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毕业论文关键词：习语；文化差异；策略
Table of Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Literature Review 2
3 Cultural Diversity Reflected by Chinese and English Idioms 5
3.1 The Difference of Living Environment 5
3.2 The Disparity of Life Style and Customs 6
3.3 The Different Faith in Religion 8
3.4 Literary Quotation of History 8
4 The Specific Principle and Methods of the Translation of Chinese and English Idioms 11
4.1 Domestication 11
4.2 Foreignization 13
4.3 Literal Translation 14
4.4 Free Translation 15
4.5 Amplification 16
4.6 Omission 16
5 Conclusion 17
References 19
On the Translation of Chinese and English Idioms from Cultural Perspectives
1 Introduction
An idiom is a particular and fixed means of expression of a certain language formed by communication process. As time goes by, both Chinese and English have contained rich idioms. The Chinese and English idioms have their own cultural characteristics, which are closely connected with the disparity of geography, life style and customs, religious faith and history of their own cultural traditions. The cultural factors in idioms tend to be difficult in translation. Therefore, it is of significance to explore the translation of Chinese and English idioms by using the theory of pragmatics. Professor H.P.Grice pided the utterance meaning into natural meaning and non-natural meaning in his work of Meaning. The non-natural meaning of utterance refers to the meaning that people intend to express, namely, the pragmatic connotative meaning expressed by the speakers on particular occasions. This is the basis of the theory of conversational implicature of Grice. For the disparity of Chinese background and English background, the discourses of the same literal meaning and figurative meaning are likely to have the totally different implicit meanings. However, the implicit meaning is the real meaning that the speakers or authors really want to express. According to the author’s comparison, the various discrepancies between Chinese idioms and English idioms can be classified into two groups: one is the difference in figurative meaning, and the other is the disparity in connotation meaning (commendatory/derogatory meaning included), and yet both of them is not the literal meaning, but the specific reflection of cultural persity. Thus, this paper will explore the cultural persity reflected by Chinese and English idioms and focus on the concrete principles and methods of the translation of Chinese and English idioms from cultural perspectives. It is expected that the current paper will exert great significance, theoretically and practically.
First of all, this paper will analyze the cultural differences presented in Chinese and English idioms, and then introduce the difficulties of the translation of Chinese and English idioms. In the end, the author demonstrates the concrete strategies in details.
2 Literature Review
This thesis aims to explore the cultural persity reflected by the Chinese and English idioms and the specific principle and methods in the translation of Chinese and English idioms. Cultures in idiom translation vary from one culture to another. “No language can exist unless it is steeped in the context of culture; and no culture can exist which does not have at its center, the structure of natural language.” (Susan Bassnett, 2004, P22) Translation serves as a bond to facilitate the communication between Chinese culture and English culture. Susan Bassnett says, “Language, then, is the heart within the body of culture, and it is the interaction between the two that results in the continuation of life-energy. In the same way that the surgeon, operating on the heart, cannot neglect the body that surrounds it, so the translator treats the text in isolation from the culture at his peril.” (Susan Bassnett, 2004, P22) As a matter of fact, translation is a kind of intercultural communication rather than the simple inter-lingual communication.