1/28/2009

Transcription 音译


Ningbo, 7/1998

过年时收到的短信,大概是祝『唵嘛呢叭咪吽,看不懂没关系,跟着念就行:All money go my home(所有钱都到我家)』。没想到唵嘛呢叭咪吽再音译一下也是句不错的话嘛~可是,原本的梵文ॐ मणि पद्मे हूँ的音,其实更像All money pay my home(所有钱都付我房产)吧……
说到音译,其实中文中音译来的梵文,对我们了解古音是很有帮助的。因为梵文是拼音文字,并且梵文的语音变化,由于宗教的缘故而比较小。同样的例子还有日文的和语部分,比如汉朝时『邪马台』读音应该近于やまと(Ya ma to)。

Here is a short message I received this lunar calendar new year: wish u 唵嘛呢叭咪吽, reads: All money go my home. But 唵嘛呢叭咪吽 is actually a transcription of Sanskrit ॐ मणि पद्मे हूँ, which sounds more likely All money pay my home...
To be serious, transcriptions in Chinese is a great help on studying ancient pronunciation. This is because Chinese has a logographic writing system which doesn't keep pronunciation with characters. However, there are many transcriptions from Sanskrit, which is a phonetic writing system and keeps pronunciation seriously for religious reasons. There is also a part of Japanese called wa-go helps, e.g. 邪马台 must be pronounced like やまと/Yamato in Han dynasty, rather than Xiematai/ɕiɛmɑtaɪ now.

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