本科毕业设计英语习语汉译过程中的文化不可译性.docx

本科毕业设计英语习语汉译过程中的文化不可译性.docx

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本科毕业设计英语习语汉译过程中的文化不可译性

Abstract

Alongwiththedevelopmentandmaturityoftheoriesontranslation,agrowinginterestamongtranslatorshasemergedtoexploretheuntranslatabilityintranslation.Translatorsgraduallybegintoexplorethetranslationlimitationsfromtheaspectsofthelanguageitselfanddifferentculturalorigins.Thetranslationofidiomshasalsobeenoneoftheresearchinterestsinstudiesoftranslation.SomecoloridiomsfromOxfordDictionaryofCurrentIdiomaticEnglisharecollectedandanalyzedindetailtoexploretheuntranslatabilityandthereasonsthatcauseuntranslatabilitybasedonCatford’stranslationtheory.ThepresentstudyanalyzestheculturaluntranslatabilityandthereasonsthatcauseculturaluntranslatabilityinEnglishtoChinesecoloridiomstranslation.ItishopedthatthisstudywillbenefittranslatorswhostudyandtranslateEnglishidiomsandgiveinspirationstothem.

KeyWords:

coloridiom；Catford’stranslationtheory；untranslatability；culturaluntranslatability

摘要

随着翻译理论的不断发展和成熟，可译性和不可译性问题日渐受到翻译学家的关注。

翻译学者们逐渐开始从语言本身和不同国家的文化渊源对翻译的可译程度进行探讨。

对习语的翻译研究也是热点研究之一。

本文收集了《牛津当代英语习语字典》若干条颜色习语，运用卡特福德的翻译理论，对不可译性和产生不可译性的原因进行研究。

本文分析了颜色习语中的文化不可译性，描述了颜色习语的文化不可译性产生的原因。

希望本文的研究结果能为译者在翻译英语习语过程中提供帮助并希望对译者有所启发。

关键词：

颜色习语；卡特福德的翻译理论；不可译性；文化不可译性

Contents

Abstracti

摘要ii

1.Introduction1

1.1Aimandobjectives1

1.2Researchmethodanddatacollection1

1.3Organizationofthedissertation1

2.LiteratureReview3

2.1PreviousresearchonEnglishidioms3

2.1.1PreviousresearchonEnglishidiomsinforeigncountries3

2.1.2PreviousresearchonEnglishidiomsinChina3

2.2Previousresearchontranslation3

2.2.1Previousresearchontranslationinforeigncountries3

2.2.2PreviousresearchontranslationinChina4

2.3Basictheory4

2.4Previousresearchonculturaluntranslatability5

2.4.1Previousresearchonuntranslatability5

2.4.2Previousresearchonculturaluntranslatability6

3.DefinitionofIdiomandUntranslatability7

3.1ThedefinitionofEnglishidioms7

3.1.1ThedefinitionfromEnglishdictionary7

3.1.2Thedefinitionfromexpertsandscholars7

3.2Thedefinitionofuntranslatability7

4.AnExampleStudyontheUntranslatabilityofEnglish-ChineseColorIdiomsTranslation9

4.1Whiteandidioms9

4.2Blackandidioms10

4.3Blueandidioms11

4.4Greenandidioms11

4.5Redandidioms12

4.6Othercolorsandidioms13

5.Conclusion15

5.1Asummarizingoverview15

5.2Limitationsandsuggestions15

References16

Acknowledgments18

1.Introduction

1.1Aimandobjectives

TherearelotsofidiomsinEnglish.IdiomsaretheeliteofEnglishvocabulary.Anidiomisafixedandspecialmeansofexpressionintheprocessofusinglanguage.ThecoloridiomsareoneofthemajorconsistingelementsofEnglishidiomsandthereflectionofobjectivethings.Colorsintheuseofidiomshadmadeagreatcontributiontolanguageexpression.Butowingtothedifferencesofvariouscountries’languageandculture,thereisnoabsoluteequivalenceincoloridiomstranslation,orevenintranslation.Untranslatabilityisinevitableintranslation.Varioustranslationtheoriestrytofigureoutthebestwaytoreachtranslationequivalence.Forexample,oneisNida’s（2001）theoryofdynamicequivalence.TheotheroneisCatford’s（1965）equivalencetheory.AccordingtoCatford（1965:

21）,“acentraltaskoftranslationtheoryisthatofdefiningthenatureandconditionsoftranslationequivalence”.Withequivalenceasthecentergoal,translatorsaresupposedtofollowtheoriginaltextascloselyaspossible,andthereisnoplacefortranslators’subjectivityintranslation.However,becauseofdifferentgeographicalconditionsanddifferentlevelofcivilization,untranslatabilityhasoccurredinthetranslation.Duetothisreason,theauthorinsiststhattheresearchonuntranslatabilityofEnglishcoloridiomsisworthwhileandvaluable.

ThepresentstudyattemptstopresenttheuntranslatabilityinEnglishtoChineseidiomstranslation,byapplyingCatford’stranslationtheorytoexploretheuntranslatabilityandthereasonsthatcauseuntranslatability.

Thedissertationisprimarilyconcernedwiththefollowingtworesearchquestions:

（1）HowmanyfactorsmaycauseculturaluntranslatabilityinEnglishtoChineseidiomstranslation?

（2）WhatarethesefactorsthatcauseculturaluntranslatabilityinEnglishtoChineseidiomstranslation?

ItishopedthatthisstudywillbenefitEnglishlearnerswhostudyEnglishidioms.

1.2Researchmethodanddatacollection

ThepresentstudyfollowsGrotjahn’s（1987）exploratory-interpretiveparadigm,whichemploysanon-experimentalmethod,yieldsqualitativedata,andprovidesaninterpretiveanalysisofthatdata.

SomecoloridiomsarecollectedfromOxfordDictionaryofCurrentIdiomaticEnglish（1998）writtenbyCowie,A.P.

1.3Organizationofthedissertation

Thisthesisconsistsoffivechapters.Thefirstchapterillustratestheaimsandobjectivesofthedissertation,researchmethodanddatacollection,andgeneralintroductionoftheresearch.ChapterTwocontainsinformationaboutthepreviousstudyontheEnglishidioms,thetranslationandtheuntranslatabilitybothathomeandabroad.ChapterThreerelatestothetheoriesonEnglishidiomstranslationanduntranslatability.ChapterFourisanexamplestudyontheuntranslatabilityofEnglish-Chinesecoloridiomstranslation.ChapterFiveservesastheconclusionofthisstudy.

2.LiteratureReview

ThischapterfirstdiscussesthepreviousstudiesontheEnglishidiomsbothinotherforeigncountriesandinChina.Then,itcontinuestointroducethecurrentresearchsituationontranslationandthebasictheorytheauthorusestothepresentstudy.Atlast,theauthorintroducesthepreviousresearchonuntranslatabilitybothathomeandabroad.

2.1PreviousresearchonEnglishidioms

ThissectionwillbeginwiththepreviousresearchonEnglishidiomsinforeigncountries,andthenthepreviousresearchinChina.

2.1.1PreviousresearchonEnglishidiomsinforeigncountries

ManyoftheEnglishidiomsstudieshavebeencarriedoutbyforeignscholars.Forexample,SmithL.P.（1925）publishedhisbookWordsandIdiomsandhismaincontributionsareaboutoriginsandstructures.Smithpaidmuchattentiontotheinnerstructureofidioms,butseldomrelatedtothemeaningsofidioms.Hisbookhadbecomerepresentativeworksinearlyidiomatologystudy.In1980s,theresearchofidiomshasenteredanewstage,andobtaineddelightfulachievements.Fernando.C（1996）hasmadeasignificantachievementinthisaspect.Shedividedidiomsintoideationalidiomaticexpressions,interpersonalidiomandrelationalidiom.

2.1.2PreviousresearchonEnglishidiomsinChina

InChina,manyfamousscholarsalsostudyEnglishidioms.HuZhuangLin（2002）studiesEnglishidiomsfromcognitivelinguisticperspective.Hebreaksanewpathinidiomsresearch.Hebelievesthatthefunctionsofidiomsincludeinformativefunction,interpersonalfunction,emotivefunction,communicativefunction,entertainmentfunctionandmetalinguisticfunction.LuoShiPing（2006）publishedabookAResearchonEnglishIdioms.Inhisbook,hemainlydiscussedidiomsandculture,thetranslationofidioms,thecomparisonofEnglishidiomsandChineseidiomsandsoon.Furthermore,ZhangZhenHua（2007）publishedhisbookAStudyofEnglishIdiomsfromNewPerspectives:

CultureandPragmatics.HestudiestheEnglishidiomsfrominterdisciplinaryanddifferentlevelaspect,andpresentsaseriesofeffectivelearningstrategiestohelpEnglishlearnersreallyunderstandEnglishidiomstrueessenceanditscognitionrule.

2.2Previousresearchontranslation

Thissectionwillbeginwithpreviousresearchontranslationinforeigncountries,andthenthepreviousresearchinChina.

2.2.1Previousresearchontranslationinforeigncountries

Asameansofcommunication,translationplaysanimportantroleinhumancivilization.Inthepastdecadestranslationtheoriesandactivitieshavedevelopedfastbothathomeandabroad.

EugeneA.Nidaisagreattranslatorofcommunicativetranslation.ThecoreofEugeneA.Nida’stranslationtheoryisFunctionalEquivalence.Ithadgreatimpactontranslationstudiesinthe1960sand1970sandwasoneofthetheorieswhichwereintroducedintoChinaatanearlytime.AccordingtoNida（1969）,hesupposesthattranslatingconsistsinreproducinginthereceptorlanguagetheclosetnaturalequivalentofthesource-languagemessage,firstintermsofmeaningandsecondlyintermsofstyle.Nida’stranslationtheoryhadaprofoundinfluenceintranslationstudiesinChina.

JohnCatford,anothergreattranslatoroftranslation.HepublishedhisbookALinguisticTheoryinTranslationin1965.Hisstudywasopenupanewwaytoexplorethetranslationtheory.

2.2.2PreviousresearchontranslationinChina

ManytranslationactivitieshavebeentakeninChina’shistory.Forexample,YanFu（1853-1921）becameanactivereformistanddevotedtoweavingviahistranslationWesternstudiesinthebroadspaceoftheChineselanguage.IntheprefacetothetranslatedEvolutionandEthicsYanFusetdownthetripletranslationcriteria,namely,“faithfulness，expressivenessandelegance”.WithwhichheopenedanewchapterinthetranslationofChina.ProfessorXuYuanchong（2006:

122）raisedhisownprincipleoftranslationinhisbook.Hebelievesthataliterarytranslatorshouldexploittheadvantageofthetargetlanguage.Andhealsobelievesthatthosetranslationswhicharefaithfultotheoriginal,smoothinformoftheversion,enhancingtheadvantagesoftheversion,canbetreatedascriteriainliterarywords.

2.3Basictheory

Inthissection,thetheoryused