The portrait of an imperfect person in contemporary Japanese and the means of conveying it in Russian: a study of the collocations with the word 残念 zannen

This article focuses on the word 残念 zannen and its transformed meaning in contemporary Japanese. Initially having the semantics of regret and used in reaction to an undesired outcome, 残念 zannen has come to be used in describing human flaws. The paper analyses the definitions of 残念 zannen in Japanese dictionaries and highlights the key semantic components that are not revealed in its Russian equivalents “вызывающий сожаление” (“regrettable”) and “досадный” (“disappointing”). The paper identifies the features that determine the dividing line between 残念 zannen and a closely related notion ダメ dame with regard to the description of a person. 残念 zannen is subsequently studied in the Japanese Internet discourse. The paper analyzes its semantics in collocations with the words 人 hito (person), 美人 bijin (beauty) and イケメン ikemen (handsome man), reveals the features linked to 残念 zannen, and provides their possible translations into Russian. The semantic components identified in the Japanese dictionary definitions and in discourse analysis are then used to translate the word 残念 zannen in contexts. Where possible, the translation of the word combination 残念 zannen-na hito into Russian should reflect the semantics of disappointment, imperfection, and the possibility for improvement, whereas the translated collocations 残念な美人 zannen-na bijin and 残念なイケメン zannen-na ikemen should convey the semantics of the conflict between the good looks and a flawed personality. The literal interpretation of 残念 zannen is inappropriate from both stylistic and semantic points of view, which can be compensated by translation transformations, such as concretization and loss-of-meaning compensation. The article is intended for Japanologists, cultural linguists, and translators, as well as Japanese language instructors and students.

1. Konrad, N. I. (ed.) Bol’shoi iaponsko-russkii slovar’ v dvukh tomakh [Japanese-Russian Dictionary, in Two Volumes]. Moscow: Sov. entsiklopediia, 1970. 808 p.

2. Ivanov, N. V. Pyat’ aspektov prirody perevoda [Five Aspects of Translation]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 22. Teoriya perevoda, 2017. No. 2, p. 20–48.

3. Karasik, V. I. Iazykovoi krug: lichnost’, kontsepty, diskurs [Language Circle: Personality, Concepts, Discourse]. Moscow: Gnozis, 2004. 389 p.

4. Blank, A. “Why do new meanings occur? A cognitive typology of the motivations for lexical semantic change.” Blank, Andreas, and Koch, Peter. Historical Semantics and Cognition, Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1999, pp. 61–99.

5. Miura, A. Essential Japanese Vocabulary: Learn to Avoid Common (and Embarrassing!) Mistakes. Tuttle Publishing, 2013.