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中图分类号:H315.9 文献标识码:A文章编号:1673-1875(2009)23-030-01
The term culture,although usually taken for granted, has been defined in many ways.The American translation theorist Eugene A.Nida divided the domain of culture into five parts:ecology,material culture,social culture,religious culture and linguistic culture.While the World Encyclopedia published in 1974 gives a definition at other angle,“it is the totality of the spiritual,intellectual,and artistic attitudes shared by a group,including its tradition, habits,social customs,morals,laws and social relations.Sociologically,every society,on every level,has its culture;the term has no implication of high development.”From these two conclusions we know that there are two different opinions on culture.One thinks that culture has two major components:the material and nonmaterial.The other refers that culture means nonmaterial things that composed of intangible items.In this paper,we will discuss culture which only refers to nonmaterial things.
There are many idioms in English and Chinese language.Idioms we discussed in this paper include set phrases,proverbs,saying and allusions.Idioms are created by people and passed down from one generation to anther generation, so they truly reflect the colorful lives of English and Chinese people.In this paper,we will explore the cultural differences between English and Chinese idioms with regard to customs, geographic region,religious beliefs,working activities and allusions.Thus,we can explore more our idiom translation on the basis of cultural differences.
I.Cultural differences reflected in idioms
English people and Chinese people have different traditions,habits,customs and beliefs.For example,most Chinese people think the dog stands for loyalty,but most English people think that the dog’s first quality is friendship.Therefore there are many idioms in English to highlight this quality.It is all right to refer to certain people as lucky dogs,sly dogs in English.Such usage does not contain derogatory connotation.However,such figures of speech are not proper in Chinese as dog in most cases is associated with some derogatory connotation,though most Chinese people think the dog is a faithful animal.This national aesthetic orientation is reflected in sayings like 狗仗人势(like a dog threatening people on the strength of its master’s power;be a bully under protection of a powerful person)狗嘴里吐不出象牙(a dog’s mouth emits no ivory; a filthy mouth can not utter decent language). Obviously, cultural differences between two nations are big.After a serious of exploring,we propose cultural differences that are reflected through English and Chinese idioms can be seen in two aspects below:
a)Custom Differences
Social customs vary greatly from country to country.There are many respects which show the differences of customs in English and Chinese world.The dragon in English and龙 in Chinese are both imaginary animals but have different connotations.To Chinese 龙is something sacred and has been referred to us as the ancestor of the Chinese nation. However, in Westerner’s mind the dragon is some evil monster that can spit fire and something possesses three to nine heads. There are many Chinese idioms about 龙,such as 望子成龙,龙飞凤舞,龙马精神.However,there are very few English idioms with the “dragon”.
b)Geographical Region:
England is an island country with long coastline.The navigation industry ever took the first place in the world.Idioms have close relations to people’s activities. Thus,many idioms about ship, water sprung up like mushroom,such as “go by the board (计划失败)”,“all hands to the pumps (情况危殆,要全力以赴)”.
II.Conclusion
Idioms have close to culture.The dissimilarities of English and Chinese idioms derive from the dissimilarities of national aesthetic orientation,belief,geographic,region and historical traditions.
It is difficult for us to transmit all elements of cultural information of the source language to the target language.We may say that the diversity of culture limits the translatability of culture.The notable scholar Wang Zuoliang points out,“What is the difficult thing when you render source language into target language?It is the differences between two cultures. In the process of idiom translation, these cultural differences deserve our special attention.As translators, we should improve our consciousness of cultural differences.In this way,we can translate idioms with faithfulness,expressiveness and elegance.
Reference:
[1]Chen,Dezhong.Cultural Condition of Animal Works in English and Chinese.Bei Jing:Foreign Language Press,1993.
[2]Wang,Fuxiang,and Shi,haiqi.500 English Idiomatic Expressions in Current.Bei Jing:Foreign Languange Press,2000.
[3]邓炎昌,刘润清.语言与文化[M].北京:外语教学与研究出版社,1985.
[4]胡文仲.跨文化交流与英语学习[M].上海:上海译文出版社,1982.
The term culture,although usually taken for granted, has been defined in many ways.The American translation theorist Eugene A.Nida divided the domain of culture into five parts:ecology,material culture,social culture,religious culture and linguistic culture.While the World Encyclopedia published in 1974 gives a definition at other angle,“it is the totality of the spiritual,intellectual,and artistic attitudes shared by a group,including its tradition, habits,social customs,morals,laws and social relations.Sociologically,every society,on every level,has its culture;the term has no implication of high development.”From these two conclusions we know that there are two different opinions on culture.One thinks that culture has two major components:the material and nonmaterial.The other refers that culture means nonmaterial things that composed of intangible items.In this paper,we will discuss culture which only refers to nonmaterial things.
There are many idioms in English and Chinese language.Idioms we discussed in this paper include set phrases,proverbs,saying and allusions.Idioms are created by people and passed down from one generation to anther generation, so they truly reflect the colorful lives of English and Chinese people.In this paper,we will explore the cultural differences between English and Chinese idioms with regard to customs, geographic region,religious beliefs,working activities and allusions.Thus,we can explore more our idiom translation on the basis of cultural differences.
I.Cultural differences reflected in idioms
English people and Chinese people have different traditions,habits,customs and beliefs.For example,most Chinese people think the dog stands for loyalty,but most English people think that the dog’s first quality is friendship.Therefore there are many idioms in English to highlight this quality.It is all right to refer to certain people as lucky dogs,sly dogs in English.Such usage does not contain derogatory connotation.However,such figures of speech are not proper in Chinese as dog in most cases is associated with some derogatory connotation,though most Chinese people think the dog is a faithful animal.This national aesthetic orientation is reflected in sayings like 狗仗人势(like a dog threatening people on the strength of its master’s power;be a bully under protection of a powerful person)狗嘴里吐不出象牙(a dog’s mouth emits no ivory; a filthy mouth can not utter decent language). Obviously, cultural differences between two nations are big.After a serious of exploring,we propose cultural differences that are reflected through English and Chinese idioms can be seen in two aspects below:
a)Custom Differences
Social customs vary greatly from country to country.There are many respects which show the differences of customs in English and Chinese world.The dragon in English and龙 in Chinese are both imaginary animals but have different connotations.To Chinese 龙is something sacred and has been referred to us as the ancestor of the Chinese nation. However, in Westerner’s mind the dragon is some evil monster that can spit fire and something possesses three to nine heads. There are many Chinese idioms about 龙,such as 望子成龙,龙飞凤舞,龙马精神.However,there are very few English idioms with the “dragon”.
b)Geographical Region:
England is an island country with long coastline.The navigation industry ever took the first place in the world.Idioms have close relations to people’s activities. Thus,many idioms about ship, water sprung up like mushroom,such as “go by the board (计划失败)”,“all hands to the pumps (情况危殆,要全力以赴)”.
II.Conclusion
Idioms have close to culture.The dissimilarities of English and Chinese idioms derive from the dissimilarities of national aesthetic orientation,belief,geographic,region and historical traditions.
It is difficult for us to transmit all elements of cultural information of the source language to the target language.We may say that the diversity of culture limits the translatability of culture.The notable scholar Wang Zuoliang points out,“What is the difficult thing when you render source language into target language?It is the differences between two cultures. In the process of idiom translation, these cultural differences deserve our special attention.As translators, we should improve our consciousness of cultural differences.In this way,we can translate idioms with faithfulness,expressiveness and elegance.
Reference:
[1]Chen,Dezhong.Cultural Condition of Animal Works in English and Chinese.Bei Jing:Foreign Language Press,1993.
[2]Wang,Fuxiang,and Shi,haiqi.500 English Idiomatic Expressions in Current.Bei Jing:Foreign Languange Press,2000.
[3]邓炎昌,刘润清.语言与文化[M].北京:外语教学与研究出版社,1985.
[4]胡文仲.跨文化交流与英语学习[M].上海:上海译文出版社,1982.