习语Word格式文档下载.docx

习语Word格式文档下载.docx

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外国语学院

专业：

英语（国际贸易方向）

班级序号：

学号：

学生姓名：

指导教师：

AComparativeStudyontheTranslationbetweenEnglishandChineseIdioms

AThesisSubmitted

InPartialfulfillmentforthe

RequirementsoftheDegreeof

BACHELOROFARTS

SchoolofForeignLanguages

LIAONINGNORMALUNIVERSITY

May,2009

Abstract

Idiomsaretheessenseofalanguage.BothEnglishandChineseidiomshavetheirownuniqueculturalcharacteristics.ThismakesthetaskoftranslationbetweenEnglishandChineseidiomsquitedifficult.ThisthesisfirstgivesthedefinitionsofEnglishidiomsandChineseidioms,whichishelpfulforreaderstounderstandthetargetsubjectofthisstudy,thenprobesintotheculturalcausesofthedifferencesinEnglishandChineseidiomsfromtheaspectsofdifferentlivingcircumstances,differentreligions,differentcognitionsofthings,differenthistoricalallusions,differentcustomsandhabits,ect.Afterthat,itdividesidiomsintoseveralclassesaccordingtotherelationsbetweenEnglishandChineseidiomsintermsoftheirvehiclesandmetaphoricalmeanings,suchastheidiomsofcorrespondingrelationship;

idiomsofsemi-correspondingrelationship;

idiomsofnon-correspondingrelationship.Finally,itsummarizesthetranslationmethodsusedineachkindofidiomsinaccordancewiththeclassificationthathasbeendiscussedbefore.Forexample,thetranslationmethodofthefirstkindofidiomsisliteraltranslation,thatofthesecondkindisfreetranslationandtransformation,andtherearetwomainmethodsoftranlationbetweenthethirdkindofidioms—domesticationandforeignization.AllthesignificanceofthisthesisistosolvethedifficultproblemsofthetranslationbetweenEnglishandChineseidioms,whichishelpfulforthetranslationworkandthefuturestudy.

Keywords:

idiom;

culture;

translation

摘要

习语是语言的精华。

无论是英语习语还是汉语习语都有自己独特的文化内涵，这也使得英汉习语之间的翻译不仅仅是字面的翻译，更是中英两种文化之间的碰撞与交融。

由此也造成了英汉习语翻译的极大困难。

本文首先对英汉习语和汉语习语进行概念界定，以便使读者明白此论文所研究的主题。

然后从生活环境、宗教信仰、对事物的认识、历史典故、风俗习惯等几个方面探索英汉习语差异的原因。

其次，根据英汉习语中喻体和喻义的关系，把英汉习语分成三类：

对应关系的习语、半对应关系的习语和非对应关系的习语。

最后，根据以上分类，对每一类习语所适用的翻译策略进行分析和归纳，比如对应关系的习语适用直译的翻译策略，半对应关系的习语适用意译和代换的翻译策略，非对应关系的习语的翻译策略则可分成两类：

归化和异化。

总之，这篇论文旨在解决英汉习语翻译中的难题以对翻译工作和进一步研究起到帮助作用。

关键词：

习语；

文化；

翻译

TableofContents

ChapterOneThedefinitionofidioms

1.1ThedefinitionofEnglishidioms

1.2ThedefinitionofChineseidioms

ChapterTwoTheculturaldifferencesbetweenEnglishandChineseidioms

2.1Whatisculture

2.2Differentlivingcircumstances

2.3Differentcognitionsofthings

2.3.1Differentcognitionsofanimals

2.3.2Differentcognitionsofcolors

2.4Differentreligions

2.5Differenthistoricalallusions

2.6Differentcustomsandhabits

ChapterThreeTheclassificationofidioms

2.1Theidiomsofcorrespondingrelationship

2.2Theidiomsofsemi-correspondingrelationship

2.3Theidiomsofnon-correspondingrelationship

ChapterFourThestrategyoftranslationbetweenEnglishandChineseidioms

3.1Translationstrategyofthecorrespondingidioms

3.2TranslationstrategyoftheSemi-correspondingidioms

3.3Translationstrategyofthenon-correspondingidioms

ChapterFiveConclusion

Introduction

Idiomsoftenimplytruths,butthetruthsarenotdirectlyexpressed,theyoftensaysomethingbuyuseofimages.BecauseEnglishcultureandChineseculturearedifferent,theimagesorvehiclesthatappliedintheidiomsarealsodifferent,thoughtheyexpressthesamemeaning.SowhenyoutranslatebetweenEnglishandChineseidioms,youshouldtransferthemeaningofthesourceidiomsandconveytheculturalcharacteristicsofthetargetidiomsatthesametime.Thisisthemostchallengingpointofthistranslationtask.YoushouldbeacquaintedwiththeculturaldifferencesbetweenBritainandChina,andhaveagoodunderstandingofEnglishandChineseidioms.Besides,culturalcharacteristicsareimbeddedintheidioms.sosometimesliteraltranslationisnotenoughtodealwiththetranslationtask,amorespecifiedanalysisontranslatonmethodsisessential.

ChapterOne

THEDEFINITIONOFIDIOMS

Weshouldfirstmakeitclearthatwhatareidiomsbeforewegoonwiththisstudy.BecausethestudyrelatestobothEnglishandChineseidioms,nextwewilltalkaboutthedefinitionsofEnglishandChineseidioms.

Theword“idiom”means“agroupofwordswhosemeaningisdifferentfromthemeaningsoftheindividualwords”（OxfordAdvancedLearner’sEnglish-ChineseDictionary,2004）.Thereisanothersimilardefinitionof“idiom”thatcanbefoundinAComparativeStudyofEnglishandChineseidioms,itis“anacceptedphrase,construction,orexpressioncontrarytotheusualpatternsofthelanguageorhavingameaningdifferentfromthelanguageorhavingameaningdifferentfromtheliteral.”Englishidioms,inabroadsense,includeidiomaticphrases,proverbialsayingsandanumberofslangexpressions.Theidiomaticphrasesaresomeidiomssuchas“infullwing（热火朝天）”and“diamondintherough（浑金璞玉）.Theproverbialsayingsareidomssuchas“Knowledgeispower（知识就是力量）”and“Truthconquersallthings（真理胜过一切）”.Theslangexpressionsaretheidiomssuchas“nosweat（小菜一碟）”，“cancerstick（烟）”.Inaconclusion,idiomsaresomephrasesorsentencesthatcannotbedividedandcommonlyareusedasawhole.

TheChineseequivalentfor“idiom”is“熟语”.Itmeansakindofasetphraseorsentence,which,likeastockexpression,isoftenquotedbythecommonpeople.Chineseidiomscanberoughlydividedinto成语（setphrases）,俗语（commonsayings）,谚语（proverbs）,歇后语（atwo-partallegoricalsaying,andsomevulgarexpressionswhichwecall粗俗语）.

WecanseefromtheabovedefinitionsofEnglishandChineseidiomsthattherearesomesimilaritiesbetweenthem:

first,anidiomiswell-establishedandacceptedthroughcommonpractice;

Second,anidiomusuallyhasanimpliedmeaning.Mostidiomscannotbeinterpretedonlyaccordingtoitsliteralmeaning.

ChapterTwo

THECULTURALDIFFERENCESBETWEENENLISHANDCHINESEIDIOMS

EnglishidiomsareoriginedfromBritain,whileChineseidiomsarefromChina,anortherncountry.Thereisnodoubtthattherearevariousaspectsofdifferencesbetweentheirculture,butwhatisculture,weshouldfirstunderstandthisdefinitionandthenwecanmakeitclearthatfromwhichaspectswecancomparetheirdifferences.

AccordingtoOxfordAdvancedLearner’sEnglish-ChineseDictionary,2004,“culture”means“thecustomsandbeliefs,art,wayoflifeandsocialorganizationofaparticularcountryorgroup.”

Nowthatwehaveknownwhatcultureis,wecananalyzethedifferencesindetailinthefollowingterms.

Idiomsarecloselyrelatedtopeople’sworkandlife.BritainisanislandcountryontheAtlanticOcean,peoplethereareusedtomakingalivingonfishingandnavigating,soalargepartofEnglishidiomscontainthevocabularyaboutthesea.WhileChinaisanagriculturalcountryontheinnerland,soalotofidiomsareconnectedwithfarmwork.Suchas,thereisanEnglishidiom“spendmoneylikewater”,whiletheChineseequivalenceis“挥金如土”;

theEnglishidiomis“adropintheocean”,whiletheChineseformis“沧海一粟”;

“ascloseasanoyster”means“守口如瓶”，thoughweChinesecannotunderstandwhatrelationsdoesthemeaninghaswithanoyster,especiallyforsomefarmersinourcountry,theyevendonotknowwhatanoysteris;

“feelunderthewater”,itmeans“感觉不适”，itisnotunderstandableforusmodernChinesebyreadingtheliteralmeaning,letaloneforourancestors.InChinese,thereisanidiom“瑞雪兆丰年”,itmeansatimelysnowpromisesagoodharvest;

“捡了芝麻，丢了西瓜”，itmeans“mindfulofsmallmatterstoneglectoflargeones”.TheBritainswillnotunderstandwhattheyimplybyuseofsomuchwordsrelatedwiththefarmland.Someotherexampleslike“tokeepone’sheadabovewater（奋力图存）”；

“allatsea（不知所措）”（李亚航）;

“顺藤摸瓜（totrackdownsomebodyorsomethingbyfollowingclues）”.

Duetothegeographicalfactor,bamboogrowsabundantlyinourcountry,butitcannotbeseenanywhereinBritainatall.Therefore,theChineseidiom“雨后春笋”istranslatedinto“springuplikemushrooms”insteadof“springuplikebamboos”.

Sodifferentcountrieswithdifferentlivingcircumstanceshavedifferentidioms.

Duetothedifferencesofculture,agoodobjectinoneculturemayberegardedasabadoneinanotherculture.Thewordswiththesameliteralmeaningmayhavecompletelydifferentimpliedmeaningsindifferentculture.Belowweseetheculturaldifferencesthroughthedifferentcognitionsofthings.

InChina,adogisseenasakindofhumbleanimalwithalowstatus,thiscanbeseenfromsuchidiomsas“狐朋狗友”、“狗急跳墙”、“狼心狗肺”、“狗腿子”、“够改不了吃屎”,etc.（吴军赞）Althoughtherehasbeenanincreaseintheamountofpeoplewhoraiseadogasapetandthestatusofdogshasbeenraisedalotthesedays,aderogatorysenseisdeeplyremainedinChineseculture.However,onthecontrary,dogsareconsideredasthemostfaithfulfriendofhumanbeings.MostEnglishidiomsaboutdogshavenoderogatorymeanings.Frequently,theimageofadogisoftencomparedtothebehaviorofaperson,suchasintheidiomslike“Youarealuckydog（你是一个幸运儿）”;

“Everydoghashisday（凡人皆有得意日）”;

“Loveme,lovemydog（爱屋及乌）”（植少青）;

“Olddogwillnotlearnnewtricks（老人学不了新东西）”（李亚航）.“dresslikeadog’sdinner（穿着极其讲究）”（王海武）。

InChina,“龙（dragon）”isakindofanimalthatsignalsluckiness,authority,nobilityandprosperity.IntheheartofChinesepeople,“龙”isinasupremestatus,suchastheChineseidioms“龙凤呈祥”、“望子成龙”、“龙腾虎跃”,etc.Whilewesternersregardadragonasanevilanimalandacruelmonster,whichshouldbeeliminated.