Xmas Article: The Little Match Girl - Translation Comparison
Hans Christian Andersen's tragic story, from 1845, of the young girl who succumbs a wintry death whilst comforting herself with visions of warmth and at last the spirit of her late grandmother, has become not just a literary classic, but also the match-girl herself has become a symbol of the fragility of life.
How then do Japanese translators handle this sensitive tale of the poor girl?
I'll be looking at how they handle the final scene, wherein the girl makes a heartfelt plea to the spirit of her deceased grandmother to take her along to the starry heavens because she misses her dearly - in this pivotal moment we also see what can be called a summary of all of the elements that appears in the narrative itself:
The three visions: 1) The oven, 2) the roasted goose, 3) the Christmas Tree.
Each of which frame the typical dream of an ideal Danish Christmas time, and contrasts itself with the girl's plight.
The prayer also serves as the narrative endnote of the girl's desperation - omitting this part would seriously defang the story of its tragic intention.
I will be comparing the following versions:
- The 1886 translation by Hei'ichi Nakazawa (中沢柄一), first published in the 3rd issue of the Literal Translation of the New National Text Book (ニューナショナル第三読本直訳). This is the very first translation of the fairy tale and as such marks an interesting point of comparison for the subsequent ones. It is written purely in an archaic, formal and stilted language.
- The 1908 translation by Hyakushima Sou (百島操), features unique characteristics and compared to the first one is more or less in a colloquial language.
- The 1967 translation by Yazaki Genkurou (矢崎源九郎).
For reference here is the original Danish version:
"Mormor!" råbte den lille, "Oh tag mig med! jeg ved, du er borte, når svovlstikken går ud; borte ligesom den varme kakkelovn, den dejlige gåsesteg og det store velsignede juletræ!"
"'Grandmother!' shouted the little one. "Oh, please take me with you, I know that you are gone as soon as the match fades out. Gone just like the warm stove, the nice roasted goose and the big blessed Christmas Tree"
(Own translation)
"Kakkelovn" is stove, "gåsesteg" is literally "goose-stake" and "Juletræ" is "Christmas Tree", or more literally "Yule Tree", which has the adjective "velsignede" - "blessed" or even "consecrated", since "at velsigne" means to "bless/consecrate" - mostly here just to elevate it to a hallowed/splendid status.
Notice how it's not "den lille pige" (the little girl), but "den lille" (the little one), that's used to highlight her diminutive status compared to the grand spectacle before her.
1886 - Nakazawa
The prayer:
小サキ女兒カ叫ヒシ祖母、オー汝ト共ニ私ち取レヨ。調度温カナル暖爐、炙シタル鵞、及ヒ耶蘇降生日ノ樹ノ如ク燧火木カ燃去テアルヤ否ヤ汝カ消失セルデアラウコト私カ知ル
Chiisaki joji ga sakebishi sobo, oo nanji to tomo ni watakushi wo toreyo. Choudo atatakanaru danro, abisitaru ga, oyobi Yaso-koujoubi no ki no gotoku no suihibi ga moetesatte aru ya ina ya nanji ga shoushitsu seru de arou koto watakushi ga shiru.
"The little girl cried out to her grandmother, 'Oh, take me with thee. I know that thou wilt disappear just as the warm fireplace, the roasted goose, and the Tree of the Day of the Birthday of Jesus.'"
It's worth noting that the phrase 燧火木カ燃去テアル had 燃去 ("burn away") glossed with the English-inspired furigana/ruby "barun auto" (バルン、アウト), to signify to the reader of the story that it is originally from an English translation/text. This is a recursive thing for the translation in general, and in some cases there are double sided (!) furigana, i.e. one giving the anglicised reading and the other the native Japanese one.
Moving on.
The stove is translated as danro ("stove/fireplace"), goose is ga, using the one of two kanji making up the ordinary name for the bird 鵞鳥, "gachou", typically written phonetically as ガチョウ in modern Japanese. Christmas Tree however sees quite a verbose rendering "耶蘇降生日ノ樹" (Yaso-koujoubi no ki), literally "the tree of the day of the advent of the birth of Jesus".
The girl herself speaks rather archaically using "nanji" (thou) when referring to the grandmother and using the rather formal "watakushi" to refer to herself. This may strike as a strange combination of an otherwise ordinary formal pronoun with the archaic "nanji", but it is an otherwise common trait in this manner of rendering.
1908 - Hyakushima
あれ祖母様、マッチの消えて了はない中に何卒か私を貴女と一緒に連れて行って下さい、まへの焚火や、御馳走や、クリスマス樹のやうに消えて了はない中に
Are obaasan, macchi no kiete shimawanai naka ni douka watashi wo anata to issho ni tsurete itte kudasai, mae no takibi ya , gochisou ya, kurisumasu tsurii no you ni kiete shimawanai naka ni
"Oh, granny! Please take me with you whilst the match has yet to burn out! Just like back when the open fire, feast and Christmas Tree was there!"
The underlying kanji for the otherwise ordinary reading "obaasan" (granny/grandma) is the highly decorous obaasama (祖母様, "dearest grandmother").
The language is otherwise very polite with the "~ kudasai" ("please if you would").
The stove has become an "open fire", the goose a "feast", and the Christmas Tree this time is rendered in a slightly more modern manner, with the kanji "ki" being read in English as "tree."
1967 - Yazaki
「おばあさん！」と、少女はさけびました。「ああ、あたしも、いっしょに連れていって！ だって、マッチの火が消えちゃえば、おばあさんは行っちゃうんで しょ。さっきの、あったかいストーブや、おいしそうな焼きガチョウや、それから、あの大きくて、すてきなクリスマスツリーみたいに！」
"'Obaasan!' to, shoujo ga sakebimashita. 'Aa, atashi mo, issho ni tsurete itte! Datte, macchi no hi ga kiechieba, obaasan wa icchaundesho. Sakki no, attakai sutoobu ya, oisisou na yaki gachou ya, sorekara, ano ookikute, suteki na kurisumasu tsurii mitai ni !'"
"'Oh, granny!', the girl shouted. 'Ah, take me with you! Because as soon as the fire burns out, then you'll also be completely gone. Just like the warm stove, the delicious roasted goose and, then, like the giant, pretty Christmas Tree!'"
We see that the term for the grandmother remains the same, the girl this time around has wholly informal feminine language, complete with "atashi", the colloquial form of "watashi", as well as shortening the sentence copula "でしょう" (deshou, "seems to be") to でしょ (desho).
The terms this time around are mostly different, with the loan word ストーブ (sutoobu) being "stove", 焼きガチョウ ("yaki gachou", lit. "roasted goose") for the goose and Christmas Tree this time around is wholly rendered into the phonetic katakana クリスマスツリー (kurisumasu tsurii).
CONCLUSION
Overall the translations showcased here show a transition not only orthographically with katakana being ditched in favour of hiragana as well as the characterisation of the girl changing from speaking in a stilted archaic fashion to polite to childishly informal. Likewise the terms evolve from kanji-heavy to straight up phonetic renderings of either loan-words or pre-existing ones.
The rendering of her plea into a more informal register helps communicating her plight rather than having her speak in a stilted and extremely archaic manner that doesn't show her as this genuinely destitute little girl.