英语专业毕业论文-中英颜色词汇的文化和语义差异.doc

discussion about the cultural and semantic difference of color words between chinese and englishintroductionlanguage is a part of culture. the differences between the chinese culture and the western culture are inevitable because of the divergences among society, history, geography, nationality, literature art, religion, convention etc, which result in the divergence of the understanding and usage of color words between english and chinese. however, everyone has his or her aesthetic sentiment .it could be a significant question to recognize these divergences of cultural language in order to study or grasp english language and facilitate the sino-west understanding and communication. as we all know, different countries have different cultures. culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another. color is considered one of the most useful and powerful design tools you have. people respond to different colors in different ways, and these responses take place on a subconscious, emotional level. in american culture, black has long been associated with death, while white is believed to signify life and purity. in the orient, however, whiteis the traditional color of mourning. in the united states, black has also come to suggest sophistication and formality. americans generally associate trust a stability with the color blue, whilekoreans have this reaction to pink and other pastel colors. in a word, the same color may represent different meanings in both languages. because the same color usually sets up different relationships in cross-cultural communication, requiring people in different backgrounds to decipher one kind of information in the other culture. and every language has a potential restricted meaning, which is beyond the language itself. so it is significant useful to know and study the differences, in order to promoting the cultural communication and translation practice. a brief review of color words used in different culturescultural difference in color words not only respond to different national characters but also lead to different cultural connotation in its words. both in chinse and english culture, the connotations and symbolized meanings of color words is used differently, thus requiring people to understand the usage of color expressions completely. not only can these expressions enlarge our language, but add to the possibility of successful intercultural communication. because of culture difference between english and chinese, people be restricted and regulated by their culture when use color words symbols and implied meanings. so when we make intercultural communication with foreign people, we must know their exact way of using color words, or else well meet several inconvenience and embarrassment. people who is familiar with both english and chinese cultures knows that in china, the color red symbolizes happy event. on chinese traditional wedding, the bridegroom and bride both wear red clothes, however in western country people should wear white clothes on the wedding. in addition, in our culture, the color yellow symbolized a son of heaven and royalty and they wear yellow robes while western countrys royalty and exarch mainly wear purple. in english, color words can not only express individuals emotion and character but also be used in symbol and trope, such as this sentence: he was born in the blood of blue, means he was born in a noble family. another sentence as: she is a green hand in this company .means she has no work experience in this company. and this sentence: henry is beaten black and blue, shows that henry is beaten to wound. purple andgold are often associated with royalty, wealth andopulence red, white andblue reminiscent of the american flag, immediately convey notions of patriotism and, to some extent, conservatism. greenhas taken on a very strong connotation as the color representing ecology and concernfor the environment, however, it also conveys meanings associated with money and the suggestion “to goahead” which is obviously derived from traffic lights. colors represent holidays andseasons of the year. the fall foliage colors of red, orange, yellow, and brown are clearly expressive of thanksgiving. halloween: orange and black. red and green represent christmas. purple and yellow and other pastels colors represent easter. a. different pragmatic meaning when used in daily lifeas we acquire language, color processing is moved from the right hemisphere of the brain into the language centers in the left, according to a new british study. it would seem that our perceptions of color not only change as our brain develops language we speak. a previous study found differences in color perception depending on the language spoken by the subjects, specifically that russian speaker dicer more shades of blue than english speakers. exactly why and how color become codified by language is unclear, though the discovery of the connection between the two offers a tantalizing peek into the complexity of human development. except for showing the various colors of nature, color terms also express rich emotions and have cultural connotation. color is an effect of visual sense, as men have the same physical mechanism and visual theory, the material element of color terms may have some comments. but because of different customs，environments，religions believes, psychology, politics and economics, the understanding and feelings to color terms and the associational meaning and pragmatic meaning are different. therefore, in translating these words about color, cultural factors are to be taken into consideration. the pragmatic meaning of color words may be similar，different or be made cultural zero in the different languages. so it is necessary to get the identity from the difference when we translate the color words.just as its name implies, color words are which used to describe kinds of color, in our daily life, color words in different language show different color, for example, black tea not means “heicha” in chinese; meanwhile brown sugar means “hongtang”; brown bread is “hei mian bao”; and purple wine is hong “pu tao jiu”;whats more, blue films not means the color of the film is blue but which related to sex. in modern china, people use yellow to indicate something pornographic and filthy, but in western country, people use blue to indicate that.b. extended meanings in both chinese and englishlanguage is a kind of social phenomenon, a tool for human communication, an essential and outstanding component of culture. language study requires language and culture. english and chinese are characterized by different features, and vary in expressions and culture habits. words show the colors of the colorful world. words on colors in english and chinese have the same or different meanings. we can find the rational psychology of the two nations the same or different from different connotations of words on colors. because culture is the environment of human living, it affects all aspects of human life. words on colors not only reflect the physical properties of colors but also reflect the properties of society and characteristics of time. so it is necessary to know and master different connotations of words on colors both in english and chinese. from the scientific definition, color is a visual phenomenon launched, reflected or caused through certain light wave by the object; it is one kind of visual essential features of human eye. color words in each nations language differ from one anther in the world. on the basic color words, there is not so much difference in english and in chinese. in chinese, there are “chi cheng huang lv qing lan zi”，while in english there are red, white, black, green, yellow, blue and purple. owing to the different historic cultural background of the two cultures, the same color words have different symbolic meanings.here are some examples that color words not mean color here but other extended meaning . “we cant afford to have anyone in this enterprise who is likely to turn yellow when the testing-time comes.” the word yellow here not means any color at all, but turn tail. “if you want to be a successful gardener, of course youve gotta have green fingers.” green fingers means skillful gardener. “mother gave us the green light to go on the camping trip this summer”, green light means permission. “he has a green wound in the left breast”, here green mean new. “when she gives a dinner party, she always does it up brown”, here brown mean fineness. “im browned off, sitting here all day with nothing to do.” browned off means vacuity. “i tried to attract his attention, but he was in a brown study”, brown study means in deep thought. “although they got a lot of nice wedding presents, they also got one or two white elephants.” white elephant means something useless. “dont show the white feather fight for your beliefs.” white feather here means cowardice. “in his youth he was treated as the white hope of the american theater.” white hope means honor here. “he gave me assurance in black and white.” black and white not mean two colors mixed together but written.in zulu beading young girls learned bead work and the meaning of the symbols and colors used from their older sisters. the bead work was usually worn as a head or neck band. men depended on female relatives to explain the code. the patterns and colors can also tell what region a woman comes from and what her social standing is. colors in native american culture often symbolize different things from culture to culture. african cultures have different meanings.and so on. colors symbolize different qualities in various european cultures. a brief review of some special color words translation from english to chineseenglish abounds with phrases containing color words. color may convey different messages to people of different cultures. due to the respective cultural back ground and tradition, some phrases containing color words have far surpassed their original meanings, forming different connotations. what does see red mean? if he is in a blue mood, what kind of mood is he in? is he happy, sad, or what? obviously red and bluedonotmeanjustthecolor.eachhasadditionalmeanings certain cultural associations thatarehiddenbehindtheword.thefollowingpartwill be devoted to the discussionofculturaldifferencesofcertaincolorwords.color words are one kind of sensory words and an important part of english words. they not only play an important role in describing the color of the rues, expressing the idea of the word and enhancing the infection of language but also have different meaning and analogy, and with totally different culture tint in different language and culture 1 in our daily life colors are the most expressive force of language, they not only express one language, transmit one kind of emotion, they can also become one of the most celerity and most earthliness communication tools and mediums. people always use color to express their emotion and enrich their language. color is a subject that exists externally, the cupidity of color is the same to every nation, but each nation has different understanding on color, especially every nation has give it different comparison meaning, association of ideas meaning and culture imago. culture imago is a culture sign which was formed gradually in history years. it has a relative steadfast special culture connotation. in international trade, the color of goods decoration have different culture connotation, and have culture difference what require goods designers have cultural awareness or else things will go contrary to ones wishes. the phrase white elephant as a culture imago has different meaning in both west and east culture. chinese people consider that white elephant as dignity, chastity for it has huge strength, honest and sincere, but people in west country consider white elephant as something big but useless. because chinese merchantman have no knowledge about the real meaning of the phrase in west country, the battery “baixiang” had been translated into white elephant, and the goods were inquiresless. an america washing powder manufacturer once had put some red ones in white washing powder housewives had complained that that kind of washing powder was too rough, later he change red ones into yellow, housewives said that touches much better than before but the clothes cant be washed clean enough, he then change yellow powder into blue, and housewives said that was the very washing powder the want. as a matter of fact, the component of the washing powder were almost the same except the color of the powder, the change of the housewives handle shows the fact that color has effect on peoples mood and emotion. and because color has effect on peoples mood and emotion, on one hand manufactures have to make good use of culture imago and make customer have good imagination, on the other hand, they have to use color to produce kinds of environment, and make people raise their shopping desire, then to achieve the aim of developing economy value. in international trade, most of european people abstain from black, thai abstain from red, japanese abstain from yellow, belgian abstain from blue, and brazilian green, turkey variety of designs. if people lack of these knowledge packaged goods would not be sold easily, and would have lost in economy. green in supermarket is good for rendition, pupil in school like yellow and pink but high school and university students like blue. big cities in english speaking country commonly have red light district, because red has the trait to excited peoples ardors.a. translation of “blue” between english and chinesethe word blue is used to describe the color of the sky and the ocean, so either in english or chinese, blue has an associated sense of quiet and tranquil. in the culture of english, blue has a lot of inferred meanings, addition to the meaning of pornographic or obscene which has been referred, blue also symbolizes the mood of cafard and depression, such as blue, be melancholy ,blue monday, be dejected monday. in english, blue can also denote the meaning of dignity, power and be born of noble, just like blue blood, be born of noble, blue a sigh of honor, win somebodys blue, gain the glory. there are some other common expressions of blue, blue collar, blue print, out of the blue, out of expect. however, there are a fewer of associated meanings in chinese. here are some sentences to show blue. “he is proud of his blue blood.” blue here stands for noble. “thing are looking extremely blue.” blue means not good. it seems that blue is a favorable word to chinese. the blue sky can arouse us to yearn for a better future. in western culture, however, blue does not associate with happiness and imagination, but gloom and depression. he is in a blue mood means he is sad or gloomy. blue is also often associated with high social status or being aristocratic. he is a real blue blood means he is from an aristocratic family. in addition, in u.s., a book with the names of famous figures, especially top government officials, is called blue book. blue film means erotic film while in chinese we call it yellow movie. here are more examples: blue about the gills; in depression blue devils; depression and gloom once in a blue moon; not very often at all; blue in the face; look pasty blue murder; horrible screaming and shouts sing the blues: in low spirits; very depressed out of the blue: happening in a way that is sudden and unexpected. it seems that blue is a favorable word to chinese: the blue sky, as often as not, can arouse us to yearn for s better future; the blue sea full of uncertainty induces boundless imagination. naturally, we take it for granted that famous song love is blue equals a romantic love story. in western culture,however,bluedoesnot with happiness andimagination,butgloomanddepression. hehasbeeninamoodor having the bluessinceheknewthathisfailureintheentranceexamination in this example, thosetwotermsmeanasadorgloomymood.similarly,ablue monday carries the same feeling. usuallyafterthehappyweekends,wearelikelyto feel reluctant to attendschoolorgobacktowork,thuscomingtheexpression a blue monday that canbeacceptedandunderstoodbybothcultures. blueisalso often associated with highsocialstatusorbeingaristocratic.he is a real blue bloodmeans he is fromanaristocraticfamily. in addition, in u.s., a book with the names of famous figures, especiallytopgovernmentofficials,calledbluebook.hereis one more to complementthewordlistofblue. blueaboutthegills indepression blue; depression and gloom blue film, eroticfilminchinese, wecallitayellow film literally. onceinabluemoon, occurringonlyonceinathousandyears; bluein the face, lookpasty; bluemurder, horriblescreamingandshouts; singtheblues, in low spirits, very depressed; out of the blue, a thunder from the clear sky, the sudden coming of something unexpected.b. translation of “red” between english and chinesechinese people prefer red, and chinese traditional culture agrees that it has something to do with marriage. men and women were getting married if they were tied with red strings. so the one brought them together was respected as hong niang in ancient china, or match maker in english. “hong niang” was known as a maid of cui yingying, west chamber, who helped build their relationship. since then, “hong niang” was accepted universally to describe a match maker, or someone or organization which actually serves as a bridge for something. misunderstanding could happen when the westerners ignore our traditional culture, and take it for granted that “hong ni