中西思维差异对翻译的影响.docx

中西思维差异对翻译的影响.docx

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中西思维差异对翻译的影响

毕业论文

题目：

中西思维差异对翻译的影响Title：

AProbeintotheInfluenceson

Translation——Exertedby

DifferentThinkingPatterns

2009年5月25日

Acknowledgements

Firstandforemost,myappreciationgoestomyaffectionateparents,andtherestofmyfamily.Throughoutthedevelopmentofthispaper,theyhavebeentherealwaysgivingmecontinuoussupport,encouragementandunderstanding.Theirloveandsupportencouragemetopursueprogressallthetime.

Iwouldalsoliketoextendmysincerethankstoallotherteacherswhogavemelecturesduringthepastfouracademicyears.Ihavebenefitedsomuchnotonlyfromtheircoursesandlecturesbutalsofromtheirconstantencouragement.

Finally,mydeepestgratitudeandrespectgoestomysupervisor,YangYing.Itisforherconstantencouragement,criticalinstructions,hergreatcareandpreciousadvicethatthispaperappearsinthepresentform.

Abstract

Translationisnotonlyakindoflanguageactivity,butalsoakindofthinkingactivity.Itinvolvesthetransformationbetweenthesourcelanguageandtargetlanguage.Languageisthetoolandresultofthinkingwhichisthebasisoftranslationactivity,languageandthinkingarecloselyinterrelated.However,thedifferencesinculture,geographyandhistoryleadtothediscrepanciesoftheChineseandEnglishmodeofthinkinganddifferenceinlanguageexpressions.Thispaperstartswiththerelationsbetweenlanguageandthinking,thenfocusesonthedifferencesofthinkingpatterns,discussingtheinfluencesontranslationexertedbythedifferencebetweenEnglishthinkingandChinesethinking.Itaimstodrawthetranslators’attentiontotheinfluencesofthinkingdifferenceandreducethecommunicationimpedimentoftwopeoples.

KeyWords:

language;influence;translation;differentwaysofthinking;EnglishpeopleandChinesepeople

摘要

翻译不仅是一种语言活动，而且还是一种思维活动，它是把一种语言所表达的信息用另一种语言传达出来的过程。

语言既是思维的工具，又是思维的结果，而思维是翻译活动的基础。

语言和思维紧密相关。

但是由于中西方地域上相隔较远，各自相对独立，文化历史发展的轨迹相去甚远，因而中西思维方式存在着很大的差异，英汉两种语言对同一主题的表达方式也各异。

本文从语言与思维的关系出发，从思维方式差异入手，探讨英汉思维差异对翻译的影响，以使译者重视英汉思维差异对翻译的影响，从而减少两民族的交流障碍。

关键词：

语言；影响；翻译；思维差异；英汉民族

Contents

Introduction1

I.LanguageandThinking1

II.DifferentThinkingPatterns2

2.1Figurativethinkingvs.abstractthinking2

2.2Integratedthinkingvs.analyticthinking4

2.3Spiralthinkingmodevs.linearthinkingMode6

2.4Subject-centeredthinkingvs.object-centeredthinking7

III.SpecificExpressioninTranslation8

3.1Impactonvocabulary9

3.2Impactonwordorder10

3.3Impactonsentencestructure10

3.4Impactonparagraphstructure12

Conclusion12

Bibliography14

Introduction

ThefamousWhorfhypothesisthinksthatlanguageshavedeterminingeffectsonthinking.Thinkingasakindofcognitiveactivitydominatedbybrainisadeepmechanismoflanguage’sproductionanddevelopment.Languageasatoolusedforthinkingisacomponentofthinking.Thinkingmustbeexpressedinlanguage.

Althoughthinkingisuniversal,whichmeandifferentnationalpeoplecanhavecommonrecognitiontowardthesamething.However,growingupindifferentnationalcultures,peopleindifferentnationshavetheirowncharacteristics,thustheirmodesofthinkingvarygreatly.Therefore,thediscrepanciesofdifferentthinkingpatternscausedlanguageexpressions’variety.AsatoolforcommunicationthebasicattributeofEnglishandChinesearethesame,sotherearemanysimilaritiesduringthedescriptionandthinkingwiththetwolanguages.Butbecauseoftheinfluenceoftheirowncultures,therearemanydifferencesbetweenthetwolanguages.

Differentnationshavenotonlydifferentculturesbutalsodifferentthinkingways,thinkingfeatures,thinkingstyles,thesearethedifferencesbetweenthinking.EnglishbelongstoIndo-EuropeanwhileChinesebelongstoSino-TibetanLanguages.ChineseisspokenbymorepeoplewhileEnglishismorewidelydistributed.Asexchangesbetweenthetwopeoplesarebecomingmoreandmorefrequent,differencesbetweenthetwonations’thinkinghavebroughtaboutmanyproblemsaffectingthetwointer-ethnicdialogue.Translationasatransferenceactivityfromonelanguagetoanotherlanguage,inessence,isnotonlyalanguageactivity,butalsoathinkingactivity.ThethesisaimstostudytherelationshipbetweenlanguageandthinkingthroughthemanifestationsinthinkingdifferencestorevealthedifferencesbetweenEnglishandChinesethinkingontranslation.

I.Thinking,LanguageandTranslation

Thinkingisacognitivefunctionofthehumanbrain,bymeansofwhichmancognizestheworld.Itisanintangibleprocessthatcannotbeheard,seenortouched,thereforeitmusttakelanguageasitsform.Languageisthemostimportanttoolorphysicalshellforthinking.Itisalsotheorganizerofhumanthinkingandrecognition.Asthearbitrarysystemofsignsusedbyhumanbeingstoexpresstheirfeelingsandaspirationsandtoexchangetheirideas,languageprovidesthebestinstrumentfortheexpressionandcommunicationofthinking.Allinall,thinkingisthebasisoflanguageandlanguagehastodependonthinkingforitscontent;Languageandthinkingintricatelyintertwine.

Translation,theprocessofwhichbeginsfromlanguageandendsatitaswell,isnotonlyalinguisticact,butalsoanactofthinking.Itisbasedonthecommonnessofthinking.Intheprocessoftranslation,thesuccessfulcommunicationbetweenthesourcelanguageandthetargetlanguageisachievedthroughthesharedcontentsandrulesofthinking.However,thethinkingstylesofdifferentnations,thoughhavealotincommon,areuniqueinspecificcharactersowningtothedifferenceintermsofhistory,geographicallocation,ecology,religion,customs,etc.,asaresult,peopleofdifferentnationsmightperceivethesameobjectindifferentperspectives.Deeplyrootedthinkinghabits,makeitimpossibleforustoescapetheimpactofourthinkinguponourlanguage,suchastherange,thestructureandtheformofourlanguage.Forexample,weChinesesay“一举两得”or“一箭双雕”toexpressthemeaningof“gettwosidesofbenefitsfromdoingonething（做一件事情行到两方面好处）”.WhereasinEnglish,itsequivalentis“tokilltwobirdswithonestone（一石双鸟）”.

II.DifferentThinkingPatterns

2.1Figurativethinkingvs.abstractthinking

Duetohistoricalandculturalreasons,differentnationsmightbeprominentofonestyleofthinking.Generallyspeaking,traditionalChinesecultureisfeaturedbyconcretestyleofthinkingincontrasttoabstractthinkinginWesternculture.

Chinesepeopleareideographic,usingimagery-focusedlanguage,theyaresensitivetoimageandthemeaningshiddeninlanguage,namely,“theimplication”.Theyaregoodatusingimagerythinkingaswellasfigurativelanguagetoexpressabstractmeaning,withspecificandvividpicturesformedintheirmind.TraditionalChinesephilosopher’sfavorinusingliteratureformstostatetheirextensiveandprofoundphilosophyisgoodevidenceofthisfigurativeandimagerymodesofthinking.

AnalogyhasbecomeatrendasaresultofChineseconcretepatternofthought.TheapplicationofanalogyhasmadeintuitionanimportantelementinChineseconcretepatternofthoughtasaresulttheyareopttouseintuitioninsteadoflogicintheirthought.

Insharpcontrast,Englishbelongstoalphabeticwritingsystem,whichissymbolicsignsregulatedrationallybypeopleratherthanpurelyimitationofnaturalphenomenonwithitsmeaningdecidedbysoundcombination.Foritbasedonpeople’sanalytic,summarizingandabstractability,logictendencyofthislanguagewasformed.

Thetwodifferentthinkingstylesaredirectlyreflectedonsentenceandvocabulary.InChinese,moreconcretenounsareused,butthecaseisquitedifferentinEnglish,wheremoreabstractnounsarefound.Therefore,duringtranslation,greateffortshouldbemadetoalternatebetweenabstractnoun,impersonalsubjectwordsinEnglishandspecific,figurative,personalsubjectwordsinChinese.

E.g.:

1.Inlinewithlatesttrendsinfashion,afewdressdesignershavebeensacrificingelegancetoaudacity.

有些时装设计师为了起时髦，舍弃了优雅别致的式样，而一味追求袒胸露体的奇装异服。

2.Wisdompreparesfortheworst;butfollyleavestheworstforthedayitcomes.

聪明人防患于未然，愚蠢者临渴掘井。

Theunderlinedabstractnounsareallgenericterms,whichareconciseandexplicittoEnglishreaders,buttheymighthavetoberenderedintomoreconcretenounsforChinesereaders.

2.2Integratedthinkingvs.analyticthinking

Chineseeconomicform,small-scalefarmingbyindividualowners,leadstoanintegratedworldwithmanandnature,andpeople’sintegratedmodeofthinking.Inunderdevelopedsocialcircumstances,the“integrationofheavenandhuman”,“integrationofcognitionandbehavior”,and“integrationoffeelingandsetting”weregraduallyformed,theyconsiderpeopleandnature,peopleandcosmos,individualandsocietyasanindivisible,correspondingorganicwhole.Whenanalyzingtherelationbetweensubjectandobject,humanandnature,spiritandsubstance,thoughtandexistence,soulandbody,phenomenonandessence,theyputmuchattentionontheintegralbalanceofthings.TheChineseintegralpatternofthoughtproducesageneral-particularorderintheChineselanguage.

OccidentalanalyticmodeofthinkingisoriginatedinPlato’stheory“dichotomyofsubjectandobject”.Theydistinguishsubjectandobject,humanandnature,etc.clearly.Asaresult,theyarefondofmakingresearchesonthisdualityworldrespectivelyandanalyzingontwolevels:

independentandnotisolated;dynamicandnotstatic—adialecticalwayofanalyzing.TheWesternanalyticalpatternofthoughtproducesaparticular-generalorderintheEnglishlanguage.

ThedifferenceofChinesegeneral-particularorderandEnglishparticu