EXPLORING THE TRANSLATION OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS USED BY THE PROTAGONIST "ナカタ: NAKATA" IN "KAFKA ON THE SHORE" FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF "CHARACTER LANGUAGE" - TAKING THE CHINESE TRANSLATION VERSION AND THE MONGOLIAN TRANSLATION VERSION AS EXAMPLES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22353/MJFLC2025202Keywords:
"Kafka on the Shore"; Character Language; Translation; Mongolian; ChineseAbstract
"Kafka on the Shore" is the tenth full-length novel published by Haruki Murakami in 2002. With its sophisticated dual-narrative structure and unique character portrayal, it has won wide acclaim and has been translated into multiple languages for publication. For literary works, due to the differences in structure and expression habits between different languages, the choice of translation methods may have a certain impact on the presentation of character images, thus making the translated version show a "character image" that is slightly different from the original work.
For instance, the protagonist "ナカタ (Nakata)" in the novel experienced an "event of soul-body separation" during his childhood. His trait of being "half-human and half-soul" adds a touch of weirdness and mystery to his image. He always uses his own surname "ナカタ" to refer to himself. However, in the two Chinese translation versions and the Mongolian translation version, the self-referential term "ナカタ" is translated as "Zhongtian Wo" (Zhongtian I), "Wo Zhongtian" (I Zhongtian), "Наката би" (Nakata I) and "Наката" respectively, rather than the commonly used self-referential term "I". An example is:
「あの、ここにちょっと腰を下ろしてかまいませんか？ナカタはいささか歩き疲れましたので」
"Excuse me, is it okay if I sit here for a while? Zhongtian Wo am a bit tired from walking."
"Excuse me, may I sit here for a moment? Wo Zhongtian am a little tired from walking."
"Энд сууж болох уу? Нэлээн алхсан тул Наката ядарчхаж." (Note: The Mongolian sentence retains its original form as it is part of the quoted translated content; its literal meaning is "Can I sit here? Nakata is tired because of walking a lot.")
It can be seen from these translated versions that different translators adopted different strategies when handling "character language" (personal pronouns), thereby conveying different "character information". Such differences may cause slight or even significant changes in the character's image in the readers' minds. The reproduction and adaptation of a character's unique linguistic style in different languages, as well as the degree of consistency between this reproduction and the character image in the original work, constitute an interesting issue worthy of in-depth exploration.
References
Haruki Murakami. "Umibe no Kafuka (Vol. 1 & 2)". Shinchosha Bunko, 2005
Haruki Murakami (Author), Lin Shaohua (Translator). "Kafka on the Shore". Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 2007
Haruki Murakami (Author), Lai Mingzhu (Translator). "Kafka on the Shore". China Times Publishing Company, 2019
Haruki Murakami (Author), Ts. Onon (Translator). "Ereg deerkh Kafka" (Mongolian version of "Kafka on the Shore"). Monsudar Publishing House, 2017
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Dictionary
МОНГОЛ ХЭЛНИЙ ТАЙЛБАР ТОЛЬ.Монсудар хэвлэлийн газар,Улаанбаатар, 2021
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