culturecomparisonsintranslation英語論文

1、1CultureComparisonsinTranslationI.IntroductionTherearevariouserrsintranslation.Thetechnicalactercausessomeofthemistranslation.Fexample“億”istranslatedinto“million”“cow”ismistakenf“crow”“rational”as“national”thewholesenten

2、ceeventhewholeparagraphmaybeomitted.Someonecallstheabovemistranslationas“HardWound”.Myessayisaimedtodiscussanothermistranslationwhichiscalledthemistranslationofculturalacter.Thismistranslationiscausedbythediversityofcult

3、ure.Thepurposeacteristicsoftranslationaretoexchangeideasculture.Translationpromotesunderstingamongdifferentcountriesnations.Intranslationtheprincipleof“seekingthecommongroundwhilereservingdifferences”1shouldbepracticed.T

4、ranslationshouldreflectalienthingsinastrangelthatareexpressedintheiginal.II.CulturemistranslationA.CulturerelatedtothesocialsystemCourtesyexpressionsimmediatelyreflectthesociobehavialpatternsofaculture.Thenotionofcourtes

5、yseemstobesomethinguniversalbutpeoplefromdifferentculturesmighthavedifferentideasastowhatarecourtesyexpressionswhatarenot.Traditionallye.g.aChinesemaygreetafriendacquaintancebyasking“Haveyouhadyourmeal”“Whereareyougoing”

6、Awesterneronthesameoccasionwouldhoweversaysomethinglike“Hello!”“Goodmning!”“Nicedayisn’tit”etc.WhenmeetingafriendwhohasjustarrivedafteralongjourneytheChinesewouldusuallysay“Youmusthavehadatiringjourney.”TheWesternerwould

7、askinstead“Didyouhaveanicetrip”“Didyouenjoyyourtrip”ThefactthatinChinesemanyconversationsstartwith“Howoldareyou”“Areyoumarried”“What’syourjob”“Howmuchdoyouearn”maydisconcertaWesternreadermanycausetemparyculturalshock.B.C

8、ulturerelatedtothelinguisticsystemCulturemaysometimesbetracedtothelinguisticespeciallysemanticstructuresofalanguage.Themosttypicalcaseisonewhereincomparablewdsindifferentlanguagesmaycarrystrikinglydifferentassociations.I

9、nChinesefinstance“vinegar”isoftenanothernamefjealousye.g.“吃醋”(“eatvinegar”—tobejealous).InEnglishhoweverthewdisconnotativeofilltemperedspeechacteretc.Onemaysaythatsomeone’sremarksare“madewithastrongnoteofvinegar”.“sour”“

10、vinegary”meansinEnglish“badtempered”(“asourmood”)butinChinesesournessbeingsourisconnectedwithpedantrysoapedanticscholarisoftensaidtobea“sour”one.2CCulturerelatedtothespecificexpressionsIndeedsomewdsexpressionsprofoundlyi

11、mbuedwithuniqueculturalelementsdocausetranslationproblems.FinstancetheChineselanguagepossessesagreatnumberofselfdepreciatingexpressions:“鄙人”（myhumbleself）“寒舍”（myhumblehome）“拙文”（myawkwardarticle）“賤內(nèi)”（myhumblewife）“老朽”（myo

12、lduselessself）etc.Thesetermscomefromalongfeudaltraditionofkeepingalowprofilerefrainingfromshowiness.Contrarytothisunderstatementofone’sownvaluetheChineseshowprofuserespectperhapstoobombastictothewesternmindfothers:“拜讀大作”

13、（readyourgreatarticleinawe）大札3likeanopenumbrella.“日”（sun）“月”（moon）arelikethesunthemooninthesky.“日”(sun)“月”(moon)combinetogive“明”(brightness).“從”(tofollow)veryvividlydescribeshowamanfollowstheother.ThemeaningofsomeChinese

14、wdscanbeunderstooddirectlybyaudiovideomeansfexample“硬幣”（coin）“紙幣”(notebill)“高跟鞋”(highheelshoes)“短襪”(socks)“連衣裙”(overallskirt)isapieceofclothingthatcombinesaskirtablouse.ManyChinesewdsareveryvividwithimagesshapesqualities

15、clearlypresentedwhereasmostoftheirEnglishtranslationsonlyconveythemeaningfunctionofthesourcetextwithoutpreservingtheimages.ThechangeofimageoftenoccurswhenconcreteimagesareemployedinChineseasmetaphtostfabstractideas.Finst

16、ance“手忙腳亂”vividlydescribestherushapersonisinwhenheshedoessomething.Theidiomgivesanoverallflurrysituationwithoutspecificreferenceto“手”“腳”.Inthetranslationofthisidiomtheconnotativemeaningiscompletelypreservedbuttheimagesof

17、“手”“腳”arelost.“如日中天”isthedeionofonewhoisthepeakofhispowercareerjustlikethesunathighnoon.SinceboththeChineseEnglishmensharethisculturalphenomenonliteraltranslation“l(fā)ikethesunathighnoon”freetranslation“atthepeakofone’spowe

18、rcareeretc.”areallgoodtranslations.4“勢如破竹”comparestosplittingbamboothevictieswononeafteranotherwithoutanydifficulty.Itcopiesthescenewhentheupperpartofabambooissplitthelowerpartwillnaturallybecomeseparated.ItsEnglishtrans

19、lationcanbe:“l(fā)ikesplittingbamboo”whicharousestheassociationofsplittingbambooonthepartofthereadersbypreservingtheimagecompletely“withirresistiblefce”whichonlyconveystheconnotativemeaningwiththeimagelost“l(fā)ikeahotknifecutti

20、ngthroughthebutter”whichbrowstheimagefromthewesternculturewiththesimilarconnotation.Althoughthesethreeversionsareallfaithfultheirappropriatenessisdeterminedbythecontextastowhousesthisidiomatwhattimeinwhatplace.Appropriat

21、enessherereferstotheappropriatetransferofmentalculturenamelywhetherthementalculturemirredinthesourcetextisproperlytransferredtothetargettext.Thechangeofimagemakestranslatsregretfulwhentheytranslatemeasurewds.Fexample“一枝筆

22、”(apen)“一張報紙”(anewspaper)“一朵花”(aflower)“一把椅子”(achair)“一面鏡子”(amirr)“一根棍子”(astick)“一匹馬”(ahse)“一盞燈”(alamp)“一棵樹”(atree)“一塊蛋糕”(acake)aresovividwithimages.TheirEnglishtranslationsareveryaccurateindeedtoconveytheconcernedmeanin

23、gthequantityoftheobjectsdescribedbuttheyfailwillneversucceedinreproducingtheimageswiththeirvividnessintheChinesemeasurewds.C.ChangeoffmThechangeoffminevitabletakesplaceonalllevelsoflanguagecultureinChineseEnglishtranslat

24、ion.Thefocusofdiscussionhereishowtochangefmsproperlyinreproducingsimilarrheticaldevices.InfluencedbytheharmoniousphilosophicalperceptionofCentralHarmonytheChinesehavedevelopedtheirpeculiaraestheticvaluesoneofwhichisuniqu

25、eemphasisonthebeautyofbalance.FexampleantithesisisanimptantfigureofspeechinbothChineseEnglish.ButantithesisismuchmeemployedinChinesepoetryfolksongsproverbsthaninEnglish.Fexampletheproverb“人無千日好，花無百日紅?！眂anbetranslated“Man