Tcheonzamun, (book of ‘The Thousand Character Essay’), is so famous in China and in Korea that a lot of common phrases utilized in the practical life are have come from the book. The researcher translated the poem of Tcheonzamun. It is a poem composed of 16 letters from 689th to 704th. It was done both by using Chinese characters and through Korean pronunciation. The researcher found that in on this poem, nearly all of Korean pronunciations of those Chinese characters are utilized in the modern Korean language. The author of Tcheonzamun expressed through Chinese character the common sense in the first line of the four lines of this poem,; We must speak good in order to obtain confidence from the people’. While the author constantly on the next three lines wrote opposite things, ‘; the most important thing is not the saying but the behavior of the person’. The meaning of the translation through Chinese character is as follows; ’ I will do my best for my children as if I stood in front of God!’. And the meaning of the interpretation through Korean pronunciation is connected to the previous poem from 673rd to 688th characters. The Tcheonzamun author has consoled his defeated sons or colleagues from the battle on the previous poem, and he continued the advice to his son’s in the present poem. The brief meaning of the present poem through Korean pronunciation is as follows,; ‘The son and daughter of Maeg country, I am very proud of you!’
Tcheonzamun is so famous in China and in Korea that a lot of phrases have come from the book. In Republic of Korea, Tcheonzamun is sold in everyeach book store and in a street bookstore,bookstore; therefore nearly everybody has a Tcheonzamun at home. The Koreans used to read Tcheonzamun in order to study fundamental Chinese characters, and in the translation of each 4 characters there are many names of Chinese men and that of the Chinese places. So the book is not interesting and we the Koreans cannot well understand itsthe meaning of it. The researchersWe saw that it is very similar to that in English translation (Sturman. source: www. oocities. org/npsturman/tce.html).
The researchersWe have utilized the book Tcheonzamun at home for studying Chinese. And the researcherswe found that Tcheonzamun is the collection of 63 poems, each of which is composed of 16 letters (except 63rd poem) (Park and Kim, 2012) and it was really interesting for them (Kim et al., 2013). Therefore the researcherswe started to translate the poem of on Tcheonzamun, (‘The Thousand Character Essay’) ( Kim and Park, 2016). Thus, this time the researcherswe translated the poem byboth using by the meaning of Chinese characters and by Korean pronunciation.
The researchersWe focused principally on the Maeg country’s people who seem to be the ancestors of modern Korean people through the Tcheonzamun translation.
The researchersWe used a HanSeogBong Tcheonzamun (Kim, 2002), whose translation is similar to that published in United Kingdom on internet (Sturman. Source: www. oocities. org/npsturman/tce.html. (Edited by Cambridge Chinese Classics, www. camcc. Org 2017). Kangxizidian (Zin BE, Hyeog H, Ai BA, Na CA, Wang IZ, 1716) was also used. The researchersWe investigated and tried to find out the appropriate method for translating Tcheonzamun poem (Kim and Park, 2012, 2013; Kim et al., 2013; Park and Kim, 2016). The researchersWe used Chinese internet data (2 January 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousand_Character_Classic).
As the translation from European language to Chinese language was difficult (Cheng and& Kalinowski, 2013), it has not been easy for the Koreans to translate Tcheonzamun (book of ‘The Thousand Character Essay’) (Park & Kim, 31 May 2012). But the reason of the difficulty is not only the different language system but the origin of the Tcheonzamun (Kim & Park, 2016).
The Thousand Character Classic (Chinese: åƒå—æ–‡; QiÄnzìwén), also known as the Thousand Character Text, is a Chinese poem used as a primer for teaching Chinese characters to children from the sixth century onward. And one says that Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty (502–549) commissioned Zhou Xingsi (simplified Chinese: 周兴嗣; traditional Chinese: 周興嗣, 470–521) to compose this poem for his prince to practice calligraphy (2 January 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousand_Character_Classic).
And the present researchers proposedsupposed a hypothesis that Tcheonzamun was written by Korean ancients Maeg people and the book was spread into China around 500 B.C. (Park and Kim, 2016). And the researchers want to insist that “If there is Talmud in Israel, there is Tcheonzamun in Korea”. Because all the 63 poems continuously have the expression of giving thecourage to the weak persons through theChinese character translation (Kim et al., 2013). But this hypothesis is not established as a theory till date until now.
The last line (four characters) of the previous poem was LoKyeomKeunTchig (勞謙謹勅). It means ‘utilize words well!’ (Kim andand Park, 21 September 2016). The Tcheonzamun author continues to write the topic ‘word’.
The poem consists of 16 letters from 689th to 704thon the Tcheonzamun.
The number is the order for the four letters from the book of The Thousand Character Essay (Tcheonzamun in Korean pronunciation). The left side are Korean alphabets and their pronunciations of the each 4 Chinese characters, and the right side are Chinese characters(Chinese pronunciation). Order of Korean alphabets (Korean pronunciation); Chinese characters (Chinese pronunciation) 689-692 ì˜ìŒì°°ë¦¬(YeongEumTchalRi) ï¦°éŸ³å¯Ÿç† (ling yin cha li).
If you want to understand (聆) the words (音) in a style of Yeon country, you must certify(察) his saying is reasonable (ç†) or not.
The country of Yeon country is awas neighbor to the researchers’our ancestor’s country, Maeg; and Yeon seemed to be the enemy of Maeg for a long time to Maeg. It is important for the man of Yeon to speak reasonably;, in another words, to speak well is a very important value in Yeon. Fairbank and Reischauer (1978) wrote that Yen (in Korean pronunciation Yeon) situated closenear to the area of the researchers’our old country which seemed to be Maeg in the period of 6th century B.C.
693-696 ê°ëª¨íŒìƒ‰ (GamMoPanSaeg) 鑑貌辨色 (jian mao bian se). How do you think (é‘‘) in a way of our Maeg country (貌)? We observe his behavior or the way of his life (色), and we know his mind (辨). For us, man of Maeg country, it is very important how Maeg people do their life. This description theyabout Maeg country is true, because such praise was shown many times in a Chinese dictionary, Kangxizidian (Zin et al., 1716).
697-670 ì´ê¶ê°€ìœ (IGwyeolGaYu) 貽厥嘉猷 (yi jue jia
you).
If we are going to show this good behavior of ours (厥) to our descendants and transfer it to them as a present (貽), we must design this plan (猷) beautifully and
smartly(嘉).
701-704 ë©´ê¸°ì§€ì‹ (MyeonGiZiSig) å‹‰å…¶ç¥—æ¤ (mian qi zhi zhi)
If we are bothwith prudence and with force going to behave into practice (勉) the word which we have spoken (å…¶), we will do our best (æ¤) as if we stood in front of God (祗)!
Though Korean history before the 1st century (AD) is absolutely unknown (Dallet, 1874), we the Koreans feel and thank our ancestor, Maeg people, for their deep love to us the Koreans, their descendents.
The difference of grammar between Chinese and Korean languages is significant. The order of Chinese language is (Subject + verb + object), while that of Korean language is (Subject + object + verb). The researchersWe came to know in Tcheonzamun translation to know that there is a big difference between Chinese language and Tcheonzamun writing (Park and Kim, 2016). The order of Chinese characters in Tcheonzamun is as follows; (noun A + verb B, noun C + verb D). Therefore, ifIf this -4 character- sentences were Chinese languages, we could translate like this; someone A does something B, and then,after that someone C does something D. But the present researcherswe were able to succeed in translating as followson on the following method; If we are going to do (B) something A, we must do (D) something C. It is very different fromto the system of Chinese language.
The next is the interpretation through Korean pronunciation of the same poem from the Tcheonzamun.
orderOrder of Korean alphabets (Korean pronunciation) and Chinese characters. Korean alphabets changed into the modern Korean (and its pronunciation).
689-692 ì˜ìŒì°°ë¦¬ (YeongEumTchalRi) ï¦°éŸ³å¯Ÿç† ì—°ì„ ì°¨ë¼(YeonEul TchaRa) Break the Yeon country. (‘Yeon’ means the country name, ‘YeonEul’ is the objective form of ‘Yeon’. ‘TchaRa’ is the imperative form of ‘Tchada’, and ‘Tchada’ means to kick something or somebody).
693-696 ê°ëª¨íŒìƒ‰ (GamMoPanSaeg) 鑑貌辨色 ê°ì–´(GamEo). 팔 ì¨(Pal Sseo) - Bind (the enemy’s neck), and use your arms (to press the enemy’s neck) !(‘GamEo’ is the imperative form of ‘Gamda’ which means to bind. ‘Pal’ is an arm, and ‘Sseo’ is the imperative form of ‘Sseuda’, which means to use something. You can understand well this behavior well if you imagine the Judo experience !)
697-670 ì´ê¶ê°€ìœ (IGwyeolGaYu) 貽厥嘉猷 ì´ê¸¸ê±°ì•¼ (IGilGeoYa). – You will gain in the battle! (‘IGilGeoYa’ is the future form of ‘Igida’ which means to gain the game or battle.)
701-704 ë©´ê¸°ì§€ì‹ (MyeonGiZiSig) å‹‰å…¶ç¥—æ¤ ë§¥ì˜ ìžì‹ (MaegEui ZaSig). – The son and the daughter of Maeg country, I am very proud of you! (‘Maeg’ is the country, considered the origin of Korean people. MaegEui is the possessive form of ‘Maeg’ country, and ‘Zasig’ is child or children of the family).
The researchersWe found that almost all theof Korean pronunciations of these Chinese characterson the poem from 689th to 704th pages of the poem are utilized in the modern Korean. Therefore, the researcherswe focused principally on Maeg country’s people who seem to be the ancestor of modern Korean through the Tcheonzamun translation.
Tcheonzamun (book of ‘The Thousand Character Essay’) is so famous in China and in Korea that a lot of phrases are from the book. The researchersWe translated the poem of Tcheonzamun (the book of ‘The Thousand Character Essay’), a poem composinged of 16 letters from 689th to 704th. It was done both by using Chinese characters and through Korean pronunciation. In the appearance, it is seen that ‘If we are going to show this good behavior of ours to our descendants and transfer inherit it to themas a as present to them, we must design this plan beautifully and insmartlyness.’ While in the real senseintention, it is an encouragement to their descendents such as ‘you will gain in the battle!’ The researchersWe found on this poem that there are nearly all of Korean pronunciations of those Chinese characters are utilized in the modern Korean language. The author of Tcheonzamun expressed through Chinese character the common sense in the first line on the four lines of this poem,; ‘we must speak good in order to getobtain people’s confidence from the people’. While the author constantly on the next three lines wrote opposite things,; ‘ the most important thing is not the saying but the behavior of the person’. The meaning of the translation through Chinese character is as follows, ;’ I will do my best for my children as if I stood in front of God!’ And the meaning of the present interpretation through Korean pronunciation is connected to the previous poem, from 673rd to 688th characters.
The researchers declare that there is no conflict of interest.
