浅谈中西颜色词的文化差异-毕业论文

1、【标题】浅谈中西颜色词的文化差异 【作者】曾 颖 【关键词】颜色词；不同文化；对比研究 【指导老师】王承君 【专业】英语 【正文】i. introductioncolor is an important way for human being to know the world. among all the languages, color words are showing their unique glamour. due to different language habits, historical background, traditional customs and so on,

2、there are many differences in the understanding of color words and in the use of the same color words. with the development of human beings civilization, there are plenty of ways to show color words. a single meaning extends a great number of new meanings, which make human beings languages colorful

3、and vivid. every word records peoples understanding of objective world. as a group of special vocabulary colonies, the color word is no exception. it directly or indirectly shows various cultural connotations of varied nationalities and strong national cultural traditions, social local conditions an

4、d customs, aesthetics temperament and interest. this thesis aims to analyze the cultural differences of color words between chinese and english, to explore their cultural and historical roots. therefore, it is of practical significance to know the differences between english and chinese color words

5、and their extended meanings for promoting chinese-english cultural communication and developing translation practice.ii. the definitions of color wordscolor words, in whatever languages, are words used for describing the colors of different kinds of things. the physiological response that the color

6、causes as human vision has some characteristics in common. research of scientist indicates that, except color blindness, the visual system of mankind from the perspective of physiological aspect is no difference. different nationalities have no difference in the ability to correctly distinguish colo

7、rs.iii. the causes for the different meaning of color words between chinese and englisha. different cultural background the color words can produce various associations of ideas which make a great affection on persons mood. that is why people use color to explain a persons moral character, mood and

8、his opinion to things. there is a typical example: mr. white is a very white(loyal) man. he was looking rather green(feel not good) the other day. he has been feeling blue(gloomy) today. when i saw him, he was in a brown mood(worried). i hope hell soon be in the pink(pull himself together) again. fr

9、om this, we can see many metaphors when we use color words to describe a persons mood and behavior. it will help us to grasp the meaning of the talk if we really understand these metaphors. because in chinese both blue and brown are not used for express peoples mood. as we have covered above, white

10、can remind one with a feeling of immaculacy either in chinese or english. in english, white market means the official market of which the corresponding word is black market. it will be obviously ridiculous if we translate the white market as official market in chinese. besides, there are many color

11、words used to describe the feelings both in chinese and english. in chinese we use“flushing”, in english we say“he became red faced” and“his face turned red”. if we say“red with anger”, it means something that made face red. either in english-spoken country or in china, red is always related with fe

12、stive days. but the indicative meaning in china is more than that in western country. chinese people like to use red to describe things that related with lucky, flourish or jollification. although in english red also have the meaning of happiness, it doesnt as vast as it has in chinese. in english r

13、ed is the thesaurus of communism and communist party. these words are used as harshly abusive language. such as red belt, better red than dead. in english red can also be related with violence and bleeding. while in china red is a symbol of advancement and consciousness. the typical words are“the re

14、d army”,“red flag”,“red star” and so on.b. special historical background and social customa lot of color words are produced under special historical and geographical background, most of which are called“culture limited word”. if we dont understand these words and the social custom, culture backgroun

15、d of it, it is even harder for us to communicate with each other. therefore, it is of great importance to grasp the difference between the literal meaning and amplifying meaning. in the qing dynasty, the book that was authorized by the emperor is called“red book”. it is different from the“red book”

16、in english-spoken country which means the book with red cover. in china during the culture revolution, every one should keep one or two books about chairman mao. it was also called“red treasured book”. as same as in english countries, such words related with history and geography has its proper mean

17、ing. such as red lining, red coat and red brigade. the america financial institution encloses the poor area with red line and refuses to provide loan to this area which made the area poorer. this was called red lining. during the america civil war, the british soldiers wore scarlet service uniform.

18、they were called redcoat. red brigade is an italian terror organization. lets take yellow for another example. in ancient china the emperor always wear yellow clothes. it has be a long time that the yellow is thinking to be respectful. so at that time, except the emperor no one was allowed to use ye

19、llow. yellow has the meaning of elevation, dignity and power. it takes an important part in chinese peoples mind. but, yellow means abjection, cowardice and suspicion in english. in ancient china, white was another color to show gentle and simple. white clothes, white house and white body are separa

20、tely means civilian, grass house and people who have no power. they make people think of humbleness and poor. in english we have the phrase“black friday”. as i have covered above, in religion, black means grief, despair and death. friday refers to the friday before easter day. jesus was suffering at

21、 that day. based on the nations culture background and traditional custom, the people in english countries use black friday symbolize the disaster.c. economical developmentthe economical technical development similarly can have the function to the culture, thus also can promote this language develop

22、ment, color and the person gate life is closely linked. in economy life, the color words are also vastly used. there is great number of phrases and fixed usages which related to color in economy glossary. followings are some combined meanings of color words and some economy words which formed by it.

23、 1. in economy word red is always related to debt or bankrupt. the red has the loss, the budget, the property debt table and so on it has the deficit; get out the red(no longer is in debt, wins). therefore there are phrases like red figure, red ink, in the red, red-ink entry, and red balance. in add

24、ition, usages like red cent, red gold, red tip on stock market are also used frequently. 2. in english speaking country, when people talk about black, it is always related with“bad, evil, and wicked”. for example, black money means the money with wrong source; black market means exchanging things wh

25、ich the government forbidden or doing illegal speculated marketing. except this, black can also means payoff. like black is also a kind of color when people keep accounts. such as black figure, in the black, black figure nation and interest in the black. 3. blue in english means unhappy and gloomy.

26、it can also be used to describe the nobles on the upper class; for example, he is a real blue blood. another phrase“blue-eyed boys” means the employees on which the management doted. in economy glossary, blue has many meanings. such as blue book, blue-sky market, blue-collar workers, blue chip. blue

27、 button means the broker who has the right to enter the stock exchanging. blue return is a kind of table that can only be used by honest taxpayer. blue-chip rate is british favorable credit interest rate. blue law is a kind of laws in america which forbid people from doing commercial exchange on sun

28、day. blue-sky law refers to the law which used to manage the stocks.iv. cultural differences of color words between chinese and english“no man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. he sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking.”1linguistics think that lan

29、guage is accepted through common practice with the development of the society, and the different language habits, historical background, traditional customs and so on, there are many differences in the understanding and in the use of the same color in chinese and english, and color words are used to

30、 express different colors.a. white1. similar expressions of white in the west and the east white is the color of snow, and there are many phrases like“as white as snow” in both english and chinese. and it is the basic meaning of white. white has similar associations in both the west and the east. it

31、 has the meaning of purity and innocence. in the western culture, white stands for happiness and purity. for example,“a white spirit” refers to those who are green and innocent, especially girls. and, when people get married in the west, the groom always dresses in white, because white means the new

32、ly married couples loyalty to their marriage and their purity of love.2. different expressions of white in the west and the eastin most cases, the connotations that white carries in english are completely different from that in chinese.in china, white is always a sign of misfortune. it is the color

33、that is disliked by many people, which is usually connected with sadness. so there is no surprise that in china, white is traditional the color of the livery of grave, and it is also the color of the wreaths. in china, the“白”(bai) in“红白喜事”(hongbaixishi) means funeral. but, on the contrary, in the we

34、st, white gets preference of many people. most of the westerners think that it is the symbol of purity, elegance, brightness and bluffness. in england, white symbolizes innocence, purity and sincerity in the culture of heraldry, and white also means loyalty in the art. so, people are likely to be in

35、 the white in the west in the celebrations of god and halloween. in the past, white could be used to indicate the class of the old chinese. it often related to the low class. for instance,“白衣”(baiyi)”,“白屋”(baiwu) in china referred to the populace, the bothy and the person who had no official titles

36、separately2 so white usually associated with the poor and the low class. white in china contains some other connotations that are not available in the west. in china, it has something to do with politics. it is the symbol of reaction, and“the white” usually means a politically ultraconservative or r

37、eactionary person, which is just opposite to that of red. and there are quite a few other terms about white both in english and chinese that can not be just literately translated. take“a white elephant” for example, it can not be interpreted to be“白象”(baixiang) in chinese. in fact, in english, it po

38、ints to those heavy, expensive but useless things. the terms dates back to the ancient times in the west, the king gave those ministers he disliked a white elephant as a punishment. for white elephant ate so much that his owner could hardly afford to feed them.“a white hat” could not be translated t

39、o be“白帽子”(baimaozi) too, it refers to the kind. this is because in american movies, the kind guys in the west always wear a white hat, and the evil tends to wear a black hat.“a white war” often refers to the economic war, because there has no blood in such wars.“the white hall” means the english gov

40、ernment, because most of the high-ranking officials in the government work there.“a white noise” points to the sound that is used to cover up the noise.3“white horse” does not direct a horse in white color; instead, it refers to the wave in the sea. and“white way” indicates a busy street.“to make on

41、es name white again” means“to prove ones innocence”. all of the phrases above have nothing to dob. redred is one of the oldest colors in the human society, and it reminds people of blood at first sight. in the process of timeless fighting against nature, human gradually knew of blood, and came to re

42、alize that blood was the source of live. so, no matter in english-speaking countries or in china, the color red always has something to do with celebration. and in all the countries, the dates of celebration or festivals are always printed red in the calendar.1. similar expressions of red in the wes

43、t and the eastnot only are the similarities of expressing happiness in china and the western countries, there are other sameness of the meanings of red, too. there are some similarities in expressing peoples mood. english-speaking countries tempt to use“to become red faced” when they are embarrassed

44、 or when they are shy or feel shame. this is the same as“脸红”(lianhong) in china. chinese people always use“脸红”(lianhong) to refer to embarrassment. because red is an eyes attracting color, it indicates danger in both the west and the east, especially in traffic, red is used as a signal of alarm. so

45、there are some phrases about red in this area in both chinese and english. such as“红灯”(hongdeng),“红色警报”(hongsejingbao),“红牌”(hongpai) which means a red card that is given to the people who break the traffic rules as a punishment and so on in chinese. and red traffic lights, red alert in english. red

46、has a close relationship with revolution in china and western countries. the phrase“red communist” in english has the same meaning as“红军”(hongjun),“红色政权”(hongsezhengquan) in china. 2. different expressions of red in the west and the east though english and chinese have some sameness in the expressin

47、g of red, there are also a lot of dissimilarities between the languages of chinese and english in their connotations of red in china, red always indicates some satisfied things or events, especially in the wedding. however, in western countries, people always avoid wearing red clothes when they take

48、 part in a wedding. as red in english-speaking countries has the connotation of devil, it is not a suitable color for a wedding, which is completely different from that in china. so it is more suitable and sensible not to dress in red when attending a wedding party in western countries, and it is be

49、yond chinese peoples understanding. however， red in both the two languages of chinese and english has something to do with revolution. it expresses different emotions. for chinese people, red means revolution, proletariat and socialism. there are a large quantities of color terms, such as“红军”(hongju

50、n)“red army”,“红色政权”(hongsezhengquan)“red political power”,“红卫兵”(hongweibing)“red guard”,“红广场”(hongguangchang)“red square” and“红旗”(hongqi)“red flag”. and all of these phrases have positive effects in chinese. but they convey a negative emotion in english. this is because most of the western countries

51、 are capitalistic countries. and it is the bourgeoisie that take the power of the country while communists always stand for the benefits of the working class. they fight against the upper class. so the upper class always sees them as the rebel.c. blackblack is a warm and dark color, and it indicates

52、 gloom in both the western and eastern countries. so black usually has a negative effect and is connected with something evil. and there are many similarities between the languages of chinese and english in their connotations of black. 1. similar expressions of black in the west and the eastblack is

53、 a sad color in both chinese and english, which stands for sadness. people in england and the usa always dress in black when they attend a funeral to show their mourning to the dead, which is the same as in china. chinese people tend to wear black weeds to present at a funeral. and in english“black

54、friday” refers to the friday that jesus suffered from tribulation before the easter day. it is a depressed day. and“black tiding” means doom or something unsatisfied. and english-speaking countries consider black to be misfortune and disaster. such as“black box”, there is a black box in each plane.

55、it is used to take a note of all the information of the flying. and if there is an air disaster, it could be used as a proof to analyze the causes of the disaster. so“black box” has the close relationship with evil and disaster, and it is called“黑匣子”(heixiazi) in china, which can be literately inter

56、preted. and there are many other terms with black in both china and the west that could be literately translated because they convey the same meaning. in both the west and the east, black sometimes reminds people of something abhorrent and connects with stubborn, cheat and evil. such as“black hearte

57、d”, which can be translated as“黑心肠”(heixianchang) in chinese. and both in the two languages, it means people who not only has an evil mind, but also often does harm to others. though, in most cases, black expresses a negative meaning, sometimes it conveys positive message. and this is the same in bo

58、th chinese and english. because of its dull hue, black is always the symbol of gravity, humility and ceremony. in the medieval age of the west, many theologizes excluded the fresh colors such as red, yellow, pink and so on. in their opinions, these colors stood for danger and vagueness. and they wou

59、ld weaken peoples attention.4 instead, people of that times were fond of black, because it meaned austerity and gravity. so there is no surprise that black suit and black dress is the most favorite conventional garment of the westerners.2. different expressions of black in the west and the eastchinese and english are two different languages, but in the usages of black, they have