How to translate Chinese and English idioms containing figures appropriately英语专业毕业论文.docx

How to translate Chinese and English idioms containing figures appropriately英语专业毕业论文.docx

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HowtotranslateChineseandEnglishidiomscontainingfiguresappropriately英语专业毕业论文

HowtotranslateChineseandEnglishidiomscontainingfiguresappropriately

1.Introduction

Itiswellrecognizedthatlanguageandcultureareinseparable.Ontheonehand,languageplaysaveryimportantroleinreflectingandexpressingculture.Alanguageisanessentialpartofthecultureofapeopleandthroughittheotherpartsofcultureareexpressed.Sotospeak,withoutlanguagetherewouldbenoculturedescendingfromancienttimes.Ontheotherhand,sincecultureisdefinedsuccinctlyas“thetotalityofbeliefsandpracticesofasociety”,languageisstronglyinfluencedandshapedbyculture.Changesincultureoftengiverisetonewcharacteristicsoflanguage.

BothEnglishandChinesearethelanguagesintheworldenjoyingthelongesthistory.Duringthelong-termdevelopment,theyhaveaccumulatedalargenumberofidioms,includingtheidiomscontainingfigures,whichrefertotheidiomscontainingcardinalnumbersandordinalnumbers.Asanindispensablepartofidioms,ChineseandEnglishidiomscontainingfiguresarecloselyrelatedtotheirowncultures,conveyingdifferentculturalfeaturesandmessagesoftheirownnations.Usually,idiomscontainingfiguresreflecttheirculturalbackgroundknowledgewithfigureconnotations.Asweallknow,figuresaretypicaloftheculturallyloadedwords.Notonlydotheybelongtothedigitalrealm,theyarealsousedinidiomsandphraseswithculturalconnotations.TheChineseandEnglishpeoplesmayhavethesameorsimilarconceptsforfigures,butbecauseoftheirculturaldiversities,theyusefiguresindifferentwayswithconnotativemeanings.

Inthe21stcentury,withtherapiddevelopmentofeconomicglobalization,culturalcommunicationandcooperationbetweennationsbecomemorefrequent,theresearchfieldofChineseandEnglishidiomscorrespondinglypresentsanewtendency.Theidiomscontainingfigures,asacrucialpartofidioms,havebecomethemainobjectforChineseandothernations’scholarstostudyearnestly.However,sincetheidiomscontainingfiguresarecharacterizedbytheirconciseexpressions,richandvividmeanings,andareoftenculturallyloaded,translatorsfinditagreatchallengetotranslatethembetweenChineseandEnglishforeveryfigurehasitsspecificconnotationsindifferentculturalbackgrounds.

ThisthesisattemptstosolvetheproblemofhowtotranslateChineseandEnglishidiomscontainingfiguresappropriately.Itconsistsof6chapters.ApartfromIntroductionandConclusion,itcontainsanoverviewofidioms,thedefinitionofidiomscontainingfigures,comparisonandanalysisofChineseandEnglishidiomscontainingfigures,andtranslationstrategiesofChineseandEnglishidiomscontainingfigures.Throughanoverviewofidioms,theauthormakesclearsomebasicconceptsofidiomsandalsoattachesimportancetothissubjectresearch.Theninthepartofexplainingthedefinitionofidiomscontainingfigures,theauthorintroducestherelationshipbetweenfiguresandidiomscontainingfiguresandalsogivesadefinitionofidiomscontainingfiguresbyresearchinganddiscussingthedefinitionsthatotherscholarshaveputforward.ThefollowingpartisthecomparisonandanalysisofChineseandEnglishidiomscontainingfigures.Theauthormainlyanalysesthefigures’connotativemeaningbothinChineseandWesterncultures,whichaimstofindouttheculturaldifferencesandmakeacomparisonbetweenChineseandEnglishidiomscontainingfigures.

TheanalysisandcomparisonwillbehelpfultoexplorethetranslationstrategiesofChineseandEnglishidiomscontainingfigures.Fortunately,theauthorfiguresoutsomestrategiesasthetheoreticalbasisofproblemsolving.Theauthorlistssomestrategiesandappliesthemtotheconcretetermsaccordingtotheirfeatures.Finally,bycomparingthedifferenttranslationstrategies,theauthorpresentshisownviewonthetranslationofChineseandEnglishidiomscontainingfiguresandofferssomeadvicetothelanguagelearners.Withtheguidanceoftheprincipleof“functionalequivalence,textualcorrespondence”,andtheauthor-and-reader-orientedprinciple,thetranslationofChineseandEnglishidiomscontainingfigureswilltakeonanewappearance.

2.AnOverviewofIdiom

“Idiomisagroupofwordsestablishedbyusageashavingameaningnotdeduciblefromthoseoftheindividualwords”,accordingtotheNewOxfordDictionaryofEnglish.Aspartofculture,idiomsplayanimportantroleinthedevelopmentoflanguage.Theycarryculturalfeatureandinformationofdifferentnations.Beingcharacterizedbytheirconciseexpressionsandsignificantmeanings,allidiomsderivefromtheirhistoricaloriginswithdistinctnationalfeaturesandarecloselyrelatedtogeographicalenvironment,historicalbackground,religiousbeliefs,socialcustomsandlivingconventions.Sotranslatorsshouldtaketheirculturalconnotationsandnationalcharacteristicsintoconsiderationwhentranslatingidioms.

2.1.TheHistoricalStudyofIdiom

Generallyspeaking,thestudyofidiomcanbedividedintothreestages.Asearlyasin1925,L.P.SmithpublishedthebooknamedWordsandIdioms,whichisregardedasthebeginningofidiomsresearch.Inthisbook,Smithdiscussedthesourcesandstructuresofidioms,andpointedoutthebasiccharacteristicsofidioms:

anidiomcanbedefinedasagroupofwordswithameaningofitsownthatisdifferentfromthemeaningsofeachseparatewordsputtogether.Hewrote,“Themeaningofanidiomisnon-literal;manyEnglishidiomsareusedas‘expressionsofdetermination,ofexasperation,andvituperation’,whichcontributestovocabularystudiesasbeingadescriptionofhowthepeculiargeniusofEnglishshowsitselfinitsidioms”.Besides,agoodpartofSmith’saccountofidiomsisdevotedtotheirclassificationonthebasisoftheirimagery.Fromthe1930sto1950s,onthebasisofStructuralismTheory,C.F.Hockettemphasizedtheimportanceofcontextunderstandingintheidioms’identificationandinterpretation,andexplainedtheunderlyingstructureandsemanticfeaturesofidioms,whichbegantostandardizethedefinitionofidioms.In1960s,influencedbytheGenerativeGrammarTheoryofChomsky,thestudyofidiomsreachedanimpasse,butneverstopped.NotuntilB.Fraser,arepresentativelinguists,putforwardtheFrozennessHierarchyTheory,inwhichheadmittedthatidiomsareinfixedexpressiondidthistendencyfinditsoutlet,butB.Fraserthoughttherestillexiststransformationalpotential.Thus,thestudyofidiomscameintopublicnoticeagain.Sincethe1980s,thestudyofidiomshasenteredanewstage.Linguistsbegintoopenupthefunctionalapproachofidiomsinrelationsenvironment,exploringtherolethatidiomsplayincommunicationactivities,whichmakesthestudyofidiomsmorepractical.Amongalltheachievements,themostprominentonebelongstoC.Fernando’s,anAustralianlinguist,whowrotethebooknamedIdiomsandIdiomaticity.Inrecentyears,agrowingnumberofscholarshavebeguntostudytheformationofidiomsfromtheperspectiveofculturalbackgrounds.Nida（1993）everwrote,“Cultureknowledgehasafar-reachingimpactonthestudyofidiomsandtheirmeanings.Wewillfailtounderstandtheprofoundmeaningofidiomsifwedon’ttaketheculturalbackgroundsseriously”.Therefore,wemustfocusonitsculturalconnotationswhilelearningalanguage.

2.2.TheStructureandFeaturesofIdiom

Idiomsareofspeciallanguageforms.Theyhaveasinglesemanticunit,structuralinstitutionalizationandirreplaceability.MorespecificallyelaboratedbyMcMordie,“Generally,theidiomcannotbechangedatwill;anywordintheidiomcannotbereplacedbyitssynonyms,andlittledoesthewordordercanbechanged;anychangeinthewordingandcollocationwilldestroytheidiom,ormaymakeitnosense”.FromMcMordie’spointofview,wecanseethatanidiomhasitsownstructuralandsemanticfeatures.

Idiomsarecharacterizedbytheirstructuralstability.Anidiom,composedofagroupofwords,isasetphrase.Thestructureofanidiomisalwaysfixed,andthewordsinitcannotbedepartedorseparatedatwill.Becauseofitsstructuralinvariability,anidiomallowsnovariationinformundernormalcircumstances.Aspeakerorwritercannotnormallydoanyofthefollowingwithanidiom:

1.changetheorderofthewordsinit,（e.g.*‘theshortandthelongofit’）;2.deleteawordfromit（e.g.*‘spillbeans’）;3.addawordtoit（e.g.*‘theverylongandshortofit’;*‘facetheclassicalmusic’）;4.replaceawordwithanother（e.g.*‘thetallandtheshortofit’;*‘buryahatchet’）;5.changeitsgrammaticalstructure（e.g.*‘themusicwasfaced’）.Allidiomsarenotgrammaticallyregular.Therefore,theidiom“facethemusic”cannotbechangedinto“themusicwasfaced”,whichhaschangeditsgrammaticalstructure.

Semanticunityisanotherfeatureofidioms.Themeaningofanidiomisacompleteandinseparableunit,whichshouldbelearnedasawhole.Thatistosay,anidiomcanbedefinedasagroupofwordswithameaningofitsownthatisdifferentfromthemeaningsofeachseparatewordsputtogether.Thesemanticunityofanidiomderivesfromthetransferredmeaning,whichreferstothefigurativemeaningandassociativemeaning.Nowthatmostfigurativemeaningandassociativemeaningofanidiomarenottransparent,andsomeevenlosetheinitialmeaningofthewords,aspeakerorwritercannotgetthemeaningofanidiomjustfromthemeaningofeachwordinit.

Thestructuralstabilityandsemanticunityarethemostimportantfeaturesofidioms,bothofwhichcanbetakenasidiomaticity.Thisisthebasi