英汉互译中的文化因素.docx

英汉互译中的文化因素.docx

《英汉互译中的文化因素.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《英汉互译中的文化因素.docx（22页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

英汉互译中的文化因素

毕业论文

题目：

英汉互译中的文化因素

Title:

TheCultureFactorsinTranslation

2009年5月23日

ABSTRACT

●Becauseofthedifferencesinlivingenvironments,politicalsystems,culturalvalues（includingethicalcriteria,ideology,religion）andsoon,languageiscarvedwiththebrandofnationalcultureandimpliestheconnotationofnationalculture.Translationisacommunicativeactivityofcross-languages,cross-customsandcross-societiesandplaysanindispensableroleinculturalcommunication.Translationconcernsnotonlytwolanguages,butalsotwokindsofcultures.Itisnotonlythetransformationbetweentwolanguages,butalsothecommunicationbetweentwodifferentcultures.Whentargettextcannolongerembodytheparticularrelationbetweenthesourcetextandthesourceculture,itistheculturalfactorsintranslation.Fortheculturaldifferences,therearesomeobstaclesanddifficultiesintranslation.Thispaperdemonstratesseveralculturalfactors:

livingenvironments;animalsandplants;religionsandbeliefs;mythologyandlegends;history;culturalvalues.Traditionalresearchpaysmoreattentiontotheanalysisoflanguageitselfcomparedwithculturalphenomena.Thispaperstudiesthetheoreticalbasisandexplorestherelationamongculture,languageandtranslationtoimprovethequalityofversions.

Keywords:

LanguageCulturalFactorsTranslation

摘要

由于各个国家民族的自然环境、社会制度、宗教信仰、思维方式等方面的差异，语言必然印着民族文化的烙印，隐含着民族文化的内涵。

翻译作为跨文化交流的桥梁，在沟通交流、丰富人类文化中起着不可或缺的作用。

翻译的根本任务就是传播和交流文化。

因此，翻译既涉及两种语言，更涉及两种文化。

翻译不仅是两种语言的转换活动，更是两种文化的交流。

在翻译过程中，不同文化在各自语言中的积淀会明显表现出来，相对独立，使译文无法再现原文与源文化的那种特定关系，这便是翻译中的文化因素。

文化差异的存在使语言的翻译存在诸多障碍和困难。

本文从文化的几个因素分别阐述和论证了文化对语言和翻译的影响：

地理环境和气候;动植物;宗教信仰;神话传说;历史；颜色；心理文化和价值观念差异。

关键词：

语言;文化因素;翻译

CONTENTS

Introduction1

Ⅰ.Therelationshipamongculture,language,andtranslation2

1.1Whatisculture?

2

1.2WhatisLanguage?

3

1.3LanguageandCulture4

1.4Language,cultureandtranslation5

ⅡTheimpactofculturalfactorsontranslation7

2.1Environment7

2.2Religions8

2.3Animalsandplants9

2.4Customs10

2.5History13

2.6Color14

2.7DifferentPsychologicalCulturesandValueSystems15

ⅢMethodsofTranslation17

3.1literaltranslation17

3.2freetranslation17

3.3Addinginformationsupplementstotranslation18

BIBLIOGRAPHY20

Introduction

Languageisnotingdownthehistoryofculturesofhumanbeings.Butcultureischaracterizedbydistinctnationalityandiscreatedbydifferentnationsinparticularenvironmentofhistory,geography,religion,customandsoon.Translationistopresentinanotherculturethemeaningandimplicationthatthetexthasinaspecificculturalcontext.Innature,translationisakindofcommunicationbetweencultures.Duringtheprocessoftranslation,theinterpretationandexpressionoftheconnotationofcultureemergeasproblemstobesolvedatthefirstplace.Thatrequiresthetranslatorsnotonlyshouldhavebilingualabilitiesbutalsoshouldhavetheknowledgeoftwoculturesof,evenseveralcultures.Theessenceoftranslationisthecommunicationbetweentwodifferentcultures.“Fortrulysuccessfultranslation,biculturalismisevenmoreimportantthanbilingualism”citingafamouslinguistNida,1993.

E.B.Tylor,ananthropologist,thoughtcultureisacomplicatedgathering,includingknowledge,belief,arts,moralstandards,law,customsandalltheabilitiesandhabitsofindividualsasmembersofasociety.Thescopeofcultureisextremelywide-ranging.Languageisthereflectionofculture.Anykindoflanguagebasesonthegroundofcertainculture.Sotounderstandthesourcelanguageandtheoriginaltext,translatorshavetoanalyzethoseculturalcharacteristics.

Thispaperstudiesthetheoreticalbasisofthetranslationofculturebyexploringtherelationshipamongculture,languageandtranslationtoimprovethequalityofversions.Becauseoftheculturaldifferences,therearesomeobstaclesanddifficultiesintranslation.Theimpactsofcultureontranslationaredemonstratedinthispaperfromseveralaspects:

livingenvironments;animalsandplants;religionsandbeliefs;mythologyandlegends;history;culturalvalues.

Ⅰ.Therelationshipamongculture,language,andtranslation

Accordingtothetraditiontheoryoftranslation,peopleconsideredtranslatingactivitiesasaprocessoftransferbetweentwolanguages.Inthe1970s,thestudytendedtodevelopinseveraldirectionsinthatitwasnolongerrestrictedtothetraditionaestheticandlinguisticstudyandbecomeculturalrethinking.

1.1Whatisculture?

Infact,cultureisalargeandabstractconceptsothatitisverycomplexanddifficulttodefine.Itissaidthattherehavebeenatleastover150definitionsofculture.Thenwewilltakesomeforexample.

“Cultureisman’smedium;thereisnotoneaspectofhumanlifethatisnottouchedandalteredbyculture.Thismeanspersonality,howpeopleexpressthemselves,includingshowsofemotion,thewaytheythink,howtheymove,howproblemsaresolved,howtheircitiesareplannedandlaidout,howtransportationsystemsfunctionandareorganized,aswellashoweconomicandgovernmentsystemsareputtogetherandfunction.”（Hall,1959）“By‘culture’,anthropologymeansthetotallifewayofapeople,thesociallegacytheindividualacquiresfromhisgroup.Orculturecanberegardedasthatpartoftheenvironmentthatisthecreationofman.”（Kluckhohn,1965）

“Acultureisacollectionofcollectionofbeliefs,habits,livingpatterns,andbehaviorswhichareheldmoreorlessincommonbypeoplewhooccupyparticulargeographicareas.”（Brown,1978）

Cultureemergesindistinctivewayswithindifferentplaces.Suchas,inwestern,peopleliketodrinkcoffeewhileChineseprefertotea.Moreover,cultureisacomplicatedsystemincludingandinfluencingalmostalltheaspectsoflifeinasocietylikeknowledge,belief,arts,moralstandards,law,customsandalltheabilitiesandhabitsofindividuals:

hereknowledgereferstoacademicsubjects,bothscientificandnotscientific,forexample,mathematicsandlinguistics;beliefcouldbedividedintotwosorts,politicalandreligious,whicharedifferentamongpeoplesandoftencoursedifferentcomprehensionandevenconflicts,examplesareChristianityinthewestcountriesandIslamintheMuslincountries;artscomprisepainting,architecture,sculpture,literature,opera,dancing,musicetc;ethicsisasetofprinciplesthatpeopleusetodecidewhatisrightandwhatiswrong.Surelythelanguagethatthesocietyusesisapartofculturewithnoexception.Mostofcultureisimplantedbythesurroundingwelive,ourmethodandbehavioraredeep–rootedinheart.Therefore,ascompetenttranslators,wemustletourselvesbeintothetwoorevenmorecultures.

1.2WhatisLanguage?

Language,asystemofsounds,words,patterns,ect,usedbyhumantocommunicatethoughtsandfeelings,isnotingdownthehistoryofculturesofhumanbeings.Webeginourpreviewoflanguagebynotingthatisimpossibletoseparateouruseoflanguagefromourculture.Withthemostbasicsense,languageisasetofsymbolsandtherulesforcombiningthosesymbolsthatareusedandunderstoodbyalargecommunityofpeople.Whenwestudyanotherlanguage,wesoondiscoverthatnotonlyarethesymbols（words）andsoundsforthosesymbolsdifferent,butalsoaretherules（phonology,grammar,syntaxandintonation）forusingthosesymbolsandsounds.

Worddifferencesareobviousinvariouslanguages.InEnglish,weliveinahouse.InSpanish,weliveinacasa.InTai,weliveinaban.Phonologyalsovariesculturally.InEnglish,wehave21consonantsand5vowelsandcombinetoform38variousphonemes.Vietnamesehas34segmentalphonemesconsistingofvowels,semi-vowelsandconsonants.TheFilipinolanguagehas21consonantsand13vowelsthatform26phonemes.Grammaticalstructuresareuniquetoeachlanguageaswell.InEnglish,wehavesingularandpluralnounsandpronouns,butinKorean,thedistinctionbetweensingularandpluralismadebythecontextofthesentence.InEnglish,verbtensesexpresscontrastbetweenpast,present,andfutureacts,butinVietnamese,thesameverbreflectsallthreeandthetimeoftheactionisinferredfromthecontext.Syntax,orthewordorderandstructureinthesentence,alsovariesdependingonthelanguage.ThenormalwordorderforsimplesentencesinVietnameseisthereverseofthewordorderinEnglish.Forexample,theEnglishsentence"Theteacherdied"wouldbe"Namatayangguro"or"Diedtheteacher"inFilipino.InEnglishthesubjectisfollowedbyaverbandthenanobject,butinJapanese,thesubjectisfollowedbytheobjectandthentheverb.SoinEnglishwemightsay,"Johnsawthedog."butinJapanese,"Johnthedogsaw"wouldbecorrect.

Theseexamplesindicatethatifwewanttocommunicateinanotherlanguage,itisimportantforustoknownotonlythesymbols（words）ofthatlanguage,butalsotherulesforusingthosesymbols.Asweknow,languageismuchmorethansymbolandrulesystemthatallowsustocommunicatewithotherperson.ThelinguistNidasaidthat‘alanguageisalwaysapartofaculture,andthemeaningofanytextrefersdirectlyorindirectlytothecorrespondingculture’.Alllanguagesgrowonthegroundofcertaincultures.Thuslanguagesbeartheircharacteristicsinaccordancewiththoseofspecificcultures.

1.3LanguageandCulture

Languageandcultureinfluenceeachother,reflecteachotherandco-existwitheachother.Differentculturesresultindifferentlanguage.Differentlanguagesinturncausedifferentcommunicativepatternsandfinallydifferencesbetweencultures.LanguageanditsculturalinfluenceareexemplifiedinthetheoreticalformulationsoftheSapir-Whorfhypoth