On Cultural Diversity in English-Chinese Translation Studies英语专业毕业论文.doc

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1、成绩西南大学本科生课程论文 论文题目:On Cultural Diversity in English- Chinese Translation Studies 课程名称： 翻译理论 任课教师： 专 业： 英语 班级： 学号： 姓名： 2014 年 1 月 5 日西南大学外国语学院制 On Cultural Diversity in English-Chinese Translation StudiesAbstract It is widly expected that a good translation should on one hand maintain the original fl

2、avor, while on the other hand be accepted and comprehended by the target language readers in almost the same manner that the readers of the original text do. With the prosperous development of cultural studies, the understanding of translation has shifted from a traditional sense of cross-linguistic

3、 activity to a essentially cross-cultural communication. To reach the corresponsive effect in translation between English and Chinese, it is necessary to be aware of the cultural elements, especially the cultural differences involved between those two languages. This paper will focus on the the cult

4、ural barriers of translation, especially between Chinese and English, and also explore some feasible approaches to solve this problem. The author argues that for the cultural difference translation is doomed to be one kind of re-creation of the oringinal work and what the translators should do is tr

5、ying to find a balance between being faithful to the oringinal work and being natural in the target language, which would mostly depends on the popupose of the translator and the style of the work. This paper is consisted of five parts. It will firstly give a brief introduction of the purpose of thi

6、s paper. And then give the defination of translation and culture and the essential connection between them. The third part is about contrastive studies of English and Chinese cultures reflected in language, providing some examples for further analysis. The fourth part will provide some contemporary

7、theories and fundamentals in translation and try to explore some workable strategies to the major obstacles in cultural translation. And the last part will come to a conclusion that a translator should build a cultural bridge to achieve the purpose of cross-cultural communication.Key Words: Translat

8、ion, Cultural differences, English and Chinese, Translation strategiesOn Cultural Diversity in English-Chinese Translation Studies1. Introduction In the process of translation, it is the common cultural core shared by all nations that makes possible intercultural communication between the translatio

9、n object (the source text and the writer) and the translation subject (the translator). However, mutual understanding and communication between various nations across the world are very often discouraged by the diversity and complexity of cultural differences as well as linguistic differences. Becau

10、se different nations have different ecologies, habitats, religions and customs and so forth, the peoples view the same reality from different perspectives and then they belong to different cultural groups. As the cultural factors such as modes of thinking, beliefs and values not only result in failu

11、res or misunderstandings in cross-cultural communication but also pose obstacles to translators because cultural presuppositions may substantially and systematically affect their interpretation of the facts and events in source texts without their knowing it. Then it is urgently necessary for t them

12、 to be fully aware of the differences and crashes when doing translation. 2.Translation and Culture 2.1. Language and Culture Languages, in every nation, can embody and reflect peoples different modes of thinking, values, social awareness, religious beliefs, habits and customs. “Language is the prim

13、ary means by which a culture transmits its beliefs, values, and norms. It gives people a means of interacting with other members of the culture and a means of thinking.” (Dai Weidong, 1989:158) It is explicit that culture and language are inseparable from each other, and in fact, culture includes la

14、nguage as a subsystem, as a wider system. It can be summarized that language caries culture, mirrors culture, spreads culture and helps develop culture. On the one hand, language is the carrier of culture and part of the culture. Because languages can reflect a nations culture, language symbols prov

15、ides a rich expression means for a nation. Language has been keeping synchronous development with culture throughout the whole process of human cultures coming into being and their subsequent development. “Some scientists consider it the keystone of culture. Without language, they maintain, culture

16、would be impossible.” (Deng Yanchang & Liu Runqing, 1989:3.) On the other side, language is deeply influenced and shaped by culture, steaming from culture. Language, as a symbol system, expresses traces of a particular society and reflects unique cultural heritage. John Lyons, an English linguist, p

17、ointed that, “language is a part of culture. Differences on the language usage will expose the features of the social culture in terms of the substances, customs and other activities.” (Lyons, 1977: 30). Therefore, it can be said that the process of learning a target language is a process of learnin

18、g about the target culture. 2.2. The Defination of Translation Translation can be roughly definied as a reproduction or presentation in one language of what is written or said in another language. The linguistic views on translation believes that translation theory is a branch of linguistic, approac

19、hing the issue s of translating primarily from the viewpoint of the linguistic differences between source and target texts. It is argued that “ Translation may be defined as the replacement of textual materil in one language(the source language) by equivalent textual material in another language(the

20、 target language)”(Catford 1965:20). As for the cultural approach, translation is regarded not only as a transfer of linguistic signs, but also a communication of cultures. “ Translation is a process which occurs between cultures rather than simply between languages,. A translator who uses a cultura

21、l is simply recognizing that each language contains elements which are derived from its culture(such as greetings, fixed expressions and REALLA), that every that is anchored ina specific culture, and that conventions of text production and reception vary from culture toculture”(Shuttleworth & Cowie

22、1997:35) 2.3. The Relation between Translation and Culture Translation makes it possible to communicate between different cultures. However, translation has its limitations to an extent. Many of the functions and connotations of language cannot be “translated” at all literally, but have to resort to

23、 analysis and explanation to make out the hidden implications that they contain. In other words, it is necessary to set up a kind of according cultural context based on a sufficient and thorough understanding of culture of the target language. In the last twenty years, it has been universally acknow

24、ledged that literary translation is not merely transformation of language signals, but transformation of culture, since translation has a close interactive relationship with culture. Translation has been replaced by “intercultural communication”(Christiance Nord, 1991), “intercultural cooperation” (

25、Holz Manttari,1984:17), “acculturation” (Andre Lefevere, 1992), or “tranculturation” (R.D.Shaw,1988). Therefore, the translators should try to reduce the difficulties caused by cultural difference and to develop cultural exchanges between different nationalities. The translator needs to have a thoro

26、ugh understanding of the operation targetthe language. Without being fully aware of the nature of language, it is impossible to discuss culture from the viewpoint of translation. Nowadays, in international communication and information exchange, translation as a cross-culture event becomes more and

27、more important in dealing with the problem of cultural transmission. So translators necessarily put more emphasis to cultural differences in cross-cultural transfer in translation.3. Contrastive Studies of Western and Chinese Culture reflected in language Culture is a historical phenomenon; every so

28、ciety has its individual culture. Language is the carrier of culture and also part of it. Cultures consist of numerous interrelated cultural orientations, which are indicated as cultural patterns. Different cultural patterns result in different aspects of cultural clashes. 3.1 Historical Cultural Di

29、fference The historical cultural difference refers to the culture formed by the special historical development process and the culture accumulated by the social heritage. Every nation and country develops differently, so the historical culture deposited from the long history definitely differs from

30、each other. Both Chinese and English languages have formed literary idioms in the historical development. These idioms, although simple in structure, carry on far-reaching significance, which are hard to understand and translate only from the literal meaning. Every language has colorful proverbs, id

31、ioms, they are accumulations by the people of all ethnic groups in the long-term use of language, possessing strong individuality and local colo. In English, “to move heaven and earth” cannot mean “翻天覆地，惊天动地” but “千方百计，不遗余力”; “to talk horses” does not refer to “谈论马”，rather than“吹牛” in Chinese. For i

32、nstance, in the sentence “John can be relied on；he eats no fish and plays the games”(约翰为人可靠，他既忠诚又正直), there are two idioms “to eat no fish” and “to play the game”. If the translator has no idea about them, then the sentence can be ridiculously translated as “他一向不吃鱼而且经常玩游戏”. The same reasoning applie

33、s to allusions in Chinese. In Chinese,“你这个人真阿Q” or “她是个林黛玉式的人物” conveys so much information that hardly any further explanation is needed. But such allusions are not always easy to understand, and without understanding there can be little appreciation. If one has never read Lu Xuns The True Story of

34、 Ah Q, he would be at a loss to understand the remark about Ah Q. And know the plot of A Dream of Red Mansions a little is difficult to appreciate the reference to“林黛玉”，the heroine of the story. As calling a person“猪八戒”in Chinese means he is similar in many ways to that crude, pleasure-seeking, ofte

35、n erratic but sometimes lovable pig in the novel Pilgrimage to the West, so alluding to a person as a Romeo implies a handsome young man, passionate, dashing (from Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet). In translating these terms, restituting and interpretation may be combined. 3.2 Different Geographical a

36、nd Regional EnvironmentsDue to regional segregation and different living environment, different nationalities have their own peculiar cultures. The cultural connotation of words and things differs from one culture to another. Britain is an island country enclosed by the sea. The English people mainl

37、y engaged in commercial activities very early on the ocean and the English people usually connected what they saw and thought with their experiences on the ocean and thus plenty of their proverbs and sayings related to the sea ,such ad “all at sea (茫然不知所措)” ; “drink like a fish (牛饮)”;”fish in the ai

38、r (水中捞月)” ; “give up the ship (放弃)”. Whereas China is a country with large land areas and the Chinese people involved mainly in agricultural activities from early times. The English describes that some one “spends money too recklessly” by “spend money like water” whereas the Chinese will say “挥金如土”.

39、 There is proverb in Chinese“前车之鉴 后事之师”，but in English, it is “Let anothers shipwreck by your seamark.”; the Chinese people use a proverb“未雨绸缪”(turn up the soil and fix the window before it rains) to express the meaning “making preparation beforehand in normal times”, while its English version is “w

40、hile it is fine weather mend your sail”. Moreover, there are many idioms on boats and water while there is no precise equivalences in Chinese at all, such as “to rest on ones oars (暂时歇一歇) , to keep ones head above water (奋力图存) ,to be all at sea (不知所措) and etc. From the examples above, it can be conc

41、luded that due to the different geographical environment, those two different nationalities observe things in a differnet way and reflect the objective world not consistently. So it requires translators not to translate word for word by the dictionary explanation or translation. 3.3 Different Modes

42、of Thinking When it comes to modes of thinking, Western culture tends to dissect things into parts and analyze their relationships. On the other hand, Chinese people are likely to synthesize parts and examine the whole. Language inevitably reflects the mode of thinking of certain people. As for the

43、core value, Western linearity is embodied in the priority given to developing individual potentialities, realizing individual objectives, and seeking individual interests; Chinese circularity is embodied in the importance attached to harmonizing community relationships, actualizing community objecti

44、ves, and safeguarding community interests. The English words like “individualism”, “ambition” and “idealism” are commendatory terms while the Chinese ones like“个人主义”，“野心” “理想主义”a derogatory terms. The English people are also different from the Chinese in observation perspectives. For the same object

45、, they employ different concepts of generalization and thus the language expressions are not similar. For instance, they have different ideas about the observation and use of color. When we refer to “black tea” in English while it should be translated into Chinese as“红茶”rather than “黑茶”; “brown brea

46、d” is “黑面包” not “棕色面包. The color “青” conveys quite different connotations in “青衣” and“青天”; However when they are translated into English as “black dress”和“blue sky” since there is no equivalent connotations in English. Similarly, “黑眼睛” is translated as “dark eyes”; while “black eyes” is translated i

47、nto Chinese as “挨打后出现的黑眼圈”. Moreover, the different modes of thinking and logics are reflected in language expressions. Take the sentence “You cannot be too careful in the exam” for an example. If it is literally translated into “考试时你不要太细心”, which is a little illogical and ridiculous. As for its gra

48、mmatical function, it serves as a double negative structure. As for the thinking mode, it is reverse and it should be translated as “考试时你要特别细心”. 4. Strategies for Transferring Cultural Differences The foregoing discussion and analysis have displayed the significance of cultural factors in translation, which naturally leads to another question: How should one deal with the cultural factors in translation practice, especially when the text in question belongs to a culture which is quite different from the target culture? In this part, w