Culture Comparisons in Translation英语论文Word文件下载.docx

Culture Comparisons in Translation英语论文Word文件下载.docx

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Someonecallstheabovemistranslationas“HardWound”.

Myessayisaimedtodiscussanothermistranslation,whichiscalledthemistranslationofculturalcharacter.Thismistranslationiscausedbythediversityofculture.Thepurposeandcharacteristicsoftranslationaretoexchangeideasandculture.Translationpromotesunderstandingamongdifferentcountriesandnations.Intranslationtheprincipleof“seekingthecommongroundwhilereservingdifferences”1shouldbepracticed.Translationshouldreflectalienthingsinastrangelandthatareexpressedintheoriginal.

II.Cultureandmistranslation

A.Culturerelatedtothesocialsystem

Courtesyexpressionsimmediatelyreflectthesocio-behavioralpatternsofaculture.Thenotionofcourtesyseemstobesomethinguniversal,butpeoplefromdifferentculturesmighthavedifferentideasastowhatarecourtesyexpressionsandwhatarenot.Traditionally,e.g.aChinesemaygreetafriendoracquaintancebyasking“Haveyouhadyourmeal?

”or“Whereareyougoing?

”Awesterneronthesameoccasionwould,however,saysomethinglike“Hello!

”,“Goodmorning!

”,“Niceday,isn’tit?

”,etc.Whenmeetingafriendwhohasjustarrivedafteralongjourney,theChinesewouldusuallysay,“Youmusthavehadatiringjourney.”TheWesternerwouldaskinstead,“Didyouhaveanicetrip?

”or“Didyouenjoyyourtrip?

”ThefactthatinChinese,manyconversationsstartwith“Howoldareyou?

”“Areyoumarried?

”“What’syourjob?

”“Howmuchdoyouearn?

”maydisconcertaWesternreader,andmanycausetemporaryculturalshock.

B.Culturerelatedtothelinguisticsystem

Culturemaysometimesbetracedtothelinguistic,especiallysemanticstructuresofalanguage.Themosttypicalcaseisonewhereincomparablewordsindifferentlanguagesmaycarrystrikinglydifferentassociations.InChinese,forinstance,“vinegar”isoftenanothernameforjealousy,e.g.“吃醋”（“eatvinegar”—tobejealous）.InEnglish,however,thewordisconnotativeofill-temperedspeech,character,etc.Onemaysaythatsomeone’sremarksare“madewithastrongnoteofvinegar”.“sour”or“vinegary”meansinEnglish“bad-tempered”,（“asourmood”）,butinChinesesournessorbeingsourisconnectedwithpedantry,soapedanticscholarisoftensaidtobea“sour”one.2

C.Culturerelatedtothespecificexpressions

Indeed,somewordsandexpressionsprofoundlyimbuedwithuniqueculturalelementsdocausetranslationproblems.Forinstance,theChineselanguagepossessesagreatnumberofself-depreciatingexpressions:

“鄙人”（myhumbleself）,“寒舍”（myhumblehome）,“拙文”（myawkwardarticle）,“贱内”（myhumblewife）,“老朽”（myoldanduselessself）,etc.Thesetermscomefromalongfeudaltraditionofkeepingalowprofileandrefrainingfromshowiness.Contrarytothisunderstatementofone’sownvalue,theChineseshowprofuserespect,perhapstoobombastictothewesternmind,forothers:

“拜读大作”（readyourgreatarticleinawe）,大札

10

（yourgreatletter）,etc.3ThisisduetotheChinesetendencytoobeyPolitenessPrinciplesratherthanPrinciplesofCo-operation.Insuchcases,translatorscanhardlyexpectEnglishreaderstorespondwitheaseandcomforttoaword-for-wordtranslationoftheChineseterms.

III.Form-changingforfaithfulnessintranslation,aculturalperspective

A.Mentalcultureandlanguageculture

Cultureisanextremelycomplexconceptandanenormoussubject.Italmostembraceseverythingintheworld,whethermaterialorspiritual.Howevercomplexitis,itcanberoughlyclassifiedintothreecategoriesinscope:

materialculturewhichreferstoalltheproductsofmanufacture,institutionalculturewhichreferstosocialsystem,religioussystem,educationalsystemetc.andmentalculturewhichreferstopeople’smentalitiesandbehaviors,theirbeliefs,conceptofvalue,thoughtpatternetc.

Theacceptanceofcultureispossible,becausehumanbeingsallliveonthesameplanet,theearth,andtheysharemoreorlesssimilaraspectsofculture;

yettheacceptanceofcultureisusuallyincomplete,becauseitislimitedbythedifferenceinthreecategoriesofcultureandparticularlybythedifferenceinlanguage-cultureandmentalculture.Thetransferofculturecanberesortedtovariouscodes,butlanguageisofcoursethemostimportantcodeofallforthetransferofculture.Beinganintrinsicpartofculture,languagecarriesculture,mirrorsculture,spreadscultureandhelpsdevelopculture.Itisnoexaggerationtosaythatlanguageisthelife-bloodofcultureandcultureisthetrackalongwhichlanguagefo