A Research on English-Chinese Translation of English Idioms.doc

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1、英语习语的中译研究A Research on English-Chinese Translation of English IdiomsAbstract: Every language is laden with idioms. English, as the most active and widely used language, enjoys a vast idiomatic basis, which makes its learning very exciting and interesting. And the task of translating entails comparin

2、g English and Chinese idioms in terms of cultural differences. When speaking of E-C idioms translation strategies, what enter our minds are two pairs of terms, literal translation and liberal translation, domestication and foreignization. The academic circle of E-C idioms translation has argued over

3、 their use for years, but till now no agreement has been reached. In fact, the two pairs of translation methods deal with translation from different perspectives, and they are just like two overlapping circles with only small shared parts. Researches on its normalization of translation can facilitat

4、e translations purposefully to peaceful interaction between cultural communities.Key words: English idioms; translation; culture differences; translation methods摘 要：任何语言都包含着习语。英语作为当今最活跃、使用最为广泛的语言由于有着很广泛的习语基础，使得英语学习变得十分有趣。而英语习语和汉语习语的翻译涉及到了文化差异。当谈到英语习语的中译的方法时，主要有两个翻译方法：归化和异化。关于英语习语的中译方法学术圈已经争论了很久，目前还没

5、有达成共识。事实上，两种翻译方法是从不同的角度来对待的，它们就像两个拥有很小交集的互相重叠的圆。跨文化交际使得多面的世界变得越来越小，翻译也变得更加频繁，成为进入另一文化空间的必要手段。英语习语的学习和翻译已经成为语言学习的一个重要环节。 关键词：英语习语；翻译；文化差异；翻译方法ContentsI. Introduction.1II.Literature Review of Idioms.1A. Definition of Idioms.2B. Origins of Idioms.21. The Experience of the Common People.22. Myths and Fa

6、bles.33. Historical Events and Anecdote.34. Classical Literary Works .45. Social Customs and Habits.4III. Features of Idioms.5A. Fixed Structure.5B. Abundant Connotations.5C. Distinct Cultural Feature.6IV. The Problems of the E-C Translation of Idioms.6V. Cultural Differences in English and Chinese

7、Idioms.7VI. The Main Methods of the E-C Translation of the Idioms. 9A. DefinitionsofDomesticationandForeignization.9B. Three Methods of the E-C Translation of the Idioms.101. Principle of Foreignization102. Principle of Equivalence .113. Principle of Domestication .11VII. Suggestions for Translating

8、 English Idioms .12VIII. Conclusion.12Works Cited.13I.IntroductionLanguage is the most important communicative tool of all human beings. It plays its role as not only the carrier and form of culture but also the most vital element of transmission and inheritance of culture. Language of any kind is t

9、he crystallization of the culture of its own nation. As the cream of the culture, the idiom is a kind of widespread set phrases or sentences, with specific implications, abstracted from the spoken language and experience of the people and the classical works. Due to its vivid image and profound conn

10、otation, the idiom is deeply loved by the masses, as a member with fine expressible ability in the family of language. Idioms frequently appear in the spoken language and literary works. Every language is laden with idioms. The idiom is a word or group of words that cannot be literally translated fr

11、om the source language into the receptors because an idiomatic meaning cannot be understood by literally defining its component parts. English, as the most active and widely used language, enjoys a vast idiomatic basis, which makes its learning very exciting and interesting, with about 4000 idioms u

12、sed in the daily communication. Broadly speaking, the idiom include: set phrase, proverb, sayings, colloquialisms, allusions (Ping Hong 67).For the non-native speaker English learners, the most important, regular and authoritative way to find out the meaning of the English idiom is to look up the di

13、ctionary. As we all know, most of the English-Chinese idioms dictionary would give the English idioms Chinese meanings. If the dictionary cant demonstrate the English idioms meanings clearly and correctly, Chinese readers and learners would be misled. So now we can know the importance of English-Chi

14、nese translation of the English idioms.II. Literature Review of IdiomsIdioms are those set phrases or short sentences abstracted from the spoken language or classical works, and the like. They were passed down from generation to generation for centuries. Idioms are scientific summary of peoples expe

15、rience and the crystallization of peoples wisdom. After thousands of years accumulation, idioms are provided with vivid images, profound implications and exquisite rhythms. Idioms could mirror the local customs and practices of different regions, the living style of the people, the natural environme

16、nt and so on. We could see that the idiom has a very strong color of its nation. Therefore, to understand and study the idiom is supposed to start from its definition, origin, features, and classifications.A. Definition of IdiomsAs for the definition of idioms, there are various versions according t

17、o different dictionaries and scholars. Some of those definitions are picked out from some authoritative dictionaries as follows: (1) An idiom is an expression which functions as a single unit and whose meaning cannot be worded out from its separate parts (Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics, 1

18、985) ; (2) An idiom is a phrase, construction or expression that is recognized as a unit in the usage of a given language and either differs from the usual syntactic patterns or has a meaning that differs from the literal meaning of its parts taken together. (Websters New World College Dictionary 3r

19、d Edition, 1996)B. Origins of IdiomsIdioms, a kind of language form used by the people for a very long time, to a great extent, rely more on the specific social cultural connotations than the common words. The formation of idioms is on intimate terms with the culture of the nation which its language

20、 relies on. In a sense, the culture gives birth to the idioms. On the contrary, the idioms reflect all the features of the culture. Each nation has its own national culture which owns a distinctive style and tradition that come into being in the course of their work and life, including history, lang

21、uage, custom, life style, ways of thinking, and so on .Idioms, having an extremely strong color of a nation are one of the marks differentiating one language from another. Thus, the origin of the idioms may be quite varied.1. The Experience of the Common PeopleFor thousands of years, people drew les

22、sons and experience from their daily life, and then wrote them down to tell their offspring what they had got from their experiences. As a result, most of the idioms could invariably mirror almost everything related to the life of the common people. Take those reflecting the geographic environment o

23、f peoples inhabitations as example, Britain is a country with small land area but a long coast line; so many English idioms are relevant to the ocean. People in Britain always compare fish to the people. For example, they use “cold fish” to describe a person who is indifferent to something and “feel

24、 like a fish out of water” to express a feeling that is uncomfortable and unnatural. 2. Myths and FablesIn any nation, of any culture, there exist plenty of myths. At the first birth of the nation, its culture began to come into prosperity as well. A large mass of myths were produced orally and in t

25、he written form. Those myths were passed down to next generation for centuries and were read by the people in each period of time. Hence those myths left a deep impression on peoples mind. Nearly everyone in a nation has an intimate knowledge of those myths. From generation to generation, lots of sy

26、mbolic idioms stand out from those myths and are employed to convey some special or specific and regular meanings. Take the idioms from the Greek- Roman myths as examples, people constantly use “Achilles heel” to indicate the crucial and strategic point or fatal weakness (Achilles is the hero in the

27、 Trojan War), and apply “Pandoras box” to signify the root of the disaster (Pandora, a beauty who brought the disasters down to the world)(Kevin 102). Therefore, people always apply this idiom to deliver the figurative meaning that several outstanding persons try to outshine each other. 3. Historica

28、l Events and AnecdotesIn any nation, any country, people once experienced periods of ups and downs. They not only achieved brilliance but also suffered from miseries. In that way it maybe, those events, great or not, indeed had branded the history deeply. Theyre so innumerable that even the historia

29、ns can hardly record thoroughly. Most of those events left deep impression on peoples mind and taught us many lessons, thus were often mentioned and later fixed in the form of idioms. As we all know that Waterloo is the place where Napoleon was defeated by the allied forces of Britain, Germany and N

30、etherlands, etc, commanded by Duke of Willington. Therefore, “meet ones Waterloo” is employed to represent a crushing defeat. There are also many idioms originated from anecdotes. For instance, “eat crow”, formed in the period of the war between Britain and America, was employed to give us the meani

31、ng that somebody is forced to confess the mistake he has made (Li Qingxue 231).4. Classical Literary Works Literature is a kind of artistic form of language and also the constituent and carrier of the culture of a nation. Most classical literary works written by great masters of literature in every

32、country are invariably appreciated by people all over the world. Thus, the words and sentences with profound meaning and enlightenment always form idioms, the essence of the languages. Shakespeare, who is known as the greatest playwright in the world, is also a poet in the Renaissance in Britain. Hi

33、s works are greatly enjoyed by people all over the world from his time to the present. His works give birth to lots of idioms, Such as “ones pound of flesh” coming from The Merchant of Venice, which is used to describe a legal but unreasonable requirement. The literary quality of the Bible has been

34、one of the greatest influences on English literature and the culture of Western civilization for over 2000 years. There were tens of thousands of religious stories in wide circulations, since the Bible was for so long a part of the widespread cultural tradition of English-speaking people, allusion a

35、nd direct excerpts are recurrent in all literary genres. Bible as the sacred text of Christians records many stories and figures, some of which have become household names. Many of them have been widely used in figurative manner. For example, “Go to Jericho”: “Go to Jericho with you.” And “I wish he

36、 had been at Jericho.” are both euphemistic turn of phrases for “Go and hang yourself,” or something more offensive still. Old Adam: this idiom now represents the tendency to sin inside each person. 5. Social Customs and HabitsEach nation has its own social customs and habits which are created by pe

37、ople of its own nation living together for a very long time. The formation of those customs and habits is closely linked with the natural condition, social environment, life style, tradition, etiquette and belief or even superstition. In Britain, where people like to wear hats, when they greet someb

38、ody or extend their respects to others, they will take off their hats. Therefore, they employ “take off ones hat to somebody” to express the meaning that a person pays ones respects to somebody. In China, people take the red color as their favorite color since ancient times; for they think the red c

39、olor symbolizes happiness, flourish, brightness and success. For instance, people in China apply “鸿运高照” to indicate that someone has good fortune on his side. On the contrary, people in the western countries always regard “red” as “ill omen or violence” (Jin Huikang 212). Thus, when they describe an

40、 ill omen, they will use “red for danger”. So we could come to the conclusion from this phenomenon that different nation has different customs, habits and cultures.III. Features of IdiomsIdioms display its differentiation from other general expressions or structures in its own distinctive features.A

41、. Fixed Structure A specific idiom is a set phrase or accepted phrase. So the main feature is that it has fixed structure, which cannot be divided and split into small parts. For example, “make haste” (hurry up) cannot be separated as “make him haste”. Meanwhile, a complete idiom cannot be used sepa

42、rately in two different sentence or subordinate clauses. For instance, read the riot act (give a warning) cannot be used like “it was the riot act that John read to me”. The word in the idiom cannot be changed at random, even though the replacement of the synonyms will make the idiom lose its origin

43、al meaning, such as, “smell a rat” (be suspicious of something) cannot be changed into “smell a mouse”.(Li Yuping 122)All in all, the idioms have fixed structure, words, voice, order, forms of number and part of speech. All above mentioned cannot be altered. What we need to do is to employ the idiom

44、s directly not to transform them into any other forms. B. Abundant ConnotationsThe abundant connotations of the idioms mainly lie in its figurative meaning. The idioms rich implications also depend on the fact that the words forming the idioms do not mean literally or not the addition of the simple

45、meaning produced by each word. We must understand them on the whole or from their origins. For example, “rain cats and dogs” means “rain heavily”. C. Distinct Cultural FeatureIdioms are the gorgeous treasures glittering with the light of wisdom in the literary treasure-house of their own nation eith

46、er in Chinese or English. So the idiom is just as a mirror reflecting the distinguishing feature of a nation or culture. Chinese and English nations are entirely different ones with respective characteristics in history, geography, culture, customs, religion and the like. As a special language pheno

47、menon, the idiom has a strong color of its own nation either in content or in form. For example, to describe the fact that some kind of newly emerging things develop very rapidly, we Chinese people use “雨后春笋” means “something springs up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain”. However, in English, p

48、eople will say something springs up like mushrooms after raining. Most idioms have symmetrical pattern, exquisite syllables and harmonious rhythm. Besides, penetrating implication, vivid images and succinct wording characterize the idioms likewise. Those unique features of idioms should be retained as much as