TheCulturalTransmissionIssueofChineseIdiomsTranslation 英语本科毕业论文

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1、Contents. The Introduction .11.1LanguageandCulture .11.2 TheRelationbetweenTranslationandCulture.1. Literature Review 32.1 Nidas Concept of Functional Equivalence.32.2 Nidas View on Translation and Culture.32.3 Susan Bassnetts View on Culture Translation.42.4 Other Views on Culture-related Translati

2、on.4.DifferencesbetweenChineseandWesternCulturesReflectedintheLanguages7 3.1HistoricalCulturalDifference.73.2 DifferentGeographicalandRegionalEnvironments.73.3 DifferentModesofThinking.8 . Several methods of Chinese idiom translation.94.1 Metaphrase.94.1.1 Literal Translation .94.1.2 Replacement.104

3、.2 Paraphrase.134.2.1 Negation.134.2.2 Substitution.144.2.2.1 Substitute abstract concept for concrete images.154.2.2.2 Substitute concrete images for abstract concept.154.2.3 Additional remarks & Note.174.2.3.1 Additional remarks.174.2.3.2 Note184.2.4 Omission.19.Conclusion.21Bibliography.23Acknowl

4、edgements.25Appendix (Translation).261 Introduction1.1LanguageandCulture Languageisthecarrierofcultureandpartoftheculture.Becauselanguagescanreflectanationsculture,languagesymbolsprovidesarichexpressionmeansforanation.Languagehasbeenkeepingsynchronousdevelopmentwithculturethroughoutthewholeprocessof

5、humanculturescomingintobeingandtheirsubsequentdevelopment.“Somescientistsconsideritthekeystoneofculture.Withoutlanguage,theymaintain,culturewouldbeimpossible.”(DengYanchangandLiuRunqing,1989:3.) Languages,ineverynation,canembodyandreflectpeoplesdifferentmodesofthinking,values,socialawareness,religio

6、usbeliefs,habitsandcustoms.“Languageistheprimarymeansbywhichaculturetransmitsitsbeliefs,values,andnorms.Itgivespeopleameansofinteractingwithothermembersofthecultureandameansofthinking.”(DaiWeidong,1989:158)Itisexplicitthatcultureandlanguageareinseparablefromeachother,andinfact,cultureincludeslanguag

7、easasubsystem,asawidersystem.Itcanbesummarizedthatlanguagecariesculture,mirrorsculture,spreadscultureandhelpsdevelopculture. Ontheotherside,languageisdeeplyinfluencedandshapedbyculture,steamingfromculture.Language,asasymbolsystem,expressestracesofaparticularsocietyandreflectsuniqueculturalheritage.J

8、ohnLyons,anEnglishlinguist,pointedthat,“languageisapartofculture.Differencesonthelanguageusagewillexposethefeaturesofthesocialcultureintermsofthesubstances,customsandotheractivities.”(Lyons,1977:30).Therefore,itcanbesaidthattheprocessoflearningatargetlanguageisaprocessoflearningaboutthetargetculture

9、.1.2TheRelationbetweenTranslationandCultureTranslationmakesitpossibletocommunicatebetweendifferentcultures.However,translationhasitslimitationstoanextent.Manyofthefunctionsandconnotationsoflanguagecannotbe“translated”atallliterally,buthavetoresorttoanalysisandexplanationtomakeoutthehiddenimplication

10、sthattheycontain.Inotherwords,itisnecessarytosetupakindofaccordingculturalcontextbasedonasufficientandthoroughunderstandingofcultureofthetargetlanguage.Translationdoesnotmerelydealwiththeexchangeofliteralmeaning,butalsotransferringtheculturalcommunicationofthelanguagefamiliesanddifferentinformation.

11、Soitisnotmerelyanactoftransferencebetweenlanguages,butitisamatterofspiritcommunicationcloselyrelatedtoeveryaspectofthesubjectiveworld.Tosomeextent,thetranslationactsaretheresponse,communication,perception,understandingandinteractingbetweenthehumanbeingandthephysicalworld.Undoubtedly,therelationofcul

12、tureandtranslationischaracterizedbytheirindivisibility.Inthelasttwentyyears,ithasbeenuniversallyacknowledgedthatliterarytranslationisnotmerelytransformationoflanguagesignals,buttransformationofculture,sincetranslationhasacloseinteractiverelationshipwithculture.Translationhasbeenreplacedby“intercultu

13、ralcommunication”(ChristianceNord,1991),“interculturalcooperation”(HolzManttari,1984:17),“acculturation”(AndreLefevere,1992),or“tranculturation”(R.D.Shaw,1988).Therefore,thetranslatorsshouldtrytoreducethedifficultiescausedbyculturaldifferenceandtodevelopculturalexchangesbetweendifferentnationalities

14、.Thetranslatorneedstohaveathoroughunderstandingoftheoperationtargetthelanguage.Withoutbeingfullyawareofthenatureoflanguage,itisimpossibletodiscussculturefromtheviewpointoftranslation.Nowadays,ininternationalcommunicationandinformationexchange,translationasacross-cultureeventbecomesmoreandmoreimporta

15、ntindealingwiththeproblemofculturaltransmission.Sotranslatorsnecessarilyputmoreemphasistoculturaldifferencesincross-culturaltransferintranslation.2 Literature Review 2.1 Nidas Concept of Functional EquivalenceAccording to Nida, translation should be done in the spirit of “functional equivalence”. Th

16、en what is functional equivalence? It has two versions. The minimal, realistic definition is “ The readers of a translated text should be able to comprehend it to the point that they can conceive of how the original readers of the text must have understood and appreciated it.” (Nida, 2001:87 ), whil

17、e its maximal, ideal definition is “The readers of a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did”(ibid)In fact, the maximal definition is just ideal, and the minimal level is realistic.2.2 Nidas View on Translation and Cul

18、ture Language is part of a culture, so translating from one language into another cannot be done satisfactorily without adequate knowledge of the two cultures involved. In the research of translation, Nida has become aware of the great importance of cultural factors in translating. He believes that

19、the cultural factors in translating are more significant than the purely linguistic differences; the most serious mistakes in translating are usually not born of verbal inadequacy, but of wrong cultural assumptions. For example, SL idioms are often found to be lively in the SL culture, but hardly un

20、derstandable, if translated literally, because TL readers cultural background, which differs by varying degrees from that of SL readers, often becomes a misleading factor. Therefore, “for truly successful translating, biculturalism is even more important than bilingualism, since words only have mean

21、ings in terms of the cultures in which they function.”(Nida,2001:82) The translators or interpreters cannot understand the SL text enough to provide its exact meaning without careful consideration of its cultural background. Thats why most programs for the training of interpreters and translators re

22、quire that students spend at least half a year in the countries where the acquired languages are spoken. “Only by being in the countries in which a foreign language is spoken can one acquire the necessary sensitivity to the many special meanings of words and phrases.” 2.3 Susan Bassnetts view on Cul

23、tural Translation As a distinguished scholar in translation theory, Susan Bassnett also accents cultural functional equivalence. She maintains that when two cultures have some overlaps and there is no difficulty in understanding the directly transferred cultural images, literal translation is prefer

24、able, for it helps cultural construction in another culture. If it is not the case, some other skills are to be employed so as to aptly transfer the function of the original version into the target language from the perspective of readers response, so that functional equivalence can be procured. Bes

25、ides, she thinks that translation should be done with culture as its unit. Translation is not a simple process of decoding and recoding, but an act of communication, or that of cultural constructing. The different principles and criteria of translation in different periods of time are to satisfy the

26、 requirements of culture and of the different groups of people in a certain culture. She formally puts forward the concept of cultural translation for the first time, which marks that translation study has come into anew phase. 2.4 Other Views on Culture-related TranslationIn translation studies, ap

27、art from Nida and Susan Bassnett, a number of other scholars have also realized the importance of cultural implication in translation. They have presented their own ideas about this in their works. Larry A. Samovar holds that “translators must grapple not only with structural differences between lan

28、guages but also with cultural differences, which requires precision and the ability to convey the speakers or authors approach or attitude. More importantly, the translator needs to consider shared experiences.”(Samovar,2000:133)That is to say, the meanings of words are derived from shared experienc

29、es and the potential of a word to convey the semantic dimension pivots on the culturally informed perceptions of both original and target readers. When readers lack cultural equivalents, they lack the words in our vocabulary to represent those experiences. Besides, translations often occasion misund

30、erstanding or incomprehension because of cultural orientations, such as tenses, cases, moods and other language and culture features.14For example, the Chinese visualize the past as being in front of a person because it can be seen, and they visualize the future as being behind one because it cannot

31、 be seen. But, the Americans perceive time quite differently; they speak of the past as being behind them and the future ahead. f this discrepancy were not known or ignored on the part of the translator, translations about time would be incomprehensible.David Katan argues that “a basic presuppositio

32、n is that the organization of experience is not reality, but is a simplification and distortion that varies from culture to culture. Each culture acts as a frame within which external signs or reality are interpreted.”(Katan,1999:1) People understand their experiences in different ways and believe t

33、hat this way leads to the truth, so culture is actually the unique interpretation of people to certain experiences. Therefore, Katan frames culture and regards translators and interpreters as mediators Daniel Shaw, a Bible translation expert like Nida, has formulated his theory that is also applicab

34、le to general translations. What is special about his theory is that he approaches cross-cultural translation from an anthropological perspective. He believes that a translator should understand the reality from a nations world view. The more the experience of source culture and target culture over

35、laps, the more the target readers can understand the source information. The various types of cultures have been formed on the basis of their economy, and the modes of production really decide peoples cultural types and lifestyles. As to dealing with the cultural factors in translation, in his opini

36、on, translators should first understand the source culture and then the target culture, and finally build a bridge between the two cultures. The translated version should not be felt like a translation, but an original version, and at the same time it should faithfully transmit the original informat

37、ion. A translation process should be first to identify the meaning of source information, and then to transfer the original text meaning into the target culture by using various means of translation. Because Shaw mainly studies Bible translation, he advocates domestication in translation. In his the

38、ory, to let the readers understand the translation without a lot of difficulties is more important than to introduce foreign cultures to them. Under certain circumstances, this is true, but it is still up to the purpose of translation, the text type, the author intention and the readers academic att

39、ainments. 3 Differences between Chinese and Western Cultures Reflected in the Languages 3.1HistoricalCulturalDifference Thehistoricalculturaldifferencereferstothecultureformedbythespecialhistorydevelopmentprocessandthecultureaccumulatedbythesocialheritage.Everynationandcountrydevelopsdifferently,sot

40、hehistoricalculturedepositedfromthelonghistorydefinitelydiffersfromeachother.InbothChineseandEnglishlanguageshaveformedbythehistoricalliteraryidioms.Theseidioms,althoughsimpleinstructure,carryonfar-reachingsignificance,whicharehardtounderstandandtranslateonlyfromtheliteralmeaning. Everylanguagehasco

41、lorfulproverbs,idioms,theyareaccumulationsbythepeopleofallethnicgroupsinthelong-termuseoflanguage,possessingstrongindividualityandlocalcolor;itisalsothemostdifficultpartofthetranslation.Intranslatingidiomsandproverbs,itisamusttounderstandtheirimplicationsandconnotations.Itneedstranslatorstobeflexibl

42、etocombinetheliteraltranslationandfreetranslationskills. 3.2DifferentGeographicalandRegionalEnvironmentsDuetoregionalsegregationanddifferentlivingenvironment,differentnationalitieshavetheirownpeculiarculturesunderdifferentnaturalenvironment.Theculturalconnotationofwordsandthingsdiffersfromoneculture

43、toanother.Thedifferencesinlivingenvironmentfindtheirexpressionsinusingtheidiomsaswell.Idiomshavecloserelationwithpeopleslifeclosely.Britainisanislandcountryenclosedbythesea.TheEnglishpeoplemainlyengagedincommercialactivitiesveryearlyontheoceanandtheEnglishpeopleusuallyconnectedwhattheysawandthoughtw

44、iththeirexperiencesontheoceanandthusplentyoftheirproverbsandsayingsrelatedtothesea, where as China is a country with large land areas and the Chinese people involved mainly in agricultural activities from early times. When two languages refer to the same concept, they employ different expressions. T

45、he English describes that some one “spends money too recklessly” by “spend money like water” whereas the Chinese will say “挥金如土”. There is proverb in Chinese“前车之鉴 后事之师”，but in English, it is “Let anothers shipwreck by your seamark.”; the Chinese people use a proverb“未雨绸缪”(turn up the soil and fix th

46、e window before it rains) to express the meaning “making preparation beforehand in normal times”, while its English version is “while it is fine weather mend your sail”. From the above examples, it can be concluded that although the Chinese sayings and the English ones share the same figurative mean

47、ings, they arouse different associations in the two different cultures. Due to the different geographical environment, two people of different nationalities observe things; reflect the objective world not consistently. So it requires translators not to translate word for word by the dictionary expla

48、nation or translation.3.3DifferentModesofThinking With regard to modes of thinking, Western culture tends to dissect things into parts and analyze their relationships. On the other hand, Chinese people are likely to synthesize parts and examine the whole. Language inevitably reflects the mode of thi

49、nking of certain people.As for the core value, Western linearity is embodied in the priority given to developing individual potentialities, realizing individual objectives, and seeking individual interests; Chinese circularity is embodied in the importance attached to harmonizing community relations

50、hips, actualizing community objectives, and safeguarding community interests. The English words like “individualism”, “ambition” and “idealism” are commendatory terms while the Chinese ones like“个人主义”，“野心” “理想主义”a derogatory terms.4 Several methods of Chinese idiom translation 4.1 Metaphrase Metaphr

51、ase is a method that the image and the forms of the original text are preserved, which can be translated literally. The readers also can catch the implied meaning by the wording translation. Some Chinese idioms have similar images, which the foreign readers can associate to the equivalent English id

52、ioms.4.1.1 Literal Translation In idiom translation, there is a tendency to find English equivalent idioms, equivalent in referential meaning rather than in the images. The reason is that the target text must be idiomatically English. Therefore, literal translation of Chinese idioms is often conside

53、red non-idiomatic. As long as the translation conveys a vivid image and the referential meaning is not distorted, literal translation can introduce Chinese culture to the world. Literal translation is a way by which the rhetoric, national and regional characteristics are kept in the target language.

54、 In this way the meaning and the form of the source language are unchanged. Some Chinese idioms can be translated literally with the same vivid figurative result of the original ones, which can make the foreign readers associate to the equivalent English idioms.For example:对牛弹琴 To play the lute to a

55、 cow. The readers can associate it to the equivalent English idiom “to cast pearls before swine”.竭泽而渔 To drain a pond to catch all the fish (the equivalent idiom: To kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.)易如反掌 To be as easy as turning over ones hand (the equivalent one: As easy as falling off a l

56、og.)口蜜腹剑 To be honey-mouthed and dagger-hearted(the equivalent one: A Judas kiss)Though there are not equivalent English idioms, some Chinese idioms with the literal meanings can also be translated literally with the accurate images. Such as:井底之蛙 To be like a frog at the bottom of a well史无前例 To be w

57、ithout precedent in history七嘴八舌 With seven mouths and eight tongues4.1.2 Replacement Regarding Chinese idioms translation, what many translation books discussed mainly was the replacement technique. Sometimes, equivalent translations can be found, but mostly only similar ones. Usually the replacemen

58、t technique is necessary in the following situations. () Chinese idioms have same meanings and culture messages as those in the target language.There are many Chinese and English idioms, which have the same images as well as the expression forms.In Chinese, “浑水摸鱼” means “释义浑水：浑浊的水。指在浑浊的水中摸鱼。用法比喻趁混乱的

59、时机捞取不正当的利益，也作混水摸鱼。But the English idiom “to fish in troubled water” means “take advantage of troubled or uncertain condition for personal profit”. These two idioms are similar in both expression form and intrinsic meaning.The similar idioms are as follows: 赴汤蹈火 Go through fire and water随波逐流 To go wi

60、th the tide 知识就是力量 Knowledge is power.眼不见，心不烦 Out of sight, out of mind. 谋事在人，成事在天 Man proposes, god disposes空中楼阁 Castles in the air 充耳不闻 Turn a deaf ear to () Chinese idioms share similar meanings but different culture messages and images with the target language.The Chinese idioms, which have same or si