Comparative linguistic analysis of translations of Chinese fairy tales

Meshcheryakova Sof'ya Dmitrievna Bachelor's Degree, Department of Chinese Language, National Research Tomsk State University 634050, Russia, Tomsk region, Tomsk, Lenin Ave., 36 sonya.mesch@yandex.ru

Interest in the interpretation of Chinese fairy tales into Russian arose due to the obvious difference between the texts of the original fairy tales and their translations. The article focuses on the questions: what types of translation transformations were used, why interpreters abandoned some symbolic units and meanings in favor of others, how the socio–cultural context of the translator's country could affect the interpretation of the text - all these elements of linguistic analysis will help to establish the strategies of translation activities of interpreters of Chinese traditional texts and deepen our understanding of how the interaction of two cultures at the moment of translation of the text from one language to another, it gives rise to new cultural meanings.

The object of research: translations of Chinese fairy tales into Russian.

Subject: translation strategies and types of translation transformations.

The main method of research is a comparative analysis of texts. The theoretical basis of the research was the concept of translation strategies of forenization and domestication ^[17] and the concept of types of translation transformations.

To conduct a comparative analysis, the sources were selected based on two criteria:

1) the presence of the Chinese original fairy tale;

2) the presence of at least two translations of the Chinese fairy tale into Russian.

During the search, it was found that the most authoritative translator of Chinese fairy tales into Russian was the philologist-sinologist Boris Lvovich Riftin (1932-2012). He made the first translations back in the 1960s. And they are still exemplary ^[6]. In addition, the voluminous corpus of fairy tales was a collection prepared and released by the Seventh Book publishing house "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire. Chinese fairy tales" ^[4]. The translation was carried out by order of the publishing house, unfortunately, the authors of the translations are not indicated in the fairy tales, so we will refer to the collection itself in the text of the article. Only three fairy tales presented in Table 1 met two selection criteria.

Table 1. Source base of the study

1. Mimosa ( (h?nxi?c?o)).

In both versions of interpretation, the name of the fairy tale is the same, Mimosa. The exact translation from Chinese is mimosa prudish (Latin Mimosa pudica). In the course of reading, it becomes clear why the fairy tale in the original has exactly this name.

The fairy tale begins with (C?ngqi?n y?u). This is the traditional formula of the beginning in a Chinese fairy tale, translated in dictionaries and relevant literature as "once upon a time", if translated literally, it sounds like "in the old days there was". B. L. Riftin translates as "I do not know in which land, I do not know in what times this story happened." In the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire", the same formula is translated as "When it was, in which direction, it is not known." We can say that both translators resort to generalization and addition. They replace a word that has a narrow meaning with words with a broader meaning, while adding new information that was not mentioned in the original.

Full proposal: , (C?ngqi?n y?u y?g? h?n y?ngj?n de xi?ohu?zi, j?ngch?ng w?ich? di?oy?) can be passed as "there once was a very beautiful young man who often went fishing." B. L. Riftin in his again resorts to the addition. His translation of this sentence reads as follows: "I do not know in which land, I do not know at what times this story happened. And what does it matter? Maybe far away - where heaven and earth converge. Or maybe it's close at hand. There was once a young man in the world. Handsome and handsome. Every day I went to the river to fish." In the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire", the translation reads as follows: "When it was, in which direction, it is not known. There was a young man who lived in the white world. And he is good-looking, and of a kind disposition. From early dawn, a young man went fishing in the river."  The translator added to the original that the young man was not only handsome, but also kind, and also entered an indication of the time, whereas in the original text it is not mentioned that the young man was fishing in the early hours of the day.

In the same paragraph, there is an interesting expression, ( (Xi?O y? m? l?i d? y? d?o). B. L. Riftin translates it almost verbatim: "Go away, little fish, come, big!". In the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire", the translation sounds like this: "Catch a big fish, swim away a small one." In this version, one cannot help noticing the similarity with the quote of the Wolf from the Russian fairy tale "The Fox-sister and the gray wolf", only there the phrase sounds like "Catch a big and small fish". The domestication strategy is seen here, the translator has tried to bring the translation as close as possible to Russian culture.

The translation adaptation of fairy tales is a serious, time–consuming work that requires special attention. Two translation strategies are mainly used: domestication and forenization ^[18]. A comparative analysis of these two strategies was first given at the end of the XX century by the American translator Lawrence Venuti ^[19].

When applying forenization, the emphasis is placed on the linguistic and cultural value of the translation language, the cultural features of the original text are emphasized, bringing the reader closer to the culture of the original. Domestication is a translation concept in which the text is maximally adapted to the linguistic forms and cultural norms of the host language with minimal preservation of the original. Here language is considered as a communication tool. The emphasis is on ease of understanding for the reader, but not on the most accurate rendering of the original.

There is a lot of imagery in the fabulous translations of B. L. Riftin. At the end of the first paragraph of the Mimosa there is a sentence,? (L?Oh?n shu? w?n, r?n b?ji?nle). Literally, it sounds like this: "When the old man finished speaking, he left." In the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" such a translation is recorded. B. L. Riftin proposed the following: "The old man said so, shook the fishing line, only the waves ran through the water, and he disappeared." In the first sentence of the second paragraph, the young man calls this old man (Xi?nr?n). This word is translated as "heavenly, immortal man." In his version, B. L. Riftin also emphasizes that the old man is immortal, but at the same time adds "Shenxian", which is not in the original text. A reader who is not familiar with Chinese culture will not understand this term. Shenxian are "immortal" adepts who have reached the desired state. The term belongs to the Chinese teaching of Hsien-xue (, Xi?n xu?), and is one of the most important doctrines of Taoism ^{[5, p. 422]}.

In the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" the translator did not include this sentence at all. From this it follows that Riftin used the forenization strategy and the transcription method, the emphasis is on the linguistic and cultural value of the translation language, the cultural features of the original text are emphasized, bringing the reader closer to the culture of the original. And the author of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire", on the contrary, used the strategy of domestication, the proposal adapts as much as possible to the linguistic forms and cultural norms of the host language.

After meeting with the old man, the young man meets the Lotus Maiden, in both collections this is the translation version. The original text ,,, (z? hu? Xi?o hu? d?oji?, x?n xi?ng ch?le, r?nw?i zh? h?hu? n?, d?ng xi?nn? Shi) is translated as "When the young man returned home, he was fascinated, thinking that the virgin-Lotus must be fairy." B. L. Riftin noted it in his translation, as in the story, the fact that the virgin-Lotus fairy, is very important. In the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" this detail is omitted. The translator considered that the information that the Lotus Maiden is a fairy is irrelevant.

In a conversation with the Lotus Maiden, the young man says about himself "" (W? sh? g?sh?n y?r?n ya). The expression ( (g?sh?n y?r?n) translates as "lonely person". In the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire", the translator uses the strategy of addition, and translates the sentence as "I am alone in the whole world!". B. L. Riftin also resorts to the strategy of domestication and translates the expression "g?sh?n y?r?n" as "all alone". Russian Russian translator may be using a native Russian adjective, which is close to any Russian reader.

The young man and the virgin, the Lotus fell in love with each other, and the virgin said to him, "," (zh?nx?n sh?y? Zh?y?o n?, w? ji? h? n? y?ku?i t?oz?u). In this sentence there is a Chinese phraseology (zh?nx?n sh?y?), it translates as "with all my heart and mind; with all my soul; with all my heart; with a calm heart; with all seriousness." In the version of B. L. Riftin, the sentence is translated as follows: "If you do not know fear and you do not have, as they say, "three hearts and two thoughts," let's run away with you to the very edge of the sky to the sea island," and in the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" it is also conveyed as follows: "If your thoughts are pure, and you don't have "three hearts and two thoughts," then let's go together to the edge of the earth, beyond the distant seas to the green island." In fact, the translation of the sentence is "As long as you are sincere, I will run away with you." It is interesting to note that in addition to the addition strategy, both translators translate the phraseological unit (zh?nx?n sh?y?) like "three hearts and two thoughts". This version of the translation was not found in any dictionary or relevant material.

In the next sentence, are just two of the idiom: "," (Xi?ohu?zi du? ti?n f?sh?, y?ng b? bi?nx?n). ( (du? ti?n f?sh?) translates as "to swear to Heaven", and (y?ng b? bi?nx?n) "to remain always faithful". That is, the sentence can be translated: "The young man swore to heaven that he would always be faithful." In the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire", the translator uses the strategy of domestication, replacing both of these phraseologisms with a simple and understandable expression for the Russian reader: "I am ready to go to the ends of the earth with you." B. L. Riftin completely changes the sentence, his version sounds like this: "I am happy with you everywhere - even in the high mountains, even in wild forests". It is difficult to say why the translator did this, perhaps he wanted to make the expressions fabulous, then we can assume that Riftin resorted to emphase to enhance the emotional expressiveness of speech.

The young man was engaged in hunting, the girl was weaving. In the original tale it is said that one day the virgin-Lotus pulled out of my head needle and gave it to the young man: "" (H?hu? n? c?ngt?u sh?ng b? xi? y? g?n zh?n ji?o g?i xi?ohu?zi). The needle itself is a talisman against evil forces. Surprisingly, in both versions of the translation of the needle as such does not occur at all, both translators replaced it with a lotus flower. For example, in the paragraph about the fight with the tiger "," (TA y?ng h?hu? TA de n? g?i y? zh? zh?n b?o, l?oh? t?op?ole) it is clear that the young man uses it with a needle to scare off the animal (He showed the needle, which he gave to the virgin-the Lotus, and the tiger ran away.). Riftin writes, "The young man recoiled in fear, the cherished flower showed the tiger, a red ray burst out of that flower, thin and long, well, like lightning. The tiger turned and ran away." In the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" this text is conveyed as follows: "The young man was afraid and showed the tiger a flower. The tiger saw the lotus and ran away in fear from the young man." The lotus in China is a sacred plant. In Eastern culture, the lotus is an image of productive power, a symbol of the rebirth of life, happiness and purity. Also, the lotus is an attribute of the return of youth and the acquisition of immortality, and as is known from the fairy tale, the lotus Maiden was immortal, but sacrificed her beauty for the sake of a loved one. It turns out that both translators resort to the strategy of forenization, using the "lotus", emphasizing the cultural characteristics of the country of the original text, bringing the reader closer to the culture of China ^[15].

On the other hand, both authors ignored the cultural and historical context. In feudal China, craft and art did not yet exist separately, as in other agrarian societies. Tools were expensive and valuable in the literal sense. A metal needle could be an important component of a girl's dowry, or even a source of material support for the family. They were also valuable in a symbolic sense ^[9]. We can find analogs in Russian culture: a horseshoe is a symbol of happiness, a pin pinned by the collar protects against the evil eye. And the hieroglyph ? also has a meaning – "pin". In the Russian tradition, a pin is not just a device for fastening parts of clothing, but also a very important talisman against misfortunes and evil spirits ^[2]. Therefore, it is not entirely clear why both translators change such a logical pin to a lotus. Perhaps the underestimation of the cultural meaning of the craft tool is a product of Soviet industrialism, of which B. L. Riftin and his followers became a hostage. And perhaps this is a consequence of the general cultural tradition of poetization of myths, the representation of the depicted in a more sublime form, which, since the era of Romanticism, has survived no epic legacy ^[10].

In ïðåäëîæåíèè, (D?ngk?u bi?n j?n j?n b? sh?ng, xi?ohu?zi b?i n?i j?n z?i d?ng) says that the entrance to the cave, which hit the young man was tightly closed, and the young man was locked in it. Both translators used the domestication strategy and the addition technique. In the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" the translator writes that "the gates slammed and the darkness fell so that even the eyes were poked out", using a familiar Russian phraseology. B. L. Riftin translates as "the gates slammed and it became dark-dark", adding a colloquial adverb.

Despite the fact that according to the plot of the fairy tale, the young man betrayed his wife, the Lotus Maiden, she still decides to save him and pull him out of a deadly trap. In ïðåäëîæåíèè,, (H?hu? n? d?ole d?ng m?nk?u, k?ish?n y?oshi b? y? zh?, m?n d? k?i d?ng), you can see that the virgin-LOTOS it took a key to release the boy from the sunken cave. But both translators replaced the key with a silver thimble. In Russian culture, it is believed that the thimble is the most important symbol of femininity, a symbol of maintaining family life [Volgin V.]. Perhaps that is why the translators chose the strategy of domestication, adding the lotus Maiden an important attribute of a loving wife, changing the original text.

Despite the fact that the Lotus Maiden made great efforts to free the young man, he still succumbed to temptations and the evil spirit overtook him. In the original sentence is: ,, (Sh?on? TA ch?n s?xi?ng d?ngy?o y?ch?n? de, y? b? sh?up? b?id?ng, bi?n b? xi?o hu? z? z?i hu?ch?ng sh?ngzh?ng d?sh?ng r?uru? de xi?o c?o). Its meaning is that the evil spirit turned the young man into a weak grass growing on the ground. Russian translators have tightened the text. In both versions, the evil spirit killed the young man, and the Lotus Maiden saw only his scattered bones. In the finale of the original fairy tale it is written that since then this weak grass is called mimosa. In both versions of the Russian translation, there is an addition that is missing in the original. The lotus Maiden meets the same old man who already appeared at the beginning of the story. He gives her the lotus that the girl donated to her lover, and the girl becomes a beautiful fairy again. You can draw an analogy with the fairy tale of G.-H. Andersen's "The Little Mermaid". There is no place for a beautiful spirit in the world of people. Here she is waiting for betrayal and deception.

Perhaps the fact that both translators changed the ending is explained by the fact that for a Russian fairy tale, the fundamental moment is the victory of good over evil. In the Chinese fairy tale, neither good nor evil wins, only the unfaithful husband gets what he deserves and turns into a weak grass. It turned out to be important for Russian translators to emphasize the revival of goodness. The main positive character of the narrative, the Lotus Maiden, gets back her beauty and her immortality in the finale

Having studied both translations of the fairy tale, "Mimosa", it can be noticed that the version of B. L. Riftin is more free, some events do not correspond to the original text. The translator added a lot of phraseological units, his descriptions are much more colorful than in the original. The translation in the collection "Fairy Tales of the Middle Kingdom" also differs in many ways from the original. There is a feeling that the translator from this collection in many aspects built his interpretation based on the text of Riftin.  The fact that both used images such as a lotus and a thimble simply cannot be a coincidence. 

If we talk about strategies and types of translation transformations, then B. L. Riftin very often resorted to adding: the original text is several times shorter than its translation. The translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire", on the contrary, more often resorted to omission, removing Chinese images unfamiliar to the Russian consciousness.

Also, B. L. Riftin much more often resorts to the strategy of forenization, trying to introduce the Russian reader to the culture of China. The translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" more often resorts to domestication, trying to replace Chinese images, phraseological units and cultural features with more familiar Russian-speaking analogues.

1. Heavenly Drum ( (zh?nti?ng?)

The tale of the "heavenly drum," begins: ",,," (Ti?ng?ng li y?u g? l?o sh?nxi?n, TA y?u q? g? ?r n?', zu?xi?o de q? ?r n?'ji?o ji?, sh?g? h?n yu?m? d? g?ni?ng). Here the main characters are immediately introduced, the immortal elder and his youngest daughter, Qi Jie. In this tale, both translators used the forenization strategy, the same Taoist doctrine is seen here as in the first tale – Xian-xue (, Xi?n xu?), and the name of the elder goes back to this ancient teaching. His name is (sh?nxi?n), which literally means "immortal". Both translators translated his name Shenxian using the transcription method, as well as when transferring the name of his daughter. B. L. Riftin even made a footnote explaining that Qi-tse literally translates from Chinese as "seventh daughter", and in the fairy tale she is just the seventh and youngest.

Both translators resorted to the addition and in the first paragraph they wrote information that was not in the original text, that the father of the daughters forbade them to even dream of earthly life, so he brought them up strictly and did not even allow walks. B. L. Riftin also added that the youngest daughter was eighteen years old, although in the text her age was not mentioned in the original.

One day, Qi-jie heard a flute coming from the Ground and ran away from the Heavenly Castle to see who was playing so beautifully. In the original text ",," (TA li?ng y?n q? d? x?nzhe sh?ngw?ng, zh? ji?n ni?nq?ng y?g? r?n de ti?n g?ng, zh?ng z?i zu? y? k? d? li?c?n p?ng chu? d?zi) mentions that the flute is played by a young peasant from the village of Dali. Both translators used the omission strategy and did not mention that the young man was a peasant from the village.

The young man who played the flute was called Wang San, and in both versions of the translation he has just such a name. In ïðåäëîæåíèè, (Di? m? z?os?le, TA g?l?ngl?ng de zh?y?u y?g? r?n) States that parents van Sanja died early and he was alone. B. L. Riftin, and translator of the book "fairy tales of China" used in a sustainable phrases in the translation of this sentence. In Riftin's version, Wang San was a "round orphan", and the translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" wrote that Wang San "was alone in the whole wide world."

The fairy tale tells that Wang San saved the spotted deer Ji-tse, which was being hunted by a wolf. In the sentence ":","" ("W?ng s?n su?sh?u x?f?ng xi?ng y? zh? shu?:"Pi?ji?nle, xi?ng n?l? p?ole."Y?sh? l?ng bi?n xi?ng x?f?ng zhu?le gu?q?) says that when the wolf asked van Sanya, where it ran a deer, he pointed to the West. Unlike Riftin, the translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" omits that Wang San shows the wolf exactly the way to the west, although this is an important point. In Chinese mythology, the West is the land of the dead, which is guarded by Bai-hu (the white tiger) ^[7].  

After rescuing deer thanks van San and asked him about his family, to which he replied: "" (w? zh?y?u y?g? r?n a), which literally translates as "I'm the only one". B. L. Riftin sends it sustainable by the phrase "the one I have in this world", and the translator of the book "fairy tales of China" - originally-Russian idiom "alone". In the old days, the Slavs counted on their fingers and the first ten digits were called fingers, the first was the thumb, standing apart from the other closed fingers of the open palm, from which this expression came ^[13]. It follows that the translator of the collection used the strategy of domestication, trying to adapt the text for the Russian reader as much as possible.

In the sentence about the meeting of a young man with a girl says: ",,," (TA z?u d?o xi?o y?ti?o h?p?n, pi?ji?n y?g? sh?n chu?n h?ng y?shang de g?ni?ng, h?p?n z?i x? zhu? y?shang, r?ngm?o yu?m? j?le). In the original, the girl is wearing a red dress. In China, red has always been associated with happiness, success and joy [Yapin]. In Russian culture, red means not only something positive: the sun, love, warmth, but also color-a warning about any danger. Both translators replaced the color of the girl's dress, B. L. Riftin "dressed" the girl in pink, and the translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" in white. Most likely, the choice of Riftin is connected precisely with the ambiguity of the red color in Russian culture. The meaning of pink is similar to red, but does not carry its negative meaning. The translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" may have dressed the girl in a white dress to emphasize her innocence, holiness and purity, because this is the meaning of white in Russian culture. But, this replacement looks inappropriate. Because in China, white represents death, betrayal and old age ^[1].

That girl was Qi-tse, they fell in love with each other with a young man and began to live together. But the father was against their union and took his daughter to the heavenly prison. Spotted deer helped the young man come up with a plan to get to their Heavenly Castle. The beloved's father came up with several tests for the young man. The second one sounded like this: "" (Ji?o t? n? l?i y? d?u l?ng k?ng du? w?ngs?nd?o). In this sentence there is a countable word ?(d?u). The translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" used the strategy of domestication, translating?(d?u) as a "bag", which is understandable to the Russian reader. B. L. Riftin resorted to the transliteration method and translated it as "doe", putting in a footnote that this is a measure of loose bodies equal to 10 liters. Russian Russian is a clear strategy of forenization, which introduces the Russian reader to something new, since there is no such measuring unit in the Russian language.

The young man stole the heavenly drum and gone, so monkeys guarding a treasure, I decided to catch up to him: """,""" (W?ng s?n"d? d? d? z?i p?o de qi?nmi?n, h?uzimen"b?ng b?ng b?ng"de z?i zhu? b?imi?n!). "" (d? d? d?) is an onomatopoeia of the clop of hooves, and "" (b?ng b?ng b?ng) is a dance performed skipping. The translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" used the strategy of domestication and the method of compensation when translating this sentence. His version sounds like this: "Wang San rushes faster than the wind, but the monkeys still catch up." He changes Chinese expressions to the phrase "faster than the wind", which is familiar to a Russian person. Translated by B. L. Riftin, "Dong-dong-dong - Wang San is running; peng-peng-peng - monkeys are racing after him." The translator used the strategy of forenization by transcription, leaving the original sound.

A similar solution can be seen on the example of the sentence "","," (H?uzimen y?u"hu? hu? hu? hu?, hu? hu? hu?"de y?ugu? h?, zhu?le gu?l?i). The expression "" (hua hua hua) is an imitation of the noise of the river. B. L. Riftin translates as follows: "Hua–hua-hua - the monkeys splashed their paws on the water, started swimming." The translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" uses the strategy of domestication and the method of compensation, without focusing on the sound of the river. His passage reads like this: "The monkeys screamed, rushed into the water, and began to swim across."

Text """,""," (W?ng s?n y?u"d? d? d?"de z?i p?o qi?nmi?n, h?uzimen y?u"b?ng b?ng b?ng"de z?i zhu? b?imi?n, g?nzhe y?u y?o zhu? sh?ngle) B. L. Riftin sounds: "Dun-Dun-Dun - running San Wang; Peng-Peng-Peng - rushing behind him monkey." Again, the translator used the strategy of forenization by transcription, leaving the original meaning. The translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" translates as follows: "Wang San runs with all his legs, carries a drum on his back, and the monkeys catch up with him again. It's very close, they're breathing in my back." The translator changes "" (d? d? d?) to the phraseology "from all legs", and replaces the onomatopoeia "" (b?ng b?ng b?ng) with the phrase "breathe in the back", showing that the monkeys are very close and are about to grab the young man. The translator used a domestication strategy and a compensation method, changing Chinese expressions to Russian phraseological units and stable phrases.

In the paragraph about chase says: "," (W?ng s?n b? hu?sh? bi?n xi?ng y? d?sh?ng p?o, sh?nh?u l?j? ch?ngxi?nle y?zu? g?o g?o de hu?sh?n). When translated, "" (hu?sh?n) has only one meaning – a volcano, but both translators change a volcano to a mountain. Perhaps because of the negative significance of the volcano as a symbol. The volcano is associated with a catastrophic manifestation of natural forces, appears as an element of destruction, evil, is perceived as the gates of the underworld; in a number of cultures there was a custom of throwing the deceased into the crater. And the mountains have only a positive value. Mountains are a symbol of superiority, eternity, purity, constancy, ascent, aspiration, challenge ^[14].

In the sentence ""?",""" ("Du?"de y?sh?ng, zh?n d?u d? sh?y?"sh?sh?"de lu?xi? l?i) presents onomatopoeia "?" (Du?) simulate the tremors, and the onomatopoeia "" (sh?sh?), simulating the wrapper. B. L. Riftin once again uses the forenization strategy and the transcription method, his translation version sounds like this: "Don! - the drum thundered; sha-sha-sha - leaves fell from the trees." The translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" uses the same strategies only half, he omits the sound "" (sh?sh?) and his translation version sounds like this: "Don! – the drum thundered, and immediately all the leaves from the trees fell down."

Unlike the fairy tale "Mimosa", the ending of this fairy tale corresponds to the original. B. L. Riftin practically does not use the strategy of domestication, performing the entire translation with the help of forenization. Perhaps because of this, the translation is more difficult for a reader unfamiliar with Chinese culture, but, on the other hand, the fairy tale looks authentic and more interesting for those who are passionate about Chinese traditional culture.

The translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire", on the contrary, practically does not resort to the strategy of forenization, and translates all phenomena unfamiliar to the Russian reader using the strategy of domestication. He also often uses the compensation method, changing phenomena unfamiliar to the reader to more familiar ones, and at the same time the text becomes Russified, the cultural specificity of the original is lost.

B. L. Riftin makes several footnotes explaining Chinese phenomena unusual for a Russian reader. It turns out that the fairy tale in his translation is not just an interesting narrative, but also a kind of "reference book" that helps native speakers of the Russian language to get acquainted with something new, unusual. Despite the fact that the philologist tries to convey the essence of the original as fully as possible, he, like the translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire", at some moments changes incomprehensible Chinese phenomena to equivalents familiar to the Russian reader (for example, red, volcano). With this, the text becomes easier to perceive, but the essence changes a little, although the discrepancy with the original is quite small. The translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" often resorts to omission, which largely changes the meaning of the original. We can say that the text of B. L. Riftin's translation is more complete, artistic. The author of the translation tries to fully convey the phenomena of Chinese culture, without missing important aspects.

3. The fox woman (H?l? x?f?).

Both translators suggested the name – "The Fox Woman", but the fairy tale literally translates as "The Fox Daughter-in-law". And even more precisely, (x?f?) is the daughter–in-law, the son's wife in relation to his father.

The intonation of the original ",:?,,", - literally can shift this way: "first of all I have to say something, then you didn't say, "Hey, how can that be." A fairy tale is a fairy tale, you need to look for hidden meaning in it."

B.L. Riftin offers the following interpretation: "I know in advance, you will ask: "Does this happen?" Everything happens in a fairy tale. Think, use your brain and you will understand what the meaning of this fairy tale is." In general, fidelity to the original remains. But at the same time, Riftin resorts to a domestication strategy, adding the expression "to think about it." This is a phraseology, which is more interesting – colloquial. Usually, when translating fiction, colloquial phraseological units are not used, since they immediately change the style of speech, but in a fairy tale, perhaps this is appropriate.

In the second translation, the beginning sounds like this: "What just does not happen in the world! And in fairy tales, even more happens. The main thing is to listen and keep in mind what happens to the good, and how fate punishes the evil and negligent." The translator of the collection uses the addition method. There is no moralizing in the original. As well as suggestions to "wind up". Introduction to the text of the Russian stable expression is a manifestation of the domestication strategy, which is generally characteristic of the collection.

In the sentence ",,," both translators adhere to the original. At Riftin: "There lived in the old days a young man nicknamed Da Juan. He lived alone with his mother in a small house near the mountain." In the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire": "Once upon a time there lived in the Celestial Empire a young man named Da Juan. They lived with their mother in a tiny house at the foot of the mountain." In the following sentence, ",", the Chinese phraseology "" is presented at the beginning, it translates: "whether it's cold or hot; all year round; incessantly." It very successfully coincides with the Russian stable expression, which B. L. Riftin used in his translation: "And in the cold and in the heat he went to the mountains to chop brushwood, and that was what he fed on." The translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" omits this expression for unclear reasons: "They were fed by the fact that the young man chopped firewood and sold it to people."

If translated literally, the sentence: ",,,,,", it sounds like this: "long Ago, in feudal society, parents have been buying and selling daughters as wives, and no one knew how many deaths it's suffered. Parents did this regardless of whether their children will be happy in the future, the main thing is that there will be money." There are several interesting Chinese stable expressions in the sentence at once: translates as buying a wife, or marriage in the form of purchase and sale, and is a coincidence of feelings and interests, or to live soul to soul. At Riftin, this is collected as follows: "In the old days, all the father and mother decided: whom to marry their daughter to, whom to marry their son to, whether it was a wedding or a bidding, you wouldn't understand. They often brought their child to death. And it was all the same to them - whether the young people would love each other or not. If only I could sell my child to a rich house, and that's fine."

Translation in the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire": "In those days, all parents decided for the young: whom to marry their son to or whom to give their daughter to. Yes, they tried to gain everything so that they could attach their child to a richer house. And they didn't want to hear about love." First, both translators resorted to the method of dividing sentences. Secondly, both translators write about the fact that the son also had no choice, but the expression refers only to the sale of girls. What is the reason for this expansion of the meaning of the original text is not clear, and does it have a cultural and historical basis?

Next comes the sentence: ",......". There is a Chinese reality here - a ?. The meaning of the expression is that someone has many wives and concubines. This expression came from Cao Xueqin's novel "The Dream in the Red Chamber". Literally, the sentence translates as: "There is money – there are many wives and concubines, and the poor man will remain a bachelor forever." The expression literally translates as "being a naked stick". Riftin 's Translation: "A rich man has three women's chambers in his house, or even four concubines at once; a poor man has been living like a bob for the whole century." Translation in the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire": "That's how it turned out that a rich man has three wives, and a poor man does not marry in any way until old age." Riftin uses two strategies at once in one sentence – both domestication and forenization. He accurately conveys the Chinese reality in the first part of the sentence, but at the end uses the word "bobyl", which came from ancient Russia. The translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" resorts only to the strategy of domestication, without transmitting the Chinese reality.

At one time, Yes Joan was working and saw the two girls: ",:,,,,,,,". There is an interesting Chinese expression in this sentence: "". Literally, it translates as "a face like a duck egg". But its figurative meaning is "an oblong and round face (specifically a woman's)."  Both translators resorted to calculus and wrote "duck face" without explanation. Does the Russian reader perceive it as rounded or does a "duck nose" come to mind? It is in this case that a literal translation seems insufficient

After a while, Da Zhuang met a girl in red and began to collect firewood with her in a race. In the text ",?""," says that the girl's name is Hu Ernie and she lives over the mountain with her older sister. Riftin reflected all of the above in his translation, and the translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" immediately resorted to two methods: omission and addition. He did not mention that the girl's surname was Hu, and for some reason added that the girl lives not only with her sister, but also with her father, which was not in the original text. Both translators spell the girl's name as Er-ni. The translation practice of writing two-syllable Chinese names with a hyphen existed in Russia until the end of the twentieth century. But after the PRC's appeal to the UN with a request to adhere to the spelling of the names of the norms of Putonghua and pinyin, the spelling of Chinese names when translated through a hyphen is considered incorrect ^[8]. The collection of B. L. Riftin was published in 1972, and "Fairy Tales of the Middle Kingdom" in 2012, so the translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Middle Kingdom" made a gross mistake, and B.L. Riftin did not.

The sentence "," says that Ernie was very diligent and did everything to earn a living. Riftin 's Translation: "And Er-ni was so hardworking! Whatever she undertakes, everything is disputed with her." The translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" interpreted as follows: "She worked from morning to night, and every job she had was disputed." The amazing fate of the steady expression "golden hands, what he won't take, everything in his hands is disputed." We can find it both in the translation of the Vietnamese folk tale "Three Craftsmen" ^[12], and in the Karelian folk tale "Spinners at the Ice Hole" ^[11]. Obviously, this is a translation strategy of domestication, bringing the text to a common denominator for the Russian-speaking reader.

Ernie and Da Juan got married, they had a child, they were happy, but the father forced Ernie to leave her husband and return home. Da Juan could not stand the separation from his beloved and went in search of her. He found Ernie, but her father decided to arrange tests for the young man. The sentence "" says that Da Juan followed him (his father) to the northern room. B. L. Riftin wrote this in the translation text, and the translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" replaced north with south, which is not only a violation of the original text, but also a gross mistake regarding the transfer Chinese realities. The North in China is a symbol of primordial chaos, that is, it has a negative message. Since the father is a negative character in the fairy tale, such a symbol emphasizes this. And the south is the most important side of the world for the Chinese, associated with the red color [Tresidder]. That is, by changing north to south, the translator added a positive characteristic to the father, which is a mistake.

Ernie and Da Juan decided to give their father poisoned wine. In the sentence "?,,,," says that the wine was nastane on the osmanthus. B. L. Riftin replaced last on brown flowers, the translator of the book "fairy tales of the celestial" on the flowers of wild plum. A completely inexplicable replacement. Osmanthus is the most common flower in China, which blooms exclusively in autumn. It is one of the most iconic symbols, embodies fertility, peace, loyalty and love, being also a traditional wedding flower ^[14]. Since Ernie tried to poison her father for the sake of her beloved husband, this flower is not just a part of the narrative, but an important symbol, including the contradiction between honoring a domineering father and love for her husband, who cannot be omitted or replaced in any way.

When analyzing the translations of this fairy tale, one can immediately notice that B.L. Riftin uses the forenization strategy much less often than in previous fairy tales. The translator of the collection "Fairy Tales of the Celestial Empire" seems to be abandoning this strategy altogether, replacing all Chinese realities with something more understandable to the Russian reader. Russian Russian, however, does not sound like a fairy tale, it seems to be a strange, and not quite appropriate combination of Russian and Chinese realities. Replacing the cardinal directions and plants looks like a mistake for translators of Chinese fairy tales, since the hidden meaning of the narrative is lost. These substitutions don't seem justified.

Comparing the originals of fairy tales and their two interpretations, it is not difficult to notice that B. L. Riftin more often resorts to the strategy of forenization, reflecting the cultural specifics of China in his translations. Boris Lvovich was an outstanding connoisseur of Chinese literature and wider Chinese culture. He is one of the six sinologists in the world who, for his research, was awarded the gold medal of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, for merits in the study of Chinese literature. The fact that he introduces the reader to the culture of China in his translations is quite natural.

Translations of fairy tales in the collection "Fairy Tales of the Middle Kingdom" are secondary in relation to Rift, it is impossible not to notice borrowings in the transmission of the most complex cultural meanings and specific terms. In general, translations adhere to the strategy of domestication, bringing the original text closer to the culture of the target language.

In addition to two strategies, translators actively use such methods of translation transformations as generalization, addition, omission, transcription, compensation, and sentence division. In addition, the following features of translations were identified:

1) Underestimation of the cultural meanings of individual symbols: cardinal directions, household items, colors.

2) Substitution of cultural symbols: like pins on a lotus. Perhaps it has become a manifestation of the poetization of myths.

3) Modernization: bringing the text closer to the realities of its era, culture.

4) Imposing morality, which is not typical of Chinese fairy tales, but without which the Russian fairy tale seems incomplete, not meaningful.