On Translating English Color Words英语颜色词的翻译.docx

1、On Translating English Color Words 英语颜色词的翻译毕 业 论 文题目On Translating English Color Words学生姓名：_ _指导教师：_ _ 外语 系 英语 专业 班 2010年 6月 13日毕业论文任务书专业 英语 班级 061 姓名 下发日期2009年12月19日题目 On Translating English Color Words专题翻译主要内容及要求文章主体阐述了英汉语言中基本色彩词的文化内涵，以及造成相同性和不同性的文化缘由,归纳了翻译方法以帮助译者取得原文与译文的对等并举出了详实的英汉翻译的实例。主要技术参数进度及

2、完成日期2009年12月19日 下发毕业论文任务书2010年4月18日 交开题报告和论文提纲2010年5月9日 交论文初稿2010年5月30日 交论文二稿2010年6月13日 交论文定稿系主任签字日期教研室主任签字日期指导教师签字日期摘 要 色彩与人类生活息息相关，是人类认识世界的一个重要领域。色彩不仅具有物理属性，还蕴含着丰富的文化内涵和延伸意义。作为一种视觉效果，人们对于颜色词的感知应该是一致的。然而，基于世界各民族的语言表达受到地理环境，民族风情，思维方式，宗教信仰，社会制度，文化艺术及生活方式差异的影响，不同民族表达颜色的含义又有所不同，颜色词也表现出不同民族的独特“个性”，因此，恰当

3、地使用颜色词能使语言生辉添色，剖析中西方对于颜色词的异同点及其翻译同时，也会使人们在实际的语言运用中更好的掌握其本质含义，从而达到不同语言之间相互交流，相互裨益的效果。本文旨在以颜色词为载体，就造成中英颜色词异同的原因举例进行研究，综合众多因素，总结并分析英语颜色词翻译的方法，力求能够通过更为合适的翻译方法，将中英颜色词所承载的信息和深层次的社会文化意义真实地呈现，以达到交流的目的。关键词：颜色词，异同点，翻译方法ABSTRACTAs a major domain to know the world, color goes hand in hand with the availability

4、of human beings life. It has some physical properties. Besides, it contains plentiful cultural connotations and extended meaning. People should have the same perception of color for what as a kind of visual effects. However, based on the various geographical environments, ethnic customs, ways of thi

5、nking, religions, social systems, cultures, arts and lifestyles of the nations all over the world, the implications of color words are affected by the diversities as well as show some idiographic characteristics. That is why they can make the expressions more vivid if they are used in an appropriate

6、 way. When people are analyzing the differences between Chinese and western cultures, they will grasp the essential implication better in the actual use of language, and make the effective of communication and mutual benefit between different languages. This paper tries to use color words as the car

7、rier to study the factors resulting in similarities and differences between Chinese and English color words, summarize and analyze the translation methods of color words through integrating a number of factors. It is hoped that more appropriate translation methods can facilitate the exchange of colo

8、r items in the cross-culture communication.KEY WORDS: color words, similarities and differences, translation methodsContentsIntroduction.(9)Chapter One Synopsis of Color Words.(10)1.1 Definition.(10) 1.2 Categories.(10)1.3 Functions.(11)1.3.1 Descriptive function.(11)1.3.2 Symbolic function.(12)Chap

9、ter Two Factors Resulting in Similarities and Differences Between English and Chinese Color Words.(14)2.1 Historical culture.(14) 2.1.1 Literary tradition.(14) 2.1.2 Religion.(15) 2.1.3 Historical events.(16) 2.2 Geographical culture.(17)2.3 Politics and economics.(18)Chapter Three Translation Metho

10、ds of English Color Words.(19) 4.1 Literal translation.(19)4.2 Free translation.(21)4.3 Substitution.(23)4.4 Explanation.(24) Conclusion.(26)Acknowledgements.(27) Bibliography.(28)Introduction“Vocabulary is the most active factor in the language. Color words are not arbitrarily invented by linguists

11、, but extracted out from life by human beings in order to meet their own expressive needs. The more expressions human beings need, the more meanings of color words will be gifted” (Yuan 1997：48). Translating color words is one of the most important and difficult parts in English-Chinese translation,

12、 though very interesting and meaningful. The same color words may indicate the same meaning in some areas around the world, while they may represent discrepancies in different languages or cultures. Sometimes, even the same color words in one literary work can symbolize different things, and perhaps

13、 some may be conflicting. These color words not only reflect the basic visual effects on the sensory, but also a broad and deep social and cultural significance.In order to promote the cross-culture exchanges, this paper chooses some basic colors words to analyze, and tries to find more appropriate

14、translation methods to deal with them. This paper is divided into three parts. In the first chapter, it talks about the synopsis of color words from definition, functions, and categories. Chapter two discuses the factors affecting the implication of English and Chinese color items, including histori

15、cal culture, geographical culture, physiology, psychology, politics and economics. The final chapter, also the focal chapter, is about the methods of Chinese translation of English color words, such as literal translation, free translation, borrowed translation, substitution and explanation. And at

16、the end of this paper, a conclusion is made that according to different situations, people should choose the fittest method to translate English color words.Chapter One Synopsis of Color Words As one of the parts of human beings vocabulary, color words play an important role, and have different func

17、tions in terms of different categories. The following chapter will give the general introduction to the definition, categories, and functions of color words.1.1 DefinitionColor is said to be a particular nature of light besides the heterogeneities of the space and time, or a kind of the observers si

18、ght caused by stimulations of retina from optical radiation. Color is also regarded as visual characteristics excluding images which are caused by the light acting on the human beings eyes. And color words are the items which describe the colors. 1.2 Categories According to the compositions and brig

19、htness, colors can be classified into several categories, such as original colors and mixed colors, bright colors and dark colors. Nevertheless, modern language has stable basic color items that can be used as the root to form its core, thus giving rise to a large number of color words, forming the

20、color words group in lavish abundance. Based on the above constitutes, color words can be divided into many categories as follows:(1) Basic color items. Though basic color items, which usually are called self-reliant color items, have the limited quantities, they represent a wide range of colors and

21、 are general. Therefore, they are frequently used. They are usually very brief, easy to remember, come to hand conveniently, and express the colors directly in a short form. For instance, “red”(红色),“yellow”(黄色), “white”(白色), “green”(绿色), “black”(黑色), and so on. Such words can be used independently,

22、and they will turn into the others if the attributes are added. For the purpose of vivid and accurate expressions of colors, human beings always use items with more forms to show colors. Such color words are usually intended to express the specific degree of colors. For instance, “bright red”(鲜红色),

23、“grey blue”(灰蓝色), “dark brown”(深褐色), “greenish yellow”(黄绿色), and so on. But no matter how prolific these color words are, they all come from the basic color words as the extension. (2) Objective color words. They are also called real color words. Such words already exist in nature with the original

24、meanings that mostly indicate the names of objects. They are easily to make people think of the colors of the objects. Gradually, the words describing the objects become into the color words which are become one class of colors words. For example, “silver”(银色), “cherry”(樱桃红), “bronze”(古铜色), “emerald

25、”(祖母绿), “ruby”(宝石红), “jade”(翡翠色), “chocolate”(巧克力色), “coffee”(咖啡色), and so on. (3) Emotional color words. From ancient times, color words have closely linked with emotions. They can stand for different emotions and moods; and people can express the deep meaning skillfully through color words. Hence,

26、 these emotional color words are not only widely used in literary works, but also in daily life, and other fields. It is worth noting that the same color words have different meanings due to different cultures from different countries. In the west countries, red will make people feel bloody and violent,