从中英文化差异谈英语隐喻的汉译.docx

从中英文化差异谈英语隐喻的汉译.docx

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从中英文化差异谈英语隐喻的汉译

从中英文化差异谈英语隐喻的汉译

[Abstract]Inrecentyears,moreandmorescholarshavemaderesearchesonmetaphorandan“upsurgeofmetaphor”hasbeenformedgraduallyinmodernsociety.Thestudiesonmetaphorinforeigncountrieshavedevelopedacompletesystem,whichistypicallyrepresentedbyGeorgeLakeoffandMarkJohnson.AndthestudiesonmetaphorinChinaarealsoinfluencedbythetwo.However,ifsurveyingtheseresearchachievements,wewilleasilyfindthatfewofthemstudythetranslationofmetaphorfromEnglishintoChinese.Moreover,mosttraditionaltheoristsbelievethatmetaphorisonlyafigureofspeechandbelongstothecategoryoflinguistics.Butinfact,metaphorisnotonlyalinguisticphenomenon,butalsoaculturalandcognitivephenomenon.ThisthesisbreakstheserestrictionsandtrytoresearchintothetranslationofmetaphorfromEnglishintoChinesefromtheperspectiveofculturaldifferencesbetweenChineseandEnglish.Thewholethesisisdividedintofiveparts.Thefirstpartisanintroduction.Basedonthenewbeliefthatmetaphorisaculturalandcognitivephenomenon,thispartstatesthesignificanceofstudyingmetaphorfromtheculturalperspective.Thesecondpartfocusesontheanalysisofthecloseinterrelationsbetweenlanguage,cultureandtranslation.Thethirdpartintroducessomemajorfactorsaboutmetaphor,suchasitsdefinitions,characteristicsandclassification.ThefourthpartemphaticallyillustratestheapproachestothetranslationofmetaphorfromEnglishintoChineseintermsofdifferentcorrespondingrelationsbetweenChineseandEnglish.Thelastpartsummarizesthemainpointsofthisthesis.

[KeyWords]metaphor;translation;culturaldifferences;culturalconnotations;correspondingrelation

【摘要】近年来，越来越多的学者对隐喻进行了研究，在现代社会逐渐形成了一股“隐喻热”。

对隐喻的研究在国外已形成较为完整的体系，其中以GeorgeLakeoff和MarkJohnson的研究最具有代表性。

国内对隐喻的研究也主要受这两个人的影响。

而纵观这些研究成果，我们不难发现，很少有对英语隐喻汉译的研究，而且大多数传统的理论家认为隐喻仅仅是一种修辞格，属于语言学的范畴。

但是事实上，隐喻不仅是一种语言现象，也是一种文化现象、认知现象。

本论文克服了这些局限，试图从中英文化差异的角度来研究英语隐喻的汉译。

整篇论文分为五个部分。

第一部分是导入。

该部分立足于认为隐喻是一种文化和认知现象这一新观点，阐明了从文化角度对隐喻进行研究的意义。

第二部分重点分析了语言、文化与翻译之间的密切关系。

第三部分介绍了隐喻的一些要素，如隐喻的定义，特征及分类。

第四部分根据不同的英汉对应关系，着重阐述了英语隐喻的汉译方法。

最后一部分总结了此论文的一些要点。

【关键词】隐喻；翻译；文化差异；文化内涵；对应关系

1.Introduction

  Onseeingthetitleofthisthesis,thereadermayeasilyfindoutthreekeywords:

translation,metaphor,andculturaldifferences.Intheviewofmostpeople,metaphorbelongstothecategoryoflanguage,butasweknowthatlanguagehasverycloseconnectionwithtranslationandculture.AsProfessorWangZuoliang,amasteroftranslation,pointedout,translationinvolveslanguageaswellasculture.[1]Translationisnotmerelyataskofreplacingonelanguagewithanother,butalsoneedstohaveagoodcommandofthetwodifferentculturesrepresentedbythetwodifferentlanguages.Whenweconcentrateontranslationstudies,weshouldattachgreatimportancetobothlanguageandculture.

   Overthepasttwodecades,translationstudieshaveassumedasoundmomentumofadvancement,andculture,asanindispensablefactorintranslation,becomesincreasinglyimportant.Throughthoroughanalysis,wecanfindthattherearetwotendenciesintoday’sdevelopmentoftranslationstudies:

firstly,translationstudieshavebeenmoreandmoreintegratedwithcommunicationtheories;secondly,thefocusoftranslationhasbeenshiftedfromlinguistictransfertoculturaltransfer.Basedonthesetwotendencies,manyscholarsengagedintranslationstudiesagreewiththeideathattranslationisanactofinterculturalcommunication.

       Sincetranslationinvolvestwolanguagesandtwocultures,andindifferentculturalbackgrounds,therearedifferentlanguages.BothChineseandEnglisharegreatpeopleswithlonghistoryandrichculturalresources,andnaturallycolorfullanguages.Metaphor,asacategoryoflanguage,isacommonlinguisticphenomenoninbothChineseandEnglish,butmetaphorsinthesetwodifferentculturalbackgroundshavegreatdifferences.

       Metaphordoesn’texistonthebirthofhuman.Withtheadvancementofhumancivilization,thelinguisticcompetenceofourancestorshadbeengreatlystrengthened.Theygraduallyacquiredthecapabilitytoexpresstheirideasthroughassociation.Inthisway,metaphor——oneofthemostimportantmeansofexpressioninhumanlanguagecameintobeing.Asthefoundationofmankind’sconceptualsystem,metaphoristhecommonfeatureofhumanlanguage.Ifthereisnometaphorinourlanguage,itwillbeveryhardforustoclearlyandvividlyexpressourideas,letalongsmoothandsuccessfulcommunication.[2]Traditionaltheoristsviewedmetaphorsimplyasanimportantstylisticdeviceofthepoeticimaginationandrhetoricalflourish,moreoveramatterofwordsratherthanthoughtoraction,butinfact,“metaphorispervasiveineverydaylife,notjustinlanguagebutalsointhoughtandaction.”[3]Ourordinaryconceptualsystem,intermsofwhichweboththinkandact,isfundamentallymetaphoricalinnature.JustasI.A.Richardscontends,“alllanguageandthoughtaremetaphorical,andmetaphoristhe‘omnipresentprincipleoflanguage’.”[4]

       Fromtheimportanceofmetaphor,wecanseethattranslationofmetaphorhasgreatsignificancetotheculturaltranslation.PeterNewmarkhasstatedinApproachestoTranslationthatmetaphorisatthecenterofallproblemsoftranslationtheory,semanticsandlinguistics.[5]EspeciallyinEnglish,thereareagreatnumberofmetaphors.Ithadbeensaidthatthree-quartersoftheEnglishlanguageconsistsofmetaphors.InordertomasterEnglishandsuccessfullycompletethetaskoftranslationfromEnglishintoChinese,successfultranslationofEnglishmetaphorisessential.Therefore,inthispaper,theauthorattemptstodiscusstheproblemoftranslationofmetaphorfromEnglishintoChinesefromtheculturalperspectiveindetail.

       Asfarastranslationtheoryisconcerned,thispaperadoptsEugeneA.Nida’sfunctionaltheory,i.e.“FunctionalEquivalence”:

theresponseofthereceptorstothetranslatedmessage=theresponseoftheoriginalreceptorstothemessagewhenitwasgiveninitsoriginalsetting.[6]Fromthispoint,weknowthatfortrulysuccessfultranslation,biculturalismisasimportantasbilingualism,andevenmoreimportantattimes.

2.Cultureandtranslation

2.1Culture

  “Whatisculture?

”isaverydifficultquestion,becausecultureissuchacomplexconceptionandanenormoussubjectthatitisextremelyhardforpeopletogiveanexactdefinitiontoit.OneoftheoldestandmostquoteddefinitionsofculturewasformulatedbytheEnglishanthropologistSirEdwardBurnettTylorinPrimitiveCultures（1871）.“Hedefinedcultureas‘acomplexwholewhichincludesknowledge,belief,art,law,morals,customsandanyothercapabilitiesandhabitsacquiredbymanasamemberofsociety’.”[7]

      Althoughcultureisverycomplicated,wecanroughlyclassifyitintothreecategoriesinscope:

（a）materialculturewhichreferstoalltheproductsofmanufacture;（b）institutedculturewhichreferstosocialsystem,religioussystem,ritualsystem,educatedsystemandkinshipsystemetc;（c）mentalculturewhichreferstopeople’smentalitiesandbehaviors,theirbeliefs,perceptions,conceptsofvalue,thoughtpatternsetc,

      Intheviewofmostanthropologists,culturepossessesthefollowingfeatures:

（a）cultureissociallyacquiredinsteadofbiologicallytransmitted;（b）cultureissharedamongthemembersofacommunityinsteadofbeinguniquetoanindividual;（c）cultureissymbolic.Languageisthemosttypicalsymbolicsystemwithinculture;（d）cultureisintegrated.Eachaspectofcultureistiedinwiththeotheraspects.[8]

  Sincelanguagesymbolizesandreflectsculture,languagecommunicationisactuallyakindofculturalcommunicationandthecommunicationbetweendifferentlanguagesisindeedcommunicationbetweendifferentcultures.Fromthisperspective,thetranslationoflanguageisessentiallythetranslationofculture,andtranslationstudiesshouldbeconductedinthecontextofculture.Inthenextsection,theauthorisgoingtodiscusstheinterrelationsbetweenlanguage,cultureandtranslation.

2.2Language,cultureandtranslation

  Nobodywillsuspectthecloseinterrelationsbetweenlanguageandculture.Alanguagemaybeasmallbutindispensablepartofaculture.Therelationbetweenlanguageandcultureismutuallycauseandeffect.Theypenetrateintoeachotherandcannotexistwithouteachother.Cultureembracesandinfluenceslanguage.Intheprocessofcommunication,themeaningoflanguageisusuallydeterminedbyitsculturalcontext.Ontheotherside,languageistheimportantconstituentofcultureanditisalsoanessentialtoolforthereservation,communicationandreflectionofculture.[9]Inasense,languagecarriesculture,mirrorsculture,spreadscultureandhelpsdevelopculture.Itisnoexaggerationtosaythatlanguageisthelifebloodofcultureandcultureisthetrackalongwhichlanguageformsanddevelops.

   Justbecauseofthecloserelationbetweenlanguageandculture,wehavetopayattentiontotheculturalcontextwhenweresearchintolanguage.Accordingtolinguistics,theoriginofhumanlanguageisalwaysconnectedwiththeoriginofhumanandhumansociety.Therefore,ifweneedtounderstandcertainlanguageandthelawsofitsdevelopment,wemustcloselyrelateittothehistoryofsocialdevelopmentofthislanguageandtothepeopleusingitanditshistory.Theexistenceofculturecannotdepartwithitscertainculturalcontext.[10]

       Asfortherelationbetweencultureandtranslation,theauthorhasmentionedabove.Translationis,inessence,anactofinterculturalcommunication,andthetranslat