On English Translation of Proverbs浅谈英语谚语翻译.docx

On English Translation of Proverbs浅谈英语谚语翻译.docx

《On English Translation of Proverbs浅谈英语谚语翻译.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《On English Translation of Proverbs浅谈英语谚语翻译.docx（11页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

OnEnglishTranslationofProverbs浅谈英语谚语翻译

浅析英文谚语翻译

OnEnglishTranslationofProverbs

Abstract

Becauseofthedifferencesofreligiousbeliefs,habitsandcustoms,fablesandmyth,andcultureandart,EnglishproverbsandChineseproverbscarryonthedifferentnationalculturalcharacteristicsandinformation.Proverbsarecloselylinkedwithculturaltraditionandtheyareinseparable.Theculturalelementsofproverbscausethedifficultyoftranslationofproverb.Thisthesisistryingtomakesomeexplorationabouttheproverb,anditstranslation.

Keywords:

category；translationmethod;culturecontrast

摘要

由于不同的宗教信仰、风俗习惯、寓言神话以及文学艺术诸多方面的差异，英、汉谚语承载着不同的民族文化特色和不同的文化信息。

他们与文化传统紧密相连，不可分割。

言语中的文化因素构成了翻译中的困难。

直译，意译，或者直译与意译相结合，则要根据具体的语言环境来定。

本文通过对英文谚语的分类和对中西文化的对比，就英语谚语及其翻译做一些探索。

关键词：

谚语分类；翻译方法；文化对比

Contents

Abstracti

摘要ii

Introduction1

1WhatisProverb?

1

1.1TheDefinitionofProverb1

1.2TheCategoriesofProverb2

1.2.1FromProductionExperiences2

1.2.2FromLifeExperiences2

1.2.3FromMasterpiecesandMottos3

1.2.4FromtheBible3

1.2.5ToConveytheTruth3

1.2.6LoanProverb4

2ThecomparisonofChineseandEnglishproverb5

2.1SubauditionofProverb5

2.2Religion6

2.3Values6

2.4HistoryandCulture7

3Methodsofproverbstranslation7

3.1LiteralTranslation8

3.2FreeTranslation9

3.2.1FreeTranslationindifferentEnglishandChineseproverbs9

3.2.2FreetranslationinsimilarproverbsinEnglishandChinese10

3.3CombinationofLiteralandFreeTranslation10

4Conclusion11

Bibliography12

Acknowledgements13

Introduction

Proverbisashortpithysayinginfrequentandwidespreadusethatexpressesabasictruthorpracticalprecept.Proverbisatreasureofliteraturewhichcomesfrompeople’sdailylife.Itsparkleswiththewisdomofhuman’sthoughtsandexperiencesfromtheancienttimestothemoderntimes.What’smore,ithasenrichedthelanguagesoflotsofcountries.Inaword,proverbisaslivelyaspoem,assteadyasessayandasterseasidiom.

Sincethedifferencesonhistory,religionandcustom,theproverbconnectswithitsownculturesteadilyandcarriestheuniqueinformationandfeatureineachlanguage.WhentranslatingEnglishproverbs,theattentionshouldbepaidtodelivertheexactmeaning,meanwhilethelanguagecharacterhasalsotobeconcerned.ThoughEnglishandChinesearetotallytwodifferentlanguages,buttheyhavemuchincommononproverb,forinstant,proverbsintwolanguagesarebothsimpleandalive;mostofthemrhymewithtidystructuresandvividmetaphor.Ontheotherhand,ProverbiskindsofreflectionofculturethatconveythefeaturesofacountryaswellasthetranslationofEnglishproverb.Asweknow,thebothtwolanguageshavecenturies-oldhistory,religionandliterature.SoproverbslearningcanbeagoodwaytounderstandEnglish-speakingcountries.

Mr.ZhuGuangqiansays:

“Themostdifficulttounderstandandtranslateaboutforeignliteratureistheassociatedmeaning”,“Ithasthespecificemotionalatmosphere,quitedeepanddelicate;youmaynotfinditinthedictionary,butitisveryimportanttoliterature.Ifwedon’tknowthehabitsandcustomsaswellastheculturalhistoricbackground,we’llbeatsea,especiallywhenwetranslatetheassociatedmeaning.”Byanalyzingthesortofproverb,onecanunderstandthefeatures,subaudiencesandalsotheauthorcategorizesproverbintoseveralsections,fromgeography,custom,andculturetocomparethedifferencesbetweenChineseandEnglishproverbs.Throughthestudyofproverb,goodunderstandingmaybewellappliedtothetranslationofproverbs.Asforthemethodsoftranslation,suchasliteraltranslation,freetranslation,orthecombinationoftwowaysoftranslationwhichdependonthefeaturesoflanguageandculturalbackgroundoftheproverbs.

1WhatisProverb?

1.1TheDefinitionofProverb

“Aproverbisabrieffamiliarmaximoffolkwisdom,usuallycompressedinform,ofteninvolvingaboldimageandfrequentlyajinglethatcatchesthememory.”（NY:

Longman,1976:

889）“Aproverbisashortsaying incommonusethatstrikinglyexpressessomeobvioustruthorfamiliarexperience.”（NY:

MacmillanGeneralreference,1988:

1083）Soproverbisconsideredasapopularshortsayingwithwordsofadviceorwarningwhichiscreatedamongpeopleasagreatintellectualachievementfromtheirunderstandingofthenatureandsociety.Proverbiscommononstyle,neatonstructure,vividonlanguageandprofoundonmeaning.“Proverbisthedaughterofdailyexperience.”“Aproverbismuchmatterdecoctedintofewwords.”（JinHuikang,2004:

421）Asalegacyofancestors,proverbcontainstheexperiencesthattheancestorshaveconcludedorthewisdomsoftruth.

Fromthedefinitionsabovewemayfindoutthatproverbisageneraltruthandgivesadviceandwarningwhichinvolvesaboldimage,musicalrhymeorcompressedformandbringsrealityandvividnesstothereadersandsotheyareeasytomemorize.

1.2TheCategoriesofProverb

Proverbcanbeseenasabrillianttreasuretoaculture,itreflectseveryaspectofonesociety.However,suchmanyproverbscanbedividedintocategories.

1.2.1FromProductionExperiences

Languagedevelopsalongwiththesocietyaswellastheproverb.LotsofEnglishproverbsarecreatedbyfarmersfromthepredictionoftheagriculturalproductionandtheweathersincetheytiesupwiththecropsandweather.Theseproverbsaretheexperiencesoftheiryearsoffarmingwhichiscloselyrelatedtothereharvestandhappiness,sotheyknowsthemverywell.

Forexample:

WhenAprilblowsitshorn,it’sgoodbothforhayandcorn.（四月打雷，谷草成堆）

Itneverrainsbutitpours.（不雨则已，一雨倾盆）

Makehaywhilethesunshines.（晒草要趁晴天）

Ayearofsnow,ayearofplenty.（瑞雪兆丰年）

Hethatbytheploughwouldthrive,himselfmusteitherholdordrive.（想要种地发家，就得扶犁赶马）

1.2.2FromLifeExperiences

Thereareakindofproverbsthatembodiesthehappiness,joy,tearsandpain.Someareevenbloody:

Howsharperthanaserpent’stoothitistohaveathanklesschild（逆子无情甚于蛇蝎）.Thisisaproverbthataheartbrokenfatherdescribeshisviciousson.Wecanimaginetheevilfaceofthesonandthepoorparentswhoareleftunattendedwithoutcare,waitingfordeath.Warisdeath’sfeast（战争是死亡的宴席）.Inallages,warisallaboutdeaths,brokenfamilies.Isn’tthewarisexactlyafeastofdeath?

Hethattaughtthemalltheirtrickskeptoneforhimself（教人百艺留一艺）.Thisonemaybeconcludedfromtherealstoryoftheungratefulstudentwhobetrayedhisownteacher.

1.2.3FromMasterpiecesandMottos

BritainisanoldEuropeancountryaffectedbyancientRomeandGreeceandfamousofherachievementonliterature.Themottosarewidelyreadbypeoplefromallovertheworld;Shakespeareisoneofthemostfamouswriters.Peoplehavesummarizedmanyproverbsfromhismasterpieces.

Brevityisthesoulofwit.（简洁是智慧的灵魂）-Hamlet

Oneswallowdoesnotmakeasummer.（只燕不成夏）

Lendyourmoneyandloseyourfriend.（钱财借出，友谊丧失）-Hamlet

Somebooksaretobetasted,otherstobeswallowed,andsomefewtobechewedanddigested.（一些书可以品味，另外一些可以吞食，少数一些书可以咀嚼和消化）

1.2.4FromtheBible

BritainisaChristiancountryreinedbythearchyaswellastheKingforalongperiodinthehistory.ForthisreasonthereareplentyofEnglishproverbsderivedfromtheBible.Aneyeforaneye,atoothforatooth.（以牙还牙,以眼还眼）.ThisproverbisaquotationfromExodus21:

23-27inwhichapersonwhohastakentheeyeofanotherinafightisinstructedtogivehisowneyeincompensation.Freelyyouhavereceived,freelygive.（白白的得来，也要白白的舍去）.ThisoneisaquotationfromMatthew10:

8.Itmeansthatoneshouldletthefreethingsgosinceheneverpaysforthem.

Therearemoreexamples:

Whoeverdigsapitmayfallintoit.151　Whoeverdigsap（挖陷坑的，自己必掉在其中）

Whoeverquarriesstonesmaybeinjuredbythem;whoeversplitslogsmaybeendangeredbythem.（凿开石头的，必受损伤；擘开木头的，必遭危险）

Morestrengthisneededbutskillwillbringsuccess.　　　挖陷坑的，自己必掉在其中。

－－《（得智慧指教，便有益处）

1.2.5ToConveytheTruth

Bytheformingofthecivilizationandthesocietypeoplestruggleagainstthenatureaswellasthepeoplethemselves.Graduallysomeprinciplesareacceptedbythemassesandthoseprinciplesspreadfarandwidesothatmoreandmorepeopleacknowledgethemasthetruth.Wherethereisawill,thereisaway.（有志者事竟成）ItisoneofthemostfamousEnglishproverbswhichencouragespeoplenottoloosefaithsincethestrongwillleadsonetosuccess.Ifyouhavetheinclinationanddeterminationforsomething,youwillalwaysbeabletofindawaytowardthegoal.Thereisnothinghopelessorimpossibleifyouareresoluteenough.Theproverbhasbecomeanacceptedwisdomforitsspread.（MartinHManser,2002:

277）

Therearemoreexamples:

Amother’sloveneverchanges.（母爱永不变）

Honestypays.（诚实必有好报）

Timeismoney.（时间就是金钱）

Historyrepeatsitself.（历史往往重演）

Cheatsneverprosper.（骗人发不了财）

1.2.6LoanProverb

Britainisacountrywithdevelopednavigationtechnologyfromofoldanditfrequentlyconnectswithothercontinentandcountries.LatinusedtobepopularinEnglandandFrenchwasoncetheofficiallanguageofEngland.Therefore,thereareafewproverbsfromLatinandotherlanguageswhichreservetheirthoughtsandwisdoms.

Nothingcomesfromnothing.（无风不起浪）–Latinproverb

Putthecartbeforethehorse.（本末倒置）–Frenchproverb

Artislong,lifeisshort.（艺术永存，生命短暂）–Latinproverb

Burntbairnsdreadthefire.（一朝被蛇咬三年怕井绳）–Russianproverb

Appetitecomeswitheating.（胃口越吃越大）–Frenchproverb

2ThecomparisonofChineseandEnglishproverb

2.1SubauditionofProverb

Someproverbshaveasubaudition,connotativeandprofound.Ifwetranslatethemliterallyandignoretheoriginalmeanings