中英文化差异在商务英语翻译中的体现

1、.题 目：论中英文化差异在商务英语翻译中的体现Title: Reflection of Cultural Differences between China and England in Business English TranslationAbstractIIIIntroduction11. Cutural Differences in Business Translation31.1 Culture Differences31.1.1 Definition of Culture31.1.2 Understanding of Cultural Difference51.2 Cultural

2、 Differences Representation in Business Translation61.2.1 Different Understanding of the Same Animal51.2.2 Different Understanding of the Same Color51.2.3 Different Understanding of the Same Number52. Causes of Cultural Differences between English and Chinese152.1 Different Religious Beliefs Between

3、 English and Chinese152.1.1 Culture Influenced by Confucianism in Chinese32.1.2 Culture Influenced by Christianity in English52.2 Different Modes of Thingking between English and Chinese162.3 Different Geographical Location between English and Chinese172.4 Different Values between English and Chines

4、e63. Influences of Cultural Differences on Business Translation193.1 Representation of Influences of Cultural Differences in Business Translation193.1.1 Representation in the Trademark Translation193.1.2 Representation in the Denomination Translation203.1.3 Representation in the Advertising Design T

5、ranslation203.2 Strengthening Cultural Sense in Business Traslation203.2.1 Enhancing Intercultural Communication and Business English Translation193.2.2 Exploring Unequal Information Caused by Cultural Differences194. Conclusion23Works Cited24论中英文化差异在商务英语翻译中的体现摘要：国际商务英语是人们从事国际商务活动时经常使用的英语。它是以国际商务为语言

6、背景的应用性英语学科。不同的民族有着不同的宗教信仰，地理位置，思维方式和价值观念，因此，从事国际商务英语翻译的人员必须掌握本国与异国的民族文化差异。本文侧重分析文化差异在商务英语翻译中的表现。首先从对宗教信仰，思维方式，地理位置及价值观念的不同所导致的文化差异分析入手，然后从动物，色彩，数字三个方面深入探究，从而阐述了文化差异在商务翻译中的具体体现,进而探索了文化差异对商务翻译的影响。 关键词：文化，文化差异， 商务翻译， 文化意识Reflection of Cultural Differences between China and England in Business English T

7、ranslation Abstract: International business English is a common language used in engagement in international business activities for the translators. It serves as an applicable English discipline, which takes international business as language background. Different nations have different religious b

8、eliefs, thinking modes, geographical location and cultural values. Whereupon, the translators engaged in business English should master the cultural differences between native countries and foreign countries. This paper mainly analyzes the embodiment of cultural differences in the international Busi

9、ness English translation. This paper firstly starts with cultural differences between English and Chinese resulting from the different religious beliefs, modes of thinking, geographical location and values, then elaborates the reflection of cultural differences in the international Business English

10、translation from the three aspects (animals, colors, and numbers). Finally it discusses about the influences of cultural differences on business translation.Key Words: culture, culture difference, cultural sense, business translation .IntroductionWhen the human being emerged in the ancient time, cul

11、ture also emerged. At the same time, since the historic development pace of the human being begun to be accelerated, there were a lot of scholars devoted to studying the concept of culture. the British anthropologist Taylor in his book Primitive culture(1992) mentioned: “culture or civilization, in

12、terms of its comprehensive national meaning, is a certain complex integration including knowledge, belief, art, moral, law, customs as well as the other abilities and habits acquired as a social member.” On the analysis of culture definition, Claire (2001) believed that sociologists and anthropologi

13、sts have a definition in common that culture is the achievements shared by human group or society, which not only include value, language and knowledge, but also do the object of material.With the globalization of the world economy, the communication and exchanges among countries have been encourage

14、d and strengthened. Therefore, more frequent intercultural communication has been widespread. However, lack of correct and abundant mastering of cultural differences will hinder from good understanding of business English. For people engaged in business translation, they must have a good command of

15、knowledge of cultural differences to accomplish effective and successful business translation. This paper focuses on analyzing the cultural differences between English and Chinese reflected mainly in business translation, which can be presented by such concrete differences in the understanding of an

16、imals, colors and numbers. After that, the author tries to come up with some specific factors, which result in cultural differences between Chinese and English. Only when we have an adequate understanding and a good command of the cultural differences between English and Chinese can we achieve an ef

17、fective and successful business translation. Last but not least, the author makes a brief discussion on the concrete presentation of influences of cultural differences in business translation. So the paper is divided into five parts: Part one is the introduction of the paper. Part two mainly discuss

18、es such attributes as different religious beliefs, thinking modes, geographical location and cultural values. Part three mainly analyzes the culture differences representation in business translation. It involves different understanding of colors, animals and numbers between Chinese and English. Par

19、t four points out the influences of cultural differences in business translation. It will be explored at such specific aspects as trademark, denomination and advertising design translation. Finally, the author appeals to the translators for the necessity they should strengthen cultural sense in busi

20、ness translation. Part five is the conclusion of the paper.1. Cultural Differences in Business TranslationFrom the ancient times till now, cultural differences between China and the West have already been acknowledged by many people. In the second chapter, embarking on the definition of culture and

21、cultural differences, I will mainly discuss about cultural differences reflected between Chinese and English, which involve different understanding of colors, animals, and numbers as follows.1.1 Culture DifferencesIn the next chapter, I will analyze the definition of culture to make for the understa

22、nding of culture and cultural differences, paving the way for the next chapters.1.1.1 Definition of CultureWhen the human being emerged in the ancient time, culture also emerged. At the same time, since the historic development pace of the human being begun to be accelerated, there were a lot of sch

23、olars devoted to studying the concept of culture. Previous researches were concluded on what culture means(梁启超, 1922), all of which came to a common conclusion that: Culture is the sum total of unique beliefs, customs, systems, objectives and technology that a certain society form possesses.With reg

24、ard to the definition of the culture, it is a demanding problem, which is reflected at the aspects of the various opinions about it and its colorful content. As a result, as for the definition of the culture in cultural study, it is its clarification and analysis that is greatly indispensable. We sh

25、ould not neglect the phenomenon of the definition of culture formed by the problem of it. The phenomenon of cultural definition is manifested on many opinions of it. At present, the acknowledged opinion from the academic field is that the British anthropologist, Taylor, who is called “the Father of

26、Anthropology”, is the first one to have the possession of great influence on defining culture. He produced a certain classical definition of the culture. On the chapter about the Science of Culture in his book Primitive culture(Taylor, 1992) he mentioned: “culture or civilization, in terms of its co

27、mprehensive national meaning, is a certain complex integration including knowledge, belief, art, moral, law, customs as well as the other abilities and habits acquired as a social member.” Apparently, the definition conveys the explanation that culture is the total of human creation in the process o

28、f social development, which includes material technology, social rules and the spirit of ideas. From then on, the definition of culture given by Taylor has become the origin of the phenomenon of culture definition. In addition, later generations have approval and disapproval of it; at the same time,

29、 some new ideas have been put forward. As for what the culture means, up till now, there have been more than 200 kinds of definitions. Undoubtedly, culture definition itself has become a certain interesting academic phenomenon under frequent debate. Besides, on the phenomenon of culture definition,

30、there exists some kind of typical condition which is the different definition of culture among all the disciplines. For example, with regard to the definitions of culture made by anthropologists, the American anthropologist Clyde (1985) reached some conclusions in his book culture and individual (Cl

31、yde, 1985) (1) Culture can be understood by learning. (2) Culture derives from the sum of components such as biology, environment, psychology and history. (3) Culture has structure. (4) Culture can be divided into every aspect. (5) Culture is dynamic. (6) Culture can be changed. (7) Culture manifest

32、s the regularity and can be further analyzed by way of scientific methods. (8) Culture is the tool of adapting the individual to the entire environment and the means of expressing the creativity. He believed: “Anthropologist can compare the description of culture with the map.” However, it is clear

33、that map isnt a specific patch but the abstract description of particular areas. If map has been charted precisely, people will not get lost on watching it; on the contrary, if culture gets the correct description, people will recognize the existence of a certain kind of lifestyle with particular na

34、tures and get acquainted with the mutual relationship between them.At the aspect of the definition of culture, opinions from sociologists are by far most similar to those from anthropologists. On the analysis of culture definition, Claire (2001) believed that sociologists and anthropologists have a

35、definition in common that culture is the achievements shared by human group or society, which not only include value, language and knowledge, but also do the object of material.Besides, on the definition of culture, there is a certain phenomenon closely related to it. This phenomenon is when culture

36、 is being differentiated and classified various different opinions will be produced. In terms of the differentiation of culture, the most common pair is generalized culture and specialized culture, which is called macro-culture and micro-culture. At this point, the Japanese famous sociologist Fu Yon

37、gjian (2004) believed: as we classify society into society with broad sense and society with narrow sense, it is essential to divide culture into generalized culture and specialized culture. Generalized society is the category in opposition to nature; likewise, generalized culture is also used as th

38、e category opposite to nature. In this case, technology, economy, politics, law and religion etc can be considered as the content in the field of culture. That is to say, generalized culture is equal to the meaning of generalized society. However, on the other side, specialized culture has content d

39、ifferent from the content of specialized society. The latter is the system of social relationship formed by continuous mutual relationship. Nevertheless, as we have discussed above, the former (specialized culture) is the system of symbol existing objectively, which develops from human action but is

40、 independent of it.1.1.2 Understanding of Cultural Difference In the broad sense, culture is the nature created by people. Generally speaking, everything affected by human race is culture. Culture is the national specific ideology and system of value, which constitutes the living and working activit

41、ies among people. It is because of specific history and areas that every nation all over the world has formed the specific cultural tradition and model of its own. As a result of the differences of traditional habits, values, religious beliefs, thinking styles etc, numerous differences have been man

42、ifested in the culture between the west and east. There are so many reasons contributing to the variety of world culture, some cultural influences are hard to expect, for example, an American merchant once gave a gift of a watch to his fellows daughter when she was holding a wedding celebration. Bec

43、ause he didnt know that the watch is not right gift in China. It is traditionally acknowledged in China that watch is associated with death. Subsequently, his rudeness results in the end of business relationship. 1.2 Cultural Differences Representation in Business Translation Some specific represent

44、ations of cultural differences will be reflected in the next passage including different understanding of the same animal, different understanding of the same color and different understanding of the same number.1.2.1 Different Understanding of the Same Animala. DragonThe Chinese nation has been pro

45、ud of its identity as the Chinese generations and the descendant of the dragon. However, in western myth legend, the dragon is not lucky animal but the horrible monster standing for the evil. In the British famous epic Beowulf, the vile dragon is taken as the representation of the sinister influence

46、. In the stories of Bible, the demon Satan is regarded as the great dragon. In addition, the word “dragon” in dictionary has another meaning of shrew. From what I have discussed above, associations generated among the English-speaking countries are completely different from those among the Chinese.

47、As far as translation is concerned, it is necessary to apply the principle of “dynamic equivalence” so as to find out the balance point in the process of understanding the different cultures. For instance, four highly developed economic countries and regions of Eastern Asia, especially for those of

48、Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea are entitled as “Four Asian Tigers” by the western. However, if it is translated into “Four Asian Dragons” in English, it is somehow inappropriate. One suggested that it should be translated into “Four Asian Tigers”, which is a better equivalence of cult

49、ure information. Because tiger is a species of intrepid animal in the western subconsciousness, at least it will not make people think of it associated with a certain horrible animal. Or rather, the word “tiger” (Hornby, 1993) is paraphrased as “A nickname for any one of the more successful smaller

50、economies of East Asia, esp. those of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea.” ( 任何一个在经济上较为成功的东亚小国或地区，尤其指香港，新加坡，台湾和韩国） Therefore, it is certain that the translation of the Chinese phrase “亚洲四小龙” into “Four Asian Tigers” has basically achieved equivalence in culture information.b. SheepThe cas

51、hmere products from our country have been maintaining great prestige in international market. However, a factory in the north of China once exported a certain slap-up cashmere quilt with Chinese brand of “ 好羊”, which was directly translated into “Goats”, at last, it had drastically terrible selling.

52、 What caused this lies in the fact that in addition to its original Chinese meaning “ 山羊” , the word “ goat ”has another connotation of “lovelace”. Consequently, with such an English trademark, no matter how good the quality of this cashmere quilt is and how comfortable it is to use, those young gir

53、ls as well as housewife will never be willing to put it over the bed.c. ElephantAlthough it is plausible in semantic information that our Chinese famous battery with Chinese brand “白象” is translated into English brand “ White Elephant”, in terms of culture information, this is ambiguous translation

54、because the meaning of white elephant in the western countries refers to “things without use even needing cumbersome dealing”. This connotation originates from a legend story: once upon a time, there was a king, who took aversion to a minister subjected to him. To punish the minister, the king gave

55、a present of one white elephant; subsequently, the minister found that this elephant was very troublesome; nevertheless, it was just because of the gift from his king that he did not dare to transfer it to another person and even butcher it; instead, he had to attend on it carefully. Eventually, as

56、the elephant had an exceedingly strong appetite, the minister had been thrown into a poor situation by feeding on the elephant. In conclusion, the English-speaking natives will never be allowing themselves to buy the battery with English trademark “White Elephant”, for the consumers are reluctant to

57、 buy “things without use even needing cumbersome dealing”. Then, what should the trademark be translated into according to the principle of dynamic equivalence? We should consider choosing an animal “lion” representing might and power to displace the original improper translation in the way that the

58、 final translation is “Brown Lion”. Imaging that the battery bought is so much powerful, the customers must be very satisfying. From the specific examples above, we can arrive at a conclusion that the equivalence of literary meaning in the practice of translating has already failed to meet the need of daily communication; therefore, dynamic equivalence can guarantee the success of communication message.Some translators are afraid to encounter the phenomenon of cultural differences in translation. Therefore, the co