英汉词汇文化对比及对英语教学的启示

英汉词汇文化对比及对英语教学的启示英汉词汇文化对比及对英语教学的启示 Abstract Language is closely related with culture One kind of language is influenced by its national culture and represents for its special cultural connotations This article points out that vocabulary as one of the three elements of a language is the most active factor in language learning which is obviously seen if there appear some changes in culture and language The significance of studying the cultural connotations of vocabulary is realized The connotations belong to one aspect of the meanings of vocabulary and the meanings are divided into seven styles Besides the conceptual meaning the rest of other meanings pertain to the connotations From the connotations the article analyzes the three corresponding relationships between English and Chinese vocabulary that show the cultural connotations complete parallelism incomplete parallelism and no parallelism and gives some examples to demonstrate them While in the English teaching nowadays the cultural connotations of vocabulary are often ignored by many English educators which leads to much danger Many problems always occur so that students interests will be lowered and that students do not have scientific methods of learning or have bad competence of using language In this way the article gives some enlightenment of English teaching including the constitution of syllabus the choosing and composing of the teaching material teaching activities in class and activities after class Therefore language can be used freely when integrating the cultural connotations of English and Chinese vocabulary with English teaching Key Words English and Chinese vocabulary cultural connotation contrast teaching 摘 要 语言与文化密不可分 一种语言会在一定程度上受本民族文化的影响 反映其独 特的文化内涵 词汇作为语意的三要素之一 是语言最活跃的环节 文化与语言的任何一 点变化在词汇这一环节上都是显而易见的 从而明确了研究词汇文化内涵的意义 词汇文 化内涵是属于词汇意义中的其中一部分 除了概念意义外其余的意义均属于内涵这一方面 就这个词汇的文化内涵意义 文章简单分析了体现英汉语词汇文化内涵的三种对应关系 完全对应型 不完全对应型及完全不对应型 并给出了一些词汇实例证明这三种关系 由 于这些对应关系所反映的英汉语词汇的文化内涵常常被许多英语教育工作者所忽视 以至 于在现今的英语教学中产生了一定的危害 普遍存在着学生学习兴趣不高 没有科学的学 习方法及英语学习能力差等弊病 这些给我们的英语教学带来了极大的启发 本文分别从 教学大纲 教材的选编 课堂教学活动 课后活动这些方面导入英汉语词汇的文化因素 能帮助学生更好地运用语言 把英汉语词汇的文化内涵与教学真正结合起来 关键词 中英词汇 文化内涵 对比 教学 1 Introduction Language is related closely with culture Language is the carrier and container of culture English is part of English culture and the Chinese language is part of Chinese culture Human experience and life style are described and stored in language Customs habits and behavioural patterns can be described and analyzed in language Even the visual arts like painting sculpture movie and dance and the auditory arts such as music and singing can be described and evaluated in language To be sure culture can exist in the form of materials 1 As a mirror of culture language is strongly influenced and shaped by culture 2 Familial relation is very important to the Chinese people so there are many kinship terms in Chinese For example 1 叔侄 uncle and nephew 2 爷孙 grandfather and grandson 3 婆媳 grandmother and wife 4 夫妻 husband and wife Therefore if you want to learn and master one kind of language learners should know the cultural background of the country that the language belongs to If a learner just pays attention to the language itself but ignores the cultural background that the language represents he will not master it correctly and use it properly Meanwhile language also reflects its influence on culture White means immaculate and sinless in English so westerners call the auspicious day of marrying as white day Then in China white is not good for lovers who will marry Vocabulary is the basic factor of all language and a key element in language learning A well known English linguist D A Wilkins said No language people can t express many things while no vocabulary people can express none 3 Vocabulary is the most active and flexible component of language By this token vocabulary can be reflected by culture In other words the discrepancies between different cultures can also be reflected by vocabulary This article is trying to focus on the cultural connotations of English and Chinese vocabulary and give some suggestions to English teaching 2 The classification of vocabulary meaning English linguist Geoffrey Leach divides the semantics into seven styles 1 Conceptual Meaning 2 Connotative Meaning 3 Stylistic Meaning 4 Affective Meaning 5 Reflected Meaning 6 Collocative Meaning 7 Thematic Meaning 4 Conceptual meaning is the basic meaning the central factor in linguistic communication which is the word meaning used to express an object in the real world or a concept in our mind It is also the denotative meaning of words Then the rest of other meanings pertain to the connotation which is the associative matters and feelings when using the words The cultural connotation of vocabulary refers to the meaning of the culture of one nation that words imply or the meanings except for the conceptual meaning of one word or a phrase So in the following paper the meanings except the conceptual meaning of vocabulary will be discussed 3 Analysis of the corresponding relationships of the cultural connotations of vocabulary between Chinese and English Different nationalities have their own thinking ways social background customs habits ethic moralities and conventional taboo words which lead to various kinds of national culture The meanings of vocabulary must be stigmatized as a brand of national culture Through analyzing and contrasting the three kinds of corresponding relationships of the cultural connotations between English and Chinese vocabulary are as follows 3 1 Complete corresponding relationship It means Two kinds of languages have same literal meanings and similar cultural connotations on the whole 5 It consists of 3 kinds 3 1 1 Fixed theory words There are some words that have been established by using rules to express the same theory or the same object For examples 1 capitalism 资本主义 2 socialism 社会主义 3 Marxism 马克思主义 4 man made secondary planet 人造卫星 5 science 科学 6 society 社会 3 1 2 Body words There are some words that are used to describe our human body 1 heart mean hollow muscular organ that pumps blood through the body 6 It has the same literal meaning with 心 in Chinese They also mean a person s thoughts and emotions esp of love ability to feel emotion heart of stone means 铁石心肠 sweet heart means 爱人 from one s heart means 衷 心 in Chinese to have one s heart in one s mouth means 提心吊胆 heart to heart means 心对心 2 die and 死 have the same literal meaning and connotative meaning Chinese and westerners both use other euphemistic words to express the meaning of death instead of using the two words directly pass away 去世 go to heaven 升天 go to west 上西天 pay one s debt to nature 返归自然 meet one s death 丧命 end up 死 3 1 3 Metaphor words There are some words that have the same connotations to make the metaphor It can be clearly seen in the examples below 1 eat like a wolf eat quickly and a large sum of food while hungry 狼吞虎咽 2 pure as the driven snow very white 洁白如雪 3 hard as iron very firm 坚如钢铁 4 light as feather very light 轻如鸿毛 5 foxy as cunning as fox 狡猾的 In conclusion because of the complete parallelism relationship between Chinese and English words these words are understood well by students So these words are easy to master for students and teachers should take advantage of the relationship of complete parallelism When meeting these words teachers should ask students to find out the relating Chinese or English meaning so that students could remember them quickly and correctly For example 1 How to teach as busy as a bee 7 Let students imagine How do bees work They keep working busily without stop So we could understand as busy as a bee as 忙得不可开交 2 eagle eyed Here eagle is one kind of animal whose character is that it has very good discernment Therefore eagle eyed is to express that one person can penetrate the phenomenon of things to study their essence and has very keen sight In Chinese it means 眼力敏锐的 If teachers could relate Chinese with English it will get half the effort with twice the result 3 2 Half corresponding relationship It means that the words have the same literal meaning but only have a part of the same cultural connotations or opposite cultural meanings 3 2 1 A part of the same cultural connotations There are some words that have the same literal meaning but only a part of the same cultural connotations For example 1 In Chinese 鼠 is in the derogatory sense Therefore there exist many Chinese idioms which are to express some negative meaning For example 贼眉鼠眼 shifty eyed 抱头鼠窜 scurry off like a frightened rat 鼠目寸光 see only what is under one s nose But in English mouse can be used to refer to women and girls For example as quiet as a mouse very quiet silent 8 文静如鼠 mouse and man all living creatures 众生 Such kind of meaning is not included in Chinese connotative meanings of 鼠 2 In Chinese and English rose and 玫瑰 both refer to love When a man falls in love with a woman he would send red roses to her to express his love In Chinese we often explain 带刺 的玫瑰 as a beauty who is difficult to approach While in English There is no rose without a thorn It really means complete happiness or perfection can t be found 9 事事无完美 And under the rose means privately 10 在私底下 which originates from an old convention roses that hang under the council board imply that all attendees should keep secrets 3 family means a group consisting of parents their children and close relatives and group members consisting of parents their children and close relatives 11 Then 家庭 only means 以婚姻和血统关系为基础的社会单位 包括父母 子女和其他共同生活的亲属在内 12 There are some other similar examples aunt uncle child s play and so on 3 2 2 The opposite cultural meanings This kind of words are apparently shown in some animal words For example 1 Although Chinese and westerners have the habits of breeding dogs they separately have different opinions about dogs Under Chinese cultural background dog always has the derogatory sense 狗急跳墙 a cornered beast will do something desperate 狗仗人势 be a bully under the protection of a powerful person 狗胆包天 monstrous audacity 狗拿耗子 多管闲事 a dog trying to catch mice poke one s nose into other people s business 狗腿子 hired thug But westerners consider dogs as good pets and man s best friends Dogs are very loyal and faithful to men and they all like dogs very much which reflects greatly in their languages a lucky dog a lucky person 幸运儿 top dog the most important person 重要人物 Every dog has his day Every man will be happy at some time 凡人皆有得意时 Love me love my dog You will have to accept my friends as well if you want me to be your friend 爱屋及乌 If you are in America people often call a skillful worker as an old dog But if you are in China someone that is given such appellation will be in a short temper 2 dragon and 龙 In western mythology dragon is considered as a gigantic creature called lizard usually represented as having a reptilian body People think they must kill the monster dragon The most famous story of killing dragon happened in about 700 AD the Anglo Saxon hero Beowulf killed the dragon like monster Grendel At that time Grendel visits the Danes hall from night to night and carries the warriors away So the hall is deserted On hearing the news Beowulf sails for Denmark with 14 companions and offers to fight the monster After a terrible hand to hand combat Grendel retreats mortally wounded At last Beowulf perishes together with Grendel 13 By this token westerners don t like dragon very much And because of this we couldn t make dragon as the symbol of the Olympic Games in 2008 On the contrary in China 龙 is considered as a wonderful animal which can make clouds and rain It has the capability of 8 animals including snakes birds horses deers fishes eagles and so on And it also can fly in the sky swim in the river walk on the land which is symbolized as the spirit of braveness and adamancy We are also proud of being Descendants of the Loong As imagined by the Chinese the dragon has the head of a camel the horns of a deer fiery eyes and a long beard Its ears are like those of a cow its paws like the tiger s and its sharp claws like an eagle s Its neck is serpentine it has the belly of a frog and the scales of a carp When the dragon first appeared in the sky after an heir was born and the country was blessed with peace and prosperity for many generations thereafter Thus dragon also served as a symbol of good fortune As time went by in ancient time the emperor of each dynasty was thought as the the Real Loong and the top dog in the world In this way a variety of the words and phrases about 龙 mean auspicious lively and vigorous in calligraphy like dragons flying and phoenixes dancing 龙飞凤舞 make the finishing point 画龙点睛 the dragon and the phoenix bringing prosperity excellent good fortune 龙凤呈祥 a scene of bustling activity 龙腾虎跃 full of vim and vigor 生龙活虎 3 individualism and 个人主义 In Chinese dictionary 个人主义 means 一切从个人出发 把个人利益放在集体利益之上 只顾自己 不顾别人的错误思想 14 In traditional ideas it is another name of self concern which belongs to a word of derogatory sense While in English individualism means theory that favors free action and complete liberty of belief for each individual person contrasted with the theory that favors the supremacy of the state 15 This is the synonym of hard working which belongs to a word of commendatory sense These words are difficult to master for students They often ignore the discrepancies of the cultural connotations of two languages and misuse the words Many students translate 拦路虎 into a tiger in the way but in fact it should be a lion in the way While facing the first kind the same literal meaning a part of the same connotation teachers should relate the same literal meanings together and then draw the derivations of different cultural connotations so that make students active in remembering the word meanings also improve the interests of learning To deal with the second kind the same literal meaning the opposite cultural connotations teachers should focus on the opposite point and introduce the different cultural background of the countries to make students understand the real reasons which lead to the different cultural connotations In this way students can have these words at their finger tips 3 3 No corresponding relationship One language has no corresponding words and cultural connotations in another language Besides the similar or the same objects and phenomenon in different countries there are many kinds of special things in their own countries Some unique objects are produced by their particular culture For example 1 a very well known judge in the Chinese history 包公 if we translate it into Judge Bao foreigners can not understand it So we have to add some explanations to it Judge Bao the just and impartial judge in Chinese history 16 2 There are some other words only appearing in Chinese produced by Chinese traditional culture For example 阴 lunar 阳 solar 小脚 tootsies 八卦 the Eight Diagrams 天干地支 Chinese era 十二生肖 twelve representatives of animals Then in China people always use special things to compare to others e g mandarin duck 鸳鸯 compared to couples crane 鹤 compared to longevity bamboo 竹子 compared to humility In English there also appears some special words if Chinese people don t know the cultural connotations For example 1 hippie 嬉皮 refers to some youth wearing strange clothes indulging in drug and playing 2 jazznik 爵士迷 means some people like jazz very much 3 peacenik 和平迷 means some people like peace 4 punk 朋克 means some youth who wear uglily appear angry depressed Such words originate from different countries history culture tradition custom thought and national character If teachers never explain clearly to students they wouldn t understand them and use them fluently and correctly Students fail to guess and conclude the meaning 4 The danger of ignoring the corresponding relationships of the cultural connotations between English and Chinese vocabulary From the above three kinds of the relationship of the cultural connotations between English and Chinese vocabulary we know that the connotations are the embodiment of the accumulation of culture and history from generation to generation We could not only pay attention to the denotative meaning so that students may lose their applicable ability of using words or communicating with others Here are some harmful points caused by neglecting the connotations of words 4 1Lowering students interests Students interests will be lowered in learning the language Language learning is a complex cognitive procedure especially the motivation and it greatly influences language learners It will drive them to study actively Learning motivation impetus and interests determine the results For many language learners they want to communicate with others find a good job and master a skill to join in the group members whose language is their native one However nowadays most of the students are taught the strict and difficult grammar to make sentences and asked to recite the teaching materials without any cultural background After years of studying English or Chinese they even don t know how to make foreigners understand what they said or wrote They make mistakes in expressing the connotations of vocabulary and using words In the end misapprehension happens even the cultural shock Students make little of practicability of languages Get half the result with twice the effect Being lack of the lead in of the cultural connotations of English and Chinese vocabulary hurts the motivation of learners lowers their interests and makes their attitude inactive 4 2Unscientific learning methods Students don t have scientific methods of learning Many students exert themselves to recite words sentences passages and grammar always forgetting while remembering In class teachers have a test to check how students master the knowledge by dictation or writing from memory And then students spend much time in burdening the memory with foreign languages Because of being departed from the cultural