颜色词的内涵及其翻译.docx

颜色词的内涵及其翻译.docx

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颜色词的内涵及其翻译

颜色词的内涵及其翻译

TheConnotationandTranslationofColorWords

Abstract:

OwingtotheculturaldifferencebetweenChineseandEnglish,wordsareembeddedwithdifferentnationalfeeling,whichwouldresultinmisunderstandingevenwrongtranslationinthecourseofcommunication.Colorwordisanessentialpartofcultureandlanguageforallpeoples,havingauniquelanguagefunctionandculturalconnotation.TherearemanykindsofwordsaboutcolorinChineseandEnglishcultures，weshouldnotonlyknowtheirbasicmeanings，butalsotheirdifferentsymbolicmeanings．Astudyontheculturalconnotationsandculturaldifferencesisusefultocultivatetrans-culturalconsciousnessinlanguagestudyandteaching.Thedifferencesarecausedbydifferentculturalbackgrounds，estheticsandbyusage．Thisarticletakessomecolorsforinstancetoanalyzeculturalconnotationsandhiddennationalfeelingsofvocabularyindifferentcountriessoastoimprovecommunicationandavoidculturalconflicts.

Keywords:

colorwords; cultural difference; cultural connotation

摘　要：

由于汉语和英语两种语言的文化差异，许多词汇蕴涵了不同的民族感情色彩，在翻译和交际过程中可能产生偏差和误解。

颜色词是每一个民族文化和语言中不可缺少的重要部分，它有独特的语言功能和文化内涵。

中西方文化中表示各种不同颜色的词语都很丰富，因此我们不仅要注意观察它们本身的基本意义，更要留心它们含义深广的象征意义。

但由于各自民族的文化历史背景、审美心理的不同造成了他们在不同民族语言中往往有不同的特点，有些特点甚至恰恰相反。

研究英汉语言中颜色词语的文化内涵及其文化差异有利于在语言学习和教学中跨文化意识的培养。

本文以颜色词汇为例分析解读了颜色词汇的不同文化内涵和感情色彩，以此达到增强语言交际能力、避免文化冲突的目的。

关键词：

颜色词；文化差异；文化内涵

Contents

I.Introduction………………………………………………………....1

II.Ageneralintroductionofcolorwords……………………………..1

A.Basiccolorwords……………………………………………………1

B.Colorwordsofconcreteobjects………………………………………2

III.Culturalconnotationofcolorwords……………………………….2

A.Literalmeaning……………………………………………………....2

B.Politicalandeconomicmeaning……………………………………….2

1.Politicalmeaning………………………………………………....2

2.Economicmeaning………………………...……….………….......3

C.Symbolicmeaning………………………………………………3

D.Culturalfactorsandcolorwords…………………………………….4

1.Red………………………..…………………………………......4

2.White…………………………………………………………….5

3.Black……………………….…………………………………….6

4.Blue…………...………………………………………………....7

5.Green…………………………………………………………….7

6.Grey………………………………………………………………8

7.Yellow……………………………………………………………9

IV.Translationmethodsofcolorwords………………………………..9

A.Literaltranslation………………………………………………….9

B.Replacement,ellipsisandsupplement………………………………..9

C.Freetranslation………………………………………………….....10

V.Conclusion………………………………………………………...…11

WorksCited………………………………………………………...….12

I.Introduction

Asisknowntoall,colorwordstakeupaprominentportioninourdailylife.We,humanbeings,likeusingplentyofcolorwordsinordertoexpressallvarietiesoffeelings,forexample,inChina,redrepresentshappiness.Inrecentyears,withtheincreaseofinternationalcommunications,thetraditionalcustomsaretransmittedtoallovertheworld,soarethecolorwords.Colorwordsembodydifferentregions,differenthistoricalbackgrounds,culturalcustomsandwaysofthinking.Thus,itisveryessentialforusalltolearnabouttheidenticalanddifferentsymbolicmeaningsofcolorwordsinbothwesternandChineseculturesandtohaveamasteryofmoretranslationmeans.Inthisway,wecanuseiteasilyandfreely.

Perceptionofcolorisoneofthemostfundamentalhumancognitivedomains.Althoughthenumberofallkindsoflanguagestoexpressthecolorisvariousfromoneanother,however,thebasicvocabularies,suchasblack,white,red,yellow,green,blue,etc.,inmanylanguagesareinterlinked.However,becausecustomsandculturalbackgrounds,geographicallocations,historicaltraditions,religiousbeliefs,nationalpsychology,waysofthinkingaresodifferent,colorwordssometimesshowaunique"personality"ofallethnicgroups,withsignificantculturalimprinting.Forexample,Braziliansneveruse“green”,theJapanese“yellow”,Thai“red”,Belgians“blue”,andintheUnitedStatesandEuropeancountries“black”ishardlyuttered（Dai145）.Colorindifferentnationalculturescarriesdifferentconnotations.Somewordscontainanumberofculturalcontents,oneofwhichmaybeperfectlymatchedwiththetargetlanguage,acertainpartpossiblycounterpart,whileanothermaybeinconflict.Forexample,inChinese,sayingthatamanisjealousoftheothers（眼红）,whileEnglishsaid"green-eyed".Weoftentakecolorwordsforexample,lookingattheculturaldiversitiesofcontentconversionsbetweenEnglishvocabularyandChinese.

II.Ageneralintroductionofcolorwords

Colorwordscanbeclassifiedintotwogroups:

basiccolorwordsandconcreteobjectwords.

A.Basiccolorwords

InChineseandEnglish,theclassificationofcolorwordsisalmostthesame,thatis,sevengroups.ThisclassificationcanbeseenfromChairmanMao’spoetry《菩萨蛮·大柏地》anditstranslationversion.

赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞?

Translationversion：

Red，orange，yellow，green，blue，indigo，andviolet.

Whoisdancingandwavingthiscoloredribbonagainstthesky?

Fromthiscomparison,wecanseethattherearesevenbasiccolors---Red，orange，yellow，green，blue，indigo，andvioletinChinese,whicharealsotrueofEnglish（张332）.

B.Colorwordsofconcreteobjects

Colorwordsofconcreteobjectsarereferredtothecolorsreallyexistingintheworld.suchas,gold（金）—金黄色;orange（桔）—桔色;grass（草）—草色;silver（银）—银白色;chestnut（栗）—褐色;rosy（玫瑰）—淡红色;flax（亚麻）—淡黄色;violet（紫罗兰）—紫色（黄215）.Comprisedwithbasiccolorwords，theyaremoreconcreteandreal.Forexample,concretecolorword“lily”cangivepeopleaconnectionwithwhitefloweranditspurebeauty.“Alilymaid”referstoayoungandbeautifulgirl.

III.Culturalconnotationofcolorwords.

A.Literalmeaning

Inwesterncountries,theusingofcolorwordssometimesisdifferentfromusChinese,andevensometimesabsolutelyadverse（金86）.Forexample,blue-mood（sadness/unhappiness）;ablueMonday（unluckyMonday）;inthered（deficit）;Awhitelie（aliethatiskind）;“green”isabasiccolorword;while“green-eyed”means“jealous”,andtheyaretotallydifferent.

B.Politicalandeconomicmeaning

1．Politicalmeaning

InChina,Colorwordsareofstrongpoliticalmeaning.Forexample,“red”isthesymbolofrevolutionandsocialism,while“black”and“white”symbolizesdeathandfailure.Therefore,suchpoliticaltermsas“redpower,theRedFlag,whiteterrorism,whitearea”turnup.ItiseasytoseethatweChineseliketousecolorwordstoexpressloveandhatredrelatedtospecificpoliticalbackgroundandsocialsystems,andalsotoshowtheirpoliticalstandingandthoughttendency（汪289）.Atthesametime,thewesternersalsoimposecolorwordscertainpoliticalmeaning,butitisnotasobviousasinChina.Forexample,RedArmyreferstoaterrorcompany.Themeaningof“red”（bloodingterrorist）istotallyoppositetoChinese.Besides,afewPoliticalParties,Army,Organizationsnameincolor,butwithoutaspecialpoliticalmeaning.Forexample,“BlackHand”means“aparty”;“GreenBeret”means“greenhat”,anicknameoftheUSASpecialSheet（Bernard98）.Underdifferentbackgrounds,colorwordshavedifferentmeaning.Sowehavetopayspecialattentiontotheusageofthecolorwordswithpoliticalmeaning.

2．Economicmeaning

Colorwordsshowtheiruniquecharmandusageinwesterneconomicarea.“Green”hasacloserelationshipwiththeUSdollarforbeingprintedgreen.Forexample,“green-back”referstotheUSdollar.And“blue”isusuallyconnectedwithstockandbusiness.Forexample,“blueChip”means“favoredstock”;“bluelaws”referstotheAmericanlawbanningbusinesstransactiononSunday（Dai278）.“Red”isnotsopopularineconomybecauseitoftenassociatesto“lossanddebt”.Forexample,“red-figure”means“financialdeficit”.“Black”means“makingaprofit”.Forexample,“blackfigure/intheblack”bothmeanmakingmoney/profits.Butitalsohasanegativemeaningineconomy.Forexample,“blackFriday”isthetimewheneconomicscareiscoming.Onoccasion,“white”isusedineconomicarea.Forexample,“whitewar”iseconomicwar;“whiteSale”isreferringto“onabigsale”.

C.Symbolicmeaning

WesterncountriesandChinahavedifferentdevelopmentorigins,sothesymbolicmeaningofcolorwordsisdifferentnaturally.InChina,first,“red”symbolizesgettingridofevil.RedisthebasiccolorthatweChinesehavespeciallikingbecauseitcanrepresentthepursuitofmattersandspiritsofhuman,anditalsostandforhappiness,success,luck,loyaltyandprosperity.Forexample,atthetimeofwedding,thebrideandgroomarebothinred（redflowers,redclothesetc.）.However,inwesterncountries,“red”isthesymbolofblood（贾125）.Asisknowntoall,oncethebloodisshedding,itmeansfadingordeath.Therefore,thewesternersregard“red”as“violence,dangerandblood”.Forexample,aredbattlemeansabattlerelatedtoviolence.Secondly,“white”isthesymbolofdeathorunluckinessinChina.Forexample,whentheolddied,hisissueswearwhitetoshowtheirsorrow.Italsosymbolizesfailure,foolishnessandimpotence,whileitsymbolizespurityandchastityinwesterncountries.Forexample,“awhitesoul”meansthattheheartispureorsomeoneiskind.Inthenext,“yellow”istheonlycolorthatthenoblecanuseinancienttimesanditmeanspowerinChina.Forexample,theKingwearsyellowtoshowhissupremepower.Butnow“yellow”alwaysreplacessomethingabout“sex”.Inwesterncountries,“yellow”isgivenameaningthatisnotgood,mainlyreferringtocowardiceordamning,suchas,yellowdog（卑鄙小人）;yellowlook（怀疑的目光）.

D．Culturalfactorsandcolorwords

Asisknowntoall,therearesomanycolorwords.Idecidetochoosesevenofthemtoanalyzeindetail,andtheyarered,white,black,blue,green,greyandyellow.Thesecolorwordsareofabundantcu