Resultative used Resultative used
清楚 qīngchu 'clearly' is the favourite for translating bien / 'rightly' (25 out of 42), but there is quite a lot of variety in resultatives used.
Five translators use the neutral resultatives 见 jiàn or 到 dào, which merely indicate perception without specifying clarity. That is, while they are resultatives in the grammatical sense, they don't carry the semantic meaning of 'clearly'. All but one of these spells out the meaning by using an adverb or an object.
The greatest cause of variety in the Chinese translations is Katherine Woods' translation of bien. Instead of using the unidiomatic 'well', or the fairly straightforward 'clearly', Woods chose to interpret the matter as one of viewing things 'rightly'. While this is a significant semantic difference, it's quite appropriate in the context of the story.
The problem arises when translating 'rightly' into Chinese. 'Rightness' or 'correctness' is a concept with many nuances. Whereas 17 of 21 those translating bien (from the French) use resultatives with the meaning 'clear' (清 qīng or 清楚 qīngchu), only seven of 20 translating Katherine Woods' English 'rightly' do so. The others use nine different resultatives with meanings ranging from 'true' or 'real' to 'correct' or 'accurate':
| VERBS WITH RESULTATIVES | French |
English |
? |
Total |
| 1. Plain resultatives (見/见 jiàn, 到 dào) | 2 |
3 |
- |
5 |
| 見/见 jiàn | 2 |
1 |
- |
3 |
| 到 dào | - |
2 |
- |
2 |
| 2. Those using 清 qīng 'clear' | 17 |
7 |
1 |
25 |
| 清楚 qīngchu 'clear' | 11 |
4 |
1 |
16 |
| 清 qīng 'clear' | 6 |
2 |
- |
8 |
| 清晰 qīngxī 'clear' | - |
1 |
- |
1 |
| 3. Those using 真 zhēn 'true' | - |
4 |
- |
4 |
| 真切 zhēnqiè 'distinct' | 1 |
1 |
- |
2 |
| 真 zhēn 'true' | - |
1 |
- |
1 |
| 真實 zhēnshí 'real' | - |
1 |
- |
1 |
| 真確/真确 zhēnquè 'authentic' | - |
1 |
- |
1 |
| 4. Others | 1 |
6 |
- |
7 |
| 正確 zhèngquè 'correct' | - |
1 |
- |
1 |
| 准确 zhǔnquè 'accurate' | - |
1 |
- |
1 |
| 准 zhǔn 'accurate' | - |
1 |
- |
1 |
| 透澈/透彻 tòuchè 'thorough' | - |
2 |
- |
2 |
| 明白 míngbái 'understand' | 1 |
1 |
- |
2 |
Total |
21 |
20 |
1 |
42 |
The translation of the simple word bien 'well' as 真實 zhēnshí 'real', 透澈/透彻 tòuchè 'thorough', 准确 zhǔnquè 'accurate', etc. actually represents an elaboration of what Saint-Exupéry wrote. This by no means distorts the original meaning, but is a move away from the simplicity of the fox's statement.