An Analysis of the Cultural Connotation in English and Chinese Idioms

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1、浅析中英习语的文化内涵An Analysis of the Cultural Connotation in English and Chinese IdiomsAbstract: Different people from different countries may have different understandings of the same sentence because of their different cultures. While the ultimate aim of English learning is to cultivate students competen

2、ce to apply English correctly, fluently, and appropriately in inter-cultural communication. Idioms, a part of language, are the essence of culture in every country and they embody the rich cultural features. If students dont understand the cultural connotation reflected in idioms they may have great

3、 difficulty in understanding and communicating with people from different countries. Therefore, it is necessary for language learners to make the study. This paper is divided into three parts. The first and second part shows people what idiom is, what culture is., as well as their relationship. The

4、principal part of this paper is the third part, which discusses the idioms reflecting the differences of Chinese and Western cultures in various levels with many lively, important, and interesting examples of idioms in hope of helping language learners lessen misunderstanding and improve the communi

5、cative competence in inter-cultural communication.Key words: idioms; culture; culture connotation 摘 要： 不同的人来自不同的国家，因为他们不同的文化，可能对同一个句子有不同的理解。然而，英语学习的最终目的是让学生能正确的，流利的，恰当的，在跨文化交际中运用英语。习语是语言的一部分，是各国文化的精髓，体现了丰富的文化特征。如果学生不理解习语所反映的文化内涵，他们可能很难和其他国家的人们正确交流。因此，英语学习者很有必要对习语进行研究。这篇文章分为三部分。第一和第二部分主要写了什么是习语，什么是文化

6、，以及它们之间的关系。第三部分是文章的主体部分，论述习语在文化的各个层次上所反映的中西文化差异，并采纳生动有趣的例子作为论据进行适当的分析，希望帮助语言学习者减少对习语的误解和提高跨文化交际的能力。关键词：习语；文化；文化内涵ContentsI. Introduction1II. Literature on the Studies of Idioms.2III. Idioms and Culture.3A. Definition of idioms.3B. Brief introduction of culture.4C. Language and culture.5IV. Comparati

7、ve Analysis of Cultural Implication of Chinese and English Idioms .6A. Differences in regions and geography .6B. Differences in convention and values.7C. Differences in historic allusion8D. Differences in religious belief10V. Conclusion 11Work cited .12第 12 页 共 12 页I. Introduction Idioms are an impo

8、rtant part of the language and culture of a society. Idioms are often hard to understand and even harder to use correctly. The proper use of idioms in a language is often a mark of a persons command of the language. English and Chinese idioms carved with cultural characteristics account for a great

9、part in communication. Generally speaking, idioms include colloquialism, proverb and slang. It is a group of words with a special meaning different from the meanings of its constituent words (Eugene 15). The abundance and variety of idioms in the English language may be to a great extent for by the

10、historical development of the language. Many idiomatic expressions come from the everyday life of people.Every language is laden with idioms. An idiom is a word or group of words that cannot be literally translated from the sources language into the receptors because an idiomatic meaning cannot be u

11、nderstood by literally defining its component part. Idioms are one of the important language elements. They are formed through longtime practice. They are not only the core and cream of a language but also an indivisible part of it. They usually have their unique national and local cultural connotat

12、ions which bear a deep national and local imprint that is unsubstantiated for. Besides, idioms are the symbolic representation of a people; and it comprises their historical and cultural background as well as their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking.English, as the most active an

13、d widely used language, enjoys a vast idiomatic, basis which makes its learning very exciting and interesting with about 4,000 idioms used in the daily communication (Li 1). Similarly, there are also so many idioms in Chinese language. However, because of cultural differences, there exist great diff

14、erences between English idioms and Chinese idioms. As language learners, they should develop their cultural awareness and have a clear understanding of the cultural differences between Chinese and English idioms in order to achieve success in intercultural communication.II. Literature Review on the

15、Studies of IdiomsIdioms are very useful for communication, e.g. Alexander 1984; Carter & McCarthy 1988; Cooper 1999; Irujo 1986b; Nippold 1991points that: As an integral part of vocabulary learning, idioms constitute one of the most difficult areas of foreign language learning. So both theoretical a

16、nd empirical foundations for study idiom have emerged (Peter 45). People began to study idioms in early times, after world warwestern linguistics conducted their research on idioms based on three approaches: Formal approaches, Function approaches, Psycholinguistic approaches. Three western linguists

17、 Bruce Fraser, Adam Makkai Rosamund moon conducted their research on idioms based on Formal approaches. Formal approaches are effective in describing or characterizing the structure, form and classes of idioms but generally fail to account for the range of lexical patterning. They often underplay th

18、e role of lexical patterning or the motivation underlying the development and usage of idioms (Wang 53). Besides, many scholars made their study from the perspective of Function approaches, and the most understanding ones are: J. strassler (1982), E. Lattey (1986), C. Cacciari & S. Glucksberg (1991,

19、 1993), J. R. Nattinger (1992). According to Function approaches, idiom use and comprehension is an integral part of everyday communication, and so it should not be surprising to find that it is also an integral part of discourse processing (Wang 62). Over the last few decades, psycholinguistic idio

20、m research has been dominated representation and comprehension. These are the Literal Processing Model (Bobrow Bell, 1973), the Simultaneous Processing Model (Swinney & Cutler, 1979), the Idiomatic processing model (Gibbs, 1980), the Configuration Model (Cacciari & Tabossi, 1988), the Idiom Decompos

21、ition Model (Gibbs & NaYak, 1989) and the Conceptual Metaphor Model(Gibbs, 1994)(Wang 74).Chinese scholars such as Xiang Guangzhong and Yang Getian have made a great amount of work on idioms ranging from the syntactic and semantic characteristics, origins, to their pragmatic values. Generally speaki

22、ng, their studies have been restricted only to one cultural background and linguistic description of the phenomenon. In Chinese language, one would naturally associate “idiom” with“成语”. In fact, they are not the exact equivalent of each other. Lets see dictionary definitions of the two terms at firs

23、t. “Chngy or Four-character idioms ( literally “to become part of the language”) are widely used in Classical Chinese, a literary form used in the Chinese written language from antiquity until 1919, and are still commonly used in Vernacular writing today. Classical Chinese can be compared to the way

24、 Latin was used in the Western world in science until recently. According to the most stringent definition, there are about 5,000 chengyu in Chinese, though some dictionaries list over 20,000. Chengyu are mostly derived from ancient literature. The meaning of a chengyu usually surpasses the sum of t

25、he meanings carried by the four characters, as chengyu are often intimately linked with the myth, story or historical fact from which they were derived. As such, chengyu do not follow the usual grammatical structure and syntax of the modern Chinese spoken language, and are instead highly compact and

26、 synthetic”(蒋 25). Websters Third New International Dictionary defines “idiom” as: Idiom is an expression established in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either in grammatical construction (as No, it wasnt Me.) or in having a meaning that cannot be derived as a whole from the conjo

27、ined meanings of its elements.To sum up, it can not be denied that those linguists mentioned above contributed greatly to the study of idioms and their writings will have a deep influence on the future scholars studies of this subject. Based on their findings, the author of this paper intends to exp

28、lore the different cultural connotation between Chinese and English idioms so as to help the communicators reduce pragmatic failures and achieve the goal of successful communication.III. Idioms and CultureA. Definition of idiomsIdioms are the important part of a language. As a language form, idioms

29、has its own characteristic and patterns and are used in high frequency whether in written language or oral language because idioms can convey a host of language and cultural information when people chat to each other.What do idioms mean? Different experts have different opinions and definitions to i

30、dioms. Some people consider idioms as quintessence of a language. Others regard them as treasury of a language. These statements in certain degree reflect the idioms characteristics, but cant be regarded as idioms definition.It is difficult to give a clear definition to idioms. First, people are oft

31、en confused with their scope, content and form. Second, experts have different opinions about how to divide idioms from narrow sense and general sense. What kind of language expression really belongs to idioms? All of these causes bring difficulty to define a idiom. Maybe owing to those causes, the

32、word “ idiom” even hasnt been collected in such authorities reference books as Modern Chinese Dictionary and Cihai(辞海). However, some English Dictionaries give “idiom” a verity of definitions. For example, Longman Active English-Chinese Dictionary (1990) defines an idiom as “a phrase which means som

33、ething different from the meanings of the separate words”. The concise Oxford Dictionary (2000) gives such a definition as “a group of words established by usage and having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words”. Longman Dictionary of contemporary English (1998) gives the defini

34、tive “a phrase which means something different from them meanings of the separate words from which it is formed”. And Websters New World Dictionary of the American language (2nd college edition, 1972) gives this definition “an accepted phrase, construction, or expression contrary to the patterns of

35、the language having a meaning different from the language or having a different from the literal”.According to different definition mentioned above idiom is a phrase or a group of words approved by people and has unique form. Its meaning is different from the literal. In general sense, the scope of

36、English and Chinese idioms includes, set phrase common sayings, proverbs, idiomatic phrases, slang, a two-part allegorical and allusion and so on.B. Brief introduction of cultureCulture (from the Latin culture stemming from colere, meaning “to cultivate”) generally refers to patterns of human activi

37、ty and the symbolic structures that give such activitys significance and importance. Different definitions of “culture” reflect different theoretical bases for understanding, or criteria for evaluating, human activity (Claire 10).There are many meanings of the word “culture”. Sometimes, people say t

38、hat people who know about music, act, and literature are cultured. However, for anthropologist, the word “culture” has a different meaning. To an anthropologist the word “culture” means all the ways that a group of people think, feel, act, and dress. The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English gi

39、ves such an explanation of culture: the customs, beliefs, art, music, and all the other products of human thought made by a particular group of people at a particular time.There is no standard definition of culture. Culture is the way of life of a particular society or group of people, including pat

40、terns of thought, beliefs, behavior, customs, traditions, rituals, dress, and language, as well as art, music, and literature (Websters New World Encyclopedia, 1992). Culture is a shared pattern of belief, feeling and adaptation, which people carry in their minds (Leighton & Hughes, 1961). Culture i

41、s an organized group of ideas, habits and conditioned responding shared by members of a society (Linton, 1956). Culture is a blueprint for living (Kluckholm, 1944) Based on the different definitions mentioned above, it could clearly be seen that culture is the way people live. It is the clothes peop

42、le wear, the foods people eat, the languages people speak, the stories people tell, and the ways people celebrate.C. Language and cultureIt is known that language is closely related to culture and can be said as a part of culture. From a dynamic view, language and culture interact with each other an

43、d shape each other. Language is the carrier of culture which in turn is the content of language. People can dig out cultural features from language and explain language phenomena with culture.Idioms as a special form of language exist in both of them and carry a large amount of cultural information

44、such as history, geography, and religion, custom, nationality psychology, thought pattern and etc, and therefore are closely related to culture. They are the heritage of history and product of cultural evolvement. Consequently, people can know much about culture through studying idioms and in turn g

45、et better understanding of idioms by learning the cultural background behind them.For Chinese students, English idioms are a stumbling block. It is very possible that they often not only feel at a loss in understanding conversations because of a key idiom but also misuse idiomIV. Comparative Analysi

46、s of Cultural Implication of Chinese and English IdiomsAs is mentioned above, language is a vehicle of the culture, and it cannot exist without culture its component. Idioms are language structures of stability both in structure and meaning. Rich cultural connotation underlies some idioms, which rev

47、eals their national characteristics. English and Chinese cultures are totally different. Their origins and development are not the same. Chinese has a close relation with the Chinese culture. Many Chinese idioms can be translated when the Chinese culture expressed by them are uncovered. However, Eng

48、lish idioms are bound up with British and American cultures.A. Differences in regions and geographyRegional culture refers to the culture formed by the different region, living environment, and living condition. Therefore, regional differences have effect on the expression ways of English and Chines

49、e idiomsBritain is an island country, which does not share land border with any other countries except the Republic of Ireland. In history, its navigation industry has ever been the first one for a long time. So, British people have a special passion for water. In English language there are many idi

50、oms about sea and water, for example, “as close as an oyster”(守口如瓶), “cast an anchor to windward”(未雨绸缪), “at sea”(茫然), “to keep ones head above water”(奋力图存) “to take the wind out of somebodys sail”(先发制人) , “tower ones sail”( 甘拜下风 ) , “in full sail”(全力以赴) , “sail under false colors”(欺世盗名) , “half sea

51、 over”(酒喝得太多), “fish begins to stink at the head”(上梁不正下梁歪) , “never offer to teach fish to swim” (不要班门弄斧) , “dull fish”(枯燥无味的人), “plain sailing” (一帆风顺) , “to trim ones sail to the wind” (见风使舵), “to be in the same boat” (同舟共济), “to burn ones boat” (破釜沉舟), “a big fish in a little pond”(山中无老虎，猴子称霸王).On

52、 the other hand, China is a nation of agriculture so Chinese people value the land highly. For example, the Han People who belonged to an agrarian society placed agricultural production at the top of the national agenda, regarding industry and commerce as the non-essentials. During the long history

53、of farming, the Chinese language has accumulated large numbers of farmers idioms, like 二人同心，黄土变金 (When two people are of the same mind, even clay may be changed into gold) ，上无片瓦，下无寸土 (as poor as a church mouse) ，人不亏地，地不亏人(The masters footsteps fatten the soil) ，瓜熟蒂落 (Things will be easily settled wh

54、en conditions are ripe) ，瑞雪兆丰年 (a timely snow promises a good harvest) ，五谷丰登 (abundant harvest of all food crops), 种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆 ( as a man sows, so shall he reap ) ，四体不勤，五谷不分 (can neither do physical work nor distinguish rice from wheat).Take the other instance, owing to mild and moisture weather in so

55、uthern china, bamboo is a familiar plant for people there, so the idiom 雨后春笋 is used to describe the new things cropping up in great numbers. Correspondingly, in English language, there is the idiom “spring up like mushrooms” to tell the same meaning, since in England mushroom in spring can be seen

56、everywhere. Besides the different idioms expressing the same notion in the two languages, there are a lot of idioms related to water in English and earth in Chinese which have no corresponding counterpart in the other language, like the English idioms “to rest on ones oars”, “to keep ones head above

57、 water” and etc.B. Differences in Convention and valuesDifferent idioms originate from different customs and reflect them. Folk custom, long-established by human being, is a general term of habits, etiquette, convention and belief and a fixed cultural pattern approved by people. There are numerous E

58、nglish and Chinese idioms about customs. However, owing to the custom difference, although the British people and Chinese people describe the same thing, there is quite a complete difference. For example , the Chinese often say “红白喜事”（red and white affairs）. They hold that weddings are red (happy) a

59、ffairs while funerals are white (sad) events. “Red” was derived from Han peoples traditional marriage customs. When holding wedding ceremony, the bride wears in red and is carried in a red sedan, lighting red candles in every houseroom, pasting up red paintings, eating red eggs. “Red” is the symbol

60、of happiness and jubilation. “White” originated from the tradition custom that in funeral ceremony, the relatives are dressed in white and with burlap over their shoulders in mourning for deceased people. However, the marriage and funeral custom in western countries is totally different from that of

61、 the Han people. In western countries, the bride wears white garment when holding wedding ceremony, because they think that white stands for pure and honest. So “正式婚礼” in English is “white wedding” , among which white is entirely contrary to red in China.A Language is not only the means by which peo

62、ple exchange their views to each other, but also the medium which human beings reflect the subjective thoughts towards the objective world. The same object has different, even completely contrary meaning between English culture and Chinese culture. For example, dragon in Chinese culture is the symbo

63、l of authority, regarded as a mascot. The word “dragon” is a commendatory term. From the following idioms, people can understand fully “望子成龙”（long to see ones son become dragon - long to see ones son succeed in life）“龙驹凤雏” （dragon colt or young phoenix - a brilliant young man）. On the contrary, drag

64、on in English culture is the symbol of evil, often regarded as a fierce and brutal beast. The slang “chase the dragon” refers to the drug addicts. Another example may make this point more clear. It is known that “dog” is usually the symbol of base and sordid men in Chinese culture. Thus “dog” is a d

65、erogatory term in Chinese mind. People often say狗仗人势（like a dog threatening people on the strength of its master power）, 狗嘴里吐不出象牙（no ivory issues from the mouth of a dog）. However, in English culture, the dog is the guard of a house and the helpful friend of men. In the western countries of mediaeval age, dog was often the symbol of loyalty to feudal lord an