A brief comparative study of the cultures embodied in Chinese and English idioms.docx

A brief comparative study of the cultures embodied in Chinese and English idioms.docx

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AbriefcomparativestudyoftheculturesembodiedinChineseandEnglishidioms

AbriefcomparativestudyoftheculturesembodiedinChineseandEnglishidioms

从文化角度看习语翻译

【摘要】习语是语言文化的结晶，缺少了习语，语言将会变得索然无味。

习语在语言中的应用比比皆是，在写作或演说中适当地使用习语将会使篇章增色，加强语言的力量使语言更形象。

奈达曾说过，习语是比任何非习语更具冲击力的表达，它带有一种语言和文化的识别特征。

习语被广泛应用于各类写作和演说中，如在文学作品中，在科学着作中，在政治演说中，甚至在美国,习语都成为辩论中唇枪舌战的武器。

美国第16届总统亚伯拉罕·林肯在他一篇着名演说中引用了圣经里的一句话：

“互相分裂的房子无法站立。

”来号召美国人民团结一致反对黑奴制度，停止内战。

美国人对圣经的内容都很熟悉，他们为此深受感动。

林肯废奴运动也取得了很好的结果。

既然习语在语言运用中有如此重要地位，那么恰到好处地翻译习语将有助于跨文化交流。

中英不同的文化使得英汉习语在表达上有很大差异，也使得翻译中容易产生误译,因此加强对英汉习语文化内涵差异的了解有着重要意义。

本文在探讨英汉习语文化内涵差异的基础上提出了四种翻译方法:

直译法、意译法、意象转移法、增删法。

【关键词】习语；文化；习语翻译

【Abstract】Idioms,havinguniversalappeal,arewidelyrecognizedastheessenceorthecrystallizationoflanguage.Withoutidiomslanguagewouldbecomedullanddry,whereasanappropriateuseoftheminspeechandwritingwilladdmuchtovarietystrengthandvividnessofthelanguage.Idiomsusuallycarrymoreimpactthannone-idiomaticexpressionsbecauseoftheircloseidentificationwithaparticularlanguageandculture.Idiomsarewidelyusedinalmostallkindsofspeechesandwritings:

theycanbefoundinliteraryworks,inscientificandpoliticalarticles;evendebatesintheUnitedNationsareofteninterspersedwithidiomswhichbecomeverbalweaponsthataredifficulttoargueagainst.The16thUSPresidentAbrahamLincolnoncequotedanidiomderivedfromtheBible:

“Ahousedividedagainstitselfcannotstand.”inoneofhisfamousspeech,callingonpeopletofightagainstslaveryandCivilWar.Americanpeople,whowerefamiliarwiththeBible,weregreatlyimpressedandLincoln’santislaverycampaignatlastyieldedfruitfulresult.Thusidiomsholdanimportantpositioninlanguageuse,anadequatetranslationofidiomsisnotonlyhelpfulbutalsoessentialininterculturalcommunication.

ThispaperattemptstomakeabriefcomparativestudyoftheculturesembodiedinChineseandEnglishidiomsandexplorestheroleofthecultureinunderstandingandrenderingofbothEnglishandChineseidioms.

【KeyWords】Idioms;culture;thetranslationofidioms

1.Introduction

Culturalstudieshavecurrentlybeenprevailinginthewest.AndtalkingaboutculturalstudieshasalsobecomeafashioninthecircleofpresentChinesecultureandacademia,especiallyinthefieldofliterarytheoryandcriticism.Accordingly,inthewidesphereoftranslationstudies,therearesomescholarsbothathomeandabroadwhohavetriedtoreplacetranslationwithculturaltranslationstudiesandinterpretation.Translationisconsideredtobeacross-culturalcommunication,whichconcernsnotonlythetransferbetweenlanguages,butalsothetransferbetweencultures.However,thewaysofthinking,beliefs,attitudesandvaluesofdifferentculturesnotonlygiverisetofailuresormisunderstandingsincross-culturalcommunicationbutalsoposeheadachestotranslationtheoristsandtranslators.

Anidiomisabeautifulgemofalanguageaswellascrystallizationofnationalculture.Yetitisalsooneofthemostdifficultthingstolearnanduseinaforeignlanguage.Theyareoftenratherhardtounderstandfromthemeaningofindividualwords.ChineseandEnglishbothaboundwithidioms,whosesuccinctformsandprofoundmeaningsmakethemselvesmorecondensedandexpressive.Manyidiomsbearfiguresandstrongculturalflavors.Iftheyaretranslatedappropriately,notonlycantheoriginalspiritandmeaningsbefaithfullyconveyed,clearlyunderstoodandacceptedbythetargetlanguagereaders,butalsotheChineseandEnglishvocabulariescanbeenrichedtoprovideabroaderculturalvision.Theissuesofrenderingidiomsofonelanguageintoanotherarealwayscomplicated,ifthetwolanguagesinvolvedaresounlikeinbackgroundsandcultureswitheachother.Thispaperexpoundsthecloserelationshipbetweenidiomsandculturetranslation,andtheissueofidiomtranslationisexploredfromaculturalperspective.

2.Definitionsandformsofidiom

2.1Thedefinitionsofidiom

  Theword“idiom”possessesseveralmeanings.Itmaybedefinedas“thelanguageofapeopleoracountry”,asin“theChineseidiom”;or“adialect”asin“Cantoneseidiom”.Itmayalsobedefined,accordingtoOxfordAdvancedLearner’sEnglish-ChineseDictionary,as“phraseorsentencewhosemeaningisnotclearfromthemeaningofitsindividualwordsandwhichmustbelearntasawholeunit”[1]p734.Theseconddefinitionmostsuitsthepurposeofthispaper.TheChinese“equivalent”for“idiom”is“习语”,italsoreferstoakindofasetphraseorsentencefixedbylongusage.Fromtheabovedefinitionswecanextracttwobasiccriteriaonwhichtodecidewhetherornotanexpressionisanidiom（or:

习语）:

Firstly,establishedandrefinedbylongpracticaluse,anidiomhasarelativelyhighdegreeofstabilityofthelexicalcomponents.Anidiomallowslittleornovariationinformundernormalcircumstances.Ingeneral,anychangeinthecomponentswillresultinabsurditiesorevenrendertheidiomsmeaningless.Aspeakerorwritercannotnormallydoanyofthefollowingwithanidiomunlessheorsheisconsciouslymakingajokeorattemptingplayonwords:

a.Changetheorderofthewordsinit（e.g.*“atsevensandsixes”insteadof“atsixesandsevens”）;

b.Deleteawordfromit（e.g.*“akettleoffish”insteadof“anicekettleoffish”）;

c.Addawordtoit（e.g.*“toshowone’swhiteteeth”insteadof“toshowone’steeth”）;

d.Replaceawordwithanother（evenwithasynonymousword）（e.g.*“thepearofone’seye”insteadof“theappleofone’seye”）

e.Changeitsgrammaticalstructure（e.g.*“akingmaybelookedatbyacat”insteadof“acatmaylookataking”）.

SimilarlyinChinesewecanonlysay:

“七零八落”not“八零七落;”“无的放矢”not“无的放箭”,although“矢”and“箭”bothmean“arrow”.However,justaswhathasbeenmentionedabove,sometimes,eitherforthesakeofsarcasmorforthesenseofhumororforthesakeofstyle,wecancreate,asamakeshift,someirregularvariantsfromtheoriginalidioms,buttheseirregularvariantsaretransient,andmaynotbeacknowledgedbypeopleasawhole:

（1）“toreadmorethanonecanchew”isfrom“tobiteoffmorethanonecanchew”;

（2）“bedressedtotheteeth”isfrom“tobearmedtotheteeth”.

SimilarlyinChinese:

  （3）“一箭三雕”（toshootthreehawkswithonearrow）isanirregularvariantofthesetphrase“一箭双雕”（toshoottwohawkswithonearrow）;

（4） “权令智昏”（tobeblindedbylustforpower）from“利令智昏”（tobeblindedbylustforgain）;

Sometimesforrhetoricaleffect,anidiomcanbemadebriefwithonlythecoreelementremained:

（5） Thehotelwasexpensive,thefoodwaspoorandthebadweatherwasthelaststraw.

Inthissentence,“thelaststraw”isadaptedfromtheidiom“Itisthelaststrawthatbreaksthecamel’sback.”

（6） Makehay.Themarketisgoodnowdon’tmissthechance.

Here,“makehay”isabbreviatedfromtheidiom“Makehaywhilethesunshines”.Suchadaptationusuallycallsforthefamiliarityoftheidiombythereadertorecognizetherealmeaning.

Secondly,anidiomoftencarriesmeanings,whichcannotbededucedfromtheirindividualcomponents.Moreoftenthannot,itcannotbeinterpretedonlyaccordingtoitsliteralmeaning.Taketheexpression“togoDutch（withsomeone）”forexample:

InsteadofgoingtotheNetherlands（Holland）,itmeanstoagreetosharethecostofsomething（withsomeone）,asin“Willyouletmetakeyououttodinnertonight?

“AslongaswegoDutch”.TakeanotherChineseidiomforexample:

“胸有成竹”（literallymeanstohavethebambooinone’smind,figuratively,tohavereadyplansordesigninone’smind.cf.tohaveacardupone’ssleeve）.Anidiomusuallyacquiresanimpliedmeaning,thatistosay,mostidiomsaremetaphoricalinmeaning.Themeaningofanidiomissomewhatmorethanthesummeaningsofitsconstituentwords,inotherwords,idiomsconveymoremeaningasawholethanthefewwordscouldcarryseparately.Thiscanbefullyillustratedbythefollowingexamples:

whentakenliterary,thephrase“themaninthestreet”isnotanidiom.Inafigurativesense,“themaninthestreet”impliestheaverageperson,whorepresentsgeneralopinion.Whensomeonesays,“Youcannotunscramblethescrambledegg”,heisnotmerelyreferringtotheegg,andheisusingametaphortotellanotherpersonnottoworryaboutsomethingthatcannotbeundone.“Cat’spaw”doesnotrefertothepawofacatbutapersonwhohasbeenfooledorexploited.“Blacksheep”isnotasheepwhichisblackatall.Anditmeansanevilmemberofaherdoragood-for-nothingperson.

2.2Formsofidioms

Inabroadsense,idiomaticphrasescoverallofthefollowingforms:

setphrases,proverbs,commonsayings,colloquialisms,allusionsandslangs.Herefourimportantformsofidiomsareselectedforexplanation.

2.2.1Setphrases

Onemostimportantgroupofidiomsaresetphraseswhoseformissetandmanyofthemareratherrigidandcannotshowupinanyotherforms.ThereisaninexhaustiblestorehouseofsetphrasesthatplayanimportantroleinEnglishlanguage.Ishallselectoneofthemwithculturaltraces.Forexample,theoriginof“tokickthebucket”canbetracedbacktoareligiousceremonyofbaptisminChristianity.AsfarasaChristianisconcerned,his/herimportantthreestages,birth,marriageanddeath,arecloselyconnectedwithareligiousceremony:

baptism.AChristianneedstoreceivebaptismfromanadministratorwhenhe/shewasborn,getmarriedinthechurchwithblessingsofacertainministerandbebaptizedagainwhenhe/sheisgoingtodie”.Sotheidiom“kickthebucket”isaeuphemisticexpressionconnoting“todie”referringtothedeathofaChristianintheceremonyofbeingbaptized.

2.2.2Allusions

Allusionsofidiomsareact