英汉词汇文化对比及对英语教学的启示.docx

英汉词汇文化对比及对英语教学的启示.docx

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英汉词汇文化对比及对英语教学的启示

英汉词汇文化对比及对英语教学的启示

[Abstract]Languageiscloselyrelatedwithculture.Onekindoflanguageisinfluencedbyitsnationalcultureandrepresentsforitsspecialculturalconnotations.Thisarticlepointsoutthatvocabulary,asoneofthethreeelementsofalanguage,isthemostactivefactorinlanguagelearning,whichisobviouslyseenifthereappearsomechangesincultureandlanguage.Thesignificanceofstudyingtheculturalconnotationsofvocabularyisrealized.Theconnotationsbelongtooneaspectofthemeaningsofvocabulary,andthemeaningsaredividedintosevenstyles.Besidestheconceptualmeaning,therestofothermeaningspertaintotheconnotations.Fromtheconnotations,thearticleanalyzesthethreecorrespondingrelationshipsbetweenEnglishandChinesevocabularythatshowtheculturalconnotations:

completeparallelism,incompleteparallelismandnoparallelismandgivessomeexamplestodemonstratethem.WhileintheEnglishteachingnowadays,theculturalconnotationsofvocabularyareoftenignoredbymanyEnglisheducators,whichleadstomuchdanger.Manyproblemsalwaysoccursothatstudents’interestswillbeloweredandthatstudentsdonothavescientificmethodsoflearning,orhavebadcompetenceofusinglanguage.Inthisway,thearticlegivessomeenlightenmentofEnglishteaching,includingtheconstitutionofsyllabus,thechoosingandcomposingoftheteachingmaterial,teachingactivitiesin-classandactivitiesafter-class.Therefore,languagecanbeusedfreelywhenintegratingtheculturalconnotationsofEnglishandChinesevocabularywithEnglishteaching.

[KeyWords]EnglishandChinesevocabulary;culturalconnotation;contrast;teaching

[摘要]语言与文化密不可分。

一种语言会在一定程度上受本民族文化的影响，反映其独特的文化内涵。

词汇作为语意的三要素之一，是语言最活跃的环节，文化与语言的任何一点变化在词汇这一环节上都是显而易见的，从而明确了研究词汇文化内涵的意义。

词汇文化内涵是属于词汇意义中的其中一部分，除了概念意义外其余的意义均属于内涵这一方面。

就这个词汇的文化内涵意义，文章简单分析了体现英汉语词汇文化内涵的三种对应关系：

完全对应型、不完全对应型及完全不对应型，并给出了一些词汇实例证明这三种关系。

由于这些对应关系所反映的英汉语词汇的文化内涵常常被许多英语教育工作者所忽视，以至于在现今的英语教学中产生了一定的危害。

普遍存在着学生学习兴趣不高，没有科学的学习方法及英语学习能力差等弊病。

这些给我们的英语教学带来了极大的启发，本文分别从教学大纲、教材的选编、课堂教学活动、课后活动这些方面导入英汉语词汇的文化因素，能帮助学生更好地运用语言，把英汉语词汇的文化内涵与教学真正结合起来。

[关键词]中英词汇；文化内涵；对比；教学

1.Introduction

Languageisrelatedcloselywithculture.Languageisthecarrierandcontainerofculture.EnglishispartofEnglishcultureandtheChineselanguageispartofChineseculture.Humanexperienceandlifestylearedescribedandstoredinlanguage.Customs,habitsandbehaviouralpatternscanbedescribedandanalyzedinlanguage.Eventhevisualartslikepainting,sculpture,movieanddanceandtheauditoryartssuchasmusicandsingingcanbedescribedandevaluatedinlanguage.Tobesure,culturecanexistintheformofmaterials.[1]

Asamirrorofculturelanguageisstronglyinfluencedandshapedbyculture.[2]FamilialrelationisveryimportanttotheChinesepeople,sotherearemanykinshiptermsinChinese.Forexample:

（1）叔侄---uncleandnephew     

（2）爷孙---grandfatherandgrandson

（3）婆媳---grandmotherandwife  （4）夫妻---husbandandwife

Thereforeifyouwanttolearnandmasteronekindoflanguage,learnersshouldknowtheculturalbackgroundofthecountrythatthelanguagebelongsto.Ifalearnerjustpaysattentiontothelanguageitselfbutignorestheculturalbackgroundthatthelanguagerepresents,hewillnotmasteritcorrectlyanduseitproperly.

Meanwhilelanguagealsoreflectsitsinfluenceonculture.“White”means“immaculateandsinless”inEnglish,sowesternerscall“the auspiciousdayofmarrying”as“whiteday”.TheninChina,“white”isnotgoodforloverswhowillmarry.

Vocabularyisthebasicfactorofalllanguageandakeyelementinlanguagelearning.Awell-knownEnglishlinguistD.A.Wilkinssaid:

“Nolanguage,peoplecan’texpressmanythings;whilenovocabulary,peoplecanexpressnone.”[3] Vocabularyisthemostactiveandflexiblecomponentoflanguage.Bythistoken,vocabularycanbereflectedbyculture.Inotherwords,thediscrepanciesbetweendifferentculturescanalsobereflectedbyvocabulary.

ThisarticleistryingtofocusontheculturalconnotationsofEnglishandChinesevocabularyandgivesomesuggestionstoEnglishteaching.

2.Theclassificationofvocabularymeaning

EnglishlinguistGeoffreyLeachdividesthesemanticsintosevenstyles:

1）ConceptualMeaning;2）ConnotativeMeaning;3）StylisticMeaning;4）AffectiveMeaning;5）ReflectedMeaning;6）CollocativeMeaning;7）ThematicMeaning[4]Conceptualmeaningisthebasicmeaning,thecentralfactorinlinguisticcommunication,whichisthewordmeaningusedtoexpressanobjectintherealworldoraconceptinourmind.Itisalsothedenotativemeaningofwords.Thentherestofothermeaningspertaintotheconnotation,whichistheassociativemattersandfeelingswhenusingthewords.Theculturalconnotationofvocabularyreferstothemeaningofthecultureofonenationthatwordsimply,orthemeaningsexceptfortheconceptualmeaningofonewordoraphrase.

Sointhefollowingpaper,themeaningsexcepttheconceptualmeaningofvocabularywillbediscussed.

3.AnalysisofthecorrespondingrelationshipsoftheculturalconnotationsofvocabularybetweenChineseandEnglish

Differentnationalitieshavetheirownthinkingways,socialbackground,customs,habits,ethicmoralitiesandconventionaltaboowords,whichleadtovariouskindsofnationalculture.Themeaningsofvocabularymustbestigmatizedasabrandofnationalculture.Throughanalyzingandcontrasting,thethreekindsofcorrespondingrelationshipsoftheculturalconnotationsbetweenEnglishandChinesevocabularyareasfollows:

3.1Completecorrespondingrelationship

Itmeans“Twokindsoflanguageshavesameliteralmeaningsandsimilarculturalconnotationsonthewhole.”[5] Itconsistsof3kinds:

3.1.1Fixedtheorywords

Therearesomewordsthathavebeenestablishedbyusingrulestoexpressthesametheoryorthesameobject.Forexamples:

（1）capitalism---资本主义  

（2）socialism---社会主义

（3）Marxism---马克思主义 （4）man-madesecondaryplanet---人造卫星

（5）science---科学        （6）society---社会

3.1.2Bodywords

Therearesomewordsthatareusedtodescribeourhumanbody

（1）“heart”mean“hollowmuscularorganthatpumpsbloodthroughthebody”[6].Ithasthesameliteralmeaningwith“心”inChinese.Theyalsomeanaperson’sthoughtsandemotions,espoflove,abilitytofeelemotion.

 “heartofstone”means“铁石心肠”,“sweetheart”means“爱人”,“fromone’sheart”means“衷心”inChinese,“tohaveone’sheartinone’smouth”means“提心吊胆”,“hearttoheart”means“心对心”.

（2）“die”and“死”havethesameliteralmeaningandconnotativemeaning.Chineseandwesternersbothuseothereuphemisticwordstoexpressthemeaningof“death”insteadofusingthetwowordsdirectly.“passaway”---“去世”,“gotoheaven”---“升天”,“gotowest”---“上西天”,“payone’sdebttonature”---“返归自然”,“meetone’sdeath”---“丧命”,“endup”---“死”

3.1.3Metaphorwords

Therearesomewordsthathavethesameconnotationstomakethemetaphor.Itcanbeclearlyseenintheexamplesbelow:

（1）eatlikeawolf---eatquicklyandalargesumoffoodwhilehungry狼吞虎咽

（2）pureasthedrivensnow---verywhite洁白如雪

（3）hardasiron--- veryfirm坚如钢铁

（4）lightasfeather--- verylight轻如鸿毛

（5）foxy---ascunningasfox狡猾的

Inconclusion,becauseofthecompleteparallelismrelationshipbetweenChineseandEnglishwords,thesewordsareunderstoodwellbystudents.Sothesewordsareeasytomasterforstudents,andteachersshouldtakeadvantageoftherelationshipofcompleteparallelism.Whenmeetingthesewords,teachersshouldaskstudentstofindouttherelatingChineseorEnglishmeaningsothatstudentscouldrememberthemquicklyandcorrectly.Forexample:

（1）Howtoteach“asbusyasabee[7]”?

Letstudentsimagine“Howdobeeswork?

Theykeepworkingbusilywithoutstop.”Sowecouldunderstand“asbusyasabee”as“忙得不可开交”.

（2）eagle-eyed

Here“eagle”isonekindofanimalwhosecharacteristhatithasverygooddiscernment.Therefore“eagle-eyed”istoexpressthatonepersoncanpenetratethephenomenonofthingstostudytheiressenceandhasverykeensight.InChineseitmeans“眼力敏锐的”. 

IfteacherscouldrelateChinesewithEnglish,itwillgethalftheeffortwithtwicetheresult.

3.2Halfcorrespondingrelationship

Itmeansthatthewordshavethesameliteralmeaningbutonlyhaveapartofthesameculturalconnotationsoroppositeculturalmeanings.

3.2.1Apartofthesameculturalconnotations

Therearesomewordsthathavethesameliteralmeaningbutonlyapartofthesameculturalconnotations.Forexample:

（1）InChinese，“鼠”isinthederogatorysense.ThereforethereexistmanyChineseidiomswhicharetoexpresssomenegativemeaning.Forexample:

贼眉鼠眼------shifty-eyed      抱头鼠窜------scurryofflikeafrightenedrat

鼠目寸光------seeonlywhatisunderone’snose

ButinEnglish,“mouse”canbeusedtoreferto“women”,and“girls”.Forexample:

asquietasamouse-----veryquiet,silent[8]文静如鼠

mouseandman----------alllivingcreatures众生

SuchkindofmeaningisnotincludedinChineseconnotativemeaningsof“鼠”.

（2）InChineseandEnglish,“rose”and“玫瑰”bothreferto“love”.Whenamanfallsinlovewithawoman,hewouldsendredrosestohertoexpresshislove.InChinese,weoftenexplain“带刺的玫瑰”as“abeautywhoisdifficulttoapproach”.WhileinEnglish,“Thereisnorosewithoutathorn.”Itreallymeans“completehappinessorperfectioncan’tbefound.[9]事事无完美。

”And“undertherose”means“privately[10]在私底下”,whichoriginatesfromanoldconvention:

rosesthathangunderthecouncilboardimplythatallattendeesshouldkeepsecrets.

（3）“family”means“agroupconsistingofparents,theirchildrenandcloserelatives.”and“groupmembersconsistingofparents,the