AnalyzingtheImportanceofCultureinTranslationfromTranslatorsMistakes

1、从误译看文化在中英互译中的作用analyzing the importance of culture in translation from translators mistakescontentsabstract.1key words.1i. introduction.2ii. the relationship between translation and culture. .21. the definitions of culture and translation.32. the relationship between culture and translation.33aim of

2、 the academic paper3iii. problems and solutions of the research.41. misunderstanding in cross-cultural communication.42. mistakes in intercultural translation.43. problems.5 4. solutions.5iv. the translators mistakes and relevant explanation.51. the translators mistakes in everyday life.52. the tran

3、slators mistakes in literature.63. the translators mistakes in proverbs.84. the translators mistakes in the explanation of festival.85. the translators mistakes in politics.96. the translators mistakes in advertising .9v. conclusion.10reference.11analyzing the importance of culture in translation fr

4、om translators mistakesabstract: this paper intends to give an explanation on the influence of culture in translation according to various mistakes of translation. culture gaps between the source language and the target language have always turned out to be a hard nut for translators to crack. there

5、fore, there are still many translators mistakes because of culture. the research leads to the conclusion that translation is not only a linguistic activity, but a cultural communication in substance. the writer will discuss the topic from the translators mistakes in advertising, literature, place na

6、me, festival, proverb, politics and the translation of everyday life, and expect the perspective of this research. based on these, the writer will give a brief introduction of the relevant problems and solutions through translators mistakes, and by comparing the correct translation with the wrong on

7、e. this thesis sums up the importance of culture from translators mistakes and puts forward the main development of the research of culture factors and the importance of culture. we will include and discuss the examples from chinese- english and english chinese. key words: the importance of culture;

8、 translation; translators mistakes摘 要：这篇论文旨在通过一些误译现象解释文化对翻译的影响。来源语言和目标语言之间的文化差异缝隙总是译者最为棘手的困难。因此，很多译者因为文化的问题而导致翻译中出现错误。这一研究总结出的一个结论就是翻译不仅仅是一个语言学活动,而且是物质的文化沟通。作家将会从广告,文学,地名,节日,谚语和翻译每天的生活这几个方面以及期待透视这一研究讨论来自翻译者的错误主题，以观察文化在翻译中的作用。基于这些,作者将会经过翻译者的错误在真实的和错误翻译的比较形式中提供相关的问题和解决的简短介绍。这一个论题通过来自翻译者的错误、提出文化因素在这项研究

9、中的发展以及文化的重要性来总结文化在翻译过程中的重要性。我们将会从一些汉英-英汉的例子中总结并加以讨论。关键词：文化重要性；翻译；误译i. introductionnowadays, more and more people in china learn english, do e-c/c-e translation jobs. however, misunderstanding and wrongly translation are ubiquitous. no matter what angle we should think about, nobody wants to make mis

10、takes when translating. even though there are many reasons on it, in my opinion the biggest problem is culture. culture gaps between the source language and the target language have always turned out to be a hard nut for translators to crack. however, there are still many translators mistakes becaus

11、e of culture. cultural factors surface from the confrontation of cultural deposits in the process of translating, making it difficult to recapture the source culture from the source text. cultural default is defined as omitting of relevant cultural background knowledge shared by the authors and thei

12、r intended readers. no linguistics text can exist out of a certain cultural context, here defined as the way a text is related to cultural elements in the source culture. even when all linguistic symbols can be semantically translated into a system of different linguistic symbols, the relationships

13、among the texts to the source culture can never be reproduced by the version. this fact causes the translators attention to chose cultural factors which complicate the translation process. cultural factors surface from the confrontation of cultural deposits of one language with another in translatio

14、n, and therefore, demand decisions on the part of translators. meanwhile, we always find the mistakes in their works. in a sense, translation brings into focusing the cultural conflicts which are unavoidable and even insurmountable in message transfer. culturally branching language pair will often c

15、hallenge translators with a high degree of untranslatability.ii. the relationship between translation and culturetranslation, no matter how many definitions there are, is basically a communication language. it is also a cultural approach of transplanting. we would like to say it deals with different

16、 cultures rather than different languages. in recent years culturally oriented translation studies appear. it does not see the source text and the target text simply as samples of linguistic material. the texts occur in a given situation in a given culture in the world, and each has a specific funct

17、ion and an audience of its own. instead of studying specimens language under laboratory conditions as it were, the modern translation scholar and the translator thus approach a text as if from a helicopters: seeing first the cultural context, then the situational text, and finally the text itself.1.

18、 the definitions of culture and translation1) there are more than 250 definitions concerning culture. there are various ways of its classification. the first important anthropological definition of culture is presented by sir edward tylor in primitive cultures (1871). he defines culture as “that com

19、plex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (1979:13-14). tylors definition has continually been the basis of most modern anthropological conceptions of culture.2) it has always been difficult fo

20、r linguists and philologists to give a concise definition of translation. although there has been an enormous amount of research in translation in past, no authoritative answer has been given to “what is translation?” here is a sample definition of “translation” proposed by ji xianlin, xu guozhang.

21、they say translation is saying out or writing down what you want to express with another quomodo (chinese encyclopedia: 69). in modern pattern, translation is transforming the information and content in one pattern of words into another pattern to express.2. the relationship between culture and tran

22、slationthe purpose and characteristics of translation are to exchange ideas and culture. translation promotes understanding among countries and nations. in translation, the principle of “seeking the common ground while reserving difference” should be practiced. culture concepts, which underline the

23、variety of language usage and language habits, come to be the key area of translation studies. the ways of thinking, beliefs, attitudes and values of different cultures not only give rise to failures or misunderstandings in cross-cultural communication, but also pose headaches to translators, who sh

24、ould bridge the gaps between source text and the version.3aim of the academic paper i will do my research on individual diversity and analyzing the importance of culture in translation from translators mistakes by the following steps:1) expatiate on the importance and necessity of culture in transla

25、tion on some angles when translators translate multicultural articles.2) the relationship between culture and translation, and the reason why we pay more attention to the importance of culture when students study e-c/c-e translation.3) table some angles of the function of culture in translation. for

26、 example, advertising, the name of people, place names, proverb, lang. and so on. 4) analyze every mistake we have found to prove the importance of culture in translation and ask translators to pay more attention to their knowledge about relative culture. and then we must solve the problems. (e-c/c-

27、e)5) with these aims in mind find the relative approach to solve the problems6) conclude the frequent translation mistakes and tell translators what their failing is.7) what should translators do in the process of translation?iii. problems and solutions of the research1. misunderstanding in cross-cu

28、ltural communicationin cross-cultural communication, translators always make mistakes, not only in grammar, pronunciation, words and expressions but also in culture. and culture factors always are the main reason in cross-cultural communication. and it can be divided into four forms: 1)social langua

29、ge is unbefitting;2)culture pattern is unacceptable;3)different attitudes conflict with each other;4)different expressions make them incomprehensibility;2. mistakes in intercultural translationthe western linguist, saussure made contribution to this theory. he put forward that linguistics had diachr

30、onic and synchronic. also, intercultural translation has diachronic and synchronic. it has huge cultural gaps between the east and the west. they have their own words and expressions to describe their ideas. here, there are two obvious mistakes:1) cultural dispositionhawkes, a professor in cambridge

31、, translated “amitabba(阿弥陀佛)” into god bless my son when he translated dream of the red chamber. the result will lead to culture in confusion.2) cultural default cultural default is defined as absence of relevant cultural background knowledge shared by the translators themselves and their intended r

32、eaders. here, i will give you some simple examples to explain it. for example:(1) she was ready to go, but first she wanted her book to be in print. 她准备走了，但要目睹她把本出版后才瞑目。if we dont translate “瞑目”，there will be loss in translation.(2) “阿驹，你现在是党老爷了，地面上的情形一点不熟悉，你这党老爷怎么干得下去呀！”子夜 but now: you are a party

33、manone of the elite! if you are going to do your job properly, you must get to know about local conditionsif we dont give the words underline contextual amplification, the target readers cannot know the version.3. problems in this thesis, i will put the stress on several parts: the relationship betw

34、een culture and translation, expatiate on the importance and necessity of culture in translation on some angles, the relationship between culture and translation, and the reason why we pay more attention to the importance of culture when students study e-c/c-e translation. the writer will table some

35、 angles of the function of culture in translation. for example, advertising, the name of people, place name, proverb, politics and so on, and then analyze every mistake we have found to prove the importance of culture in translation and ask translators to pay more attention to their knowledge about

36、relative culture. with these aims in mind we manage to find the relative approach to solve the problems.4. solutionsthe famous translator eugene nida said, in any translation there will be a type of loss of semantic content, but the process should be so designed as to keep this to a minimum. in the

37、development on the research, many translators omit their mistakes. here, we will find out their mistakes, analyze them and share the methods from idiographic examples to solve the problems.iv. the translators mistakes and relevant explanation1. the translators mistakes in everyday life1) in e-c tran

38、slation, chinese translators always translate sauna, poseidon, and pandoras box and so on directly. these words represent the local culture strongly, and the chinese readers can not make clear of them. however, if we translate them like this, maybe it will be better like this: sauna (桑拿浴，芬兰式的一种蒸气浴)；

39、poseidon (波塞冬，希腊神话中的海神)；pandoras box (潘朵拉盒子，希腊神话中的故事).we have different attitude towards dog. in the west, “dog” means loyalty, braveness, wisdom. for example: a lucky dog (幸运儿); every dog has his own day, (人皆有走运的时候). in chinese the expression “old dog” is cursive, however in the west old dog means

40、a person who is admirable, old or experienced.2）in c-e translation, the translators also adopt the same way in order to make the westerners understand the culture in china. because of cultural background, we chinese people admire dragon and sing high praise for dragon. because dragon in china stands

41、 for symbolized auspicious luck. for example, “望子成龙” (long to see ones son become a dragon), “龙腾虎跃” (dragon rising and tiger leaping). however in the western countries dragon means “evil”, which should be wiped out. other examples are: “气功”(qigong, a system of deep breathing exercise )；“太极拳”(taijiqu

42、an, a kind of traditional chinese shadow boxing )；“清明”(chingming, a traditional chinese holiday to commemorate the dead observed in late spring).obviously, we are familiar with these words, and in our daily life, we know their meanings when we see them. however, if the translators do not explain it，

43、i believe we cannot use these words freely. similarly, if the translators translate these words directly and disregard the local culture, we will call this phenomenon default. and, the version must not be a good version, because the readers can not understand the meaning of the source text. from the

44、 examples above, we can call them transliteration and literal annotation. the translators should adopt this way and introduce the original culture to readers, and make them understand the primary articles, and supply the loss from literal translation.3) geographically, the british live on the island

45、, so fishing and sailing play an important role in their daily life; we chinese people live on the land and depend on agriculture. so, sometimes we do not understand their living completely. now lets compare the two following translators:jenny is late because she has other fish to dry.詹尼晚了, 因为她有急事要做

46、。詹尼晚了，因为她要晒鱼(?)so in order to reach dynamic equivalent we must pay much attention to different culture. finally how should we deal with cultural differences in translating process? there are many equivalent idioms, proverbs, however, because of the national identity, they are expressed differently.

47、then we can replace one idiom with another idiom some times.2. the translators mistakes in literaturein literature, there are also many mistakes in translation. the typical example is when the translators translate dream of the red chamber. for example, 1) david hawkes, a professor in cambridge, tra

48、nslated “amitabba(阿弥陀佛)” into god bless my soul. lets compare the example from the story of stone translated by him, and the dream of red mansion translated by yang xian yi and gladys yang.(1) 周瑞家的听了笑道：“阿弥陀佛，真是坑死人的事。”hawkes version: “god bless my soul”, zhou ruis wife exclaimed “you would certainly

49、need some patience”.yangs version: “gracious buddha!” mrs. zhou chuckled, how terribly chancy.(2) 盛筳必散david version: even the best party must have an end.yangs version: even the grandest feast must have an end. in the example 1,“阿弥陀佛” (gracious buddha)embodies the chinese culture, while in david haw

50、kes version, “god bless my soul” expresses the christian civilization. similarly the chinese character in example 2 “盛筳” is translated by yang as feast meaning delicious food which coincides with chinese tradition food culture, while in davids version he uses “party”, stressing the entertainments of

51、 joys.2) let us see another example about david hawkes translation. 那柳湘莲原系世家子弟素性爽侠，不拘细事，酷好耍枪舞剑，赌博吃酒，以致眠花卧柳，吹笛弹筝，所无不为。liu xiang-lian was a young man of excellent family . he was of a dashing, impulsive nature, impatient of niceties. his chief pleasures were exercising with spear or saber, drinking an

52、d gambling, but he was not averse to gentler pastimes: he frequented the budding groves and could play on both the flute and zither.“眠花卧柳” is a euphemism for“狎妓” in han dynasty. if it was translated frequent the budding groves directly. the translators will make mistakes.3) in other aspect, take the

53、 analects of confucius for example:子曰：为政以德，譬如北辰居其所而众星共之confucius said “he who rules his state on a moral basis (would be supported by the people just as) the polar star is encircled by all the other stars”. in this version “would be supported by all the people just as” is added to make the translati

54、on lucid and expressive.to sum up, cultural factor plays such an important role in translation. any translator must handle it carefully. lets take another example:4) henry hart, a translator of california university in america, translate the poem西厢记 of lin hejing 沧州白鸟飞，山影落清晖 to: on tsang chous high

55、mountains the shadows fall;the birds wing their way to rest.here, “沧州”not a place name, but means a place of reclusion. for example, when zhuxi was dismissed, he changed his habitation “龙舌州”into “沧州”. that is, transliterating this special word is overloaded translation. we can say that if the transl

56、ator knows the background of the culture, he / she wont make mistakes like this. 3the translators mistakes in proverbsit is ubiquitous that it has many mistakes in the translation of proverbs. here, lets see some typical examples:1)三个臭皮匠顶个诸葛亮true version: two heads are better than one.false version:

57、 three cobblers with their wits combined equal zhuge liang the master mindthe wisdom of the masses exceeds that of the wisest individual.apparently, the former is simple and easy-understanding. 2)不必杞人忧天true version: it is an unnecessary anxiety.false version: you cant like the man of qi who was haunted by the fear that the sky might fallentertain imaginary or groundless fear.it is not too hard to find which translation is better.