Idioms Culture and Translation.docx

Idioms Culture and Translation.docx

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IdiomsCultureandTranslation

Idioms,CultureandTranslation

Abstract:

Idioms,resplendentpearlsoflanguage,notonlyhavebeenseeninliteraryworks,butarealsocommonlyusedinourdailycommunication.Theidiomisakindofspecialspeechformthatisparticularinmeaning,grammaticalstructureandusage,whoselaconicformsandprofoundmeaningsmakethemselvesmoreexpressiveandmorecondensed.MeanwhileEnglishandChineseidiomscomefromtwodifferentcultureandthusreflectdifferentnationalflavorandculturecoloring.Theyaretheheritageofhistoryandproductofculturalevolvement.Anappropriateuseoftheminourwritingorspeechwilladdtothestrengthandvividnessofourlanguage.Inthispaper,Imainlydiscusstherelationshipbetweenidiomsandculture;alsosummarizeseveralmethodsoftranslatingbothChineseandEnglishidioms.Ihopethatthestudyofidiomscanhelpusgetbetterunderstandingofidioms.

Keywords:

idioms,culture,translation

摘要:

习语,作为语言中的灿烂明珠,不仅出现在文学作品中,在我们的日常生活中也很普遍。

习语是一种特殊的语言形式,特别是在意义、语法和用法上,它们以简洁的形式和深厚的意义使它们显得更有浓缩而富有表达力。

同时，英语和汉语习语又根源于两种不同的文化，所以它们折射出了不同的文化风格和文化色彩。

它们是历史的继承和文化演变的成果。

在写作和演说中正确的使用习语能增强语言的表现力和生动性。

本文主要讲述了习语和文化的关系，总结了一些习语翻译方法和翻译中需引起注意的地方。

我希望通过对习语的学习可以帮助大家能够更好的掌握习语。

关键词：

习语；文化；翻译

Contents

Abstract……………………………………………………………………i

摘要…………………………………………………………………………ii

Contents…………………………………………………………………iii

Introduction…………………………………………………………………1

1.Definition……………………………………………………………1

2.Characteristics…………………………………………………………3

2.1Semanticunity…………………………………………………………3

2.2Structuralstability……………………………………………………4

2.3Grammatical…………………………………………………………5

3.CulturaldifferencesreflectedbyChineseandEnglishidioms……6

3.1Geographicaldifferences………………………………………………7

3.2Conventionaldifferences………………………………………………8

3.3Valueorientationdifferences…………………………………………9

3.4Religiousdifference…………………………………………………9

4.Translationofidioms……………………………………………………11

4.1ComparisonandcontrastbetweenChineseandEnglishidioms……12

4.2HowtotranslatecorrectlybetweenChineseandEnglishidioms……13

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………16

Bibliography………………………………………………………………17

Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………18

Introduction

Idiomsnotonlyhavebeenseeninliteraryworks,butarealsocommonlyusedinourdailycommunication.BothChineseandEnglishlanguageaboundswithidioms.Therefore,idiomsplayanimportantroleinourlanguage.Butitisdifficultforustounderstandanduseidiomscorrectly.EspeciallyforourChinesestudents,Englishidiomsareastumblingblock,anditisverypossiblethattheyoftennotonlyfeelatalossinunderstandingconversationsbecauseofakeyidiombutalsomisuseidioms.

First,inthisthesis,theauthorbrieflyillustratesthedefinitionandcharacteristicofidioms.Then,theauthordiscussesculturaldifferencesreflectedbyChineseandEnglishidioms.Atlast,thereisasummaryofsomemethodsoftranslatingbothChineseandEnglishidioms.Ihopethatacomparativestudyofidiomscanhelpustogetbetterunderstandingofthemandavoidmakingunnecessarymistakesinourcommunication.

1.Definition

“Idiom”isalmostacatchwordofmostEnglishlearnersandEnglishusers,butfewcanmakeitveryclearwhatanidiomisandhowitisformed.Thequestionsaboutidiomshaveattractedmanyscholars’attention.

Weinreichdefinesanidiomasfollows:

aphraselogicalunitinvolvingatleasttwopolysemousconstituents,andinwhichthereisareciprocalcontextualselectionofsubsenses.（ProblemsintheAnalysisofIdioms.1969:

42）[1]

Webster’sThirdNewInternationalDictionary（1976）definesthetermidiomasanexpressionestablishedintheusageofalanguagethatispeculiartoitselfeitheringrammaticalconstructionorinhavingameaningthatcannotbederivedasawholefromtheconjoinedmeaningsofitselements.

Fromthedefinitionsmentionedabove,wemightcometoaconclusionthatEnglishidiomsareestablishedexpressionsorphraseswhosemeaningcannotbeliterallyderived;andidioms,meantinabroadsense,maycovernotonlyfixedphrasesbutalsowhatgrammaticallyfunctionsasaclauseorsentencesuchasproverbs,slangexpressionsandcolloquialisms.

Chineseidioms,accordingtoADictionaryofContemporaryChineseIdioms（《现代汉语成语词典》1991）arefixedphrases,evenshortsentences,simpleinform,penetratinginmeaning,establishedbycommonpracticeandlongusage;AndChineseidiomsaremostlycomposedoffourcharacters.Itisexplicitthatbesidessetphrasessuchas“不卑不亢”“鹤立鸡群”“画蛇添足”someincisiveshortsentencesarealsoidioms.Forexamples:

三人行必有我师

宁为玉碎，不为瓦全

Obviously,“成语”intheaboveisdefinedinitsnarrowsense,Infact,quiteafewmodernlinguisticshaveenlargedthescopeoftheterm-idiom.

ShiShi,afamousChinesescholaronlexicon,thinksthatanyestablishedfixedexpression,whichcontainsacertainmetaphoricalmeaningisanidiom.

FromtheabovedefinitionsofChineseidioms,wecanseetheirreferencesarealmostthesameasthoseofEnglishidioms.

2.Characteristics

Asaparticularlinguisticunit,idiomsenjoytheirownuniquecharacteristics.ThoughEnglishandChinesebelongtodifferentlanguagefamilies,theiridiomshavemanyfeaturesincommon,suchassemanticunity,structuralstability,andgrammaticalirregularityandsoon.

2.1Semanticunity

Comparedwithfreephrasesandsentences,bothEnglishandChineseidiomshaveamoststrikingfeature—semanticunity.Themeaningofanidiomasawholeisnotpredictablefromthatofitscomponentparts,whichlacktheirusualmeanings.Forexample,‘smellarat’（suspectsomethinguntrue）hasnothingtodowiththeanimal‘rat’,‘anotherpairofshoes’isnotconnectedwithanythinginvolving‘shoes’.AsfortheChineseidioms“蒙在鼓里”and“宵衣旰食”,theliteralmeaningofthememberwordshasnorelevance,whatsoever,atleastsynchronicallytothemeaningofthetwoidioms‘bekeptinthedark’and‘bebusywithstateaffairs’.Thesemanticunityisalsoembodiedinthiswaythattheidiomfunctionsasoneword.Forexample,‘tillthecowscomehome’,whichcomprisesaconjunction‘till’,anarticle‘the’,anoun‘cow’,averb‘come’andanadverb‘home’,means‘forever’andfunctionsasanadverb,thusreplacingtheword‘forever’.Thesamecanbesaidof‘keepinmind’（remember）,‘takeoff’（imitate）‘likeabreeze’（easily）andsoon.[2]

Someidiomsaremetaphoricalexpressions.Thereissomeconnectionbetweenthemeaningofanidiomasawholeandthelexicalmeaningofitspartsas‘beintheclouds’and“五光十色”.Eventheseidioms,however,arenotassemanticallytransparentasfreephases.Forexample:

（1）Allthewayhome,Iwasintheclouds,Hastingstalking,Inotbearingaword.（在回家的路上，我心不在焉，赫斯丁讲个不休，我却一个字也没听进去）.Here‘wasinthecloud’means‘wasabsent-minded’andshouldnotbetranslatedinto“在云层中”.

2.2Structuralstability

Beingestablishedbyusage,anidiomgenerallycan’tbealtered;nocomponentwordcanbeomittedarbitrarilyorbesubstitutedbyanyothersynonymouswordintheidiom;andthearrangementofthewordscanrarelybemodified,anyattemptedchangeinthewordingorcollocationwillcommonlydestroytheidiomandperhapsrendertheexpressionmeaninglessForexample,‘toselllikehotcakes’and‘totalknineteentothedozen’aretwoidioms.Wecannotchangetheninto‘toselllikehotbread’and‘totalktwentytothedozen’.SimilarlyinChinese,“抛砖引玉”and“欲速则不达”cannotbechangedinto“抛石引玉”and“欲快则不达”.

However,itmustbepointedoutthatstabilityisamatterofdegreeorscaleandisnotabsolute.Incommunicationpeopleoftenchangeidiomstomeettheneedofrhetoricandemotionalcoloring.Maybetheproverbisveryfamiliartousthat‘failureisthemotherofsuccess.Withsomechanges,peoplecreateanotherproverb‘necessityisthemotherofinvention'.

2.3Grammaticalirregularity

Manyidiomsdonotfollowanystandardrules,fortheyoftenviolateconventionalgrammaticalrules.Herearesomeexamplestoillustratethispoint:

‘Onthemove’,‘onthego’,verbs‘move’and‘go’areusedasnouns.

‘Insandouts’,prepositionshavepluralswhileintheexpression‘atsixesandsevens’numeralshaveplurals.

‘（As）sureaseggsiseggs’（quitecertainly）mayserveasanotherexample.Theverb‘is’intheidiomshouldbe‘are’accordingtogrammaticalrules.However,weuseitasitis.Itisgrammaticallywrong,butidiomaticandwidelyaccepted.[3]AsfarasChineseidiomsareconcerned,thatis,intheshiftoftheirconstituentspartofspeech,especiallyinthepopularphenomenaofnounsusedasverbs,forexample,“衣冠禽兽”,“不毛之地”,manyChineseidiomsviolatethegrammaticalrulesofmodernstandardChineseasmostofthemarewritteninclassicalChinese,whichisoftenquitedifferentinstructurefromthemodernvernacular.Thus,“一心一意”wouldbe“一个心一个意”.But,tofillinthesefunctionwordsonlyresultsindestroyingtheidiomitselfandlosingtheflavoroftheidioms.

3.CulturalDifferencesReflectedbyChineseandEnglishIdioms

BothChinaandBritainhavealonghistory,whichfertilizedtheirbrilliantcultures.Thecommonexperiencesandreciprocalinteractioninvariousaspectsthroughlong-timecommunicationbetweenthetwocountriesinducealotofcommonpointsinculture.

InearlyBritishhistory,BritainwasoccupiedbytheRomanEmpirefornearlyfourhundredyears.TheRomanslefttheirdeepmarksonBritainculture.In49B.C.theRomanemperorCaesarsenttheorderofburningoutboatsafterhisarmypassedLupineRiver,showingthedeterminationtotakeaall-outwar,thatistheoriginoftheEnglishidiom‘burnone’sboat’（谢金良，1986）.Incidentally,in208B.C.GeneralXiangyuinChinasentthesimilarordertosmashalltheboatsafterthearmypassedRiverZhanginattempttoshowitsdeter