What does 魔戒 (마계) mean in Chinese?

 ANSWER: The Lord of the Rings

In Chinese, 魔 (마) can mean either "devil" or "magic," and 戒 (계), which means "to guard against" or "to warn," can also mean "ring," believe it or not. So, 魔戒 (마계) can literally translate as either "The Devil's (魔) Ring (戒)" or "The Magic Ring."

Koreans now translate the title of Tolkien's book The Lord of the Rings as "반지의 제왕," which is a pretty literal translation of the title since 반지 means "ring" or "rings" and 제왕 can translate as "emperor," "ruler," or "king." But in 1988, the title of the book was first translated into Korean as "반지 이야기," which literally translates as "The Tale of the Ring." The title has also been translated into Korean as "반지전쟁," which literally translates as "War of the Ring." And believe it or not, it has also been translated as "마술 반지," which literally translates as "The Magic Ring," and that seems to be the way the Chinese have translated the title. See HERE.

Anyway, I have the Traditional Chinese version of the third volume of The Lord of the Rings trilogy entitled "The Return of the King," which in Chinese is translated as "王者再臨" (왕자재림), literally "The One who is King (王者) comes again (再臨)." In Christianity, 再臨 (재림) refers to "The Second Coming" of Jesus Christ. By the way, the Chinese word for "trilogy" is 三部曲 (삼부곡).

The first chapter in the English version of "The Return of the King" is entitled "Minas Tirith," which the Chinese seem to have transliterated as "米那斯提力斯 (미나사제력사). The following is the first English sentence in that chapter and its Chinese translation:

"Pippin looked out from the shelter of Gandalf's cloak." 

"皮聘 (피빙) 從 (종)甘道夫的 (감도부적) 斗篷之下 (두봉지하) 往外 (왕외) 看 (간)." 

"皮聘 (Pippin), from (從) Gandalf's (甘道夫的) cloak's (斗篷之) under (下), out (往外) looked (看)."

I have only just started learning to read modern Chinese (with Korean pronunciations), so it will be quiet sometime before I will be able to read this book, but at least I will have it when I am ready. It seems that the hardest part of reading this book will be learning the character names and placenames in Chinese.

The names of the characters and placenames also seem to have been a little hard for the Koreans who first translated the English book into Korean. (See the video below.) The placename "Weathertop," for example, from "The Fellowship of the Ring," was originally translated into Korean as "폭풍산 (Storm Mountain), but in the updated translation it is 바람마루 (Windy Ridge). In the Chinese version, "Weathertop" is translated as "風雲頂 (풍운정)," which literally means "Weather (風雲) Top (頂)" since "wind (風 풍) [and] clouds (雲 운)" together is a Chinese word for "weather" (風雲) and 頂 (정) is one for "top."

By the way, I am tempted to buy the boxed set of the "new" Korean translation of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but it is a little too expensive for me. (See HERE.) I like to buy cheap used books.

Published in 1991 with the Korean title of "반지전쟁"

Koreans have come out with new Korean translations of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.