隐喻的文化内涵及其翻译英语论文.docx

隐喻的文化内涵及其翻译英语论文.docx

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隐喻的文化内涵及其翻译英语论文

Contents

考虑到内容还要修改，没有对目录，页码等等进行排版，论文确实写得不好，还要经多次修改，还希望老师能多提修改意见，我尽量改正，谢谢！

Abstract4

1.Introduction5

2CulturalConnotationofMetaphor5

2.1Definitionofmetaphor5

2.3Sameimages,differentsense7

2.4Differentimage,similarsense8

3MetaphorTranslation8

3.1.Difficultiesofmetaphortranslation9

3.2thebasicprincipalofmetaphortranslation9

3.3correspondingmethods9

3.3.1Literaltranslation9

3.3.2Conversionorreplacement10

3.3.3Freetranslation11

4Conclusion11

Acknowledgments14

CulturalConnotationsandTranslationofMetaphor

Author:

CHENShiwen

Supervisor:

CAOHui,Professor

（CollegeofForeignLanguages,ShandongAgriculturalUniversity,Tai’an271018）

Abstract:

MetaphoriswidelyusedinbothChineseandEnglish.Fromthetraditionalmethodofmetaphorstudyconfinedtothefieldofrhetorictothenewstudymethodinthecognitivepointofview,peoplearegettingdeeperrecognitionofmetaphorthroughoutthelonghistory.Metaphorisnotmerelyanimportantfigureofspeech,butisalsoathinkingmodeandameanofcognition.Duetothefactthateachonehasthesimilarordissimilarmodeofthinkinginrelationtootherones,themetaphoricallanguageusedbythispeoplemustbefullysaturatedwithculturalconnotations.Soundertheinfluenceofculture,thetranslationofmetaphorsbecomesthemostimportantanddifficultproblem.Thisthesisattemptstoprobeintotheconnotationsandtranslationofmetaphoronthebaseofintroducingthedefinitionofmetaphorandalsothedifficultiesandimportanceofitstranslationinhopethatitwilldosomethinggoodforthestudyontheculturalconnotationanditstranslationstrategiesofmetaphor.

KeyWords:

metaphor;culturalconnotation;translation

隐喻的文化内涵及其翻译

摘要：

隐喻在英汉语言中的应用很普遍，从传统的仅仅限于修辞学到后来的从认知角度研究隐喻，在漫长的历史中，人们对隐喻的认识正在不断加深。

隐喻不仅是一种语言现象，更是一种思维方式和认知手段。

由于英汉思维方式的有所异同，因而隐喻的使用便可以折射出中西方两种不同的文化内涵。

正因如此，隐喻的翻译就成为翻译中很复杂的问题。

本文在介绍隐喻的定义及其翻译的困难所在及重要性的基础上，深入探讨了隐喻的三方面的文化内涵，并对应的提出了相应的翻译对策，希望对关于隐喻的文化内涵及其翻译理论的研究有所帮助。

关键词：

隐喻；文化内涵；翻译

1.Introduction

Traditionalresearchersheldthatmetaphorisapurelylinguisticphenomenon,andthatitsmainfunctionistoflourishlanguages.Inthe20thcenturythatpeopleboldlybrokethroughthetraditionalideasandbegantoprobedeeperintothenatureofmetaphor.Contemporaryresearchershavefoundthatmetaphortranslationisnotonlyalinguisticactivity,butalsoacognitiveactivityofunderstandingandexperiencingonekindofthingintermsofanother.Languageactuallybecomestheimageofcultureandtranslationistheinstrumentforculturalexchange.thereisnoaspectofliferemainsyettobeuntouchedbymetaphors.Metaphorsareheavilyculture-loaded,andwecanlearnaboutculturalgeneralityandculturalpeculiaritythroughanalyzingandcomparingthecorrespondingsimilarityanddifferenceoftheimagesandsensesinmetaphorsinChineseandEnglishculture.Thus,wecananalyzeimageandsenseofEnglishmetaphorsandChineseonesfromthefollowingthreeaspectstofindouttheirculturalgeneralityandculturaldifferences.Thatis:

（1）sameimage,similarsense;

（2）sameimage,differentsense;（3）differentimage,similarsense.ThefirstofthemembodiestheculturaluniversalitybetweenChineseandEnglishwhiletheotherstheculturaldifferences.

Howtotranslatethecultural-loadedmetaphorbecometheproblem.Thisthesisattemptstoprobeintothetranslationofmetaphoraccordingtothethreeclassificationsreferredabove.Therefore,thecorrespondingmethodswillbe:

（1）literaltranslation,

（2）conversion,（3）freetranslation.Thefirstmethodispropitioustothefirstaspect,thesecondtothesecondandthethirdaspect.Freetranslation,however,canbeappliedonlywhentheothertwomethodsarequitedifficultorevenimpossibleforaprecisetranslation.Thesemethodsarestillfarlesssufficientforprecisemetaphortranslation.Itremainstoberesolvedbymoreenthusiasticresearchersinthecomingyears.

2CulturalConnotationofMetaphor

Tocomprehendmetaphorconnotation,firstlyweshouldmakeclearthedefinitionofmetaphorandthenwecananalysesitbyacertainclassification,forexample,bythecorrespondinggeneralityandculturaldifferencesbetweenimageandthesensesitrepresents.

2.1Definitionofmetaphor

Metaphor,acommonrhetoricdeviceinbothChineseandEnglishcoveringallaspectsofoursociallife,languageandculture,politicsandreligions,scienceandtechnologyisnotonlyaformoflanguageinourdailylifebutalsoabasicmodeofthinkingandbehaviorIntheWest,itwasAristotlewhofirstlydiscussedaboutwhatmetaphorreferstoalthoughhisdefinitionisquitenarrow.NowadaysEnglishdictionariesgivedifferentbutmorebroaddefinitionssuchasfollowing:

a.Awayofdescribingsomethingbycomparingittosomethingelsethathassimilarqualities,withoutusingtheword‘like’or‘as’（LongmanDictionaryOfContemporaryEnglish，2005.）

b.Thefigureofspeechinwhichanameordescriptivetermistransferredtosomeobjectdifferentfrom,butanalogousto,thattowhichitisproperlyapplicable（EnglishDictionary,SecondEdition,2002.）

InChinahowever,asearlyasWarringStatesperiod（403-221B.C.）,Mo-tse,anancientChinesephilosopher,madethefirstdefinitionaboutfiguresofspeech“辟（譬）也者，举也（他）物而以明之也”.ThedefinitiongiveninCiHai（《辞海》）runs:

隐喻:

比喻的一种，本体和喻体的关系，比之明喻更为紧切。

本体和喻体之间一般要用“是”、“成为”等比喻词.

Havingcomparedthedifferentdefinitions,IwouldliketoquotePeterNewmark’swordasasummary:

"thetransferredsenseofaphysicalword,thepersonificationofanabstraction,theapplicationofawordorcollocationtowhatitdoesnotliterallydenote,i.e.,todescribeonethingintermsofanother"（NewMark,2001:

104）.

Asisknowntoall,thereexistsimilaritiesanddissimilaritiesbetweendifferentculturesnomatterhowfarthedistancethatseparatestheculturalbackgroundofsourcetextandtargetaudienceintermsoftimeandplace,inotherwords,comparedtoculturesofothernations,eachnationhasitsownculturalpeculiarityaswellasitsculturaluniversality.Concerningtheproblemofhowtoanalyzeandcompareculturalgeneralityandculturalpeculiarity,wecananalyzeimagesandsenseofEnglishmetaphorsandChineseonesfromthefollowingthreeaspectstofindouttheirculturalgeneralityandculturaldifferences.HerethefirstofthefollowingrelationshipsembodiestheculturaluniversalitybetweenChineseandEnglishwhiletheotherstheculturaldifferences.Theyareasfollows:

1.Sameimage,similarsense;

2.sameimage,differentsense;

3.differentimage,similarsense.

2.2Sameimage,similarsense.

Althougheachnationhasitsuniqueculturalbackgrounds,traditionsandcustomsandmodeofthinkingetc.,manitself,alongwiththeexteriorconditionsitlivesby,suchasecologicalenvironmentsorclimateconditionhavesomethingincommon.Basedonthesamecognitiveexperience,peoplefromeverynationhaveachievedtheuniversalunderstandingofhumanitselfandtheirexternallivingsurroundings;andtheirmentalmechanismtoacceptmetaphorsisbyandlargesimilar.Forexample,头（head）hasthesameextendedsenseof领袖（leader）,统治者（governor）and首长地位（leadingpositionetc.）inbothlanguages.InEnglish,headofState国家元首；theheadworkman工头；theheadwaiter服务员领班。

InChinese,头人tribalchief;头领header;头目chieftain;出人头地overtheheadsofothersetc..Let'slookatsomeexamples:

（1）papertiger纸老虎

（2）tostrikewhiletheironishot趁热打铁;（3）fatoffice肥缺;（4）one-manshow独角戏.Theseexamplesillustratethatmetaphorspartlyembodytheuniversal"core"betweenEnglishandChineseortheOccidentalandOrientalcultures,especiallyintheaspectofnaturalphenomena.Thereasonforthisisthatthenaturedoesnotkeepchanging;forinstance,thesunalwaysrisesintheeastandsetsinthewest.Andmoreimportantly,thelawandruleofthenaturalphenomenaareforeverinternal,sodifferentpeoplesoftenadoptthenaturalphenomenaasthesameimagetocreatesimilarmetaphoricalsenses,althoughtheconcretecontextsofsituationinwhichpeopleusemaybedifferent.Therefore,thereindeedaremanycompletelycorrespondenceoftheimageandthesenseinChineseandEnglish.Let'scomparethefollowingmetaphors:

（1）nominalmetaphor

A.chainreaction连锁反应

B.Shadowcabinet影子内阁

C.athunderofapplause雷鸣般的掌声

（2）verbalmetaphor

A.Toleadawolfintothehouse引狼入室

B.Toseethroughataglance一眼看穿

C.Togivesomebodygreenlight给某人开绿灯

Obviously,these‘global'imagesdonotbringaboutanymisunderstandingsbetweendifferentpeoplesdespitetheirdifferentecologicalsurroundings.Theabove-mentionedmetaphorsare,culturallyspeaking,referredtoas"culturalOverlap（文化重合现象）"（郭建中，1999:

332）orculturalgenerality.Itisjustthisculturaloverlapthatmakesthecommunicationacrosscultureseasy.

2.3Sameimages,differentsense

Withthegreatdifferenceofevolutionaryhistory,habitatenvironment,religion,thinkingmodebetweendifferentnations,differentnationsformedtheiruniqueculture.Asaresult,thesameimagemayprobablyhaveadifferentconnotationorsensesindiversecultures.Whenusingmetaphors,ChineseandEnglishpeopleoftenadoptthesameimagestosignifydifferentsenses,which,asaresult,reflectthedifferencesintheirtraditionalideas.

Colorshavedifferentassociationsindifferentlanguagesorcustoms.Forexample,blueisoftenassociatedwithdepressionorribaldryinWesternculture.InChineseculture,itrepresentssolemnnessandgrandeur,whileribaldryisrepresentedbythecolorofyellow.Greenisoftenusedinwesterncultureandisoftenassociatedwithjealousy,fresh-handorinexperiencedpeople,whileinChinese,itoftenreferrerstos