Translating Western Concepts by Creating New Characters: A Comparison of Japanese and Chinese Attempts
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Shen Guowei
Abstract
Chinese characters are considered as an adaptable system, open to expansion and revision. Throughout history, the creation of new characters was one of the most important solutions to enlargements of the conceptual repertoire. Both scholars of “Dutch Learning” in Japan and missionaries active in nineteenth- century China used Chinese characters in their translations of western concepts. From a methodological point of view, Japanese scholars mostly coined compound words rendering the literal meanings of their terms of departure while translators in China, invigorated by the success of the new characters devised for chemical elements, believed that drafting new characters was more in line with the characteristics of the Chinese language. However, notwithstanding the painstaking efforts with which they were created, the new characters proposed by missionaries were eventually replaced by compound terms first used in Japanese adaptations. This paper examines the different practices and attitudes of Chinese and Japanese authors toward the creation of new characters as a method of translation. Analyzing the influence of their divergent approaches on the lexical systems of their respective languages, since Chinese has a very limited number of phonetic patterns, I conclude that it is impossible to create viable technical terminologies only by increasing new characters.
© 2021 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Preface
- Two Tensions and Their Resolution in Cultural Interaction in East Asia
- Special Contribution
- Basic Issues of Cultural Interaction: A European Perspective
- The Discovery of the Gold Seal in 1784 and the Waves of Historiography Ever Since
- The Development of Naitō Konan’s Progressive View of History: A Point of Convergance with Zhang Xuecheng’s Wenshi tongyi
- Translating Western Concepts by Creating New Characters: A Comparison of Japanese and Chinese Attempts
- Book Reviews
- Higashi Ajia no Jugaku: Keiten to sono kaishaku East Asian Confucianism: The Confucian Classics and Their Interpretation, by Huang Chun-chieh. Translated by Fujii Michiaki. Tokyo: Perikan Sha, 2010
- Xinjiao Can Tiantai Wutai shan ji -The Record of a Pilgrimage to the Tiantai and Wutai Mountains, Newly Edited, by Jōjin, edited by Wang Liping. Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Chubanshe, 2009
- Hongrumong, 6 vols. and a supplement, Korean translation of Hongloumeng, translated by Yongchul Choe Yongch’ŏl Ch’oe and Minhee Ko Minhŭi Ko. Seoul: Nanam, 2009. Vol. 1, 485 pp. Vol. 2, 495 pp. Vol. 3, 517 pp. Vol. 4, 573 pp. Vol. 5, 487 pp. Vol. 6, 497 pp. Supplement, 190 pp. 14,000 won
- Huabei nongcun minjian wenhua yanjiu congshu Research Series on North China Rural Folk Culture ; Handan diqu minsu jilu Records on Folk Customs in the Handan Region, edited by Daniel L. Overmyer and Fan Lizhu ; Gu’an diqu minsu jilu Records on Folk Customs in the Gu’an Region, edited by Daniel L. Overmyer and Fan Lizhu ; Baoding diqu miaohui wenhua yu minsu jilu Records on Temple Festivals and Folk Customs in the Baoding Region, edited by Daniel L. Overmyer, Hou Jie, and Fan Lizhu ; Xianghe miaohui, huahui yu minjian xisu Temple Festivals, Fairs, and Folk Customs in the Xianghe Region, edited by Daniel L. Overmyer and Fan Lizhu
- Introduction of Major Institutions
- East Asian Studies at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
- Center for Kaitokudō Studies, Osaka University
- Research Institute for Oriental Cultures, Gakushuin University
- The Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, National Taiwan University
- The Tsinghua Academy of Chinese Learning
- The Institute of Japanese Culture Studies at Zhejiang Gongshang University
- The Centre of Sino-Western Cultural Studies of Macao Polytechnic Institute
- Reports on the SCIEA and Related News
- Collection of Japanese Research Series of the Center for Japanese Studies at Korea University
- CONTRIBUTION GUIDELINES
Articles in the same Issue
- Preface
- Two Tensions and Their Resolution in Cultural Interaction in East Asia
- Special Contribution
- Basic Issues of Cultural Interaction: A European Perspective
- The Discovery of the Gold Seal in 1784 and the Waves of Historiography Ever Since
- The Development of Naitō Konan’s Progressive View of History: A Point of Convergance with Zhang Xuecheng’s Wenshi tongyi
- Translating Western Concepts by Creating New Characters: A Comparison of Japanese and Chinese Attempts
- Book Reviews
- Higashi Ajia no Jugaku: Keiten to sono kaishaku East Asian Confucianism: The Confucian Classics and Their Interpretation, by Huang Chun-chieh. Translated by Fujii Michiaki. Tokyo: Perikan Sha, 2010
- Xinjiao Can Tiantai Wutai shan ji -The Record of a Pilgrimage to the Tiantai and Wutai Mountains, Newly Edited, by Jōjin, edited by Wang Liping. Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Chubanshe, 2009
- Hongrumong, 6 vols. and a supplement, Korean translation of Hongloumeng, translated by Yongchul Choe Yongch’ŏl Ch’oe and Minhee Ko Minhŭi Ko. Seoul: Nanam, 2009. Vol. 1, 485 pp. Vol. 2, 495 pp. Vol. 3, 517 pp. Vol. 4, 573 pp. Vol. 5, 487 pp. Vol. 6, 497 pp. Supplement, 190 pp. 14,000 won
- Huabei nongcun minjian wenhua yanjiu congshu Research Series on North China Rural Folk Culture ; Handan diqu minsu jilu Records on Folk Customs in the Handan Region, edited by Daniel L. Overmyer and Fan Lizhu ; Gu’an diqu minsu jilu Records on Folk Customs in the Gu’an Region, edited by Daniel L. Overmyer and Fan Lizhu ; Baoding diqu miaohui wenhua yu minsu jilu Records on Temple Festivals and Folk Customs in the Baoding Region, edited by Daniel L. Overmyer, Hou Jie, and Fan Lizhu ; Xianghe miaohui, huahui yu minjian xisu Temple Festivals, Fairs, and Folk Customs in the Xianghe Region, edited by Daniel L. Overmyer and Fan Lizhu
- Introduction of Major Institutions
- East Asian Studies at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
- Center for Kaitokudō Studies, Osaka University
- Research Institute for Oriental Cultures, Gakushuin University
- The Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, National Taiwan University
- The Tsinghua Academy of Chinese Learning
- The Institute of Japanese Culture Studies at Zhejiang Gongshang University
- The Centre of Sino-Western Cultural Studies of Macao Polytechnic Institute
- Reports on the SCIEA and Related News
- Collection of Japanese Research Series of the Center for Japanese Studies at Korea University
- CONTRIBUTION GUIDELINES
