The problem of semantic changes at translating the Bible into Japanese

Abstract

The subject of the study of the proposed article is semantic transformations and the role of contextual meaning in translating the Bible into Japanese. The problem is that the Japanese linguistic worldview, built on the concepts of the Shinto-Tao-Confucian cultural triad, does not provide for the idea of a transcendent God, despite the developed theory of translating Biblical texts throughout the world — even relatively long tradition of translating the Bible into Japanese. Considering that this is a dominant key of the Judeo-Christian cultural paradigm, when translating into Japanese there are inevitable losses in meaning and thus need for compensation by various means arises. The Aim of the Study is to find out ways to achieve adequacy when translating the Bible into Japanese. The main method of the research is the semantic analysis of the translations of the fundamental biblical concepts (“God”, “soul”) in the selected Bible — John 3:3-7. The Results of the Study: considering that this is a dominant key of the Judeo-Christian cultural paradigm, when translating into Japanese there are inevitable losses in meaning and thus need for compensation by various means arises. While translating into Japanese, in some cases there is a replacement of words and concepts with synonymous ones — «bread» in the pray «Our Father» is replaced with food 糧 (kate) (character with the root «rice»). In others, one can see the techniques of literal translation-tracing or transliteration — «The Lamb of God» 神の子羊 (kami no kohitsuji), «hell fire» 火のゲヘナ (hi no gehena). Due to the lack of appropriate concepts in the Japanese religious discourse, translators had to redo and rethink the original ideas of the text. Adequate rendering is also complicated by the problem of stylistic stratification of the Japanese language, which involves registers that are distant from each other, and a written formalized text containing a high level of sacralization (for which the Bible refers to Japanese language standards), is almost inaccessible without special philological training. The article shows that the Japanese Bible translators had to tackle a double task: on the one hand, it is necessary to convey the deepest meanings of concepts that have not historically existed in Japanese culture, and on the other hand, to find formal means that do not violate the integrity of the Biblical text. The relevance of the study lies in the need to pay attention to the boundaries of the adequacy of translation in the case of a meeting of dissimilar cultures and, accordingly, linguistic pictures of the world. The rationale for translating decisions is the practical value of research.