外国语六种颜色词语的英汉互译探索.docx

外国语六种颜色词语的英汉互译探索.docx

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外国语六种颜色词语的英汉互译探索

六种颜色词语的英汉互译探索

AStudyoftheTranslationofSixColorTermsBetweenEnglishandChinese

舒洪成

ShuHongcheng

UndertheSupervisionof

LiaoHong

SchoolofForeignLanguagesandCultures

PanzhihuaUniversity

May2009

Contents

Abstract

Languageisthecarrierofculture;cultureisthesoilforlanguage,andtranslationisthebridgeforcross-culturalcommunication.Sincehumanbeing’slife,cultureandcivilizationarecloselyconnectedwiththecolorfulworld,colortermsplayanimportantroleincross-culturalcommunication.Basedontheanalysisoftheoriginofsixcolortermsandtheirrelationshipwithculture,thisthesismakesanillustrationoftheculturalconnotationsofsixcolortermsinEnglishandChinese,makinganexplorationintothetranslationdevicesofcolorterms,aimingatimprovingtheproficiencyoftranslationandcross-culturalcommunicationsoastoavoidunnecessaryculturalconflicts.

KeyWords

colorterms;culturalconnotation;translationdevices

摘要

语言是文化的载体，文化是语言的土壤，翻译是跨文化交际的桥梁。

人类的生活、文化与文明和五色斑斓的世界密切相关，因此颜色词在跨文化交际中起着极为重要的作用。

本文在分析颜色词的起源及其与文化关系的基础上，阐明了六种颜色词语在英汉两种文化中的不同内涵，探讨了颜色词的翻译方法。

本文旨在提高人们的翻译实践能力和跨文化交际的能力，以避免人们在跨文化交际中出现不必要的文化冲突。

关键词

颜色词；文化内涵；翻译方法

Introduction

Sincepeoplearelivinginacolorfulworld,peopleshouldpaymuchattentiontothecolorterms’translationsoasnottomakesomeunnecessaryconflictsincross-culturalcommunication.

Thisthesisconsistsofthreeparts,aimingatexploringthetranslationofsixcolortermsbetweenEnglishandChinese.

Thefirstpartmakesananalysisoftwoaspects,theoriginofsixcolorterms,i.e.Red,Yellow,Blue,Green,White,Black,andtherelationshipbetweencolortermsandculture.

ThesecondpartillustratestheculturalconnotationsofsixcolortermsinEnglishandChinese.

Thethirdpartmakesanexplorationintothetranslationdevicesconcerningaboutcolorterms.

I.TheIntroductionofColorTerms

Colortermsarethewords,setphrasesorsentenceswhichareabstractedfromthepolitical,economic,culturalandsociallife.Theyareparticularlyconnectedwithpeople’slivingenvironmentandtheyconveydifferentemotiveandevaluativemeaningindifferentnations.Asthousandsofyearspassedby,differentcolortermsareprovidedwithvividimages,profoundimplicationsandvariousassociativemeanings.

InbothEnglishandChinese,colortermsaregenerallydividedintothreecategories:

basiccolorterms,objectcolortermsandcolortermsinshades.Basiccolortermsincludesevenkindsofcolorterms:

Red,Orange,Yellow,Green,Indigo,BlueandViolet.Objectcolortermsrefertothoseoriginalcolorsoftheobjectsinnature,andthiscategoryembracessuchcolortermsassilver,gold,carnation,orange-redandblood-red.Colortermsinshadesarethosecolorswithslightdifferencessuchascoal-blackandpitch-dark,rose-redandChina-red.

Colortermscanmirrorpeople’scustomsandbeliefsindifferentnationsandregions,theirthinkingmodesandsoforth.Itiseasytofindoutthatacolortermiscloselylinkedwithitsculture.Therefore,tounderstandandexplorethecolorterms’translationshouldstartfromtheirorigins.

A.TheOriginsofColorTerms

Asfortheoriginsofcolorterms,therearemainlyfivesources,i.e.,history,visualimages,literatureworks,economy,socialcustomsandhabits.

Sincetheancienttimes,peoplehadbeguntoadoptsomecolortermstoexpresstheirfeelingsandemotionstowardstheirlivingenvironment.Aristotleisatypicalexample.HisBlackandWhiteTheorymightbetheearliestrequestforthecolortermsinhistoryandhebelievedthatcolorwasmadeupofhue,luminosityandsaturation.TherearealsoothertheoriesrelatedtocolortermssuchasSapir-WhorfHypothesisandCognitiveLinguistics.

Livinginthecolorfulworld,peoplemusthavedifferentimpressionsondifferentkindsofcolors.Colorsareconnectedwithpeople’svisualimages.Whencolorsarecombinedtogether,theycanalwaysproduceanartisticandvivideffect.Forexample,“…ontheriverwherethewater-meadowsarefreshandgreen,andthestreamsparklesonamongpleasantislands,murmuringweirs,andwhisperingrushes.河边一片片的嫩草青翠欲滴，湍流在美丽的岛屿，水声潺潺的河堰和沙沙作响的苇草之间的河水银光闪闪。

”（WangHaitao,P291,2004）Hereinthissentence“freshandgreen”istranslatedinto“qingcuiyudi（青翠欲滴）”inChinese.Itindicatesthat“thegrassalongtheriverbankissodelicateandyouthfullooking”.Inthisway,thetranslationhaswelltransplantedthegrass’sgrowingstatetoareader.

Literatureisakindofculturalheritage,aspecifickindofculturewhichreflectsacertainkindofvalueofanation.Manyclassicalliteraryworksindifferentnationsareinvariablyadmiredanddigestedbypeopleallovertheworld.Therefore,thewordsandphrasesandevensentenceswhichcontaincolortermsalsohavebecomeapartofpeople’slife.ThomasHardy,agreatBritishnovelistattheturnofthe19thcentury,used“steely”todescribe“thestarlight”and“yellow”todescribe“candlelight”,whichsuccessfullyconveysthepredicamentandlonelinessofTess.Moreover,inShelly’sfamouspoemOdetotheWestWind,thepoet’ssadfeelingsandemotionscanbeunderstoodthroughhisadoptionofsomeadjectivecolortermssuchas“yellow,black,paleandhecticred”.

Nowadays,economyhasbecomethemostdynamicfactorinsociallife.Withthefastdevelopmentofscienceandtechnology,manyitemswhichcontaincolorshavecomeintobeing.Forexample,“whitegoods”refersto“somespecificelectricalapplianceswhosecoloriswhite”.

Uptillnow,therearemorethantwohundrednationsintheworld,duetotheiruniquesocialcustomsandhabits,peopleindifferentnationshavedifferenthabitualexpressionsofcolorterms.Forexample,“bluefilm”isrenderedinto“yellowfilm”inChinese,forinChinesethecolorterm“yellow”includesanassociativemeaningas“pornographic”.

B.TheRelationshipBetweenColorTermsandCulture

Languageiscloselyrelatedtoculture,soiscolorterms.Onlywhencolortermsareputunderspecificlinguisticcircumstancesdotheymakesense.Forexample:

Excuseme,Sir.Couldyoushowmeyourgreencard?

Translation1:

打扰您一下，先生，能否给我看看你的绿卡？

Translation2:

打扰您一下，先生，能否给我看看你的绿卡境外驾驶保险卡？

（ZhuJifang,P139-140,2004）

In“Translation1”,“greencard”istranslatedintoitsequivalenceof“greencard”（绿卡i.e.,lvka）inChinese,referringto“acertificatewhichguaranteesaforeignertoinhabitinU.S.andwhichcanallowhimtofindajobthere”.In“Translation2”,“greencard”isrenderedinto“aninsurancegreencardfordrivingabroad”（绿卡境外驾驶保险卡lvkajingwaijiashibaoxianka）,meaning“aninsurancecardwhichisagainstanaccidentofadriverwhodriveshiscarinforeigncountries”.

Accordingtothedifferentculturalconnotationof“greencard”inU.S.andBritain,onecandecidewhichversionismoresuitable.Thisexampleillustratesthatdifferentnationshavetheirownspecificconceptionsofthesamecolorterms.

Colortermsareofvitalimportanceforhumanbeingstorecognizetheworld,andtheynotonlyserveascarriersoftheirownphysicalcharacteristicsbutalsofunctionsasamirrorreflectingtheirspecificconnotationsinanation.Therefore,whentranslatingcolorterms,specialattentionshouldbepaidtoinordertoconveytheculturalconnotationsofcolortermsinthetargetlanguage.

Ⅱ.TheCulturalConnotationsofSixColorTermsinEnglishandChinese

ChineseandEnglisharetwokindsoflanguagesbelongingtoSino-TibetanandIndo-Europeanfamiliesrespectively.Withtheirgreatdiscrepancieseitherinphonetics,grammars,orwrittenforms,thereexistsaworldbetweenthetwolanguages,whereastheChineseandnativeEnglishspeakershavemoreorlesssimilaroridenticalexperiencesandfeelingsintheirdailylifewhichmakespossiblethecross-culturalcommunicationbetweenChinaandEnglish-speakingnations.

Thoseexperiencesandfeelingswerewrittendownandrecordedinvariousvocabularies,whichincludesomeconciseandcomprehensivecolorterms.Thesecolortermscontainsomeastonishingsimilaritiesinimplicationsandtheoccasionsinwhichtheyareused,eventhoughthesetermsarefromentirelydifferentlanguages.However,therearealsosomedissimilaritiesorculturalblankswhichexistinthesecolortermsinEnglishandChinese.Therefore,itisnecessarytostudytheculturalconnotationsofcolorterms.Inthischapter,sixcolorterms,i.e.,Red,Yellow,Blue,Green,WhiteandBlack,arebeingdiscussed.

A.Red

Thecolorterm“red”iscalledchise,i.e.,“hong（红）”inChinese.Accordingtosomestatistics,thereareaboutfiftywordstodescribethecolor“red”inChinese,butmorethanonehundredinEnglish.InEnglish,therearetwentyonewordstodescribe“red”withletterCasitsbeginning,i.e.,cardinal,carmine,carminelake,carminenette,carnation,carnelion,casinopink,Chinesered,chromered,chromescarlet,cinnabar,claret,cochineal,Congorubine,copperred,coquelicot,cordovan,cresolred,cramoisie,crimson,crimsonmadder.

Thecolor“red”meansquitedifferentfortheChineseandtheBritishaswellastheAmericans.PeopleinEnglish-speakingcountriesregard“red”asblood-ness,anger,dangerandviolence.Forthem,theytreat“greenandgoldenyellow”assimilartotheassociativemeaningsofthecolorterm“zhongguohong（中国红）”.Therefore,whentranslatingsomewordsorphrasescontaining“red”,itisnecessarytomakesomeadaptationstoconformtothehabitualexpressionsandtentativeacceptanceoftheEnglish-speakingcountries.Forexample,“redmansions（红楼梦）”and“yihongyuan（怡红院）”aretranslatedintoEnglishas“dreamofgoldendays”and“greendelights”respectivelysoastoreproducetheculturalconnotat