Translating l'essentiel / 'what is essential' |
| French | English | Chinese | Japanese | Vietnamese | Mongolian |
The expression l'essentiel presents two features:
1) The French "article + adjective" construction:
L'important That which is important Le moderne That which is modern L'essentiel That which is essential This kind of shorthand expression is not necessarily available in other languages. (English is one of them).
2) Essentiel is a word with its roots in Western philosophy. Oriental languages have long been vehicles for sophisticated philosophies, and more importantly, they have imported many of the concepts of Western philosophy and developed the terminology to express them. But philosophical words that have made their way into ordinary usage in Western languages still pose problems. Both philosophers and foxes may speak of l'essentiel in French without blinking an eyelid; the same is not necessarily true of the equivalent word in, say, Chinese.
Philosophically, the word essentiel is related to the word l'essence, a term meaning 'That which constitutes the fundamental character, the permanent reality of a thing (as opposed to the 'accidental'); the nature of a being, independent of its existence'. See this article on 'essence' in English for more information on the philosophical concept.
This philsophical meaning has given rise to a second, everyday meaning. Since essentiel refers to the very nature of a thing, which can't be removed without destroying the thing itself or its character, in ordinary language it has come to have the related meaning of 'necessary, very important'.
In Le Petit Prince, it's not possible to pin the fox's statement down to either of these meanings. Both are appropriate, and both can be understood in the context.
The word essentiel is used at one other place in Le Petit Prince, at Chapter IV:
Grown-ups love figures. When you tell them that you have made a new friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you, "What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?" Instead, they demand: "How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weigh? How much does his father make?"
Essentiel in this passage could either refer to matters which form the 'essence' of a person, as opposed to facts and figures, or it could refer to that which is 'important' about a person. Similarly, the fox's secret is both about the essential nature of the little prince's relationship with his rose, and about what is important in relations between people.
The problem in translation is going to be choosing a suitable word that expresses the desired meaning (with its double aspect), and making sure that the word chosen is not too 'philosophical' for the fox to use.
In English, this structure ('definite article plus adjective') is used for people, for example, 'the wise', 'the just', 'the poor', 'the weak', 'the disinherited'. Unfortunately, 'the essential' doesn't quite make it.
It's thus necessary to translate this another way -- as 'essential things', 'that which is essential', or (somewhat more elegantly), 'what is essential'. Woods and other translators choose 'what is essential'.
Howard translates it as 'anything essential'. By using 'anything', Howard goes a little further than the French, making a more sweeping claim about the eyes' inability to see. (At least one reviewer has taken issue with this translation at Amazon). But Howard is right in one sense. 'What is essential' sounds stiff -- somewhat restrained and bookish -- and doesn't resonate quite as strongly as the single word l'essentiel does in French. Howard tries to make up for this by using the more natural and forceful 'anything essential'.
Most translators use 'essential' to translate essentiel. The word 'essential' is cognate with essentiel and has the same dual meanings: 1. 'Of, relating to, or constituting essence; inherent', 2. 'Of the utmost importance, basic, indispensable, necessary'.
Only Wakeman changes 'what is essential' to 'what matters'. 'What matters' is a more colloquial way of saying 'what is important'. He thus skews the meaning towards the second meaning, 'Of the utmost importance, basic, indispensable, necessary'.
Chinese translators use two patterns to translate the word l'essentiel 'what is essential'. (There are two translators who don't use any word to translate 'essential' in this sentence, because it already appears in the previous sentence.)
| Type I | ESSENTIAL THINGS |
本质的东西 běnzhì de dōngxi 'essential thing' |
or |
||
| Type II | THE ESSENCE OF THINGS |
事物的本质 shìwu de běnzhì 'essence of things' |
Despite the rather large conceptual gap between the two, in actual use the difference is not large.
Rather more significant is the difference within Type I between translations that mean essential things and those that mean (very) important things.
1) Type I: 'Essential things' (32 translations).
Accounts for two-thirds of translations. L'essentiel is analysed as 'essential things', i.e., 'things that are essential'. The word essentiel itself is translated in several different ways. Most cluster around one of the two key concepts of 'philosophically essential' and 'very important'.
的 'IMPORTANT THINGS' (15) 真正 / 真正
zhēnzhèng重要 / 重要
zhòngyào'important' 的
de東西 / 东西
dōngxi'thing' 重要 / 重要
zhòngyào'important' 的
de東西 / 东西
dōngxi'thing' 要緊
yàojǐn'vital, important, essential' 的
de東西
dōngxi'thing' 最 zuì
'most'根本
gēnběn'basic, fundamental, essential, cardinal' 的
de东西
dōngxi'thing' 最 zuì
'most'主要
zhǔyào'main, major, primary, principal' 的
de要点 yàodiǎn 'main points, essential, gist' 'ESSENTIAL THINGS' IN A PHILOSOPHICAL SENSE (17) 本質 / 本质
běnzhí / běnzhì'essence, nature, innate character' 的
de東西 / 东西
dōngxi'thing' 凡是...都
fán shì ... dōu
'all'本質
běnzhí'essence, nature, innate character' 的
de事 shì 'matter, affair, thing' 实质性
shízhì-xìng'substantial, actual' 的
de东西
dōngxi'thing' 内在
nèizài'inherent' 的
de东西
dōngxi'thing' 精华
jīnghuá'cream, pick, essence, quintessence' 的
de东西
dōngxi'thing' 'REAL, AUTHENTIC THINGS' (3) 真正 / 真正
zhēnzhèng'real, true, actual, authentic' 的
de東西 / 东西
dōngxi'thing' 真實
zhēnshí'real, true, actual, authentic' 的
de事情 shìqing 'affair, matter, question, business' 'VALUABLE, PRECIOUS THINGS' (1) 珍贵
zhēnguì'precious, valuable, rare' 的
de东西
dōngxi'thing' TOTAL The most common words used for 'essential' are 重要 zhòngyào meaning 'important' (11 occurrences), and 本質 / 本质 běnzhí / běnzhì meaning 'of the essence' (11 occurrences).
'Thing' is mostly 東西 / 东西 dōngxi 'thing' (30 occurrences), the normal everyday word for 'thing' in Chinese. It's not a particularly refined term and referring to people it is pejorative.
2) Type II: 'The essence of things' (13 translations).
This pattern speaks of the 'essence of things', i.e., the essence that lies inside things.
'Essence' is expressed as follows:
事物的
shìwù de
'things'本質 / 本质
běnzhí / běnzhì'essence, nature, innate character' 一切事物的
yīqiè shìwù de
'all things'本質 / 本质
běnzhí / běnzhì'essence, nature, innate character' 本質 / 本质
běnzhí / běnzhì'essence, nature, innate character' 内中本质
nèizhōng běnzhì'internal essence' 事物的
shìwù de
'things'精髓
jīngsuì'marrow, pith, quintessence' 事物的
shìwù de
'things'真像
zhēnxiàng'real situation, facts, truth' TOTAL 'Things is mostly translated as 事物 shìwù 'things' while 'essence' is most commonly 本質 / 本质 běnzhí / běnzhì
Taking the two different patterns together, the word 本質 / 本质 běnzhí / běnzhì 'essence, essential' is used in 19 translations, less than half the total number.
In addition, in some translations words meaning l'essentiel also appear in the preceding sentence (On ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur):
事物的本质
shìwù de běnzhì
'essence of things'真正重要的东西
zhēnzhèng zhòngyào de dōngxi
'truly important things'3 -- 1 这
zhè
'this'1 真實的東西
zhēnshí de dōngxi
'true things'真正重要的東西
zhēnzhèng zhòngyào de dōngxi
'truly important things'1 事物的真偽和重要性
shìwù de zhēnwěi hé zhòngyào-xìng
'the truth or falseness and importance of things'事物的精髓
shìwù de jīngsuì
'the quintessence of things'1
Five of them use 事物的本质 shìwù de běnzhì 'essence of things'. So putting it all together, a total of 24 translations use the word 本質 / 本质 běnzhí / běnzhì, about half the total.
This is still well ahead of the total 11 occurrences for the second most common expression, 重要 zhòngyào 'important'.
English and French originals
In translating l'essentiel, there is a very interesting difference between translators working from the original French and those working from the English of Katherine Woods.
Expressions meaning 'essential things' (本質的東西 / 本质的东西 běnzhí de dōngxi / běnzhì de dōngxi, etc.) are favoured by translators from the French (20 in French-based versus 11 in English-based translations).
的 真正 zhēnzhèng 重要 / 重要
zhòngyào'important' 的
de東西 / 东西
dōngxi'thing' 重要 / 重要
zhòngyào'important' 的
de東西 / 东西
dōngxi'thing' 本質 / 本质
běnzhí / běnzhì'essence, nature, innate character' 的
de東西 / 东西
dōngxi'thing' 实质性
shízhì-xìng'substantial, actual' 的
de東西 / 东西
dōngxi'thing' 内在
nèizài'inherent'
de东西
dōngxi'thing' 真正 / 真正
zhēnzhèng'real, true, actual, authentic' 的
de東西 / 东西
dōngxi'thing' TOTAL
Within the 20 occurrences, there is not a huge variety of expression. Compare this with the variety in translations from the English:
的 重要 / 重要
zhòngyào'important'
de東西 / 东西
dōngxi'thing' 真正zhēnzhèng 重要
zhòngyào'important'
de東西 / 东西
dōngxi'thing' 本质
běnzhì'essence, nature, innate character'
de东西
dōngxi'thing' 本質
běnzhí'essence, nature, innate character'
de事 shì 'matter, affair, thing' 要緊
yàojǐn'vital, important, essential'
de東西
dōngxi'thing' 精华
jīnghuá'cream, pick, essence, quintessence'
de东西
dōngxi'thing' 珍贵
zhēnguì'precious, valuable, rare'
de东西
dōngxi'thing' 最 zuì
'most'根本
gēnběn'basic, fundamental, essential, cardinal'
de东西
dōngxi'thing' 最 zuì
'most'主要
zhǔyào'main, major, primary, principal'
de要点 yàodiǎn 'main points, essential, gist' 真實
zhēnshí'real, true, actual, authentic'
de事情 shìqing 'affair, matter, question, business' TOTAL
Although only 11 translations from the English use Type 1, there are 8 different ways of expressing 'essential'!
The second pattern, that of 事物的本質 / 事物的本质 shìwù de běnzhí / shìwù de běnzhì 'the essence of things', is more common in translations from the English.
事物的
shìwù de
'things''本質 / 本质
běnzhí / běnzhì'essence, nature, innate character' 一切事物的
yīqiè shìwù de
'all things''本質 / 本质
běnzhí / běnzhì'essence, nature, innate character' 内中本质
nèizhōng běnzhì'internal essence' 事物的
shìwù de
'things''精髓
jīngsuì'marrow, pith, quintessence' 事情的
shìqing de
'situation's'真像
zhēnxiàng'real situation, facts, truth' TOTAL
Compare this with only three in translations from the French:
事物的
shìwù de
'things''本質 / 本质
běnzhí / běnzhì'essence, nature, innate character' 本質 / 本质
běnzhí / běnzhì'essence, nature, innate character' TOTAL
The reason for this difference can only be surmised. Could it be due to a difference in how l'essentiel and 'what is essential' are grasped or perceived? Could it be that l'essentiel is much more likely to be interpreted as 'essential things', while 'what is essential' is more likely to be interpreted as 'the essence of things'?
The most important variation in expression in this sentence is in the translation of the term l'essentiel ('what is essential').
In a purely philosophical sense, 'essence' in Japanese is 本質 honshitsu (see this page) and 'essential' is 本質的 honshitsu-teki. But as we have seen (above), essentiel has a broader meaning than the strictly philosophical one. In everyday use it means 'important' or 'indispensible'. Some possible equivalents in this sense include 重要 jūyō 'important', 必要 hitsuyō 'necessary', and 不可欠 fu-kaketsu 'indispensible'.
Translators of Le Petit Prince use a few different terms to translate essentiel, but none of those shown above. The problem is that they're too 'intellectual' for the context.
The most common word for 'essential' in the 15 translations is, in fact, たいせつな / 大切な taisetsu na (9 occurrences). Some translators use hiragana only; others use Chinese characters. The meaning is roughly equivalent to 'important'. The alternative 大事な daiji na (1 occurrence) is very close in meaning to たいせつ / 大切 taisetsu.
TRANSLATING L'ESSENTIEL |
|||
intensifier |
'essential' | 'thing' | |
| 肝心な / かんじんな kanjin na 'essential' |
こと koto 'things' |
5 |
|
| いちばん ichiban 'most' |
大切な / たいせつな taisetsu na 'important' |
もの mono 'things' |
3 |
| 大切な taisetsu na 'important' |
もの mono 'things' |
2 |
|
| 大切な taisetsu na 'important' |
こと koto 'things' |
2 |
|
| いちばん ichiban 'most' |
たいせつな taisetsu na 'important' |
こと koto 'things' |
1 |
| ほんとうに hontō ni 'truly' |
大切な taisetsu na 'important' |
こと koto 'things' |
1 |
| いちばん ichiban 'most' |
大事な daiji na 'important' |
こと koto 'things' |
1 |
| TOTAL | 15 |
||
The usual Japanese word for 'important' is 重要 jūyō. While close in meaning, both たいせつ / 大切 taisetsu and 大事 daiji are more highly charged terms than 重要 jūyō. Both words express a personal, concrete sense of importance that is quite different from the more abstract importance of 重要 jūyō. For example, 重要人物 jūyō jinbutsu is a VIP; たいせつな人 taisetsu na hito could equally be a child or loved one. 重要視する jūyō-shi suru means 'to regard as important'; たいせつにする taisetsu ni suru or 大事にする daiji ni suru mean 'to treat as precious, take care of'. たいせつ taisetsu or 大事 daiji are both well suited to the meaning of the fox's secret -- a personal rather than abstract concept of importance -- and express 'importance' as viewed by the heart.
(Incidentally, despite the fact that it looks like Chinese-based vocabulary, 大切 taisetsu is a purely Japanese word, not found in Chinese. 大事 daiji is found in Chinese but it is a noun and the meaning and usage are rather different. 重要 jūyō, on the other hand, is found in Chinese with exactly the same meaning, 'important', and is used by a number of Chinese translators in translating this sentence.)
Possibly because they fall somewhat short of the meaning of essentiel, however, both words are intensified in many of the translations with いちばん ichiban 'most' or, in one case, ほんとうに hontō ni 'truly'.
This is not the case with かんじんな / 肝心な kanjin na (5 occurrences), which means 'essential, indispensible, all-important' and doesn't need intensifying. While かんじん / 肝心 kanjin is closer to the meaning of essentiel, it totally lacks the philosophical implications of the French word. Literally 肝心 kanjin means 'liver and heart', which to the Chinese were the essential organs of the body.
Things
Both こと koto and もの mono are used as words meaning 'thing', and they are used by Japanese translators to render the peculiar article+adjective construction of the French (l'essentiel).
The difference between the two words is that こと koto refers to concepts or situations; もの mono usually refers to specific physical objects. Both being abstract concepts, however, there is some overlap, and もの mono can also be used in reference in an abstract way to things in general. Translators disagree over which word to use, although こと koto has a clear majority.
Here, こと koto expresses the more abstract, less tangible aspect of 'what is essential'. もの mono veers considerably in the direction of concrete 'things'. Interestingly, all translators who use もの mono do so in the collocation たいせつなもの taisetsu na mono 'important thing'. たいせつなもの taisetsu na mono is an oft-occurring expression in Japanese and translators may have been led by this to use もの mono rather than こと koto.
(See also the use of ものごと monogoto in the preceding sentence, On ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur.)
For reference (languages on which I'm on shakier ground):
TRANSLATING L'ESSENTIEL
|
||
| cái | chủ
yếu 'main, major' |
1 |
| cốt yếu 'essential, crucial' |
1 |
|
| điều | 1 |
|
| Các cốt thiết, cái tinh thể, cái đó 'All (absolutely) necessary, the crystal, those things' |
1 |
|
| Total | 4 |
|
Cái, meaning roughly 'thing', is used to make a noun from an adjective or verb, e.g. cái mỹ 'the beautiful', cái thiện 'the good'. Điều is a similar word meaning (more narrowly) 'thing, affair or business'.
To mean 'essential', Vietnamese translators use cốt yếu (in Chinese characters 骨要) meaning 'essential', 'main', 'major', 'important', etc. and chủ yếu (in Chinese characters 主要) meaning 'main, major'. One translator decides to expand on the meaning with Các cốt thiết, cái tinh thể, cái đó, where the meaning appears to be 'those essential (absolutely necessary), the crystal, those things'. I await enlightenment on the meaning of this expanded version.
The two Mongolian translations use quite different terms.
One uses онцлог ontslog meaning 'feature, characteristic'.
The other uses юмний мөн чанар yomni mön chanar, where юмний yomni means 'things' (possessive) and мөн чанар mön chanar means 'essence, nature'.
