Cultural Differences of English and Comparative Study of Translation 英语毕业论文.doc

cultural differences of english and comparative study of translationi. introductionidioms (set phrases) is the idiom (the idiomatic phrases) a, is that people in long-term practice and use the language to extract the crystal. idioms generally come from the ancient classic, well-known works, historical stories, folklore, etc., contains a wealth of cultural information, with strong ethnic characteristics.to c translation, language and culture to deal with the contradiction, not only translated the image of the original language idioms, figurative meaning, rhetoric, have translated their cultural meaning. such as the phrase passive is an ancient chinese story, if translated into the stand by a stump waiting for the appearance of a hare, would be puzzling. if translated stick to old practice and refuse to have a change or a trust to chance and windfall, although its meaning expressed, but the idiom of cultural identity is gone, and therefore undesirable. shows that the key to dealing with c translation is to use the perspective of cultural differences.ii. english and chinese cultural differences reflected inif language is a mirror reflecting the culture, then as the language of the core and essence of the idiom is culture, the concentrated expression of their own cultural differences. english and chinese as two completely different languages, reflecting the two entirely different culture.culture is defined as the first scientist from the united kingdom taylor of human culture, he defines: culture is a complex whole, including knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and human society from all the capabilities and habits . shows that culture is a very complex system. by comparison, english and chinese cultural differences reflected mainly in the geographical environment, customs, religion, history and culture in four areas.(a) of the geographical and culturalthe natural environment of human existence and the basis for development of different natural environment of the formation and development of national culture have different effects. environment typical of the mainland of china since ancient times, is a relatively rich country farm atmosphere, land in peoples life are critical, a considerable portion of chinese language and land and agricultural production-related idioms. such as big spenders mianrutuse highly suspicious and so on. narrow the scope of the west by the islands limited land resources are limited, in order to survive the development of seafaring and fishing very well developed, there are many english idioms on the boat and water, such as the plains ailing (smooth) to go with the stream (drift), to keep ones head above water (struggling for existence) and so on.(b) of the customs and culturaldifferences in customs and cultural differences is a key aspect, in the idiom of which reflect more, especially in the animal image. dragon in east and west represent two totally opposite image. in traditional chinese culture, the dragon is a symbol of auspiciousness in chinese dragon with the phrase generally commendatory. such as family resemblance dragon and phoenix and so on. however, in the western legends, dragon is a kind of wings, to fire-breathing monster from the mouth, it is terrifying. thus, in western culture, dragon is usually representative of evil, a dragon is often used to describe the domineering, obnoxious people.(c) religious beliefs and culturaland religion-related idioms are also large numbers in english and idioms. buddhism came to china has 1000 years of history, there are many buddhist-related idioms, such as jiehuaxianfo usually do not burn incense, cramming, and so on. in the uk and other western countries, the most influential religion is christianity. in peoples hearts, god has the supreme powers. there are a lot of english idioms and god-related idioms. if god helps those who help themselves, man proposes, god disposes. a common saying among the people curse god damn you, after the often dangerous said god bless you.(d) history and culturehistory, culture refers to a specific historical development of culture formed by the precipitation of one of the important contents of historical allusion. historical allusion is in the national historical and cultural treasure, with rich historical and cultural information. the story of chinese idioms and more from the four books, five classics or myths and legends, such as mere copycat, mingluosunshan and so on. the story of english idioms come from the bible greek and roman mythology or the aesops fables, and so on, such as: achilles hell, a pandoras box and so on.iii. english and chinese translationnumber of translation theorists, such as rambo (lam bert) and rennes (robins) that: as a bilingual translator with the transition between activities, it is better to translate as exchanges between the two cultures. this shows that culture must be incorporated into the translation of the scope of study, wang zuo said: the translator must be a real intellectuals. people all that he had to master both languages, do so: but, do not know among the social and cultural language, no one can really master the language. translation ultimate goal is to achieve communication between different cultures, idioms translation should follow this principle. nida said: the best translation does not sound like a translation, mr. lu said before: all translations must be balanced with both sides, a course for the sake of its easiness, a preserved original posture. the phrase translation concerned, is the literal translation of the literal translation can not be literal translation of the free translation, translation as far as readability and retention of primitive cultures to find the best balance between ensuring the maximum extent the cultural information contained in the original presentation to the president readers to cultural fax target. practice, the translation of commonly used the following methods:(a) of the literal translationliteral translation, language translation that does not contravene the norms, and lenovo does not cause an error condition, to retain the original idiom in the translation of metaphor, image, and national, local color. such as: a gentlemans agreement (gentlemens agreement); wall have ears (walls have ears); terra tragedy (to drain a pond to catch all the fish); predecessors trees, descendants cool (one generation plants the trees under whose trade another generation rests ). literally be able to compare intact the image of the original idiom metaphor, national color, can enrich the target language vocabulary, the reader to experience a sense of freshness.(b) literal notation methodsome idioms, their relatively strong historical and cultural allusions, literally one must also add the necessary comments. such as a don juan don juan. merry prodigal means. don juan is the works of english poet lord byrons character, he is a brave, romantic knight. now, he often used to refer to young people with these qualities. if these idioms literally out without explanation, the reader often difficult to understand its implication. again, chinese idiom trespass: show off ones proficiency with the axe before lu ban, the master carpenter. if asked to explain in the second half without words, only the translation of lu ban, i am afraid i do not know the majority of british readers.(c) free translationfree translation means translation, not only to retain the original meaning of the method to retain the original forms of expression. when, due to cultural differences can not be literal, literal translation with footnotes too long, will destroy the idiom of simplicity and readability, the translation on the intended flexibility to convey intent. such as english idioms two friends are hand in glove with each other (with hand, foot and pro), to snap and snarl at a kind-hearted man (dog bites play the part of people do not know well). chinese idioms with the cultural characteristics of many cases in the literal translation in english is difficult to reflect, often with free translation, although difficult to preserve the idiom of the culture and image, but it can reflect simple figurative idioms. such as the facts speak for themselves facts speak louder than words. scapegoat hold the bag, spoken chinese, scapegoat, saying that a person has done bad things and the responsibility falls to those who did not do bad things. english, regarded this situation as holding the bag son (hold the bag), it is worth noting: british and american people hold the bag while speaking may be the same people who make mistakes, it may not be implicated.(d) literal plus free translationit should be noted, literal and free translation is relative, not an absolute limit. in many cases, to preserve the original image, and make accessible translation, english idioms can be part of the literal part of the free translation. such as the phrase mere copycat wishful to dong shi, an ugly woman, knitting her eyebrows in imitation of the famous beauty xishi only to make herself uglier, english readers did not know beauties who are the people unable to understand its meaning. increase the use of a literal paraphrase of the method, after the above paraphrase blind imitation with ludicrous effect, its meaning will be clear of. in such a phrase in english even homer sometimes nods, in the back of this idiom, the translator will add a even the wise are not always free from error, exactly corresponds to the chinese proverb the best is there must be a loss.(e) back translationa small part of the idiom, this comes from the source language, translation can be used when the source language idioms, such as an eye, an eye for eye, crocodile tears crocodilestears, armed to the teeth armed to the teeth and so on.iv. conclusionas a unique language and cultural phenomenon, idioms and cultural information with a large load, is in english and chinese language part of the richest cultural characteristics. as lotman said: there is no one language is not rooted in specific culture of; do not a culture not based on the structure of a natural language-centered. idiom in the translation, the key is a good grasp of chinese and their own culture in english, using the perspective of cultural differences flexibly according to the actual use of the appropriate translation, as