Translation of Idioms between Chinese and English from Cultural Aspect

1、从文化方面看成语翻译translation of idioms between chinese and english from cultural aspectabstract: with the rapid development of economic globalization, peoples desire to know foreign culture is becoming stronger. translation, one of the ways to realize intercultural communication, is more popular with peopl

2、e. translation is not only a turn of linguistic symbols, but also a turn from one culture to another. it has become a cross-linguistic, cross-cultural, cross-social communication event. language is a part of culture. language is an important carrier of culture. language and culture have close relati

3、onship with each other. the study of the relationship between language and culture has been considered a subject of great value. idioms are gems of language which have been refined through ages of use. idioms are fixed sentences or phrases which are concise in form and comprehensive in meaning. idio

4、ms are crystallization of human wit and wisdom. appropriate idiom translation can not only faithfully express the spirit and thought of the original works, which is understood and accepted by the readers, but also broaden culture horizon and enrich chinese and english vocabulary. however, idioms are

5、 strongly culture-loaded, which brings about barriers and difficulties in translating. when translating, a translator must pay serious attention to the different cultural backgrounds between china and english-speaking countries, making use of the methods of idioms translation in a flexible way so as

6、 to render idioms faithfully and effectively. keywords: idioms; culture; translation摘要: 随着经济全球化进程的加快，人们对了解异域文化的渴望也日益增强。作为跨文化交际桥梁之一的翻译越来越受人重视。翻译不仅是要进行语言符号的转换，而且是文化之间的转换。翻译成为了一种跨语言、跨文化、跨社会的际活动。 语言是文化的一部分，语言是文化的重要载体。语言和文化之间有着非常密切的关系，语言和文化的关系是当今公认的一门值得研究的学科。习语是人们经过长期使用而提炼出来的语言的精华，是人们长期习用的形式简单而又意思精辟的定型词组

7、或短语，习语是劳动人民智慧的结晶，而且具有浓厚的地方特点和民族特色。英汉习语中蕴含大量的文化信息。习语翻译如果处理得当，不仅能忠实地表达原作品的精神和思想，为读者所理解与接受，而且能开拓文化视野，丰富汉语与英语的词汇。 然而，习语具有强烈的民族文化特色，这给翻译增加了障碍和困难。翻译时，译者必须考虑中英两国文化背景的不同，灵活运用各种翻译方法，以忠实、准确地用译语再现原语习语。关键字：习语; 文化; 翻译contentsi. introduction.1 ii. literature review.2iii. idioms and culture.2a. the definition of i

8、dioms.2b. the definition of culture3c. the relationship between idioms and culture.4. translation methods of idioms.5a. literal translation.5b. free translation.7c. the method of borrowing.8d. literal translation plus annotation.9e. addition and omission10.conclusion.12works cited.13.introductionnow

9、adays, the economic globalization has promoted the rapid increase in cultural communication between china and western countries. the cultural turn in translation studies, following the cultural turn of the general international academic studies in arts and social science, which has influenced transl

10、ation studies in china since the 1990s and resulted in great progress in culture translation research and idiom translation studies in the recent years.the idiom is not only a gem of a language but also the crystallization of human wisdom. it is like a mirror reflecting culture. idiom translation is

11、 both an interlinguistic process and an intercultural activity. therefore, it is necessary to study idiom translation from the perspective of culture. however, the cultural discrepancies between china and western countries bring lots of difficulties to idiom translation. how to transfer cultural mes

12、sages in idioms becomes a hard nut to crack. translation scholars of different schools propose various approaches to idiom translation. some prefer foreignzing translation, which is source language culture-oriented. this translation method can hold faithfulness to the original and introduce the cult

13、ure from the source language to the target language. some others prefer domestication, which is target language culture-oriented, because it has great advantages in achieving the effect of functional equivalence. however, each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. according to the purpos

14、e of translation, the readers cognitive capacity, the type of text and the context, different translation strategies should be used flexibly in idiom rendering to make effective cultural exchange and achieve the closest equivalence.due to the strong cultural flavor of idioms, the proper translation

15、of them can not only enrich the english and chinese vocabularies greatly, but also can promote the cultural exchange of china and western countries. all of those show the importance of idiomatic expressions playing in language, and also foretell the difficulties of translating idiomatic expressions,

16、 the difficulties of translating idioms just partly explain why this thesis takes up to idiom translation from the cultural perspective as my project. in this thesis, the author will mainly try to categorize the english and chinese idioms from the perspective of correspondence and explore choice of

17、idiom translation strategies. the present essay will begin with literature review about cultural translation theories put forward by various scholars.ii. literature review in translation studies, a number of scholars have presented their own ideas about this question in their works. in the book comm

18、unication between cultures, culture is defined as “the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, religion, roles, spatial relation, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individu

19、al and group striving”(samovar and porter 314).from this definition, we can infer that cultural factors exist in almost every field in our world. therefore, it is sensible to take the cultural messages in idioms into consideration when we convey the meanings of words.larry a. samovar and porter (198

20、0) also declare that “translators must grapple not only with structural differences, which requires precision and the ability to convey the speakers or authors approach or attitude. more important, translator needs to consider shared experience” (133). that is to say, the meanings of words are based

21、 on shared experiences and the ability of a word to convey meanings depends on the culturally informed perceptions of both original and target readers. when we lack cultural equivalents, we lack the words in our vocabulary to represent those experiences. in addition, translations often produce misun

22、derstanding or incomprehension because of different cultural orientations.susan and bassnett quoted juri lotmans words “no language can exist unless it is steeped in the context of culture; and no culture can exit which does not have at its center, the structure of natural language” (22). how to tra

23、nsfer the cultural message in translating? susan emphasizes cultural functional equivalence. there is no difficulty in understanding cultural images when cultures of two countries have some common backgrounds. idioms and culturea. definition of idiomsin fact, it is quite difficult to give a clear de

24、finition to the word “idiom”. scholars propose various definitions of idiom:“a group of words established by usage as having a certain meaning and dont deduce from those individual words” (new oxford dictionary of english, 1998).“an idiom is an expression which function as a single unit and whose me

25、aning cannot be worked out from its separate parts.” (longman dictionary of applied linguistics, 1985)“idiom is an expression established in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either in grammatical construction or in having a meaning that cannot be derived as a whole from the conjoin

26、ed meanings of its elements.”(websters third new world international dictionary, 1976)“a phrase, construction, or expression that is recognized as a unit in the usage of a given language and either differs from the usual syntactic patterns or has a meaning that differs from the literal meaning of it

27、s parts taken together” (luo shiping 45).the chinese equivalent for english idiom is “xiyu”. it also means a group of words or a set phrase which is established through long period of usage and is accepted through daily communication. idioms range widely, including set phrases, proverbs, sayings, co

28、lloquialisms, allusions and so on. b. the definition of cultureculture, the soul of a nation, is like a pearl glittering in the human world. but it is too inclusive to define. in history, innumerous scholars have given their definition to culture, whether long or short, detailed or succinct. since t

29、ranslation is for communication between cultures, the author here has quoted bates and plogs detailed definition that terms culture as “a system shares beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of a society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are tra

30、nsmitted from generation to generation through learning.”(samovar and porter 36). in brief, culture is “the totality of beliefs and practices of a society” (nida 78).different nations have formed different cultures in this colorful world, but each culture exists in relation to another culture. each

31、culture has its own strong and weak points and generally undergoes the periods of origin, development, prime and decline. so no culture could dominate the international cultural field permanently and cultures often influence one another. that is to say, the relativity and integration of cultures are

32、 inevitable. chinese culture and western culture are no exception. however, for many years, the thinking mode of “euro-centrism” has dominated our research of cultural studies, because of the advanced economy and technology in the western world. we have laid particular emphasis on translating foreig

33、n culture into china, but chinese culture has been in an awkward position of being marginalized. the exchange of chinese and western cultures is not balanced. thus it is our responsibility to highlight the spirit and identity of chinese culture to let the two cultures exchange with each other in a b

34、alanced way. therefore, the author has chosen to study the translation of chinese idioms in to english.c. the relationship between idioms and culturethe definition features of idiom, according to the definitions whether in chinese or english are fixed, not easy-changing and long-lasting. from that w

35、e could see that idioms can be said as the representative part or the essence of a language. they show distinct characteristic of the language, for the structure, the selection of words and the special way of ways of expressing are peculiar to other language, for example there are so many four-chara

36、cter idioms in chinese. they are unique to other language. and also there are so many idioms which are from the bible in english that it seemed incredible to other language. all of these idioms are accepted and used by the whole nation. they are the results of peoples labor and wisdom. their vividne

37、ss makes people love to use them in their language. thats why idioms can remain in the language for such a long time and so frequently be used. it is just because idioms are the steadiest part of a language that they can reflect the characteristics of a language.hence, we can see that language is th

38、e principal means whereby people conduct their social lives. when it is used in communication whether in speech or writing, it is surely bound up with culture in multiple and complex ways. so languages do not depend on structural equivalences but on common conceptual systems, which are born from the

39、 large context of peoples experience. in conclusion, idioms are the most representative part of a language. they are related to culture tightly. so they record all the details of trace of the culture. they are like a mirror which reflects culture clearly. thus, when we discuss the translation of idi

40、oms, we are supposed to consider cultural factors. it is very necessary to show cultural characteristics of idioms when they are introduced to foreigners.iv. translation methods of idiomsa. literal translationthe chinese and english languages are very different in their form and ways of expression o

41、n the one hand, and are similar in many aspects on the other. to preserve the national characteristics and the special coloring in the original work, and also accelerate cultural exchange of the two nations, the first method in idiom translation is literal translation. it is used under the condition

42、 that the wording does not violate the rule of the target language. take the chinese idiom “雨后春笋” for example, it is a habit with the english idiom to use “mushroom” to mean rapidly grow, but the literal method can also be used to translate it as “ like bamboo shoots after a spring rain”. another ex

43、ample is“猫哭老鼠”. though we can borrow the english idiom “to shed crocodile tears”, we can also, and with better results, translate it as “the cat weeps over the mouses death”. here, we introduce the image of “bamboo” to the english people, who will easily understand it. and the animals “cat” and “mou

44、se” are also well known worldwide. the only problem is that the english-speaking people do not have exactly the same idiom. if we translate them in the literal way, we will not only translate the idioms meaning but also introduce something interesting to the english people and help the two people un

45、derstand each other.the other advantage of literal translation is to give the target language some new words, and exquisite expressions. so, the literal translation like the idioms above will improve the understanding of the world around to foreign people and modify the contextual assumptions they b

46、rought to the communication act. as a matter of fact, the exchange of foreign expressions between nations has never stopped. the translation of literary works since the may 4th movement has introduced many new words and ideas along with the foreign original works to the chinese language. and we now

47、use many idioms originally coming from foreign languages. hundreds of english idioms come from the bible, which were not barn in the native language, but have come from greek and hebrew. the english people do not feel uncomfortable in using them, but feel proud that they possess the most vivid and r

48、ichest language in the world. the chinese idiom “丢脸” (lose face) has not only became a set phrase in english, but also been translated literally into many other languages in the world.nowadays, cultural exchange is increasing with the advancement of economy, politics, science and technology. and the

49、 understanding between different cultures is becoming better and better. it makes the literal translation possible and necessary to reinforce the peoples understanding of other cultures. idioms, as a special part of a language, contain a great deal of cultural loading. therefore, translation of idio

50、ms is very special and very crucial for the exchange between different cultures. so the literal method is the first choice under the condition of being understandable. straightforward idioms account for a fairly high percentage of the english of the english idiom stock. however, a well-defined line

51、cannot be drawn between straightforward idioms and those with images. many an idiom is on the whole straightforward but contains a word that is metaphorical. under these circumstances, the word in question must be treated in a flexible way as,strike while the iron is hot 趁热打铁every road leads to rome

52、 条条大路通罗马the literal method is also the first choice in translating some idioms with imagery and cultural loading. the only rule for it is to try to preserve the national coloring and make sure that the target language audience will understand them without much effort and not to cause misunderstandin

53、g. look at the following:the chinese idiom “竭泽而渔” is translated as “draining the pond to get all the fish”. we know there is an english idiom that has the same meaning “to kill the goose that laid the golden egg”. here, the literal translation is more vivid. it preserves the image of the original la

54、nguage and introduces a new expression to the target language. whats more, it can be well understood by english readers for the behavior of “draining the pond to get all the fish”.many idioms can be translated in this way. it is an effective method because a literally translated metaphorical idiom p

55、resents the foreign reader with the same message and image as the original does to the native speaker. literal translation may maintain the national flavors of the source language. and in the meantime readers of the target language have more opportunities to touch and accept the cultural features of

56、 the source language. moreover, literal translation can not only enrich the target language but also provide readers with a broader cultural vision. they tend to make the target language more vigorous and more expressive.however, some idioms with cultural connotation can not be taken literally or th

57、eir meaning will very likely be misunderstood or lost. so, when we use this method, we should avoid “stiff”translation or “dead” translation. mao dun once pointed out, “the meaning of the same word used in a sentence is often somewhat different from its definition in a dictionary.” “if it is not faithful to the original context, but only faithful to the form, it is not literal translation but stiff translation” (deng 1996; cited in mao dun 103).b. free translationwe have discussed literal methods in idiom translation between chinese and english. but it is far from enough to deal with th