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Quand on l'a tiré à la carabine as translated in 'The Little Prince'
(Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese)

Je sentais battre son cœur comme celui d'un oiseau qui meurt, quand on l'a tiré à la carabine.

The last part of this sentence, quand on l'a tiré à la carabine, literally means 'when one has shot it with a carbine'. In English, it is variously translated as 'shot with someone's rifle' and 'brought down by a rifle shot'.

Looking at our 47 Chinese translations, we find three ways of translating this fragment. The most interesting are the first two, which reflect what I consider to be the difference between Westernised modern Chinese on the one hand, and the lingering effects of the laconic Classical style on the other.

1. A passive construction using 被 bèi, used by a total of 26 translators. This is very close to the structure of English -- although it is somewhat different from the French, which uses the indefinite pronoun on. This sentence pattern comes in four flavours, depending on whether the agent or instrument are expressed. In the table below, the number of occurrences of each pattern is shown on the right. 'Instrument only' is overwhelmingly dominant:

Agent and Instrument 被人用槍擊中
被人用枪击中
bèi rén yòng qiāng jízhòng
bèi rén yòng qiāng jīzhòng
'shot by a person using a gun'
6
Agent only 被人擊中
被人击中
bèi rén jízhòng
bèi rén jīzhòng
'shot by a person'
1
Instrument only 被槍擊中
被枪击中
bèi qiāng jízhòng
bèi qiāng jīzhòng
'shot with a gun'
19
Neither 被打傷
被打伤
bèi dǎshāng 'shot and wounded'
1

(Note that the pronunciation of the simplified characters 击中 is standardised as jīzhòng on the Mainland; the traditional characters 擊中 are pronounced jízhòng).

These four sentence structures may be better understand when shown as follows:

Pattern
Passive marker
Agent
'person'
Instrument
'(with) gun'
Verb
'shoot'
Agent and Instrument 用槍 / 用枪 擊中 / 击中
Agent only -- 擊中 / 击中
Instrument only -- / 擊中 / 击中
Neither -- -- 打傷 / 打伤

In addition, there is one translator who adds 受伤 shòushāng 'wounded' after the above sentence to yield 被枪击中受伤 bèi qiāng jīzhòng shòushāng 'shot by a gun and injured'.

That is the pattern. But there are quite a few variants in the actual words used. In particular, translators use a variety of words for 'gun' and for 'shoot'. The following table summarises them:

Passive marker
Agent
Instrument
Verb
Aspect particle

bèi
26

rén
'person'
7 /
qiāng
'gun'
8
擊中 / 击中
jízhòng / jīzhòng
'shoot and hit'
18

le
4
/
gěi
1
    來福槍 / 来福枪
láifú-qiāng
'rifle'
5
射中
shèzhòng
'shoot and hit'
4
   
        卡賓槍 / 卡宾枪
kǎbīn-qiāng
'carbine'
3
打中
dǎzhòng
'shoot and hit'
3
   
        獵槍 / 猎枪
liè-qiāng
'hunting rifle'
2
打到
dǎdào
'shoot and hit'
1
   
        獵人的槍支 / 猎人的枪支
lièrén de qiāngzhī
'hunter's rifle'
1
打傷 / 打伤
dǎshāng
'shoot and wound'
1
   
        槍彈 / 枪弹
qiāngdàn
'bullet'
5
       
        子彈 / 子弹
zǐdàn
'bullet'
1
       
Total
27
Total
7
Total
25
Total
27
Total
4

The greatest variety is found in the 'instrument'.

Nineteen translations talk of a bird shot by a gun. Among the different words for 'gun', the five who use 来福枪 láifú-qiāng 'rifle' are translating from the English; the three who use 卡宾枪 kǎbīn-qiāng 'carbine' are translating from the French.

The semantics of gun types is rather confusing. Rather than try and go into a lot of detail, I'd like to use the Wikipedia and its linguistic cross-referencing to see what the equivalents are:

Type MILITARY HUNTING
French Carabine militaire Carabine de chasse
English Carbine Rifle
Chinese 卡宾枪 kǎbīn-qiāng 'kabin gun'
Also:
马枪 mǎqiāng 'horse gun'
骑枪 qíqiāng 'riding gun'
步枪 bùqiāng 'walking gun'
Also:
來福槍 láifú-qiāng 'laifu-gun'

The difference appears to be that the carabine militaire ('military carbine') or Carbine is shorter than the rifle and is mainly for military use. Interestingly, in Chinese the name appears to be identified with use by cavalry. The carabine de chasse ('hunting carbine') or rifle has a longer barrel and in Chinese the name suggests use by infantry.

Since the carabine referred to by Saint Exupéry is used to shoot birds, it is presumably a hunting rifle, not a military rifle. In that sense, the use of the translation 卡宾枪 kǎbīn-qiāng by several Chinese translators appears to be somewhat off the mark, an example of being misled by the form of the word without truly considering its meaning.

A further six translators speak of being 'hit by a bullet', substituting 槍彈 / 枪弹 qiāngdàn 'bullet' for / qiāng 'gun'. (Note: Translations using 'bullet' don't take an agent. That is, there are no sentences that go: 被人用枪弹击中 bèi rén yòng qiāngdàn jīzhòng 'shot by a person with a bullet'.) The relative popularity of the expression 'shot with a bullet' in preference to 'shot with a gun' is interesting. Perhaps it is related to the existence of the expression 中彈 中弹 zhòngdàn (see below).

All of the verbs used in this phrase are resultatives. In resultatives, the first verb indicates the action, the second indicates the result (see Resultative Complements and The Complement of Result). For the most common form, 擊中 jízhòng / 击中 jīzhòng, the main verb is or 'to hit, attack'. zhòng 'strike, be on target, hit' is the resultative. Similarly for the other verbs.

2. Use of the verb the verb 中 zhòng 'be hit by', which is passive in meaning but not in form. This second sentence pattern is more classically Chinese in its structure. It is used by 14 translators.

This is a much more concise and elegant way of translating the clause. The actual occurrences are:

中彈 / 中弹 zhòngdàn 'be hit by a bullet' 9
中槍 / 中枪 zhòngqiāng 'be shot with a gun' 2
中了槍彈 / 中了枪弹 zhòng le qiāng-dàn 'be hit by a bullet' 2
中了來福槍彈 / 中了来福枪弹 zhòng le láifú-qiāng-dàn 'be hit by a rifle bullet' 1

In the first two expressions, 中弹 zhòngdàn and 中枪 zhòngqiāng appear to be single words, but the difficulty of deciding what a word is in Chinese is demonstrated by the last two examples, where the verb zhòng splits off and stands alone as an independent word.

A good number (but by no means all) of the translations that use 中弹 zhòngdàn or 中枪 zhòngqiāng use them in combination with two-character words such as 垂死 chuísǐ, 濒死 bīnsǐ, or 临死 línsǐ, all meaning 'on the verge of death'. They thus condense the French form qui meurt, quand on l'a tiré à la carabine into a succinct four-character expression meaning simply 'shot and dying', e.g. 中弹垂死 zhòngdàn chuísǐ.

3. Receive a wound: The third sentence pattern is used by only four translators. It involves expressions meaning 'receive a gun wound' or 'receive a gun shot':

遭受槍傷 / 遭受枪伤 zāoshòu qiāngshāng 'receive a gun wound'
3
遭受槍擊 / 遭受枪击 zāoshòu qiāngjī 'receive a gun shot'
1

Japanese:

There is only one sentence structure found in the Japanese translations (this includes a couple of translations that use 撃たれた utareta 'was shot', which I treat simply as a variation of 撃たれた utareta 'to be shot'):

Instrument Passive verb
銃で
jū de
'with a gun'
撃たれて
utarete
'shot (passive)'

There is, however, quite a lot of variety in vocabulary, especially in words for 'gun'.

'gun' 'with' 'shot (passive)'


'gun'
4

de
'with
15
うたれて / 撃たれて / 打たれて
utarete
'shot'
14
鉄砲
teppō
'rifle'
4
    うちおとされて
uchi-otosarete
'shot down'
1
空気銃
kūki-jū
'air gun'
2
       
カービン銃
kābin-jū
'carbine'
2
       
猟銃
ryōjū
'hunting gun'
2
       
ライフル
raifuru
'rifle'
1
       
Total
15
Total
15
Total 15

Japanese translators manage to come up with five different types of weapon! I will again turn to Wikipedia to look at the differences:

French Carabine militaire Carabine de chasse
English Carbine Rifle
Japanese カービン kābin 'carbine' 小銃 shōjū 'small gun'
Also:
ライフル銃 raifuru-jū 'rifle gun '

Again, the カービン kābin is described as shorter than the 小銃 shōjū and was originally for cavalry use. Since it is a military weapon, not a hunting weapon, the two translators who use カービン銃 kābin-jū appear to have been misled by the form of the French word.

猟銃 ryōjū is, as the name suggests, a hunting rifle. In Japan, only three kinds of gun are allowed in hunting: 散弾銃 sandan-jū 'shotgun', ライフル銃 raifuru-jū 'rifle', and 空気銃 kūki-jū 'air rifle'. Thus, translators who use 猟銃 ryōjū, ライフル銃 raifuru-jū, and 空気銃 kūki-jū are all on the mark as far as capturing the fact that it is a hunting weapon that has brought down the dying bird.

Of the other words used, and 鉄砲 teppō are both general everyday words for guns, the latter particularly referring to long-barrelled guns, and are quite acceptable as translations of carabine.

Vietnamese:

To be added.

Below is a list of translations of the clause quand on l'a tiré à la carabine.

0 Original quand on l'a tiré à la carabine  
English    
1 Woods 1943 shot with someone's rifle  
2 Cuffe 1995 brought down by a rifle shot  
3 Testot-Ferry 1995 shot with someone's rifle  
4 Howard 2000    
Chinese    
1 Shī 1991 中了來福槍彈 E
2 Sòng 1992 中彈 E
3 Yáo 1994 遭受槍傷 F
4 Chén 1998 被槍擊中受傷 E
6 Wú 1999 被槍擊中 E
7 Lǐ & Yè 2000 被來福槍擊中 E
7 Mǎ 2000 被卡賓槍射中 F
8 Máo 2000 被猎枪击中了 F
9 Xuē 2000 被枪击中 E
10 Zhōu 2000 中彈 F
11 Translator unknown 2000

被枪弹击中

F
12 Ài 2001 遭受枪伤 F
13 Chén 2001 中槍 ?
14 Mǎ 2001 中彈 F
15 Wú & Dǒng 2001 被人用卡賓槍擊中了 F
16 Zhāng 2001 被人用槍擊中了 F
17 Dù 1998 被人用槍擊中 E
18 Lǐ-1 2002 中槍 E
19 Lǐ-2 2002 中了枪弹 E
20 Zhōu 2002 被枪弹击中 F
21 Chéng 2003 被人射中 E
22 Dài 2003 被来福枪击中 E
23 Lín 2003 中弹 F
24 Xū 2003 中弹 F
25 Zhèng 2003 被子弹打中 E
26 Bái 2004 给猎枪射中了 E
27 Cāo & Féng 2004 被枪打中 E
28 Liú 2004 中枪 E
29 Lóng 2004 被枪弹击中 F
30 Lǚ 2004 被枪击中 E
31 Táng 2004 中弹 F
32 Wú 2004 被枪弹击中 E
33 Yáng 2004 被來福槍打到 E
34 Ài 2005 遭受枪伤 E
35 Dòu & Liú 2005 -- F
36 Guō 2005 中弹 F
37 Huáng 2005 中弹 F
38 Xiāo 2005 被打伤 F
39 Bā 2006 被来福枪击中 E
40 Dà 2006 被来福枪射中 E
41 Fù 2006 被枪弹击中 F
42 Hóng 2006 被猎人的枪支击中 E
43 Liǔ 2006 中弹 F
44 Mǎ 2006 被人用枪打中 E
45 Zhōu 2006 中了枪弹 F
46 Zǐ 2006 遭受枪击 F
47 Translator unknown ND-1 被人用卡賓槍擊中了 F
48 Translator unknown ND-2   E
Adaptations    
17 Chéng 2002 -- ?
2a Zhū 2004 中弹  
Japanese    
1 Naitō 1953 鉄砲でうたれて F
2 Fujita 2005 ライフルでうちおとされ F
3 Ikezawa 2005 銃で撃たれて F
4 Ishii 2005 銃で撃たれて F
5 Kawakami & Tsuzura 2005 銃に撃たれて F
6 Mino 2005 空気銃で打たれた F
7 Yamazaki 2005 猟銃で撃たれて F
8 Inagaki 2006 空気銃で撃たれて F
9 Kawahara 2006 鉄砲で撃たれて F
10 Kojima 2006 カービン銃で撃たれて F
11 Kōno 2006 猟銃で撃たれて F
12 Kurahashi 2006 鉄砲で撃たれて F
13 Mita 2006 鉄砲でうたれた F
14 Nozaki 2006 銃で撃たれて F
15 Tanigawa 2006 カービン銃で撃たれて F
Adaptations    
7 Shinsan 2005 ハンターに撃たれて F
Vietnamese    
1 Long 2000-1 khi trúng đạn súng săn F
2 Long 2000-2 khi trúng đạn súng săn F
3 Đại 2005 dưới họng súng trường F
4 Giáng ND khi bị viên đạn vào F
5 Lạc ND khi bị trúng đạn súng săn F

 

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