On the Cultural Connotation and Translation of Chinese Enigmatic Folk Similes.docx

On the Cultural Connotation and Translation of Chinese Enigmatic Folk Similes.docx

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OntheCulturalConnotationandTranslationofChineseEnigmaticFolkSimiles

OntheCulturalConnotationandTranslationofChineseEnigmaticFolkSimiles

by

DengYaomin

AthesissubmittedtoSchoolofForeignLanguages

inconformitywiththerequirementsforthe

DegreeofBachelorofArts

QujingNormalUniversity

Qujing,Yunnan,P.R.China

May,2009

Acknowledgements

Thisthesisoriginatesfromfouryears’studyatSchoolofForeignLanguagesatQujingNormalUniversity.Uponthecompletionofthisthesis,Iwouldliketoexpressmygreatandheartfeltgratitudetoallthosewhohavecontributedtothisthesiseitherdirectlyorindirectly.

MygreatestdebtgoestomysupervisorProfessorZhangQuanforhisinsightfulsuggestionsthatcontributetotheframeworkofthisthesis.Hesparedalotoftimefromhisbusyscheduletoreadthedifferentversionsofthemanuscriptandgaveadviceforimprovement.Tohim,Iowemuchmorethanwords.

SpecialthanksgotoalltheotherteachersatEnglishDepartmentofQujingNormalUniversity.Duringthefouryears’study,Ibenefitedagreatdealfromtheirteachingandenlighteninglectures.

Mygratitudealsogoestomyclassmatesandroommates.Theygavememuchencouragementandsupport.Iwouldliketothankmyfamily,fortheirspiritualandfinancialsupport.

Finally,mythanksgotothosewhohavedevotedmuchtimetoreadingthisthesisandgivenmemuchadvice,whichwillbenefitmeinmyfuturestudyandwork.

Abstract

Itisgenerallyrecognizedthatlanguageandculturearecloselyassociated.AsauniquekindofChineselanguage,theChineseenigmaticfolksimileisanindispensablepartofChineselanguageandculture.ItisalanguagethatwaswidelyspokenbylaboringandworkingChinesepeopleandusedtoexpresstheirthoughtsandsentimentsduringthelong-timepracticeintheirlives.Itiswell-knownforitsliveandfunnyexpression.Besides,asaminiatureofChineseculture,Chineseenigmaticfolksimiledisplaysusthethousandsofyears’historyofChina,enablingustogainsomeknowledgeandrealitiesofourcountry’spolitics,religion,economyaswellaspeople’spsychology,dailylifeandoutlooksonvaluesandtheworld.Nowadays,aswearemovingtowardsglobalization,cultureexchangesamongdifferentnationsaremuchmorefrequentandtheChineselanguageandculturealsobecomemoreandmorepopularwithforeignersallovertheworld.Therefore,howtomaketheChineseenigmaticfolksimilebecomefamiliarwithforeignersappearsveryimportant.Appropriatetranslationisnodoubtagoodwaytosolvethisproblem.However,thetranslationstudiesofChineseenigmaticfolksimileinourcountry,adequateastheymaybe,donotachieveacommonagreementonthetranslationmethodsofChineseenigmaticfolksimile.

Inviewofthecloserelationshipoflanguageandculture,thisthesisattemptstoproposesometranslationmethodsoftheChineseenigmaticfolksimilesafteracomprehensiveandsystematicanalysisoftheculturalconnotationoftheChinesefolksimilessoastomakeitnotonlyappropriateintranslationbutalsoeasilyunderstandabletoforeigners.

Keywords:

Chineseenigmaticfolksimiles;culturalconnotation;translation;translationmethods

摘要

众所周知，语言与文化紧密联系，而作为汉语语言中一种而有的语言形式，歇后语是中国语言和文化中不可或缺的一部分。

歇后语在我国广大劳动人民中广为流传，是人们长期生活实践中产生的用来表达其思想和情感的一种俗语。

歇后语以其幽默诙谐的表达而广受喜爱。

歇后语也是中国文化的缩影，它给我们展示了中国数千年的历史，丰富了我们对我国政治，宗教，经济以及人们的生活，心理，世界观，人生观等方面的知识。

现今，随着我们不断迈向全球化，各国之间的文化交流变的日渐频繁，汉语及中国文化也越来越受到世界各地的人们的喜爱。

因此，通过恰当的翻译使外国人熟悉歇后语这种中国所特有的习语也变得十分重要。

然而，就歇后语的翻译而言，我国国内的这方面的研究虽然很多，但就歇后语的翻译方法却没有取得一致地认同。

在此基础上，鉴于语言与文化的紧密关系，本人对歇后语的文化内涵进行了全面而系统地分析，进而提出了相应的翻译方法，力求在做到恰当翻译的同时，也能使外国读者易于理解。

关键词:

歇后语；文化内涵；翻译；翻译方法

Contents

Acknowledgementsi

AbstractinEnglishii

AbstractinChinese………………………………………………………………………………..iii

1.Introduction1

2.LiteratureReview3

2.1RelatedResearchinWest3

2.2RelatedResearchinChina4

3.Methodology6

4.AnalysisandDiscussion7

4.1AnOutlineofChineseEnigmaticFolkSimiles7

4.1.1DefinitionofChineseEnigmaticFolkSimiles7

4.1.2OriginofChineseEnigmaticFolkSimiles7

4.1.3ClassificationofChineseEnigmaticFolkSimiles8

4.1.4NatureofChineseEnigmaticFolkSimiles9

4.2Culture,LanguageandChineseEnigmaticFolkSimiles10

4.2.1DefinitionofCulture10

4.2.2TheRelationshipbetweenCultureandLanguage11

4.3.Translation,CultureandChineseEnigmaticFolkSimiles14

4.3.1DefinitionofTranslation14

4.3.2TheRelationshipbetweenTranslationandCulture16

4.3.3TranslationMethodsofChineseEnigmaticFolkSimiles17

5.Conclusion22

References24

1.Introduction

Withthedevelopmentofsocietyandtheprogressofscienceandtechnology,internationalcommunicationandcooperationisincreasinglystrengthenedinthefieldsofeconomy,politics,andcultureandsoon.Culturalexchangesamongdifferentnationsaremuchmorefrequentandthetrendofculturalintegrationisinevitableandirresistible.Economicglobalizationandeconomicpluralismleadtomulticulturalism.Languageisthecarrierofculture,andtranslationisthebridgeandmainchannelforcross-culturalcommunication.Languageandcultureareinseparable.Languagehasdualroles.Ontheonehand,languageisacomponentofculture.Ontheotherhand,languageisalsothecarrierofculture.Ininternationalcommunication,translation,toalargeextent,isnotonlylimitedintheliteralmeaningofwordsbutalsothedeepmeaningsofcultureconnotation.Consequently,translationcannotbeseparatedfromculture.However,translationisnotmerelythemutualexchangesbetweentwolanguages,butalsothecross-culturalcommunications.TotranslateandintroduceextensiveandprofoundChinesecultureandliteratureisnotonlytheneedofmulticulturalismandculturalglobalization,whichisalsoawaytomakeChineseculturegoglobalandChinaworld-known,sothatChinacanachieveculturalmodernization.

AsakindofthemosttypicalidiomsoftheChinesenation,theChineseenigmaticfolksimilesarenaturallyanextremelyimportantpartofChineseculture,whichisfromorallanguagespokenwidelybylaboringandworkingpeople.Itisaformoflanguagetoexpresstheirthoughtsandsentimentsduringlong-termpracticeintheirlives.Themostobviouscharacterliesinitsvivid,concreteimage,someareabundantinimaginationandsenseofhumor,andsomeareextremelyironic.Itispopularwithpeopleandreadersforitsliveandfunnyexpression.Itwillincreaseeffectivenessoflanguageifusedappropriately.SoChineseenigmaticfolksimileisnotonlyseeninourdailylives,butalsowidelyappliedinliteratures.Itisreallynecessarytostudyitanditstranslation.

ThoughChineseenigmaticfolksimiles,whichhavesomedistinctivecharacteristics,aresaidbyChinesepeoplefromancienttimes,theyhadnotgainedscholars'attentionuntiltheBalledSeminarheldatPekingUniversityin1920（WenDuanzheng,ZhouJian,2000:

123）.Hence,ChineseenigmaticfolksimileisstillacertainoflanguagewhichishardforEnglishreaderstounderstand.Someimportantproblemsarestillneedtobesolved,suchashowtotranslateChineseenigmaticfolksimilestoletthemeasytounderstand,howtotranslatethemtosetupasimilarorevensameimageinthemindsofthetargetreaders,etc.Forthisreason,agoodtranslationofChineseenigmaticfolksimilesallowsChineseculturetobeworld-knownandfavoredbythepeopleintheworld.ThisresearchattemptstoimprovethepreviousstudiesofChineseenigmaticfolksimilestranslationbyprovidingsometranslationmethodsofChineseenigmaticfolksimilesafteradetailedandsystematicdiscussionoftheculturalconnotationofChineseenigmaticfolksimiles.

FocusingontheculturalconnotationandtranslationofChineseenigmaticfolksimiles,thisthesisfirstgivesanintroductiontotheChineseenigmaticfolksimiles,includingitsdefinition,origin,classificationandnature.Then,theauthorillustratesthedifferentculturalcharacteristicsofChineseenigmaticfolksimilesafteraccountingthedefinitionofcultureanditsrelationshipwithlanguage.Inthefollowingpart,theauthorproposesfivemethodswhentranslatingChineseenigmaticfolksimilesafterdiscussingsomeissuesconcerninglanguage,translationandculture.Finally,theauthordrawsaconclusionofthethesis.

2.LiteratureReview

2.1RelatedResearchintheWest

Translation,fromtheverybeginningofitsexistence,hasbeenplayinganimportantpartinculturalexchange,whichbuildsabridgeforpeoplesfromdifferentcountriesandwithdifferentcultures.However,peopleinearlytimedidnotrealizetheimportantrolethattranslationplaysinculturalcommunication.From1950sto1970s,linguisticsschooloccupiestheleadingpositioninthefieldoftranslationstudies.Atthattime,translationisconceivedasthetransferbetweentwolanguages.Scholarsinvestigatetranslationfromtheperspectiveofsemiotics,generativelinguistics,appliedlinguistics,descriptivelinguistics,andfunctionallinguisticsetc.

During1980stheculturalturnemergedwhenculturalcriticismandstudyinwesternacademicworldbegantoupgradeandbecomealeadingrole.Theculturalturnisanall-pervasivephenomenonwhichpropelledbysharedconcernsregardingtheroleoftranslationinculturalinnovationandsocialchange,andhasoccurredgraduallyinmanydifferentpartsoftheworld.Thegeneraltrendintranslationstudiesisclearlytowardsculturaltransferratherthanlinguistictransfer.Thisentailsthattheprocessbeviewednotasatranscodingofproductsbutasaprocessofcommunication….Fromthisperspective,thetextwouldnolongerbeseenasisolatedinstancesoflinguisticusagebutasanac