Cultural Difference on Translation of English and Chinese Idioms英語(yǔ)專業(yè)畢業(yè)論文

1、cultural difference on translation of english and chinese idioms一、 課題(論文)提綱0.引言1.關(guān)于中文和英文習(xí)語(yǔ)的翻譯2.翻譯英文習(xí)語(yǔ)的方法 2.1直譯法 2.2直譯加注法 2.3意譯法 2.4增刪法3.習(xí)語(yǔ)翻譯共有的錯(cuò)誤 3.1沒(méi)有注意文化差異 3.2錯(cuò)誤觀點(diǎn) 3.3逐字翻譯4.影響英文習(xí)語(yǔ)和中文習(xí)語(yǔ)的文化差異 4.1不同的生活環(huán)境 4.2不同的傳統(tǒng)和習(xí)慣 4.3不同的宗教和信仰 4.4不同的歷史影射 4.5社會(huì)科學(xué)發(fā)展 4.6文化與娛樂(lè)5.結(jié)論二、內(nèi)容摘要習(xí)語(yǔ)是語(yǔ)言文化的精華，缺少了習(xí)語(yǔ)，語(yǔ)言將會(huì)變得索然無(wú)味。習(xí)語(yǔ)在語(yǔ)言中

2、的應(yīng)用比比皆是。在寫(xiě)作或演說(shuō)中適當(dāng)?shù)厥褂昧?xí)語(yǔ)將會(huì)使篇章增色，加強(qiáng)語(yǔ)言的力量使語(yǔ)言更形象。奈達(dá)曾說(shuō)過(guò)，習(xí)語(yǔ)使 比任何非習(xí)語(yǔ)更具沖擊力的表達(dá)，它帶有一種語(yǔ)言和文化的 識(shí)別特征。習(xí)語(yǔ)在語(yǔ)言運(yùn)用中占有重要地位，恰到好處的翻譯習(xí)語(yǔ)將有助于跨文化交流。中英不同的 文化使得英漢習(xí)語(yǔ)在表達(dá)上有 很大差異，也使得翻譯中容易產(chǎn)生誤譯，因此加強(qiáng)對(duì)英漢習(xí)語(yǔ)文化內(nèi)涵差異的了解有著重要意義。本文試從六個(gè)方面就英漢習(xí)語(yǔ)所反應(yīng)的文化做簡(jiǎn)單比較，探索4種翻譯方法：直譯法、直譯加注法.意譯法.增刪法，使英語(yǔ)習(xí)語(yǔ)原汁原味呈現(xiàn)在中國(guó)讀者面前。三、 參考文獻(xiàn)1 oxford advanced learners dictionary o

3、f current english with chinese translation. beijing: commercial press. 1987.2 oxford idioms dictionary for learners of english j. foreign luanguage teaching and research press. 2003.3 chitra fernando. 習(xí)語(yǔ)與習(xí)語(yǔ)特征（英文版）j. 上海： 上海外語(yǔ)教育出版社. 2000.4 郭著章. 李慶生. 英漢互譯實(shí)用教程m. 武漢： 武漢大學(xué)出版社1996.5 何慧剛. 英漢習(xí)語(yǔ)翻譯與文化交流j. 英語(yǔ)輔導(dǎo)

4、。1996.6 胡文仲. 跨文化交際面面觀m. 北京： 外語(yǔ)教學(xué)與研究出版社. 1998: 234, 2807 平洪. 洪國(guó)揚(yáng). 英語(yǔ)習(xí)語(yǔ)與英美文化m. 北京外語(yǔ)教學(xué)與研究出版社. 2000.8 冉秀霞. 英漢習(xí)語(yǔ)的文化差異 j. 重慶職業(yè)技術(shù)學(xué)院院報(bào). 2004年7 月第13卷第三期.9 孫娟華. 從英漢習(xí)語(yǔ)之來(lái)源比較兩種文化的區(qū)別 m. 無(wú)錫職業(yè)技術(shù)學(xué)院院報(bào). 2003年3月. 第2卷第1期.10 謝金良. 西方文學(xué)典故詞典m. 北京：中國(guó)展望出版社. 1986年.11 孫凱. 關(guān)于英語(yǔ)習(xí)語(yǔ)的翻譯 f. 咸寧師專學(xué)報(bào). 2002年2月. 第22卷第1期.12 葉先風(fēng). 英漢習(xí)語(yǔ)的文化差異及

5、翻譯s. 湖北汽車工業(yè)學(xué)院學(xué)報(bào). 2005年9月. 第19卷第3期.13 鄭立信，顧嘉祖. 英語(yǔ)與英國(guó)文化 m. 長(zhǎng)沙：湖南教育出版社. 199814 張以文.辛全寶.英語(yǔ)習(xí)語(yǔ)分類詞典a. 上海：上海外語(yǔ)教育出版社. 1999.cultural difference on translation of english and chinese idioms abstract: idioms, having universal appeal, are widelyrecognized as the essence or the crystallization of language. withou

6、t idioms language would become dull and dry, whereas an appropriate use of them in speech and writing will add much to variety strength and vividness of the language. idioms usually carry more impactthan none-idiomatic expressions because of their close identification with a particular language and

7、culture. idioms are widely used in almost all kinds of speeches and writings. idioms hold an important position in language use, an adequate translation of idioms is not only helpful but also essential in intercultural communication. this paper attempts to make a brief comparative study of the cultu

8、res embodied in chinese and english idioms from six aspects and explore four practical translating ways and skills from the point of view of keeping the flavor of the english ways idiom as wall as catering for all chinese readers.key words: idioms; cultural difference; translation.0. introductionlan

9、guage is inseparable from culture. for one thing. language is a part of culture and plays an important role in it. for another, as a mirror of culture, language is strongly influenced and shaped by culture; meanwhile, it reflects culture. idioms, a particular part of a language and culture of a soci

10、ety ,which including metaphorical phrases, slang, colloquialism proverb allusion, motto and so on, are characterized by their concise expressions rich and vivid, involving geography, history, religious belief and living convention. they are usually highly specialized in meaning and closely tied to d

11、istinctive cultural features and cultural attitudes. as far as their underlying cultural information is concerned, some idioms are completely or partial equivalent both in chinese and in english while some others have nothing in common at all. english and chinese idioms closely related to their own

12、culture, convey different cultural features and messages of their own nation, reflecting, their own culture. there exist vast differences between english and chinese culture and this different occurs in english and chinese idioms, too.1. a few ideas on english and chinese idioms translationthe word

13、“idiom” possesses several meanings. it is commonly accepted as a type of multiword expression (red herring, make up, smell a rat, the coast is clear, etc.) though a few scholars (hockett 1958; katz and postal 1963) accept even single words as idioms. idioms are conventionalized expressions, conventi

14、onalization being the end of initially ad hoc, and in this sense novel, expressions. the meaning of an idioms is not the sun of its constituents, in other word, an idiom is often non-literal. makkais idiom structure in english, an extended version of his doctoral thesis (1965), reserves the term idi

15、om for units are glossed as “any polylexonic lexeme made up of more than one minimal free form or word (as defined by morph tactic criteria)” (makkai 1972 :122). but strassler gives his own working definition of an idiom: an idiom is a concatenation of more than one lexeme whose meaning is not deriv

16、ed from the meaning of its constituents and which does not consist of a verb plus an adverbial particle or preposition. the concatenation as such then constitutes a lexeme in its own right and should be entered as such in the lexicon. (ibid: 79) form the above definitions we can extract two basic cr

17、iteria on which to decide on which to decide whether or not an expression is an idiom:firstly, established and refined by long practical use, an idiom has a relatively high degree of stability of the lexical components. an idiom allows little or no variation in form under normal circumstances. in ge

18、neral, any change in the components will result in absurdities or even render the idioms meaningless. a speaker or writer cannot normally do any of the following with an idiom unless he or she is consciously making a joke or attempting play on words:a. change the order of the words in it (e.g. “at s

19、evens and sixes” instead of “at sixes and sevens”);b. delete a word from it (e.g.“a kettle of fish” instead of “a nice kettle of fish”);c. add a word to it(e.g. “to show ones white teeth” instead of“to show ones teeth”);d. replace a word with another(even with a synonymous word) (e.g.“the pear of on

20、es eye” instead of“the apple of ones eye”)e. change its grammatical structure (e.g.” a king may be looked at by a cat ”instead of “a cat may look at a king”) secondly, an idiom often carries meanings, which cannot be deduced from their individual components. more often than not, it cannot be interpr

21、eted only according to its literal meaning. take the expression “to go town” for example: it means to act freely, especially by spending a lot of money, as in “you certainly seem to have gone to town on the decoration of your house.” it also means to do something with enthusiasm and vigor, as in “we

22、 went to town on the sales campaign.” an idiom usually acquires an implied meaning, that is to say, most idioms are metaphorical in constituent words. in other words, idioms convey more meaning as a whole than the few words taken literary, the phrase“ bells and whistles” is not an idiom. in a figura

23、tive sense, “bell and whistles” is not an idiom. in a figurative sense, “bells and whistles” implies attractive and extra features. “a cats paw” does not refer to the paw of a cat but a person used as a tool by another. “john bull” is not a person who called john bull; it means the english national

24、of the typical average englishman.2. ways of english idiom translationtranslation is an art, a bilingual art, which is the cultural bridge and media between two languages. as there exist wide difference in vocabulary and syntax between the oriental and occidental languages. translation is no easy jo

25、b, especially the translation of english idioms. translation is different from common communications. it involves a lot of factors, such as linguistic, cultural, psychological and art etc. therefore, it does not exclude the general rules. the important thing for them to pay much attention is to use

26、the rules flexibly according to relevance principle. because of the cultural difference, there are some techniques in translation of idioms.techniques in translation vary and we should use specific methods in treating specific problems according to the above cultural difference, in another word, to

27、find the optimal relevance. in the following sections, we shall discuss translating from chinese to english and vice versa, and try to analyze them in the light of relevance theory. here are four main approaches. 2.1 literal approachthe chinese and english languages are very different in their forms

28、 and ways of expression on the one hand, and similar in many respects on the other. to preserve the national character and the special original work, and also accelerate the culture exchange of the two nations. the first approach in idiom translations is the literal approach. it refers to an adequat

29、e representation of the original, which preserves the original form of english idioms without causing confusion in meaning. it transfers the original cultural in formation effectively and shortens the gaps between chinese and english. for example,“sour grapes”(酸葡萄)， “to go into the red ”(出現(xiàn)赤字)，“to b

30、reak the record”(打破記錄)，“to be on the thin ice”(如履薄冰)，“to strike while the iron is hot”(趁熱打鐵)，“a tooth for a tooth”(以牙還牙)，“first-hand material”（第一手材料），“a castle in the air”(空中樓閣)，“to burn the boat”(破釜沉舟)，“to have something at ones hand”(了如指掌)等。 in the same way, lots of words and idioms in english are

31、 introduced by the translation of chinese. for example, “to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight”(坐山觀虎斗)，“to pour oil on the flame”(火上澆油)and so on. take another example:do not throw cold water on newly emerging things; on the contrary you should support them.不要給新生事物潑冷水，相反，你應(yīng)當(dāng)支持它們。不要反對(duì)新生事物，相

32、反，你應(yīng)當(dāng)支持它們。obviously a fits the original sentence better than b, because the english idiom “throe cold water” “反對(duì)” in chinese are obsolete equivalence. if we select b. “反對(duì)” can not express the original meaning accurately. on the contrary, b creates diversity to chinese readers in thought.2.2 literal

33、approach with notes.translation in a literal way will sometimes do, but not always for many idioms can be understood only when the historical background or their origin is completely explained. and, some idioms have a close relation ship, more or less, with a nations (or a regions) customs and the t

34、ranslation of it is not easily done by a few words, then the translators have to do the work with the help of notes. for example:“三請(qǐng)諸葛”ask you three times, like zhuge liang. note: zhuge liang was a hero of the three kingdoms period. he had to be asked three times before he would grant an interview t

35、o liu pei, whom he afterwards served, and help to become emperor.thats something for ripley, 那簡(jiǎn)直是里普利的奇聞 note: a number of american newspapers carry a feature titled“believe it or not” by ripley. it presents strange or unusual facts or happenings that are all supposed to be true and can be verified,

36、but because they are so odd, so out of the ordinary, people find them hard to believe. the expression is generally used when referring to something that seems incredible but is probably true. 2.3 liberal approach some idioms are influenced by culture and custom, which makes the original meaning of t

37、he idioms change. the translator need translate it into another form known by readers to keep the flavor and the purpose of the idioms. liberal translation does not adhere strictly to the form or word order of the original. when there exist some dissimilarities or great difference between english an

38、d chinese in the sequence of vocabulary, in grammatical structure and art device, liberal translation be employed. such as “as easy as pie”(易如反掌)， “be wise after the event”(事后諸葛亮), “still water runs deep”(大智若愚)， “each has its own merits”(各有千秋). for example: she found herself to be a fifth wheel in t

39、he family. a, 她發(fā)現(xiàn)她成了家里的第五個(gè)輪胎。 b，她感到她成了家里多余的人。 compare these two versions a and b. a employed liberal approach, b used literal approach, from the view point of the sentence structure and grammar, they are both right, but according to the meaning of the original, “a fifth wheel ” means the additional

40、things or person. but “第五個(gè)輪胎” this version has no link with person or thing. a has no meaning of “a fifth wheel”, it might express the logical reason, b would make readers have a muddled idea. here is another example:save your breath; the boss will never give you the day offa, 說(shuō)也無(wú)益，老板不會(huì)準(zhǔn)你的假。b，省省呼吸，老

41、板不會(huì)準(zhǔn)你的假。obviously a is more suitable. b belongs to “stiff translation” in chinese, the version seems to keep the “flavor” of the original, but in fact, it not only does not express the true meaning, but also produces unreasonable chinese expression, which lets readers confuse. 2.4 approach of additi

42、on and omission complex idioms should be treated in flexible ways. since the range of inferences one can make from any phenomenon is huge and open-ended, there needs to be some constraint that helps the audience to identify those assumptions which the communicator intended to communicate. because of

43、 the different natures of the chinese and the english languages, that is, the former is implicate and the latter explicate, different approaches of translation should be used. owing to the implicated nature of the chinese language, and in order to keep its national flavoring, words or phrases should

44、 sometimes be added. thats why the approach of addition exists. it is not a matter of “something out of nothing”. instead, it helps the foreign readers to have a better comprehension of the original work. for example: 借香獻(xiàn)佛 borrowing joss-sticks from a neighbor and burning them before buddha for your

45、 own sake. this translation has added the phrases “from a neighbor” and “for your own sake” to give the readers a complete idea of the speaker. because of the terse nature of chinese idioms, they often contain some deep meanings, which are not shown on the surface. but the whole ideas will not be co

46、mplete if not expressed in the translation. in above translation, if the two phrases are not added, the readers will not understand why one “borrow joss-sticks” and why he “burns them buddha”. and here, neither literal translation is proper, for the former one-“to borrow joss-sticks and offer them t

47、o buddha” cannot express the complete implicated meaning, and the latter-“to make presents provided by somebody else will lose vivid image of the original”. on the other hand, because of the special nature of chinese idioms, some of them often combine two idioms of the same meaning for better sound

48、and form. as we know, repetition is one of the characteristics of the chinese language. but in translating them into english, translators will feel it difficult to do the same, because english speakers do not often say things like this. they do not have the habit of repeating things. so in translati

49、ng them, omission should be chosen to avoid unnecessary and tedious repetition. look at the following: 取之不盡，用之不竭-inexhaustible the idiom is quite nice in the eyes of chinese speakers, for it is balanced, which conforms to the chinese culture and the feeling of the chinese people. but to english read

50、ers, who are used to being brief, a feeling of being wordy and strange will be unavoidably caused if they are translator as the chinese words. then the better way for a skillful translator to choose now is omission, which is to be translated as “inexhaustible” or “abundant”. here are few more exampl

51、e: 沉魚(yú)落雁之容，閉月羞花之貌ones beauty would put the flowers to shame. 樂(lè)極生悲，否極泰來(lái)extrme pieasure is followed by sorrow. 3.common mistakes in idioms translation culture is a kind of social behavior. it needs time and people to form the culture. idioms come up with the new things and new ideas. old idioms fade wi

52、th the old things and old ideas. it can be reflected not only in english idioms but also chinese idioms. so the general developing and changing tendency of idiom is that the new ones are more than the disappearing ones. so the amount of idioms increase continuously with colorful and vivid expression

53、s. so it is useful and helpful to understad and learn about the cultural difference between english idioms and chinese idioms. it can help us to get rid of the big barrier to understanding the original english and chinese literature. on the contrary, we always ignore the cultural difference between

54、english idioms and chinese idioms. we also make mistakes in idioms translation resulting from overlooking the cultural differences. there are some common mistakes in the following that we always made. 3.1 paying no attention to cultural differences due to different convention, different nations have

55、 obvious cultural differences in concept of value and aesthetic standards, but as a new learner, we often pay no attention to cultural difference, such as living circumstances, traditions and customs, religions, beliefs, and so on. there are lots of idioms coming from the historical allusion, the st

56、ructure of these idioms are very simple but they have profound background, so we must take them into consideration when translating, and form is often neglected coherence is emphasized and understanding the meaning of a word and its relation to other word is largely dependent on context, or to put i

57、t exactly, n ones intuition. for example “as fat as a whale” . we cannot translate according to literal meaning. because as the carrier of language, culture naturally has connected with the certain circumstance, especially the natural conditions make great differences on which two nations of english

58、 and chinese rely. without conditions of cultural differences .we may translate it into.as china is a great agricultural country, and lots of idioms are related to pig, cow and so on. but english idioms have something to do with sea, ocean, and fish, and boat, whale etc, ct. so it is useful to pay attention to cultural differences to make us have a good knowledge of english idioms.3.2 misusing of commendation and derogatory sensesome idioms have different meaning in different sentences. so it means idioms often tak