L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux, |
L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux ('What is essential is invisible to the eye'), from 'The Little Prince'.
There are currently 16 translations of Le Petit Prince in Japanese, including the original one by Naitō Arō in 1953. That by Shinsan is more an adaptation than a straight translation and we won't treat it here, leaving a total of 15 translations.
The problem of invisible
The key word in this sentence is invisible ('invisible'), an adjective meaning 'which cannot be seen'. This is the pivot on which the sentence hinges.
In its most basic form, the sentence can be understood as meaning Les yeux ne voient pas l'essentiel 'The eyes do not see what is essential'. By using invisible, Saint Exupéry catapaults l'essentiel into subject position, like this:
les yeux |
ne voient pas |
l'essentiel |
 |
||
l'essentiel |
est invisible |
(pour les yeux) |
In other words, invisible acts like passive voice, and l'invisible becomes the topic of the sentence.
Translating invisible is not as straightforward as it may seem. In European languages invisibility has got its own adjective: French invisible, English 'invisible', German unsichtbar, etc.
Japanese has coined a word on the model of the European languages: 不可視 fu-kashi (literally 'unseeable'). But this is a very specialised and rather difficult term (it's a Sino-Japanese compound) used mainly in expressions like 不可視光線 fu-kashi kōsen ('invisible light', i.e., light outside the visible spectrum) and 不可視インク fu-kashi inku ('invisible ink'). It's not a word likely to be used for the fox's secret.
An interesting equivalent of 'invisible' is found in the Japanese translation of 'Invisible Man', which is 透明人間 tōmei ningen ('the transparent person' or 'see-through person'). This places the emphasis on 'transparency', not on 'invisibility'. (For more on this, see The Invisibility Cloak at the subsite on Harry Potter).
But neither of these terms is really suitable as a translation of 'invisible' here. Indeed, the most natural translation is simply 'cannot be seen'. This is 見えない mienai, the negative form of the intransitive verb 見える mieru.
So all the Japanese versions of Le Petit Prince translate invisible as 見えない mienai 'cannot be seen'. This results in the following sentence pattern.
'Essential things to the eye cannot be seen.'
The following is a representative example of this structure, although there is no majority consensus on the translation of 'essential things' (see below).
かんじんなことは kanjin na koto wa 'essential things (topic)' |
目には me ni wa 'to the eye (topic particle)' |
見えない mienai 'cannot be seen' |
Grammatically this is quite straightforward.
(1) L'essentiel is expressed as 'essential things'. It is the topic of the sentence, marked with the topicaliser は wa.
(2) Est invisible is expressed by the verb 見えない mienai, meaning 'cannot be seen'. The verb is intransitive. That is, it takes a subject but no object. The object seen ('essential things') is the subject of the sentence.
(3) Pour les yeux is expressed as 目に me ni 'to the eyes', using the particle に ni. This is standard for the verb 見える mieru, which requires the perceiver to be followed by に ni.
In most of the translations, the verb 見えない mienai, 'cannot be seen' is exactly the same as that in the preceding sentence (心で見なくちゃよく見えない kokoro de minakucha yoku mienai 'if you don't look with the heart you can't see well'). The result is that French and English use quite different words in the first and second sentence while most Japanese translators use the same one:
First sentence |
Second sentence |
|
| French | ne voit (que) |
invisible |
| English | 'can see only' |
'invisible' |
| Japanese | 見えない mienai |
見えない mienai |
This is not an earth-shaking difference, but has a subtle impact on the meaning and tone. First, the Japanese sentence is more repetitious than the French or English. And secondly, the Japanese is arguably simpler, more immediately understandable, and possibly more directly appealing to children than the French and English versions.
Translating pour les yeux
All translators translate les yeux as 目 me 'eye'. This is singular, with no definite article.
The interesting part in translating the expression is the particle used as an equivalent to pour, and the use of the contrastive/topic marker は wa, which isn't found in the French at all.
As an intransitive verb, 見える mieru only takes a subject. To indicate the agent of seeing (in this case the eyes), it's normal to use the particle に ni. That is, 'invisible to the eyes' is normally expressed as 目に見える me ni mieru. This is the form used by the great majority of translators.
Two translators, however, use the instrumental expression 目で見える me de mieru 'able to see with the eyes', where で de indicates the instrument used for seeing. This may be under the influence of the previous sentence, which speaks of 'looking with (で de) the heart'.
'TO THE EYE' (+ CONSTRASTIVE は wa) |
|
| 目には me ni wa 'to the eye' |
8 |
| 目に me ni 'to the eye' |
5 |
| 目では me de wa 'with the eye' |
2 |
| TOTAL | 15 |
Given that the previous sentence uses 心で kokoro de 'with the heart', it is perhaps surprising that more translators don't use 目で me de 'with the eyes'. However, the natural and expected phrasing 目に me ni wins out in all but these two cases.
One of the most noticeable features of this phrase is the use of so-called contrastive は wa (目には me ni wa, 目では me de wa) in ten out of 15 translations. This is called 'contrastive' because it expresses a contrast between the eyes in this sentence and the heart in the previous one. That is, 'with the heart one can see, but (in contrast) with the eyes one cannot see'.
If you've ever had doubts about the arbitrariness of deciding to use contrastive は wa in Japanese, this example might set your mind at rest! Five translations fail to use contrastive は wa at this position, even though it might be expected given the contrastive nature of the two sentences.
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, 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.)
Framing expressions
Two translations use expressions like ということ to yū koto is the fact that'. I call these 'framing expressions' because they frame the fox's entire statement with words meaning 'It's the fact that....'. Here, the meaning is: 'The content of the secret is the fact that....'
'FRAMING EXPRESSIONS' |
|
| No frame | 8 |
| っていうこと -tte yū koto 'it is the fact that' |
1 |
| ということ to yū koto 'it is the fact that' |
1 |
| Frame is around first sentence ('It is only with the heart that one can see rightly') | 5 |
| Total | 15 |
Five translators place this framing expression after the first sentence, "One can see clearly only with the heart" (see here). Only two leave it till the end of the second sentence, as here. Placed after the second sentence, the frame effectively ties the two sentences together ('it is the fact that [One can see clearly only with the heart; what is essential is invisible to the eyes]'.)
This use of constructions like ということだ to yū koto da 'it is the fact that' to frame the statement, is a frequent feature of Japanese sentences. No matter how clean or straightforward the original English or French is, a Japanese translation will often involve use of this kind of expression.
The frame expressions are followed by さ sa and だ da, which have what I call a 'modal' function.
Modal ending
'Modal ending' is a term I've made up. I use it to refer to the sentence-ending particles that are often found at the end of Japanese sentences. These are particularly a mark of everyday speech.
Two thirds of all translations use sentence-final expressions with some kind of modal force, as opposed to one third which are 'bare'.
MODAL
|
|
| -- | 5 |
| んだよ n'da yo |
4 |
| んだ n'da |
3 |
| (ということ)だ (to yū koto) da |
1 |
| のさ no sa |
1 |
| (っていうこと)さ (-tte yū koto) sa |
1 |
| TOTAL | 15 |
The force of の no is both explanatory ('this is why you must look with your heart') and declaratory, expressing the speaker's confidence in what he is saying. Several translators use んだ n'da, which is the typical masculine form -- only women end their sentences in の no.
Several follow んだ n'da with よ yo (indicating a forceful assertion). One uses さ sa which is more informal and offhand.
Note: さ sa doesn't require だ da and can be directly attached to の no. In masculine (but not feminine speech), よ yo must be preceded by だ da.
While most of the particles follow the sentence 'What is essential is invisible to the eyes', two follow a framing expression such as ということだ to yū koto da 'it is the fact that'. In these cases, the force of the declaration attaches to the assertion that 'this is what my secret is'.
These particles are not found in the French original. This use of sentence ending particles or expressions to give a particular force to the speaker's statement, is a common feature of Japanese sentences.
