Introduction.docx

Introduction.docx

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Introduction

Introduction

Thecolorisakindofhumanbeing'saesthesiaintheobjectiveworld（Jianghong,1999）.Whateverpossessesinthenatureorinsociallife,variouscolorsexist.Theso-called"beautifulworld"or"colorfullife"provesthatpeople'sactuallifeiscloselyrelatedtocolorinwhichpeoplelive.

Scientificresearchindicatesthatsevenmillionkindsofcolorscanbefoundintheworld.However,colorexpressionsareonlylimitedtoseveralhundredsinclassification.Thenumberofwordsforexpressingcolorinlanguagesofvariousnationalitiesdiffersanditsclassificationvariesaswell.[1]

EnglishandChineseExpressionsonColorscanbecategorizedintothreekinds:

Firstly,themajorcolorsinthenaturalworld,suchasred、blue、green、white、purple、gray、brown、blackandsoon;Secondly,colorexpressionsonobjects,whicharecommonlyassociatedwithgold、silver、orangeandblue;Thirdly,compoundcolorexpressionswhichcanbefoundthatarerelatedtolead-gray、fish-belly-gray、waxy-yellow、orange-redandothercolors,too.[2]　

1TranslationofEnglishandChineseExpressionsonColors

ManycolorvocabulariesareexpressedbothinEnglishandChinese.However,thecolorexpressionsinEnglishandChinesehavegreatdifferences.Therefore,theexpressionsoncolorsbetweenthetwolanguagescan'tbebrieflyandequivalentlytranslated.Instead,itneedstobetranslatedspecificallyaccordingtocertainconditionsalongwithaflexibleway.Asaresult,itisurgentforustoavoidmakingwrongtranslationwordbyword.ThetranslationmethodsofdifferentEnglishandChinesecolorexpressionsareasfollows:

1.1LiteralTranslation

Literaltranslationmeansthattranslatorsshouldtrytheirbesttokeepthelanguagestyleoftheoriginalwork.Meanwhileitrequiresthetargetlanguagetobesmoothandeasytounderstand.

Takethemajorcolorsasanexample,themeaningsofthemintwolanguagesarequitesimilarinthenaturalworld.Red,yellow,blue,green,black,white,purple,dustandbrowncanbetranslatedinliteraltranslation.Forinstance,theblueskyisthesameasitisarrangedinChineselanguage.Anotherexampleisthathewearsablackcoat.ThisEnglishsentenceisexactlyarrangedintheorderofChinese-expression.

Whiletranslatingthesymbolmeaningsofthemajorcolorexpressions,ifinacertainlinguisticcontext,我EnglishphraseisexpressedexactlyinthesameorderofChineseone.

Ontheotherhand,wecantakeequivalentmethodofliteraltranslationtotranslatecolorexpressionsonobjectsbothinEnglishandChineselanguages.Forexample:

Thephrases"Grassgreen"andthefollowingEnglishsentencearebothexpressedinthesimilarsituationinitscounterpartlanguageofChinese:

ButoneafternoonIwaswalkingacrosstheyardandstoppedtopickupanacorn—oneacorn,nutbrown,glossy,cooltotouch;…

1.2FreeTranslation

Freetranslationmeansthatthetranslatorfocusesonthemostsignificantpartofthetextwhileleavingouttheinsignificantpartforflexibility.Inaword,freetranslationdoesnotpayattentiontothestyleoftheoriginaltext,includingthestructureofthesentence,theuseofwords,metaphorandothertropes.

Inviewofcolorphrasetranslation,theexpressionformofsomecolorsentencesdiffersgreatly.Andthemetaphorusedinoriginallanguagedoesnotaccordwiththeusageoforiginalword.Take"lookattheworldthroughrose-coloredglasses"fromthesentence"WhenAnnagraduatedfromhighschool,shelookedattheworldthroughrose-coloredglasses."forexample,thephrase"Lookattheworldthroughrose-coloredglasses"means"seetheproblemstoooptimistically",literaltranslationwillbe:

"…tohaveontherose-coloredglasses",readersdonotunderstandwhatitmeans.Ifthissentenceistranslatedinliteraltranslation,readerswillbelostandunabletograspthekeypointsormainideas.Therefore,wemustadoptfreetranslationandshowreadersclearlytherealmeaningfortheexpression.[3]

Ontheotherhand,somecolorwordshavetheamplifyingmeaning.Forthispurpose,wecantotallyneglectthecolorexpressionsoftheoriginaltext,andtranslatethemwithproperwordsaccordingtothemeaningoftheoriginaltext.Forinstance:

"agreenhand"and"pinkslip"arecorrectlytranslated.[4]

Incontrast,intheprocessoftranslatingthesymbolmeaningofmajorcolorexpressions,ifunderacertainlinguisticcontextwithsymbolicmeaningofacertaincolorbearingdifferentimplicationsintwolanguages,weneedtotaketheapproachoffreetranslation."Hervisitcameoutoftheblue.""Thestoreisrunningintheblue."And"Heissoblackasheispainted."Thesethreesentencesarethetypicalsamples.

Astocolorexpressionsonobjectsusuallyusedinonekindoflanguageratherthaninanotherkindoflanguage,wecannotfindanothercolorexpressionsonobjectstoexpressthemintargetlanguage.Atthistime,we’dbettertakefreetranslationorexpressthembymajorcolorexpressions."Cherrylips"justcanbetranslatedbymajorcolorexpressions."Smallfeatures,veryfair"from"…smallfeatures,veryfair;flaxenringlets,orrathergolden,hanginglooselyonherdelicateneck…"Alltheseexamplesneedtobetranslatedinfreetranslation.

1.3DynamicEquivalenceTranslation

Dynamicequivalencetranslationmeansthatitistomakeeveryefforttoreachflexibilityandequivalence,whichenablesforeignreaderstogetroughlythesamefeelingasoriginaltextreaders.Inordertokeeptheformoforiginalwork,everyeffortshouldbemadetomaintaintheoriginalcontent,style,emotionandartisticconceptionincludingtheliteralandimplyingmeaning.Targetlanguageissmoothandequivalentinmeaningandstyle.Whiledifferinggreatlyinbilingualcontexts,translatorscanmakegreatchangesinusingwordsandstructures.

WhentranslatortranslatesChinesebasiccolor"dark、white、redandyellow"todescribetheweather,faceandcomplexionofpeople,itisnecessarytousedifferentbasiccolorexpressionsindifferentlanguagesaccordingtotheconcretelydescriptiveobjectandinstance.TaketheChineseword"black"forexample,itisexpressedbydifferentaspectsinEnglish:

"Dark"from"It'sgettingdark."and"brown"from"Hisfaceisbrown."Bothcanbetranslatedinto"black".

TakeanotherexampleoftheChineseword"white":

In"Heispalewithfear."and"Hisfaceturnedgreenatthesight.",wecanfeelthat"hisfacebecomeswhitebecauseoffear"indifferentEnglishexpressions.

ThesewordsbelowcanbetranslatedintoChinesewordfor"yellow":

"Hehasayellowface."and"goldenhair"bothrefertoChineseexpressionsfor"yellow".

1.4BorrowedTranslation

Acertainobjectmayrepresentacertaincolorinonelanguage,butthereisnotasamecaseinanotherlanguage.Sowehavetoseekthematchingobjectintargetlanguage.Forinstance:

"Opal-colored"and"ravenhair"needtobetranslatedinborrowedtranslation.

1.5AmplifiedTranslation

Whiletranslatingthemajorcolorexpressions,thoughsomewordscandescribecolors,wecan'ttranslatethemdirectly.Instead,itshouldbetranslatedaccordingtotheculturebackgroundofthelanguage,Forinstance:

whiteChristmasinEnglishwillbetranslatedintoChineseforexpressingthecolorofthefestivalinitsatmosphere.

1.6SelectionandTranslationAccordingtotheMatch

InChinese,thereareseveralmajorcolorexpressions.Oneofthewordscanpointseveralkindsofcolors.WhiletranslatingthiskindofwordsintoEnglish,thetranslatorsshouldconfirmitsconcretemeaningincolorsaccordingtomatchingaspriority,andthentranslateitintothecorrespondingEnglishexpressionsincolor.Forinstance:

The"green"from"greenvegetables"and"greenpines"canbetranslatedintotwokindsofdifferentcolors.

1.7AccordingtoSanctifiedUsage,TranslateoneKindofColorIntoAnotherKind

InEnglishandChinesecultures,sometimespeoplehavedifferentperceptiontothesameobject.Thereforetheyhavedifferentunderstandingsofthesamecolorinitsmeaning.Andthenitcausesthatdifferentphrasesrevealthesamekindofcolor,suchas"pinkeyes"and"blackandblue".

Inaddition,somenounsshoulddeaddedtothecolorexpressionswhiletranslatingintoChinese,forinstance:

Whenwetranslate"cucumber"and"soybean",weshoulduseyellowaswell.

2ComparisonofEnglishandChineseExpressionsonColors

2.1OntheRelationBetweenYellowandSocialCulturalIdeologytoComparetheEnglishColorExpressionsWithChinese

Thenatureisvaricolored.Thecolorwillproducespecificmeaninginthemindsofpeople,andcausespecificassociationandinspirethespecialresponse;thisissocialintensionofthecolor.Inthisway,thecolorisnolongeranobjectivematerial,butturnintotheabstractsymboliccolor,immergeindyeingbodyofculture.[5]Therearemanycolorexpressions,whichreflectdifferentculturepsychologiesandemotionalcoloringsbothinChineseandEnglish.EspeciallyinChinese,therearerichandcolorfulcolorwordssinceancienttimes.TherearethesameinEnglish.ManycolorexpressionsreflecttheWesterncustomsaswell.AccordingtocomparisonbetweentheChinesecolorexpressionsandtheEnglish,wetalkabouttherelationsbetweenthecolor"yellow"anditsideologyofsocialculture.

TheyellowistherepresentativecolorofChinesenationfromancienttimes,andalsooneofthecolors,whichChinesenationalityadvocates.Inancienttimes,theyellowsymbolizedsuchculturalmeaningasthesacredness,imperialpower,honor,loftiness,solemnity,land,territory,etc.ZhuXi,agreatthinker,saidinSongDynasty:

"Countenanceo