On the Cultural Connotation of English Names and Their Chinese Translation.doc

学士学位论文on the cultural connotation of english names and their chinese translationabstracta name is used to indicate a particular member in the society. it is not only a social symbol used in communication but also a mirror of culture. personal names involve rich cultural connotations and reflect cultural traits of given nations. accordingly, it is essential to study the culture and translation about names. this paper attempts to analyze cultural connotations of english names and strategies of their chinese translation to facilitate cross-cultural communication and help us have a better understanding of western culture.this paper consists of six chapters. firstly, it introduces the characteristics and origins of english names. then the paper focuses on cultural connotation of english names from the aspects of individualism, christianity and sexism. finally, the author explores some principles and strategies of chinese translation of english names, including the translation of general names and particular names, the latter of which refer to character names in literary works and personal names in idioms. transliteration should be combined with established popular translated names and free translation to reflect the real meaning of english names. keywords: english names; cultural connotation; chinese translation不要删除行尾的分节符，此行不会被打印- -contentsabstracticontentsiichapter1 introduction1chapter2 the characteristics and origins of english names22.1 components and forms of english names22.2 the exploration of english names roots22.2.1 origins of family name32.2.2 origins of given name32.2.3 origins of middle name4chapter3 the cultural connotation of english names53.1 individualism53.2 christianity63.3 sexism7chapter4 translation of general names84.1 translation principles of general names84.1.1 keeping the original names order84.1.2 putting a point among the first, middle and last name84.1.3 using the standard pronunciation of the chinese characters94.1.4 avoiding using characters with derogatory senses94.2 translation methods of general names104.2.1 adopting transliteration104.2.2 adopting established popular translated names114.3 translation of characters names in literary works124.4 translation of characters names in idioms13chapter6 conclusion16bibliography17acknowledgements18千万不要删除行尾的分节符，此行不会被打印。在目录上点右键“更新域”，然后“更新整个目录”。打印前，不要忘记把上面“abstract”这一行后加一空行- ii -chapter1 introductionpeoples name is one of the most universal language phenomena in each human society. it is the specific symbol, which people use to distinguish themselves from other people and which usually accompanies him for the whole of his lifetime.meanwhile, different personal names reflect different culture because “peoples name is the carrier of its respective culture” 1. in naming the newborns, people are inevitably influenced by their cultural surroundings. they put in names their expectation of or best wishes for the newborn. the ordering of family name and given name, the preference of a certain name, and even the change of female names after marriage truthfully reveals a nations psychology and its social reality. 2 in a word, personal names are windows for people to see through different cultures in different societies.nowadays, the world has become smaller due to the increasing communication between different countries and names play a fundamental role in communication. however, some problems do exist in translation of names, which cause a lot of inconvenience. for this reason, it is worthwhile for us to discuss how to translate english names and analyze the effective and scientific translating principles and methods.whats more, some english names are no longer merely used as names. they are used idiomatically in literary works and idioms to refer to certain types of people or events. if we have a good understanding about english names and their cultural connotations, it will be great helpful for us to use them to express our ideas.chapter2 the characteristics and origins of english namesit is a complicated issue to translate foreigners names. different people in different cultures have different attitudes to the names. so do the people in the same culture. so, in this chapter, i firstly introduce the characteristics and origins of english name.2.1 components and forms of english namesan english name usually has two parts: the family name, which is also called surname or last name, and the given name, sometimes called first name or christian name. some people can also have a personal name or middle name. in english countries, the family name is the end, and the given name is the front. the order is: given name (first name or christian name) + middle name + family name (last name or surname).2.2 the exploration of english names rootsin this part, i will classify and analyze the origins of family name, middle name and given name.2.2.1 origins of family name:originsenglish last name examplesoccupational namescook(厨师), carpenter（木匠）, smith（铁匠）, fisher（渔夫）, baker（面包师）, barber（理发师）, miller（磨坊主）, singer（歌手），turner(车工)2places namesfields, lake, london, moor, westby, hall, chesterfield, street, forest, wood field, noman, hill, bushnicknamesarmstrong（强壮的胳膊）, wisdom（智慧）, brown（棕色）, young（年轻），short（身短）, red（红色）, russell（= redhaired, 红发）patronyms namesanderson (son of andrew), donaldson (donald+son), jackson(jack+son), johnson (john+son), richardson(richard+son), wilson (william + son), edson(edgar + son)family identity or legal statuscohen (jewish), freeman2.2.2 origins of given name:english first name has many origins. but one of the most influential sources should be christianity in christian countries. soon after a child is born, the child is given a christian name at a christian religious ceremony like baptism by its godfather and godmother.originsenglish first name exampleschristianityadam, abraham, daniel, david, petermythology and literaturedaphne, phoebe, cynthia, jasonnatural environmentbee, goose, eagle, wood, cotton, rosepersonal characteristicssmart, fat, beard, happy2.2.3 origins of middle name:middle name can be considered as the second given name of a person. with a middle name, a person can distinguish himself or herself from another person in the family who happens to have the same first name. take george bernard shaw for example, bernard is the middle name. occasionally, a person may have two middle names. in the case of sir winston leonard spencer churchill, who was the former british prime minster, leonard and spencer are his two middle names. a middle name can be derived from the first name of his father or mother, or a close relative like uncle or aunt. a middle name can also be given at random. for instance, after george walker bush had an interviewed in the tv program，people began to use “walker” as their middle name popularly.chapter3 the cultural connotation of english namesthrough study on a nations history, religion, concepts of moral and value, in chapter three, we begin to discuss english names cultural connotations. it is not an easy job to translate the name, with affluent cultural connotations, into proper target language, without losing source languages characteristics.3.1 individualismindividualism is the most essential part in western philosophy. as hofstede defines, individualism pertains to societies in which the ties between individuals are loose-everyone is expected to look after himself and his family. according to hofstede, in individualistic cultures, people are more self-oriented and think of himself as “i”. 3 family name appears as a kind of symbol representing a clan or a big family. given name, being much more flexible, represents the individuals. it is only possessed by one person to distinguish himself from other members in the family.the relative position of family name and given name in the full name is really important. in the west, given name is put prior to family name. thus names, in addition to other cultural phenomena, also represent different values held by western people.worship of individualism has become one of the most remarkable features in the western world, especially in america. individualism is a concern for oneself as opposed to concern for the group. this mentality of the westerners determines the paramount position of individuality, independence, and uniqueness in western society, which these are also realized in names. westerners inevitably put given name ahead of family name.3.2 christianitythe english and americans believe christianity sincerely, which has profound influence on english name. because of the great influence of bible, many english names originate from bible or have close relation with it. most of them fall into the following categories:names coming from the sages and the disciples names in the bible:in england, the expansion of religious influence was great in the 12th century, which affected each domain in peoples lives. therefore, more and more people selected the sages names in the holy bible to name themselves and their children. for example, american president abraham lincoln (abraham is the father of faith), german actress sarah connor (sarah refers to noble princess).names paying tribute to god:western people also believe god sincerely. the holy bible said that god created all things in the world. therefore they choose certain names to pay a tribute to god, such as timothy, elizabeth (sacrifices to god), dominic (belongs to god), tobias (god is benevolent).names reflecting the believers worship and christian rules and regulations:in the times of puritan (the 17th and 18th century), the environment was terrible and the life was difficult. specially, those puritans who arrived in america had to unite as one, and manage a household with diligence and thrift to survive. at that time, the names people selected reflected the believers worship and rules and regulations they followed, such as give-thanks, prudence, humanity, etc. in addition, there are some names reflecting the christian virtues, such as honore mirabeau (french thinkers), grace kelly (queen of monaco), charity, etc.3.3 sexismnames reflect the sexual prejudice on women. people have different expectations on boys and girls. generally speaking, people have high expectations on males and low expectations on females. boys are often given names indicating power, wisdom and strength in the west. for example, “martin” is from mars, the god of war; “sword” means victory guard; “basil” means king; “bernard” and “leo” mean bravery; others are “wise”, “virtue” and “faith”. girls have names taken from small and pleasing items. “lily” clearly means lily, “camellia” is a flowering shrub, “violet” means a small purple flower, “rosemary”, an herb, and “crystal”, a precious stone. since a baby girl is born, like any boys, she inherits her fathers surname as her own given name. when she grows up and gets married, she has to adopt the same surname with her husbands, and then her maiden name becomes the middle name. for example, when a girl named helen king is married to a man named john green, her full name changes to helen king green. and she is also called mrs. green on public occasions. she has to keep this new name even after her husband dies. hillary clinton, former u.s. first lady, whose maiden name is rodham, changed her name into hillary rodham clinton while clinton was running for governor.chapter4 translation of general names in this chapter, i will put forward some translation principles and methods of general names in detail. then, after talking about the translation of general name, its also necessary to discuss how to translate particular name, especially characters names in literary works and idioms. they work quite differently from personal names in daily communication. they are not only simple signs for addressing, but closely connected with these persons characteristics and even fates. thus, the popularity and frequent use of these names has become part of the culture, which has, in turn, been spread to other cultures. i hope it will serve as guideline for the translation of english names.4.1 translation principles of general names4.1.1 keeping the original names orderas we all know, english names have their own forms: first name + middle name + family name. we should respect their tradition. 9 according to their traditional culture, we should put their christian names at first and then middle names, and family names in the end. for example: “george walker bush” into “乔治沃克布什”, ronald wilson reagan “罗纳德威尔逊里根” 4.1.2 putting a point among the first, middle and last namethere should be a point among the first name, the middle name and the family name. if we make a comparative study between english and chinese name systems, we could find that chinese given names may contain two characters, which are considered as one. in english, first name is different from middle name. they have different functions and are used respectively. there are two ways to deal with the problem. if the middle name includes no short form, we just need to put “” among the first, middle and last name. for example: “john quincy adams” is translated into “约翰昆西亚当斯”, “martin van buren” into “马丁范布伦”when we deal with the short form of middle name; we can maintain it in the transliteration. therefore, there should be a “.” between them. and“.” is also needed between family name and given name. for example, “john f. kennedy” should be transliterated into“约翰. f.肯尼迪”, “william h. harrison” into “威廉.h.哈里森”4.1.3 using the standard pronunciation of the chinese characterschinese characters are all monosyllabic with a single sound. the only remedy for this great confusion in translation is to fix certain chinese characters to a certain syllable of foreign names. this work has been done by the xinhua news agency, whose achievements led to the drawing up of a list of chinese characters for transliteration, which will be of great help to translators in general.for example, english actor “johnny depp” is called “约翰尼德普”. “john” can not be translated into “乔恩” but into “约翰”.4.1.4 avoiding using characters with derogatory sensestransliteration requires using common chinese characters, instead of characters with derogatory meanings. for example, “kulessa” cant be translated into “裤里塞”, a phrase with embarrassing association, so we should translate it into “孔雷飒”. for the same reason, kennedy cant be translated into “啃泥地” and “bumble” not into “笨伯”. 10. we should try our best to avoid the use of those words with derogatory senses. the four principles we discussed above serve as guidelines for the translation of english names.4.2 translation methods of general names4.2.1 adopting transliterationtransliteration is a mapping from one system of writing into another. it attempts to be lossless, so that an informed reader should be able to reconstruct the original spelling of unknown transliterated words.in the practice of translating english names into chinese names, “translators should try to keep the national characteristics of english names in transliteration”,5 for example, “smith” is translated into “史密斯”，“f. r. leavis” into “f.r.利维斯”， “j. edgar. hoover” into “j.埃德加.胡佛”.6 although these transliterations of names keep the national characteristics of english names, they are too long for chinese people to remember. so some people translate english names according to chinese custom, “such as virginia penn into 潘美今, margaret fung into 冯美琪, and henry lewis stimson into 史仃生 and etc”.7 actually, these are the chinese names rather than translation of their english names. when facing these names chinese people will be much confused by wondering whether they are chinese or foreigners. so the best way is to follow the pronunciation of the original namesusually we adopt transliteration in name translation and give up free translation. for example, “wall sleep” is translated into “斯利普沃尔”and you cant translate it into “墙”and “睡”; “snow” into“斯诺” but not “雪” “smith” into“史密斯”but not “铁匠”; “hunter” into“亨特”but not“猎人”；“mr. green” into“格林先生”but not“绿先生”。the english pronunciation is totally different from chinese. so, its not easy to find the chinese character which has the closest pronunciation with the english name. nowadays, we could find a lot of popular but incorrect translated names. in other words, the translator didnt adopt the closest pronunciation. such as “edward” is translated into“爱德华”but actually, “爱德瓦”is more suitable. in these cases, adopting established popular translated name can avoid one name with several kinds of translations.4.2.2 adopting established popular translated namesmany proper names have been mistranslated. we may give quite a number of examples, such as eden, bethune, etc., which are translated into “艾登”，not “伊登”， “白求恩”，not “贝休恩”, are either inaccurate in pronunciation or even ridiculous in translation. but as they have been popularly known, they are generally accepted and well established. we have no idea to change these names or to retranslate them. to do so, we would perhaps create new confusion among the readers, instead of getting rid of unreasonable translation.but if there are two or more translated names for one foreign person, of which none is very popular, you should have no hesitation to retranslate it into a new name according to other rules. here are more examples of established popular translated names. “for example, wilde(an irish writer) is translated into 王尔德, but not 怀尔德, holmes into 福尔摩斯, but not 霍姆斯, bernard shaw(a