are large differences between the source and target texts, what are the possible reasons that caused the unfaithful translations? It is hoped that the findings of this study will give some revelation to the phenomena in translating historic site names and therefore shed some light on cultural translation of similar kind.
2. An overview of related concepts In this research, site names under investigation are proper names with culturespecific references, namely, they are representing unique entities in the Historic Centre of Macau. Therefore, the site names are regarded as culture-specific terms and the present research will be carried out in a cultural approach. Before we look at the site name translations, we will review what some scholars have said about translation of culture-specific terms and related concepts such as cultural translation and translation strategies. Shuttleworth and Cowie argue that “Cultural translation might take the form either of presenting TL recipients with a transparent text which informs them about elements of the source culture, or of finding target items which may in some way be considered to be culturally ‘equivalent’ to the ST items they are translating” © 2012. Fédération des Traducteurs (fit) Revue Babel All rights reserved
Reading different cultures through cultural translation 207
(1997: 35). This seems to be in line with what Venuti (1995: 20) terms as “domestication” and “foreignization”. A domesticating translation involves “an ethnocentric reduction of the foreign text to target-language cultural values”, and a foreignizing translation is deliberately produced to break target conventions “by retaining something of the foreignness of the original”. Venuti allies the two concepts with Schleiermacher’s description of two types of translation, one of which “leaves the writer alone, as much as possible and moves the reader towards the writer”, the other of which “leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author towards him” (1813/1992: 42, quoted in Shuttleworth and Cowie,1997). Newmark’s two terms, communicative translation and semantic translation, also share some common ground with Schleiermacher’s two types of translation. According to Newmark (1981: 39), “communicative translation addresses itself solely to the second reader, who does not anticipate difficulties or obscurities, and would expect a generous transfer of foreign elements into his own culture as well as his language where necessary”; while semantic translation “remains within the original culture and assists the reader only in its connotations if they constitute the essential human message of the text”. When discussing about translation, Hervey & Higgins propose five types of cultural transposition: calque, communicative translation, cultural borrowing, cultural transplantation, and exoticism. According to them cultural transposition means “the various degrees of departure from literal translation that one may resort to in the process of transferring the contents of a ST into the context of a target culture” (1992: 28). Different from the communicative translation suggested by Newmark (1981) the term ‘communicative translation’ by Hervey & Higgins is a kind of free translation which involves “the substitution for ST expressions of their contextually/situationally appropriate cultural equivalents in the TL”, or in other words, a strategy in which “the TT uses situationally apt target culture equivalents in preference to literal translation” (1992: 248). Baker (1992: 21–42) believes that in the process of translating culture-specific terms, problems of non-equivalence are unavoidable. She has identified over ten types of non-equivalence and summarized eight kinds of translation strategies (or methods) commonly adopted by professional translators. The eight kinds of strategies are (1) translation by a more general word;(2) translation by a more neutral/ less expressive word; (3) translation by cultural substitution; (4) translation using a loan word or loan word plus explanation; (5) translation by paraphrase using related words; (6) translation by paraphrase using unrelated words; (7) translation by omission; and (8) translation by illustration. As early as the 1950s, Loh Dian-yang, a Chinese Professor, proposed five methods for translating nouns or terms denoting things of one language culture into another (Loh 1958: 47–50). Loh’s suggested methods are in fact still being © 2012. Fédération des Traducteurs (fit) Revue Babel All rights reserved
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used today in translating cultural terms between English and Chinese. Following are the five methods suggested and examples given by Loh, with the Chinese pinyin and the back translations added by the present author: (1) pure transliteration (e.g. chocolate into巧克力; Chinese pinyin: qiǎokeli), (2) pure semantic translation (e.g. airplane飞机; back translation: flying machine), (3) combination of transliteration and semantic translation (e.g. utopia 乌托邦; Chinese pinyin: wūtuōbāng; back translation: not real country), (4) transliteration with semantic translation at the beginning or at the end (e.g. beer 啤酒; Chinese pinyin: píjiüˇ; back translation: beer wine), (5) symbolic translation with a semantic explanation at the end (e.g. cross 十字架; back translation: 十shape frame). Loh also suggested “coinage of new characters” when translating technical terms (e.g. oxygen 氧). The above overview of scholars’ viewpoints and suggested terms for cultural translation show that although many different terms have been suggested to refer to translation strategies and methods, the two basic orientations seem to share much common ground, namely, some strategies and methods are used for target culture oriented translations while others for source culture oriented texts. For example, the concepts of domestication (Venuti 1995) and communicative translation (Newmark 1981) are both target culture oriented translations or translation strategies; while the concepts foreignization and semantic translation are typical source culture oriented translations and strategies. In the following sections, some terms from the above mentioned scholars will be borrowed for the analysis and discussion.
3. How are site names translated? As mentioned above, cultural translation in this paper specifically refers to site name translations of the Historic Centre of Macau, which is the product of over 400 years of cultural exchange between the western world and the Chinese civilization, and therefore encompasses rich architectural legacies. But how are those site names translated? And why the site names are translated in these ways rather than in other ways? In this section we will first introduce the data collected for analysis, followed by an examination of how the site names are translated, and then discuss possible factors that might have played their roles in the process of translation.
3.1. Data All the data for this paper are collected from two sources: on site of the Macau Historic Centre and from the Macao Government Tourist Office (MGTO) which published a brochure of the “Macao World Heritage” (2006). The brochures, printed © 2012. Fédération des Traducteurs (fit) Revue Babel All rights reserved
Reading different cultures through cultural translation 209
in Chinese, Portuguese and English, are provided free of charge at Macao tourist sites and at arrival places such as the Macao Airport, the Hong Kong-Macao Ferry Terminal and the Zhuhai Gongbei Border Check-point. Different language versions of the brochure can also be obtained at the Macao Government Tourist Office website: http://www.macautourism.gov.mo/. Owing to limited space, the Portuguese version of the site names, which is not a main object of the present study, is not included in the data listed in Table 1, but it will be mentioned for purpose of comparison when necessary. Table 1 contains a list of all site names in English and Chinese, with the Chinese pinyin and the back translations/literal translations (from Chinese to English) added by the present author for readers’ reference and for the convenience of later analysis. Table 1. Site names of the Macau Historic Centre Names in English
Names in Chinese
Pin-yin of the Chinese names/ Back translation
Ruins of St. Paul’s St. Dominic’s Church Dom Pedro V Theatre St. Augustine’s Square
大三巴牌坊 玫瑰堂 岗顶剧院 岗顶前地
St. Dominic’s Square
板樟堂前地
Cathedral
大堂（主教座堂）
Cathedral Square St. Lawrence’s Church
大堂前地 圣老楞佐教堂
St. Joseph’s Seminary and Church St. Augustine’s Church
圣若瑟修院及圣堂
St. Anthony’s Church
圣安多尼教堂
the Protestant Cemetery
基督教坟场
Senado Square
议事亭前地
Moorish Barracks
港务局大楼
dà sān bā pái fǎng/ three big arch gates méi guī táng/ rose hall gāng dǐng ju yuàn/ hill top theater gāng dǐng qián dì/ hill top front platform bǎn zhāng táng qián dì/ wooden hall front platform dà táng ( zhǔ jiào zuò táng)/ big hall; bishop hall dà táng qián dì/ big hall front platform Shèng lǎo lèng zuǒ jiào táng/ shèng lǎo lèng church Shèng ruò sè xiū yuàn ji Shèng táng/ Shèng ruò sè monastery and church Shèng ào sī dìng jiào táng/ shèng ào sī dìng church Shèng ān duō ni jiào táng/ shèng ān duō ni church jī dū jiào fén chǎng/ protestant cemetery yì shì tíng qián dì/ senate building front platform gǎng wù ju dà lóu/ maritime administration building rén cí tang dà lóu/ mercy building mín zhèng zóng shǔ dà lóu/ civil affairs building Dōng fāng jī jīn huì huì zhǐ/ oriental foundation building
Holy House of Mercy “Leal Senado” Building Casa Garden
圣奥斯定教堂
仁慈堂大楼 民政总署大楼 东方基金会会址
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Names in English
Names in Chinese
Pin-yin of the Chinese names/ Back translation
A-Ma Temple Barra Square
妈阁庙 妈阁庙前地
Lilau Square
亚婆井前地
Na Tcha Temple Sam Kai Vui Kun Temple (Guan Tai Temple) Mandarin’s House
哪咤庙 三街会馆（关帝庙）
Lou Kau Mansion Sir Robert Ho Tung Library Guia Fortress
卢家大屋 何东图书馆 东望洋炮台
mā gé miào/ mage temple mā gé miào qián dì/ mage temple front platform ya pó jǐng qián dì/ grandma well front platform né zhā miào/ né zhā temple sān jiē huì guǎn (guān dì Miào)/ sān jiē meeting hall (guān dì temple) zhèng jiā dà wū/ zhèng’s family big house lú jiā dà wū/ lú’s family big house hé dōng tú shū guǎn/ hé dōng library Dōng wàng yáng pào tái/ Overlooking east sea fortress
郑家大屋
3.2. Translation analysis Upon detailed examination of the site names and their translations, we have summarized our research results in four tables: Tables 2 and 3 showing source culture oriented translations, while Tables 4 and 5 containing target culture oriented translations. Venuti’s term foreignizing translations is used for the source culture oriented translations to indicate “the type of translation in which a TT is produced which deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreigness of the original” (Shuttleworth & Cowie 1997: 59), and his term domesticating translations is borrowed to refer the target culture oriented translations to “describe the translation strategy in which a transparent, fluent style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for TL readers”(ibid.).
3.2.1. Source culture oriented translations Table 2 contains names of churches and a protestant cemetery which are signs of western religious culture; therefore, the English names are regarded as source texts and the Chinese names are regarded as target texts. Almost all site names in this table are translated according to their pronunciation plus the semantic meaning. For example, “St. Lawrence’s Church” is translated into 圣老楞佐教堂, in which 圣 老楞佐 (pinyin: Shèng lǎo lèng zuǒ) is the transliteration of “St. Lawrence’s” and 教堂 is the semantic translation of “church”. The same can be said about other site names. “St. Joseph’s Seminary and Church” is translated into 圣若瑟修院及圣堂 (pinyin: Shèng ruò sè Monastery and Church), “St. Augustine’s Church” into 圣 奥斯定教堂 (pinyin: Shèng ào sīdìng Church), “St. Anthony’s Church” into 圣安 多尼教堂 (pinyin: Shèng ān duō ni Church). Only the two names “the Protestant © 2012. Fédération des Traducteurs (fit) Revue Babel All rights reserved
Reading different cultures through cultural translation 211
Table 2. Foreignizing translation of western names English
Chinese
圣老楞佐教堂 St. Lawrence’s Church St. Joseph’s Seminary 圣若瑟修院及圣堂 and Church 大堂（主教座堂） Cathedral 圣奥斯定教堂 St. Augustine’s Church St. Anthony’s Church 圣安多尼教堂
the Protestant Cemetery
基督教坟场
Back translation from Translation methods Chinese used Shèng Lǎo Lèng Church Shèng Ruò Sè Monastery and Church Big Hall; Bishop Hall Shèng Ao sī Dìng Church Shèng An Duō Ni Church Protestant Cemetery
Transliteration plus semantic translation Transliteration plus semantic translation semantic translation Transliteration plus semantic translation Transliteration plus semantic translation semantic translation
emetery” and “Cathedral” are semantically translated into基督教坟场 (back C translation: the protestant cemetery) and大堂/主教座堂 (back translation: big hall; bishop hall) respectively. The main principles for the above translations seem to be that when the building is named after a person, the person’s name is translated according to its pronunciation; when the building is given a proper name with common concepts such as “the protestant”, “bishop”, semantic translation is adopted. Whether the site names are translated according to the pronunciation of the original words or according to the semantic meaning, the SL identities and the culture specifics are preserved in the translation. Table 3 gives examples of foreignizing translations of Chinese names into English, the main translation method of which is also transliteration plus semantic translation. It is worth noting that in Macao, most local people speak the Cantonese dialect; therefore, transliteration here means names are translated according to the Cantonese pronunciation. For example, 哪咤庙 is translated into Na Tcha Temple, which is somewhat different from the translation from Putonghua pinyin Né Zhā Temple, 卢家大屋 into “Lou Kau Mansion” rather than to the standard Chinese pronunciation “Lú Jiǎ Mansion”, and关帝庙is translated into Guan Tai Temple, rather than to “Guān Dì Temple”. When the combination of transliteration and semantic translation is mainly applied to translations in Table 3, there are differences between the source and target texts that are worth mentioning. Sam Kai Vui Kun Temple(三街会馆) is an old Chinese building once used as a meeting place for Chinese merchants and later became the temple of God of Kwan Ti (关帝).The name 三街会馆literally means ‘third street meeting hall’. In the past, westerners lived in Macao just called it “Sam © 2012. Fédération des Traducteurs (fit) Revue Babel All rights reserved
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Table 3. Foreignizing translation of Chinese names Chinese
English
哪咤庙
Na Tcha Temple
三街会馆（关帝庙）
卢家大屋 妈阁庙
Translation methods
Transliteration plus semantic translation Sam Kai Vui Kun Temple/ guānTransliteration plus addition/ dì temple Transliteration plus semantic translation Lou Kau Mansion Transliteration plus semantic translation A-Ma Temple Transliteration plus semantic translation
Kai Vui Kun” as the local people did. But later when the Macau Government Tourist Office was preparing materials for the application for inscribing the Macau Historic Centre to the UNESCO Heritage List and for subsequent promotions, they officially translated the name into Sam Kai Vui Kun Temple, with the word “temple” added. As a result, this name maintains the original Chinese cultural flavour, and at the same time makes its function clearer to the target reader.
3.2.2. Target culture oriented translation When Chinese readers may find something foreignness in names like 圣老楞佐 教堂 (St. Lawrence’s Church) and圣若瑟修院及圣堂 (St. Joseph’s Seminary & Church) in Table 2, they will find nothing foreign in the Chinese version of the site names in Table 4, which are domesticated into typical proper nouns in Chinese names. “St. Augustine’s Square” is adapted into 岗顶前地 (back translation: hill top platform), “St. Dominic’s Church” into 玫瑰堂 (back translation: rose hall), “St. Dominic’s Square” into 板樟堂前地 (back translation: Platform in front of wooden Hall) and “Ruins of St. Paul’s” into 大三巴牌坊 (back translation: three big arch gates). None of these Chinese versions can find equivalents in the English version. For example, “Ruins of St. Paul’s” and大三巴牌坊 (three big arch gates) are completely different names referring to the same site. Table 4. Domesticating translation of Western names English
Chinese/ back translation
Translation methods
St. Augustine’s Square St. Dominic’s Square
岗顶前地/ hill top front platform 板樟堂前地/ wooden hall front
Communicative translation Communicative translation
Dom Pedro V Theatre St. Dominic’s Church Ruins of St. Paul’s
岗顶剧院/ hill top theater 玫瑰堂/ rose hall 大三巴牌坊/ three big arch gates
Communicative translation Communicative translation Cultural transplantation
platform
© 2012. Fédération des Traducteurs (fit) Revue Babel All rights reserved
Reading different cultures through cultural translation 213
Table 5. Domesticating translation of Chinese names Chinese ST
Literal translation
English names in use Translation methods
妈阁庙前地
A Ma temple front platform
Barra Square
亚婆井前地
Grandma well front platform
Lilau Square
郑家大屋
Zhèng’s family big house
Mandarin’s House
何东图书馆
Hé Dōng library
东望洋炮台
Fortress overlooking East sea
Sir Robert Ho Tung Library Guia Fortress
Communicative translation Communicative translation Communicative translation Communicative translation Communicative translation
When summarizing their translation methods used in these site name translations, we borrow the terms ‘communicative translation’ and ‘Cultural transplantation’ by Hervey & Higgins, to describe a type of free translation which involves “the substitution for ST expressions of their contextually/situationally appropriate cultural equivalents in the TL”. In the next section of this paper we will discuss possible reasons for producing such kind of translations. Like site name translations in Table 4, the translations in Table 5 are also domesticating translations. In Hervey & Higgins’ term, these translations are types of “cultural transposition” which selects target language and cultural features rather than those of the source language and culture. All the Chinese names in this table are referents of places or buildings that have Chinese flavours, namely, the A-Ma Temple, the Grandma Well, the Zheng’s family big house, and the very well-known local philanthropist Mr Ho Tung. However, in the English translations, these Chinese elements have been lost in the translation. Instead, some Western elements have been added to the names, making them less foreign to Western readers. ‘Barra’ and ‘Lilau’ are Portuguese terms that are literally transferred to English. For the name of the Ho Tung Library, a title more familiar to English readers “Sir Robert” is added to the translation, making it more or less a domesticating translation, or a kind of “cultural transposition” as termed by Hervey & Higgins. The last group of translations in our classification is considered to be semantic or functional translations of site names. All the names in Table 6 refer to buildings or places that once functioned or are still playing certain function in the Macao society. For example, the Chinese name 港务局大楼 (literal translation: Maritime Administration Building) is not a literal translation of the English version “Moorish Barracks”, but rather a recreation of a name to indicate the function of the building, which is the office building for the Macau Maritime Administration. “Casa Garden” in Portuguese means “Grand Garden House” which reflects © 2012. Fédération des Traducteurs (fit) Revue Babel All rights reserved
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Table 6. Functional translation of site names English
Chinese
Back translation
Translation methods
Moorish Barracks
港务局大楼
Maritime Administration Building Civil Affairs Building
communicative translation communicative translation communicative translation communicative translation communicative translation
Leal Senado Building 民政总署大楼 Senado Square
议事亭前地
Holy House of Mercy 仁慈堂大楼 Casa Garden
东方基金会会址
Senate Building front platform Mercy Building Oriental Foundation Building
its history as a rich family’s house and its physical surroundings, while the Chinese translation 东方基金会会址 (the Oriental Foundation Building) only gives information about the present function of the building. Other names in Table 6 are more or less semantically translated because the original names also indicate the functions of the buildings, e.g. “Senado Square” into 议事亭前地 (back translation: platform in front of the Senate Building), “Leal Senado Building” into 民政总署大楼 (back translation: Civil Affairs Building), “Holy House of Mercy” into 仁慈堂大楼 (back translation: Mercy Building).
4. Discussion: Why are site names translated differently? The analysis in the previous section shows that some site names of the Macau Historic Centre are translated into the target language in which the source language flavour is kept, while others are replaced by target cultural elements with the result that the text is partially rewritten in a target culture setting, still others are translated according to the function the buildings played or are still playing. Then why are there differences in site name translations of the Macau Historic Centre? Based on the research result we assume that there might be at least four reasons for translating differently the site names under investigation. In this section we will attempt to explore these four possible reasons behind the translations.
4.1. Preserving western and Chinese religious cultures In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, missionaries from different European religious orders entered China through Macao, engaging in missionary work and bringing with them western religious cultures. The influx of missionaries to C hina © 2012. Fédération des Traducteurs (fit) Revue Babel All rights reserved
Reading different cultures through cultural translation 215
began after the European Reformation. They brought with them Western science, culture and art. But at the same time, in order to adapt themselves better in the Chinese community, those missionaries would be trained in the Chinese language together with other areas of Chinese knowledge, including philosophy and comparative religion. St. Paul’s College was one of the places for such a purpose. Among the many missionaries who had good knowledge of Chinese language culture, Robert Morrison and Matteo Ricci were two outstanding examples. Morrison compiled the first English-Chinese Dictionary and did the first Chinese translation of the Bible, while Ricci was very active in transmitting Chinese knowledge to Europe, such as translating Confucius’s works into European languages. Therefore, it is widely believed that many of the names of those western style buildings were initiated and translated by the western missionaries. As summarized in the previous section that the site names listed in Table 2 and 3 are translated with an emphasis on the source culture, whether they are from English to Chinese or from Chinese to English. Those translations are classified as foreignizing translations because they contain the SL cultural elements. Obviously, the Chinese translations of St. Lawrence’s Church (圣老楞佐教堂 Shèng lǎo lèng zuǒ jiào táng), St. Joseph’s Seminary (圣若瑟修院及圣堂 Shèng ruò sè xiū yuàn ji Shèng táng) and St. Augustine’s Church (圣奥斯定教堂 Shèng ào sī dìng jiào táng) carry a sense of foreignness to the local people. The main function of this kind of foreignizing translations is understandably to preserve and to transmit western religious cultures to the target culture. By the same token, the English translations of Chinese names such as 哪咤庙 into “Na Tcha Temple”, 三街会馆（关帝庙）into “Sam Kai Vui Kun Temple”, 卢家大屋 into “Lou Kau Mansion”, and 妈阁庙into “AMa Temple” are cases showing the missionaries’ attempts in preserving the Chinese cultural identities for their western readers.
4.2. Local people’s preference for names easy to remember At the same time, there are some site names that are translated with a target culture orientation. For example, translations listed in Tables 4, 5 and 6 are domesticating translations (or free/unfaithful translations) in which “a transparent, fluent style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for TL readers” (Shuttleworth & Cowie 1997: 43). We have found that church names such as those in Table 2 are all literally translated so as to preserve the western religious elements in the Chinese names; however, names of squares, theatre or ruins such as those in Tables 4 and 5, would be translated much more freely. When St. Augustine’s Church is translated into the Chinese name 圣奥斯定教堂 (Shèng ào sī dìng church), it would be very logical for St. Augustine’s Square to be translated into 圣奥斯定广场 (Shèng ào sī dìng © 2012. Fédération des Traducteurs (fit) Revue Babel All rights reserved
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square). However, St. Augustine’s Square is adapted into ‘hill top platform’(岗顶前 地, gāng dǐng qián dì). Other similar translations can be found with the ‘St. Dominic’s Square’ which is transformed into ‘Wooden Hall front Platform’(板樟堂前地, bǎn zhāng táng qián dì), and Ruins of St. Paul’s into ‘three big arch gates’ (大三巴 牌坊, dà sān bā pái fǎng).
Although there might have been some source language oriented translations for names such as St. Augustine’s Square, St. Dominic’s Square and Ruins of St. Paul’s in Chinese, perhaps they were too difficult for the local Chinese people to pronounce and to remember, and therefore lost in the long history. The present Chinese names that are in actual use might not be translations directly from the source texts, but rather creations by the local Chinese people according to their geographical, religious features and their functions. For example, St. Augustine’s Square is situated at the top of a small hill, hence it is called Hill Top Platform; St. Dominic’s Church was originally built with wood, hence the platform is called Wooden Hall front Platform. The Ruins of St. Paul’s was the Church of Mater Dei before the whole church, except the façade, was destroyed by fire. The façade is the only structure that remains after the damage. To the Chinese, the façade no long represents the church, rather it resembles the ancient Chinese style archway. Thus the local people borrowed the idea from their culture and named this arch-like façade Three Big Arch Gates.
4.3. Different cultures, different perceptions Domesticating translation strategy is also applied to the translation of Chinese names into Portuguese and English. For example, 亚婆井前地 is not literally translated into “the Grandma Well Square”, instead it is translated into “Lilau Squre”. Lilau in Portuguese means “mountain spring”. It is said that this spring used to be the principal source of water in Macao so there is a popular saying that “one who drinks from Lilau never forgets Macao; one either makes it home, or will come back again”. Therefore, for the Portuguese and other westerners who came to Macao in the early times, the mountain spring was very important. Whether there was a grandma or grandpa sitting at the spring did not make any difference. That is probably why in the Portuguese and English translations, the Chinese ancestral image 亚婆 (grandma) is lost. Another example showing different perception is the translation of 郑家大屋, the influential Zheng’s Family Big House into “Mandarin’s House” in English and “Casa do Mandarin” in Portuguese. The Zheng’s Big House is undoubtedly bearing a typical Chinese style, but there are many other mandarins’ houses as well in the city. The choice of a general name ‘Mandarin’s House’ rather than a specific name ‘Zheng’s Big House’ might have two implications: first, Westerners also preferred © 2012. Fédération des Traducteurs (fit) Revue Babel All rights reserved
Reading different cultures through cultural translation 217
names easier to remember; second, they perceived the house from its architectural style rather than from its owner.
4.4. Respecting history by maintaining “non-equivalent names” In the Macao SAR Chinese and Portuguese are the official languages, therefore, all government documents and public notices released by the government are in the two official languages. Only in recent years has English become an important language in daily communications. When the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) and other officials were preparing the materials of the Historic Centre to be listed as a World Heritage Site, they surely had to decide on the translation of all the names. They could have made all the site name translations in a standardized form, such as the Pinyin used in the Chinese mainland, but they refused to do so. Instead, the MGTO chose to keep the names as diversified as they had been existing in reality. This is, to our understanding, the best way of respecting history because in a city like Macao whose history is so rich and unique, every name of a streetscape, a piazza and a building tells a story.
5. Conclusion This paper has examined the translations of site names of the Macau Historic Centre. It is found that some names are translated directly according to the pronunciation or meaning of the original, while others are translated in a way familiar to the target language reader. Whatever translation strategies are applied, and whether the translation is moving towards the source culture or towards the target culture, names and their translations for the Macau World Heritage Site have their own stories about the history of Macao. The differences of the Chinese and Portuguese/English versions are expected to give tourists an access to the rich culture, unique history and the dynamic nature of Macao. Therefore, readers would experience different cultures via reading cultural translations.
References Baker, M. 1992. In Other Words: A Course Book on Translation. London and New York: Routledge. 304 pp. Hervey, S. and I. Higgins. 1992. Thinking Translation: A Course in Translation Method: French to English. London: Routledge. 256 pp. Loh, Dian-yang. 1958. Translation: Its Principles and Techniques. Beijing: Times Publishing. 384 pp.
© 2012. Fédération des Traducteurs (fit) Revue Babel All rights reserved
218 Meifang Zhang
Newmark, P. 1981. Approaches to Translation. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall. 200 pp. Shuttleworth, M. and M. Cowie. 1997. Dictionary of Translation Studies. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing. 233 pp. Venuti, L. 1995. The Translator’s Invisibility -- A History of Translation. London and New York: Routledge. 353 pp. Zhang M. F. 2009. “Cultural Access to Macao: On Name Translations of Macau World Heritage,” in Shanghai Journal of Translators 2: 29–33. Zhang M. F. and Li Pan. 2009. “Introducing a Chinese Perspective on Translation Shifts: a comparative study of Shift Models by Loh and Vinay & Darbelnet.” Special Issue of The Translator: Chinese Discourses on Translation 15.2: 351–74.
Abstract Cultural translation in this research refers to translation of site names in the Historic Centre of Macau which was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in the year 2005. The Historic Centre of Macau, which is the product of over 400 years of cultural exchange between the western and the Chinese civilizations, encompasses rich architectural legacies. This paper attempts to examine how the names of those cultural legacies are translated. The result of the research shows that some names are translated directly according to the pronunciation or meaning of the original; while others are translated in a way familiar to the target language reader. It is argued that the differences of the Chinese and English versions are expected to give tourists an access to the rich culture, unique history and the dynamic nature of Macao; therefore, readers would experience different cultures via reading translations of names of those cultural legacies. Keywords: Cultural translation, names of cultural legacies, site names in Macau historic centre
Résumé La traduction culturelle dans cette étude se réfère à la traduction des noms de site dans le centre historique de Macao, qui a été inscrit sur la liste du patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO en 2005. Le centre historique de Macao, qui est le produit de plus de 400 ans d’échanges culturels entre les civilisations occidentale et chinoise, englobe un riche patrimoine architectural. Cet article décrit comment les noms de ces héritages culturels ont été traduits. Le résultat de la recherche montre que certains noms sont traduits directement d’après la prononciation ou la signification de l’original, alors que d’autres sont traduits d’une manière familière au lecteur de la langue cible. La recherche affirme que les différences entre les versions chinoise et anglaise devraient permettre aux touristes d’accéder à la culture riche, à l’histoire unique et à la nature dynamique de Macau. Par conséquent, les lecteurs expérimenteraient différentes cultures en lisant la traduction des noms de ces héritages culturels. Mots clés: Traduction culturelle, noms des héritages culturels, noms de site au centre historique de Macao
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Reading different cultures through cultural translation 219
About the author ZHANG Meifang received her PhD degree (Specializing in Translation Studies) from Hong Kong Baptist University in 1999. She joined the University of Macau in 2003 and holds a full professorship. She was previously Professor of English and Translation in the School of Foreign Languages of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, where she also served as Head of the English Department (2000–2002). In 2010 she was Executive Chair of the Organization Committee in convening the FIT Sixth Asian Translators Forum (Macao). She is currently Vice President of the Macau Federation of Translators and Interpreters, and Council Member and Expert Member of the Chinese Translators’ Association. Meifang’s main research interests are in Translation and Intercultural Studies, Translation for the Media, Discourse Analysis and Contrastive Study of Chinese and English. Her book Functional Approaches to Translation Studies (by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2005) represents her special interest in research. She is on the editorial board of the Chinese Translators’ Journal and of some other academic journals. Her recent publications include “Paratextual Elements in Translation: with Special Reference to News Translation” in Chinese Translators Journal, 2011 (2): 50–5, “Translating a Citation with the Golden Mean: Reflection on the Translation of Citation for Mr. Li Zhaoxing”, in Shanghai Journal of Translators, 2011 (2): 39–44; “Introducing a Chinese Perspective on Translation Shifts: A Comparative Study of Shift Models by Loh and Vinay & Darbelnet” (first author), in the Special Issue of The Translator: Chinese Discourse on Translation, 2009/15(2): 351–74; “Text Typology and Its Implications for Translation Studies”, in Chinese Translators Journal, 2009/5: 53–60; “Social Context and Translation of Public Notices”, in Babel 2009/55(2): 142–52. Address: English Department, FSH, University of Macau Av. Padre Tomas Pereira, SJ, Taipa, Macao SAR, China. Tel. (853) 83974224; fax (853) 28838312 Email:
[email protected]
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