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1、文化意象的英汉对比与转换摘要：随着中外文化交流的日益频繁，目前翻译研究的重点也逐渐转向语言外部。人们对翻译也提出了越来越高的要求：人们不仅要求译文优美流畅，更要求尽可能的完整、准确地传达原作特有的文化意象。而文化差异则成为翻译中的难题和障碍。本论文从文化意象的角度，对比并讨论了英汉的文化差异，以及文化意象的转换方式，即翻译时怎样处理文化意象与文化差异。关键词：文化差异；文化意向；转换；对比；Cultural Images :Comparison and Transformation between Chinese and English Abstract: At present ,the em
2、phasis of translating study shifts to the external of the language as the intercultural communication has become more and more frequent .People demand higher and higher translation .They expect that the translated text is not only elegant and but also can transform the cultural images of the origina
3、l text as correctly and completely as possible .And the cultural differences become the main obstacle in translation .This paper deals with the cultural differences between Chinese and English and the transformation of cultural images. That is how to deal with the cultural differences during the pro
4、cess of translating .Key words :cultural images;cultural differences ; transformation ;comparison ContentsI .Introuduction1II. Expressive Forms of Cultural Images 1III. Comparison of Cultural Images between Chinese and English 2IV. Causes of Cultural Images differences between Chinese and English6V.
5、 Transformation of Cultural Images10VI. Conclusion 14VII. References16I . Introuduction Generally speaking ,cultural images is the combination of peoples wisdom and history culture .Among them most cultural images have close relations with a peoples legend and its original totems .During the long pr
6、ocess of history development ,those legend and totems appeared constantly in language ,literary and artistic works .Years and years ,they developed into a kind of cultural semiotics ,and have relatively fixed unique cultural meaning .Some have colorful and far-reaching association.In the same langua
7、ge community ,people can understand each other when they speakOf those images .but in different language communities ,people may not understand each other because different language communities may have different cultural images which have different associative meanings . Of course it is difficult f
8、or translators to translate the original text into the target language .When we transform the cultural images ,we should pay attention to the cultural differences between two languages .II. Expressive Forms of Cultural ImagesCultural images have many different kinds of expressive forms . It can be a
9、 kind of plant ,such as pine ,plum blossom,bamboo,orchid,chrysanthemum in Chinese ,and oak ,olive tree,white birch ,rose ,tulip in English .It can be an image of adjactive phrases,idioms ,proverbs and allusions,such as “蛇足”in “画蛇添足”,“诸葛亮”in “三个臭皮匠顶个诸葛亮”in Chinese , and “a fifth wheel ”in “to put a f
10、ifth wheel to the coach ”, “Rome ”in “All roads lead to Rome.”in English .It can also be a kind of animal ,such as“乌鸦”“喜鹊”“龙”in Chinese ,and “owl ” “lion” “bear” in English .It can be a number，such as“三”and “八”In Chinese , “seven” and “thirteen ” in English .In Chinese“三”not only means “three”, but
11、“many”, e.g. “三思而后行” And “八”not only means “eight”, but “good luck and good fortune” because it is homophonic with“发”in Chinese .In English , “seven” has similar associative meaning with “三” in Chinese such as “at seven-league stride” .But in English “thirteen” implies unlucky meaning.III. Compariso
12、n of Cultural Images between Chinese and English East and west may have the same images ;but these images may have different associative meanings in English or Chinese .In this part , the paper deals with the cultural images from four aspects.1. Cultural images with same reference meanings, but with
13、 different associative meanings“dragon ”and “龙” refer to the same animal in legend. In Chinese “ ”has commendatory meaning. It is the representative of power, aristocrat and holy. “龙 ”in Chinese legend can control the forces of nature . It is mysterious and respectable. So it represents majesty and
14、force in Chinese. And the phrases made by “ ” have caught the color of noble and holy. e.g. “真龙天子” “龙颜大怒” “龙的传人” “望子成龙”. But in English “dragon” is a fierce and cruel monster .It has derogative meaning. And it is a terrible symbol. So Chinese will be proud of being a descendant of dragon .But wester
15、ners will not feel any pride to be an offspring of dragon“Dog” and“狗”also refer to the same animal .In Chinese dog is a kind of derogative animal. It is always cursed and despised .Hence almost all phrases with“狗”have derogative meaning , e.g. “狗胆包天”“狗急跳墙”“狗眼看人低”“狗嘴里吐不出象牙” etc. But in western societ
16、y, dog is a good friend of people, e.g. “Youre a lucky dog.” “Im too old a dog to learn new tricks.” “Every dog has his day.” “Give a dog a bad name and hang him.” These sayings do not have any derogative meaning at all. People dont feel shameful to compare himself to a dog. “Cricket” and “蟋蟀” refer
17、 to a small, brown, jumping insect which make a shrill noise by rubbing its front wings together. But English people regard cricket as a merry and hopeful image, such as “as merry as a cricket” in Shakespeares language. But Chinese people regard cricket as a sad and cold image, such as “独申旦而不寐兮，哀蟋蟀之
18、宵征。”2). Cultural images with the same reference meanings, but with partly the same associative meanings “Rose” and “玫瑰”, a beautiful sweet-smelling flower represent love both in Chinese and western culture. But in western culture rose has another associative meaning, such as in “under the rose”, “ro
19、se” means keep secret and silent. There is an old custom that people should keep secret when a rose was hung over the meeting table. In Chinese culture people often compare prickly rose to those beautiful girls but very restrained and not easy to approach. “Owl” and “猫头鹰” have the same associative a
20、nd reference meaning both in Chinese and English. It is often connected with death and bad fortune in English. In Shakespeares work, “Macbeth”, there is a piece of dialogue between Macbeth and his wife: Macbeth: “I have done the deed. Dist thou not hear a noise?” Lady Macbet: “I heard the owl scream
21、 and the crickets cry.” From this dialogue, it shows that Lady Macbeth knew Denken had been dead. In Chinese culture, owl has the same associative meaning with English culture; it can bring bad luck.On the other hand, owl is also the representative of wisdom and cleverness in English. We may say “as
22、 wise as an owl” “A old owl lived in an oak.”etc.3). Cultural images with the same reference meaning , have colorful associative meaning in one language, but have no special associative meaning in another language Take bamboo and daffodil for example. Bamboo grows in Chinese and it has close relatio
23、n with Chinese Traditional culture. Chinese people often compare bamboo to ones character: persistence and honesty. We can see its lofty cultural meaning in poems, arts and idioms. e.g. “常爱凌寒竹，坚贞可喻人”，“竹死不变节，落花有余香”，“胸有成竹”，“势如破竹”。But for English, bamboo has no special associative cultural meaning; it
24、is just a name of a plant. In Chinese, daffodil is only a kind of flower. But in Britain, it is the representative of spring and pleasure. Poets and writers use daffodil to describe spring and their pleasant mood brought by it. In Shakespeares poem “song of Winter”, he wrote , “When daffodils begin
25、to peer / with heights, the doxy over the dale / why, then comes in the sweet other year”4). Cultural images with different reference meaning but with the same or similar associative meanings Each culture may have its own unique images which cant be found in another culture, such as “horse” in Engli
26、sh and “cow” in Chinese, though these two images have the same associative meaning in English and Chinese, they are typical for each people. English people compare a hard-working person to a horse, while Chinese people compare a hard-working person to a cow.IV. Causes of Cultural images difference b
27、etween Chinese and English Each people has own unique culture and images which are different from other peoples cultural images because each nation has its own history ,geography custom and religion.1). History culture has caused different cultural images in a nation Each nation has own history .And
28、 during the process of history development, each nation has formed his own history culture . History allusions are the important representatives of history culture . They have strong national color and distinctive cultural characteristics. “诸葛亮” is known for every Chinese . He is the representative
29、of wisdom. But foreigners may not know about him. Many idioms also have history persons which arenot known for by foreigners ,such as “叶公好龙” “ 毛遂自荐” “ 班门弄斧” “ 名落孙三” “项庄舞剑，意在沛公” “司马昭之心，路人皆知” “狗咬吕洞兵，不识好人心”, etc. Each idiom and allusion contains colorful Chinese history culture. Western culture also ha
30、s its own history . Idioms and allusions are frequently found in Bible and Shakespeares works. Now those idioms and allusions are quoted by writers and speakers. e.g. Grammar is his heel of Archiles.Here “the heel of Archiles” is an allusion coming from Greek mythology. Archiles is a history person
31、in Greek. There is such a sentence in Time, “Many took to gambling and got in over their heads, borrowing from Shalock to pay their debts.” Hence the writer cited Shalock from Shakespeares play “The merchant of Venice” for a usurer. Shalock is no more a person in the play but a history image now. fo
32、r a Chinese , he may not know about Shalock.Other western cultural images with colorful history information can also be found in idioms and allusions , such as “paint the lily”, “meet onss Waterloo”, “cut the Gordian knot”.2). Regional culture has caused different cultural images Different geographi
33、cal situations and natural conditions have caused different culture, that is the regional culture. This kind of cultural differences show especially in the direction and its corresponding things. In China north is noble while south humble. So Chinese say “南面为王，北面为朝”. Chines people are also accustome
34、d to say south before north ,such as “从南到北” “南来北往”. On the contrary ,English people say “从南到北”as “from north to south ”,and “北屋” as “a room with a southern exposure”. “东风” and “west wind are the wind which blows from opposite direction . Chinese people like “东风” , but do not like west wind because i
35、n China “东风” (east wind ) represents the spring and warmth , it brings the spring with warmth wind. English people, on the contrary , like west wind, but do not like east wind because east wind blows from the north European continent and it is cold and unpleasant while west wind blows from the Atlan
36、tic ocean and it brings spring to the Britain. Sherleys “Ode to the west wind” has two famous sentence, “O, wind if winter comes, can spring be far behind?” These two sentences show his good longing for a bright future by using the west wind. 3). Religious culture has caused different cultural image
37、s Religious culture refers to the culture caused by a peoples religious belief and ideology which are expressed in a nations warship and taboo differences. Confuciansm, Taoism and Buddhism are the three great religions in China and have deep influence on Chinese culture. So in our traditional cultur
38、e, we have “yama, king of Hell” in Buddhism and “Dragon King ” in myth. Those cultural images will not be found in English culture.English people have their own cultural images in religion , such as God , because they believe Christianity . Chinese saying “成事在人，谋事在天” reflects the influence of Buddhi
39、sm. And “Man proposes, God disposes.” Reflects the influence of Christianity.4. Customary culture has caused different cultural images Customary culture refers to the culture which formed by a peoples custom and habits during the social life and communicative activities. Chinese people regard the da
40、ys of giving a birth, wedding and birthday as “red-letter day” and they celebrate these days to share their joy with others. English people also celebrate these happy days , but Chinese people also call the day of ones death a “happy ”day “white-letter day”. English people cant understand why. The u
41、nderstanding of color words also reflects the customary cultural differences. In the western society, white represent purity and honesty. Brides on the wedding day wiil wear white dress.But in China only the mourners wear white clothes on the funeral. Correspondingly, on the Chinese traditional wedd
42、ing ceremony , brides uaually wear red dresses in order to represent happiness and good luck while red has bad associative meaning blood and death in English. Of course, as the cultural exchange is getting more and more frequent, the customary differences have disappeared gradually.V. Transformation
43、 of cultural images Scholars in China discuss the transformation of cultural images mainly from three aspects . First, regard the transformation of cultural images as the problem of translating techniques. Second, discuss it from the psycholinguistic point of view. Third, discuss it from the cultura
44、l comparison point of view. Here he author discusses the transformation of images from the third one. The transformation of cultural images involves the relationship between the cultures of source language and target language. Which language do we attach ,the source language or the target language ?
45、 That depends. But generally speaking, we should understand the two cultures thoroughly, especially their difference before transforming the cultural images. We should also consider the readers of two languages, and the styles of two texts as well. I is not just the simple problem to replace the ima
46、ges that the readers are very familiar with. There are many ways to transform the cultural images. Here the author will just propose four ways to discuss the transformation of cultural images.1). To reproduce the imagesAs the readers contact with more foreign cultures , they are able to accept and u
47、nderstand foreign cultural images and they have keen interests in them. S o it is not necessary to replace the images with target cultural images. We can transform the images directly into target the language.e.g. At present ,the superpowers are armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons, placing the p
48、eople of the whole world under their nuclear threat. (目前，超级大国用核武器武装到了牙齿，把世界人民都至于他们的威胁之下。) Here we transform the image “teeth” into Chinese “牙齿” without any change. e.g. As poor as a mouse in the church. (穷得象教堂里的老鼠) We do not translate it as “穷得象叫花子”.Here it is not necessary to transform the image “mouse” into Chinese “老鼠”，not “叫花子” . Chines people are familiar with the image “叫花子” ,but we believe Chinese people can understand the image “a mouse in the church” as they h