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1、 英汉习语的文化差异及其翻译 摘要谚语来源于生活，是一个民族语言和文化的高度浓缩和集中体现。它可以反映出一个国家的地理、 历史 、宗教等文化背景。 研究 一个国家的文化必然要研究其谚语。英汉谚语作为两种不同的语言瑰宝，由于其独特的文化而表现出明显的差异。因此,如何忠实地翻译谚语,把一种文化在另一种文化中再现出来,成了每一个译者不可推卸的责任。本文借助一些典型的例子，从起源、地理环境、风俗习惯、宗教信仰、历史文化等文化侧面入手，进行比较与 分析 ，探讨了 英语 谚语和汉语谚语之间存在的差异。英汉谚语本身的特点以及其独特的文化背景使谚语的翻译比较困难。为了忠实、通顺地再现英语原谚,可以灵活运用四种
2、译法。本文讨论了直译、意译、对等翻译、直译和意译相结合等翻译方法。关键词：英汉谚语；文化；文化差异；翻译原则；翻译方法Abstract Derived from life, proverbs are the condensation and embodiment of the language and culture of a nation. They can reflect geography, history, customs of a nation. So it is necessary to study a nations proverbs when we try to study i
3、ts culture. English and Chinese proverbs, being treasures of two different languages, see distinct differences resulted from cultural differences. This essay uses some typical examples to compare and analyze the differences between English and Chinese proverbs from the point of origin, geographical
4、environment, customs, religious beliefs and historical culture, etc. Proverbs are difficult to translate because of their distinctive characteristics and their unique cultural backgrounds. So this essay also tries to do some study on idiom translation, and put forward some translation methods. The c
5、ulture difference of English and Chinese idioms can summed in to two kinds: 1,the difference of image meaning; 2, the difference of implicative meaning. In order to present an adequate translation of a proverb, we can use four translation methods flexibly: literal translation, free translation, equi
6、valent translation and literal translation combined with free translation.Key words: English and Chinese proverbs; culture; cultural differences; translation principles; translation methods IntroductionLanguage conveys various culture connotaion. Idiom as the essence of language is more than that. A
7、s the development of history, English and Chinese had formed a lot of idioms with fixed-shaped, brief and sprightly, which have a profound message and national characteristics. These idioms have intense cultural characters. They are the elite and core of the language which reflecting the society and
8、 civilization. They relates with the local conditions and customs and historical culture. Culture is complex, containing object knowledge belief art moral law custom and the ability which acquired in society. A nations values, social customs and thinking mode are all reflected incisively and vividly
9、 by idioms.Introducing the culture and idiomsWhat is culture? What is culture? Culture is taken as an “integrated system of learned behavior patterns which are characteristics of the members of a society and which are not the result of biological inheritance. Some describe that culture is a system o
10、f shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of a society use to cope with their world and with one another.Culture is a very extensive concept, it is very difficult to define it strictly and accurately, because culture involves too much, what we see in usual just lik
11、e we see the edge of an iceberg, though it has been rather big, there still far more that we cannot see.With the rapidly challenging world, people throughout the world have found it increasingly necessary to minimize the rate of misunderstanding due to miscommunication in their contacts with another
12、. In the east most people human beings were born, lived, and died within a limited geographical area, never encountering people of other cultural backgrounds. It might be said that technological advances have been most effective in creating the borderless word, the global community. As our world shr
13、inks and its inhabitants become interdependent, people from remot cultures increasingly come into contact on a daily basis. It is no longer hard to find situations in which members of nice isolared groups of people. Now these people may live thousands of miles away or right next door to each other.
14、So all the people are faced with the challenge of understand this world. So when the east meet the west, there are many problems. The first problem I think is that language and communication. In the daily communication, there are a great many idioms.What is idiom?Idioms are a kind of unique and fixe
15、d expression method which was formed during the process of using a language. It is often spoken form among the people and spread widely in use, and it is the performance of real-life people experience or feel a ready-made words. It is fixed phrase spread in the folk, with brief sentence reflecting p
16、rofound truth, and summarized experience of society. Idioms as one of the forms of literature are as lively as poems, dignified as essays and brief as proverbs. We will talk about the idioms in broad sense which include phrases, proverbs sayings allusions and so on. The English and Chinese which con
17、tain a great number of idioms have a long history. Both of the two languages are connotational and humorous or serious and elegance not only concise and comprehensive but also vivid and full of wit and humor. Due to the difference of geography and religious faith and living habit, English and Chines
18、e idioms convey different national culture characteristics and information. They have a close and inseparable relationship with cultural tradition. The cultural factors in idioms are the difficult points in translation.1. The culture differences reflected in English and ChineseZhu Guangqian wrote in
19、 The Talk about Translation: “the most difficult to understand and translate the foreign literature is the associative meaning” . “It produced a special affection atmosphere, very profound and delicate. You cant find it in the dictionary but it is quite important to the literature. If we do not fami
20、liar with the local customs and history cultural background, we will feel at sea about the literal meaning, especially hard to deal with when we translate.” Edward Taylor , an English culture anthropology, firstly put forward culture as a conception in the book named The Original Culture(1871), and
21、described as: “culture is complex, it contains knowledge, faith, art, law, moral, custom and the ability acquired in the society.” So culture covering a large square ,it is a important system. Language as an important port of culture reflects the various cultural phenomenon. This paper did some conc
22、lusion that the cultural differences reflected by the idiom are mainly the following aspects.1.1 culture difference national raceThe whole question of the changing role of Blacks in American society as been the subject of news articles around the world so frequently that visitors to the United State
23、s do not know what to expect when they arrive. They may be surprised when they see that Blacks and Whites work side by side in offices, factories, and schools across the country. The majority of Blacks in the United States, however, live in and around only a small number of American cities.Many dark
24、-skinned visitors arrive in the United States fearing personal attack or expecting various degrees of racial prejudice. Some forms of discrimination still exist, unfortunately, especially in the areas of the housing, schools , and jobs . The school equality is still more a dream than a reality. Ther
25、e are still too many areas of the country where Black Americans do not enjoy the same full opportunities as White Americans. However, the vast majority of American s are working, studying, and sharing public places together. This was not true even a few years ago in some parts of the country , but p
26、rogress is steadily being made . You will be able to observe the improvement in race relations as soon as your plane lands. You will see it in the airport, in public buses and trains, in theaters, restaurants, rest room, in sops and libraries, in offices and factories. Close personal friendships bet
27、ween Blacks and Whites, full trust and social relationships are still not common, except in certain areas. However, even in this the slowest area of progress-there has been change, especially among young people.1.2 culture differenceAuthorityIn many countries, authority is seldom, if ever, questione
28、d , either because it is highly respected , or because it is feared . Sometimes, too. Because rank has been important in certain societies for a long time, people have been trained never to question those in authority. For example, children are not expected to question their teachers in school .It m
29、ay be considered improper for young businessmen to suggest ideas that differ from those of older, more experienced members of the business. In other countries, including America, children are trained to question and search for answers. When a child asks a question, he will often be told to go to the
30、 library and find the answer for himself. By the time students reach the age of 14 or 15, they may be developing exciting new ideas in all fields of science and the arts. To encourage such creativity , there are many national prizes offered to students , every year for their scientific discoveries a
31、nd artistic accomplishments. This interest in questioning and searching may be considered by some people as bad for young peoples manners , that young people lack respect for authority . This impression may be created when visitors notice young Americans asking questions and arguing with older peopl
32、e. However, this is because many Americans have a different attitude toward authority than may exist in other areas of the world. In a work or business situation, ideas are freely and openly discussed and argued. It is important to remember tat it is the persons ideas that are being questioned, not
33、the individual himself. The two are quite separate. The purpose of the searching, questioning , and arguing is to find the facts in a particular situation, and therefore a solution, so that the work of the business can progress in the most effective manner possible. As was mentioned earlier, you may
34、 notice the some questioning in social conversations. Although some individuals may think that Americans are rude because of their direct manner with people, they are merely trying to learn more about your ideas. 1.3 culture differenceValue In many countries, people will tell you what they think you
35、 want to here, whether or not it is true. To them, this is the polite thing to do. To Americans it is considered confusing even dishonest to avoid telling the true facts. Even if avoiding the truth is done only to be polite . It is helpful to remember that different cultures consider some matters mo
36、re important than others. Wit Americans, however, trust and truth are most important. One of the worst things that can be said about someone in America is that “you cannot trust him Considering such differences in values among the many cultures of the world, it is natural that misunderstandings will
37、 occur. How far is it to the next town? an American asks a man standing by the edge of a road. In some countries, because the man realizes the traveler is tired and eager to reach the next village, he will politely say, Just down the road . He thinks this is more encouraging, gentler , and therefore
38、 the answer the traveler wants to hear. So the American drives alone for many more hours before he comes to the village. The traveler is angry, feeling tricked. He thinks that the man has purposely lied to him because he must have know quite will well what the distance was. If a visitor to the Unite
39、d States asked an American standing at the edge of a road how far the next town was, the American would think it dishonest if he said it was near when he knew it was really 24 miles away. Although he, too , would be sympathetic with the tired traveler , he would say, You have a long way to go yet ;
40、it is at least 24 miles more. The traveler might be disappointed, but he would know what to expect, and there would be no misunderstanding.2. Different aspects reflected in idiom2.1. The difference of living environment The idiom produce related closely with peoples labor and life. England is an isl
41、and country, it had more advanced seafaring than the others all over the world. But Chinese has been living on Asian continent. People cannot live without land. If someone use money lavishly and spend extravagantly, English will analogy as “spend money like water”, but in Chinese as “挥金如土”. There ar
42、e a great number of idioms related with boats and water in English, but there are few idioms to respond completely in Chinese. For example, translate “to rest ones oars” into Chinese will be (暂时歇一歇) ;“to keep ones head above water”(奋力图存); “all at sea”(不知所措) and so on. In the atmosphere of Chinese cu
43、lture, “east wind” is the spring breeze, and summer always being related with torridness. Proverbs as “broiling sun” “the sun blazes like a ball of fire” are words described summer. While England located in the western hemisphere. It locates on the north temperate zone. The marine climate make “west
44、 wind” to report the spring is coming. The famous English poet Shelly wrote To the West Wind to eulogize the spring. Summer in England is very warm and fragrance. It is very comfortable. The words as “cute” “mild” “fragrant” always related to the summer in England. Shakespeare assimilated his lover
45、to summer in his sonnet. For example “Shall I compare thee to a summers day/ thou art more lovely and more temperate”. As England is an island country, there are a lot of idioms related to water and fish. For example : “all hands to the pumps” (所有人都去抽水)，it means that the situation is very dangerous
46、and everybody must go all out; “like a fish out of water”(像离水之鱼)，it refers to a person in the unfamiliar environment and feeling uneasy; “drink like a fish”(像鱼那样喝水)means someone can drink a lot; “a big fish in a little pond”(小池塘里的大鱼)means a person who is famous in a small range or a giant among the
47、dwarfs. While Chinese cant live without earth, there are a great number idioms related to the agriculture, for example “五谷丰登” means “abundant harvest of food crops”; 挥金如土 means “spends money like water”; “种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆” means “as you sow, you shall mow”;面如土色 refers to “ones face turned white” and so on.
48、 2.2. Religious faith and myth A great number of English believe in Christianization. There are lots of idioms came from the Bible and works of Shakespeare. Meantime under the influence of Greece and Roman culture, there are also idioms came out of myth in Greece and roman culture. For example “the
49、apple of ones eye(掌上明珠)” came out of the Old Testament poem; “an eye for an eye ,a tooth for a tooth”(以眼还眼，以牙还牙) came out of Old Testament Deuteronomy ; sour grapes (酸葡萄) came out of Aesops Fables; “ones pound of flesh(某人的一磅肉)” refers to a legal but unreasonable require which came out of The Merchant of Veni