紅樓夢》의 호칭어 ‘姐姐’의 의미와 그 번역 양상에 관한 연구(下)— ‘姐姐’의 번역 양상을 중심으로

Abstract

A Dream of Red Mansions (紅樓夢), referred to as a ‘complete encyclopedia of the 18th-century China,’ is also called a ‘culture novel’ as it contains various and abundant aspects of Chinese culture. However, such variety and abundance of cultural factors pose a large difficulty in translation because it is difficult to deliver the implication as it is. In particular, it is quite difficult to translate the address terms. When culturemes other than address terms are difficult or impossible to translate, the translation can be supplemented by paraphrases or annotations. In contrast, when it comes to address terms, it is difficult to find equivalent words for them but the translator has to find the appropriate equivalent words that are used when addressing people in an effort to bridge the gap between the source language and the target language. So, there are almost no other ways to supplement the translation for address terms. This study was performed with the theme of “the meaning of the address terms ‘jiejie (姐姐)’ in A Dream of Red Mansions and the aspects of its translation,” focusing on the difficulties the author faced when translating A Dream of Red Mansions into Korean, particularly the difficulties and problems occurring when translating ‘jiejie (姐姐),’ the most frequently used address term among kinship terms of address in the novel. The paper is divided into first and second parts due to limited section and volume. The first part analyzes the meaning of the address terms ‘jiejie (姐姐)’ in A Dream of Red Mansions. In the following second part, which is this paper, the translation aspects of ‘jiejie (姐姐)’ is examined by looking at specific examples, based on the conclusion reached in the first part. For concrete analysis, this study analyzed eight translations of A Dream of Red Mansions in four languages —Enligsh, Japanese, Joeseon Language (Korean used among Korean-Chinese people), and Korean—, two translations in each of the four languages. In the beginning, this study summarizes the various meanings and forms of the address terms ‘jiejie (姐姐)’ based on the results of previous studies, and then explains the examples of the translation of ‘jiejie (姐姐)’ in two categories: the “translation aspects according to appearance forms” and the “translation aspects according to meanings.” As for the “translation aspects according to meanings,” the translation examples were divided into two categories—“kinship terms of address” and “social appellation”—and then in each category, examples were divided into “typical” and “noteworthy” examples for analysis. The results of the analysis were synthesized and the examples were examined in three cases: a case where “equivalent translation” is possible; a case where “equivalent translation” is not possible yet similar translation is possible; and a case where “equivalent translation” is impossible. For cases where “quasi-equivalent” translation is required or “equivalent translation” is impossible, this study presents concrete needs to fill the so-called “cultural blanks” which exist due to the loss of a meaning or translation’s impossibility when translating a source language into a target language, and explores solutions using the concept “compensatory strategy.” It is expected that the conclusion reached at this study will be reflected to some extent when revising and supplementing the translations of the address terms ‘jiejie (姐姐)’ in A Dream of Red Mansions and can serve as a guide for translating address terms other than ‘jiejie (姐姐).’