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论文

AnalysisofCulturalDifferencesbyComparingAnimalTermsinChineseandEnglishIdioms

[Abstract]Languageisaculturalcarrier.Culture-loadedvocabularyplaysanimportantroleinalanguage.Differentsocialbackgroundsandnationalcultureshaveagreateffectontheculturalconnotationsofvocabulary.Animalsarefriendsofhumanbeings.Languagesofmostnationscontainalotofwordsdenotinganimals,andsodoChineseandEnglish.Alongwiththedevelopmentandprogressofhumansociety,manyanimalsaretamedtobecomedomesticanimalsservingpeople,andmanyothershavebecomepeople’spets.Soanimalshavebecomepartofpeople’slife.Animalidiomsgraduallyhavegottheirestablishedconnotationsinalllanguages.Thatis,peopleassociatetheirfeelingsandemotions,evenhappeningsandnaturalphenomenawithvariousanimals,whicharethoughttopresentdifferentcharacterslikepeople,orserveassymbols.Manyanimalshavebecomeakindofsymbolinpeople’sthinkingandthissymbolisreflectedinthelanguage.However,becauseofdifferenthistoryandculture,theconnotationsofanimalwordsinonelanguagedonotnecessarilycoincidewiththoseinanotherbecauseofdifferentoutlookoflifeandconceptofbeautyindifferentcultures.

Thisdissertationattemptstocomparethesimilaritiesanddifferencesofanimalidioms,thecausesfordifferencesandthetranslationmethodsofdealingwithculturaldifferences.Therefore,wecannotonlybettermasterandusetheanimalidiomsaccurately,butalsounderstandtheeasternandwesterncultures,promotingthecross-culturalcommunicationandtranslationpractice.

Chapteroneistheintroductiondealingwiththerelationshipbetweenthelanguageandculture.

Chaptertwomakesacomparisonofsimilaritiesanddifferencesinanimalwords’meaningsofidioms.Owningtothedifferentsocialbackgrounds,customsandreligions,differencesareboundtoappearinanimalidiomsinbothlanguages.Whentalkingaboutthedifferences,IcomparetheanimaltermsinChineseandEnglishidiomsaccordingtotheconnotativemeaning,affectivemeaningandreflectedmeaning.IalsotalkaboutthemeaninggapinChineseandinEnglish.

Chapterthreefocusesontheanalysisofthecausesforthedifferencesfromthefollowingaspects:

influenceofregion,influenceofconvention,influenceofreligion,influenceofhistory,influenceoffablesandmythologiesandinfluenceofborrowedlanguageandforeignlanguage.

Chapterfourdealsprimarilywiththemethodsofdealingwithculturaldifferencesfromfivetranslationmethods:

literaltranslation,freetranslation,image-shifttranslation,literaltranslationplusannotationandliteralplusfreetranslation.

[KeyWords]animalidioms;culturaldifference;causesfordifferences；translationmethods

从动物习语看中西文化差异

【摘要】语言是文化的载体，作为文化载体的词汇在语言中扮演重要的角色。

不同的社会背景和不同的民族文化对词汇的含义有很大的影响。

动物是人类的朋友，包括英语和汉语在内的所有语言中都有很多表示动物的词汇。

随着人类社会的进步，很多动物成人类的朋友，为人类服务，也有很多动物还成为人们的宠物。

可见动物已经成为人们生活的一部分。

动物词汇也逐渐形成特定的涵义，也就是说人们把他们的一些情感，甚至是发生的事件，自然现象都和动物联系起来，认为动物能够表现不同人的个性，或者是表示某些象征。

许多动物已经在人们的思维中形成某种象征，并体现在语言当中。

然而，由于不同的历史和文化，不同的人生观，以及不同文化的审美观，动物词汇的内涵意义会因为语言的不同而不同。

本文就中英动物习语的异同的论述，引起中西文化差异的成因和翻译上如何处理文化差异的方法三点进行比较，使我们能够更加准确、更加形象地使用动物习语，也能更好地了解中西文化，促进跨文化交际，对习语的翻译实践也有一定的实际意义。

第一部分是引言，主要处理语言与文化的关系；第二部分比较习语中动物词汇的异同。

由于不同的社会背景，风俗习惯和宗教信仰，在中英语言中，不同点便自然而生。

在谈到不同点时，根据内涵意义、情感意义和反映意义将习语中的动物词汇进行分析，同时也谈到中西文化中动物词汇的空缺；第三部分从地域性的影响、风俗习惯的影响、宗教信仰的影响、历史的影响、寓言神话的影响和借用语和外来语的影响来强调分析中西动物词汇文化差异的成因；第四部分从翻译方法上来处理中西文化差异，提出的翻译方法主要有直译、意译、形象转换法、直译加注释法和直译加意译法。

【关键词】动物习语;文化差异;差异成因;翻译方法

1.Introduction

“Languageandculture,intrinsicallydependentoneachother,haveevolvedtogetherthroughthehistory.”[1]“Ontheonehand,languageasanintegralpartofhumanbeing,permeateshisthinkingandwayofviewingtheworld,languagebothexpressesandembodiesculturalreality.Ontheother,language,asaproductofculture,helpspermeatetheculture,andthechangesinlanguageusesreflecttheculturalchangesinreturn”.[2]Languageisthebaseofentireculture,anditisonlyinlanguagethatculturecanbewell-presentedandhandeddownfromgenerationtogeneration.Ontheotherhand,languageisinfluencedandshapedbyculture;itreflectslanguage.Languagereflectscharacteristicsofcultureandpredictsthedevelopingorientationofculture.Inthebroadestsense,languageisthesymbolicrepresentationofapeople;thedevelopmentoflanguageoftenembodiesthechangeofculture.Itcomprisestheirhistoricalandculturalbackgroundsaswellastheirapproachtolifeandtheirwaysoflivingandthinking.Tounderstandalanguage,onemustknowwellaboutitscultureandviseversa.

2.Acomparisonofsimilaritiesanddifferencesinmeaning

2.1Similaritiesinmeaning

Animalisman’sbestfriend.Differentanimalshavedifferentnaturalinstinctsandlifestyles.Duringthelong-termintimatecontactwiththeanimals,peoplehavethedeep-rootedunderstandingstowardsanimals.AndboththeChinesepeopleandEnglishpeoplenearlyhavethesameknowledgeofanimal’snaturalinstinctsandwaysoflife.Forexample,Englishpeoplewouldsay,“Heisasslyasafox.He’sfoxy,andyou’regottowatchhim.”Atthesametime,Chinesepeoplewouldunderstandthemeaningofthesentenceaswell,inChinese,“他像狐狸一样狡猾，他很狡猾，你得注意点”.Thisexampleindicatesthat“fox”canbeusedtodescribesomeonewhoiscunninganddeceitful.Thisexamplestatesthatdifferentlanguagesandculturesendow“fox”thesameculturalassociativemeaning.

ThefollowinganimalvehicleshavethesameassociativemeaningsbothinEnglishandinChinese.

Donkeycanberegardedasakindofanimalwithdopeyandstubborntemper.Sothe“donkey（驴）”isusedtoshowthecharacterwithobstinateandstupidtemperbothinEnglishandinChinese,e.g.:

“asstubbornasadonkey（像驴一样固执的）”.

Birdscanflytoanyplacetheyliketo.NowondertheyaretheembodimentoffreedominbothEnglishandChinese.Forexample:

“Bringthechilddowntomeforafortnight.Ihaveahugeoldgardenwherehecanbeasfreeasabirdandperfectlysafe”.

Parrotisakindofbirdthatcanimitatepeople’ssound.EnglishpeopleandChinesepeopleuse“parrot（鹦鹉）”torefertothosepeoplerepeatsomeoneelse’swordandideaswithoutreallyunderstandingwhatyouaresaying,e.g.:

“Hedoesn’thaveanideaofhisown.Hejustparrotswhatotherpeoplesay.（他没有自己的主张，常常鹦鹉学舌。

）”.

Pigorswinehassuchcharacteristics:

dirty,greedy,lazy,selfishandugly,forexample,“makeapigofoneself（贪婪地\狼吞虎咽到吃喝）”;“livelikeapiginclover（生活奢侈）”;“Hehasbeenapigaboutmoney.（他对钱贪得无厌）”.

2.2Differencesinmeaning

Becauseofdifferentcultural,historicalandtraditionalbackground,actually,EnglishpeopleandChinesepeoplewouldhavedifferentassociativemeaningstowardsthesameanimalvehicle.

2.2.1Samevehiclewithdifferentmeanings

“Everybodyknowsthatwordsrepresentmeaning.Theproblemisthattheymayrepresentseveraltypesofmeaningsimultaneously.”[3]“AccordingtoGeofferyLeech（1981:

9-23）,‘meaning’inthewidersensemayembrace1.conceptualmeaning（orsense）;2.connotativemeaning;3.socialmeaning;4.affectivemeaning;5.reflectedmeaning;6.collocativemeaning;and7.thematicmeaning.”[4]Amongthem,“connotativemeaning,socialmeaning,affectivemeaning,reflectedmeaning,andcollocativemeaningcanbebroughttogetherundertheheadingassociativemeaning.”[5]

（i）Samevehiclewithdifferentconnotativemeanings

“Connotativemeaningisthecommunicativevalueanexpressionhasinadditiontothepurelyconceptualmeaning.”[6]“Connotationsofwordsvaryfromculturetoculture.Iftheyareignored,seriousmisunderstandingscanoccurincross-culturalcommunication.TheconnotationsofagreatmanyEnglishwordsaredifferentfromthoseoftheirtranslationequivalentsinChinese.”[7]SomeoftheseEnglishanimalwordswillbediscussedinthefollowingparagraphs.

Dogisadistinctiveexampleinthetwocultures.“狗”isverypejorativeinmeaninginChinese.ThiscanbereadilyillustratedbytheChinesewordsandidiomaticexpressionsinwhichitisanelement:

“走狗”,“丧家狗”,“狗头军师”,“狗急跳墙”,“狗腿子”.Manyotherscanbeaddedtothislist,buttheyareenoughtoexemplifythenegativeattitudesoftheChinesepeopletowardsthesecreatures.InEnglishculture,however,adogisapet,whichcanevenbeconsideredafamilymember.Forexample,“therearethreefaithfulfriends:

anoldwife,anolddogandreadymoney.（人有三个忠实的朋友：

老妻、老狗和现金。

）”.[8]ItishardforEnglishspeakerstounderstandwhy“走狗”isapejorativeterminChinese.Tothemadogislovelyanda“runningdog”isdoublylovely.“‘Dog’and‘狗’conveythesameconceptualmeaning,buttheirconnotationsarequitedifferentinEnglishandChinesecultures.”[9]

InEnglishculture,owlissymbolizedofwisdom.“Aswiseasanowl”indicatesthatthenativeEnglishpeopleassociatewisdomwiththisbird.Inchildren’sbooksandcartoons,theowlimpliescalmnessandsolemn.Forexample,“Hepeersowlishlyatusthroughhisglasses（他透过他的眼镜严肃而机智地打量着我们）;Atenantofferingfivebalesofcottonwastold,aftersomeowl-eyedfiguring,thatthiscottonexactlybalancedhisdebt.（一个佃农交了5包棉花，老板精明地一盘算，告诉他说这些棉花刚好抵上他所欠的债务。

）”.[10]However,thereisasuperstitiousbeliefthatowlisanunluckybirdandisthesymbolofthedisasteranddeathamongtheChinesepeople’sminds,astheChinesesayinggoes,“猫头鹰进宅，好事不来（anowlvisitingahomepretendsmisfortuneinthathouse）”.

（ii）Samevehiclewithdifferentaffectivemeanings

“Affectivemeaningiscommunicatedwhenthefeelingorattitudesareexpressedinlanguage.Inothercases,affectivemeaningisconveyedthroughthemediationofconceptual,connotative,orstylisticmeaning.”[11]

Let’stakethedragonforexample.InChinese,especial