The Cultural Differences of Color Words in Chinese and English中英文颜色的文化差异.docx

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1、The Cultural Differences of Color Words in Chinese and English学号 09053131 姓名 班 级 09级英本一班 专 业 英 语 成 绩 中英文颜色的文化差异 摘要：本篇论文的主要目的是对中英文颜色翻译中所体现的文化差异进行一次尝试性的研究。有很多名家对此做过很多研究，我对此也比较感兴趣，因此在前人研究的基础上，我粗略地从传统文化习俗、政治背景和宗教信仰三方面入手，通过对比、比较日常生活中常见的颜色词，来分析中英文颜色翻译中所凸显的文化差异。由于色彩与人类的生活息息相关，是人类认识世界的重要领域，它有着丰富的文化内涵。因此，在翻译

2、关于颜色的词汇时，必须把文化差异这一因素考虑进去。 关 键词：文化差异；颜色词；发展。2 The Cultural Differences of Color Words in Chinese and EnglishAbstract：The chief aim of the present work is to attempt to make a tentative research on the cultural difference of color words in Chinese and English. Scholars have explored them for hundreds

3、of years. I am interested in this subject either. I write this paper based on the research of those great persons and roughly explore the cultural and linguistic gap between the two languages concerned. Here in my thesis, I mainly focus on some color words both in Chinese and English. We know there

4、are many conspicuous contrasts between the two languages, so the color words are. The paper mainly adopted contrast and comparison to analyze the cultural difference of color words in Chinese and English from the aspects of traditional customs, political backgrounds and religious belief. Colors are

5、closely connected to human life. To some extent, there wouldnt be colorful life without various colors of nature. In addition, color is a vital region for human to probe into the material world. It has not only physical natures but also rich cultural connotations. Therefore, in translating these wor

6、ds about color, cultural differences are to be taken into consideration.Key Words：color words, cultural differences, development3 Table of Contents1. Introduction .12. Cultural differences and color words in Chinese and English.22.1 Traditional customs .32.2 Political Backgrounds and Religious Belie

7、f.42.3 Different Expressions of peoples feeling and association.53. Conclusion .6Works Cited.741. IntroductionColor words is an essential part of the language and culture implicationsColor words may show different cultural connotation of each language in some degree. There exist differences between

8、each language in some degreeThere exist differences between English and Chinese people in habits and customs, religious belief，geographical conditions，mode of thinking ,Etc ; so Chinese and English color words have cultural differences in both the original and target languageThe paper attempts to ma

9、ke a brief study of some typical cultural loaded color words expressions in both English and Chinese，compare the perception of some cultural loaded words lacking in both languages，analyze the differences in the associative meaning，cultural Images of color words as well as finer distinctions in seman

10、tic meaning and words connotations with the aim to direct translation 2. Cultural differences and color words in Chinese and EnglishDifferent cultures have different ways of presenting points of view and of drawing conclusions. The western ways of presenting argumentative cases and drawing conclusio

11、ns is generally characterized by precision, clarity, directness, explicitness, and detail. In contrast, Chinese approach is more associated with vagueness, ambiguity, stories instead of facts, indirect arguments, being reserved and sensitive to situations or contexts. Different patterns of thinking

12、also determine different ways of behaving, saying things, presenting their arguments, and drawing their conclusions. In other words, we now know that what is considered knowledge or logical thinking may vary greatly across cultures.Languages differ enormously from one another, and these differences

13、are related to important differences in the customs and behaviors and other aspects of the cultures in which those language reside. In a word, language is a mirror of culture. The scientific research shows that there are as many as two million kinds of identified colors in the world. Both Chinese an

14、d English have a great quantity of different words to depict colors. They are similarly classified in general. But due to different cultures, differences exist undoubtedly in the two languages. In this paper, I will express my thoughts from following aspects: different customs, histories, religions

15、and literatures of the two languages, the developments of the two languages in the following future and so on.In conclusion, the different uses of color words in Chinese and English are tightly connected with the different cultures of the two languages.2.1 Traditional customsCulture: It is a complex

16、 collection of experiences which condition daily life; it includes history, social structure, religion, traditional customs and everyday usage. Culture is an evasive as well as a comprehensive concept, and an all-encompassing form or pattern for living. What people do, how they act, and how they liv

17、e and communicate are all responses to their culture. Since we human beings live in the same material world, people all over it do have a great number of things in common. That makes our communication possible with people from various cultures. Language; Since culture is defined as “the total way of

18、 life of a people”, nothing is of greater importance than the language through which its beliefs are expressed and transmitted and by which most interactions of its members take place. In fact, language plays such a vital role in culture that some social scientists consider it the keystone of cultur

19、e. Without language, they maintain, culture would not be possible. Relationship between Culture, Language, and Translation: My topic of this thesis is the contrasts of color words in two languages: Chinese and English. That will inevitably connect the different translations of the two languages toge

20、ther. Therefore, the relationship between culture, language, and translation is crucial part of this paper. The relationship between language and culture is dialectical. The intimate relationship between language and culture leads naturally to that between culture and translation. Translation is rep

21、resentation in one language of what is written or said in another language. Its a bilingual art because two different languages are involved in this activity. 2.2 Political Backgrounds and Religious BeliefColors have been used to stand for political groups or social status from ancient timesThe colo

22、r yellow in china in symbol of emperor for its nobilityFor instance, there is a Chinese saying“黄袍加身”And in English spoken countries，purple is the color of religious authority，especially in the ChristendomThe imperial robes，the robes bishops and ministers are in purpleSo in English to be raised to th

23、e purple means to have ones ambition fulfilledHowever, yellow is a derogatory term sometimes in modern ChineseSee the following Chinese idioms：“扫黄打非”;”黄色报刊” “黄”means pornographic coming from English words yellow journalism and yellow covered literatureBut in English yellow does not really mean porno

24、graphic. Yellow journalisms and yellow covered literatures are just some vulgar publications. This kind of usage began in 1895.New York world published picture story caricature yellow kids that was printed in yellow. 2.3 Different Expressions of peoples feeling and association Color is a kind of vis

25、ual effect. Because the human has the same physiological mechanism and vision nerve, the color words are similar in essence, theoretically. However, because of various language culture, historical background, religious belief, mode of thinking, aesthetic temperament and interest, etc. in different n

26、ationality, peoples impression of color and expression are different, and the associative meaning produced by the color has nothing in common with each other. Now set an example of red : Chinese nation advocates the red, shows favoritism to the red, the red is for joyous as a main color. During the

27、celebration, the Chinese highly hang the bright red lantern and stick the red couplets. At the victory meeting, the merit minister wears the red flower, wrap around the red ribbon. And his name is on the honor board. In traditional wedding, the Chinese stick the red happiness word, and bride wear re

28、d robe. In addition, the red glitters here and there in the bridal chamber. As for words and expressions, there are favorite follower, covert payment, dividend, good luck, glowing with health . But if we translate favorite follower into a red man or a red person, English readers will be baffled, jus

29、t because there are some differences in the usage of the color words between English nationality and Chinese nationality. Here red no longer means the red color. We should precisely translate it into a favorite with somebody in power according to Chinese meaning. As similar as follows: Honor roll, e

30、xtra dividend, good luck, ones face glowing with health, etc. In a lot of English countries, the red is the color of fire and blood; it means to dedicate oneself to the faith and universal fraternity. For instance: in liturgy wearing the red is to express the holy love; a church is decorated with th

31、e red for holy gods come or cherishing the memory of martyrs. The derogatory sense of red is quite strong in western culture, which is mostly used to express danger, anger, urgency . For instance: Get into the red (present the deficit), see red (angry, get angry), red-blooded (crude and rash, intrep

32、id), red-hand (the criminal caught in the act, bleeding), red light (show the danger). Businessmen are unwilling to see red word, because deficit and in debt are expressed with red, such as red ink (deficit), He is red. (He is debt-ridden). There are a lot of idioms including red in English to refle

33、ct the specific historical and geographical background. For example, redneck originally points pedagogue (southern peasants of U.S.A.): Countryside man , now this word is amplified for reactionary ; its adjective form is redneck. Red Nose Day refers to a day on which an appeal is made for donations

34、for research into sudden infant death syndrome, marked by the distribution of plastic red noses to donors, namely, the day of soliciting contributions for the sudden infant death syndrome. The persons who solicit contributions will distribute the red plastic nose that day, because the specific incid

35、ent is their custom. If we translate it into red nose , not only do we lose the real reflection to the incident, but also make Chinese readers misunderstand it into acne roscoe . Tea in Chinese is translated into “cha”, but red tea in Chinese is black tea in English. At this time, we should translat

36、e red into black but not red. Studying carefully its reason, in Chinese we call it red according to the tea color, in English we call it black according to the color of the tea leaves. In the same way, blue pepper steak in john claims his blue pepper steak takers only 45 seconds to prepare refers th

37、at the pepper ox is cooked extremely softly. In Chinese when the meat is undercooked, commonly it is expressed by the words with the blood , not by blue . Besides, there are many other examples in English, such as She ordered in to be served blue . All of these differences are caused by English and

38、Chinese peoples different points of view to observe things.3. ConclusionBecause of different language habits, historical background, traditional customs, there are many differences in the usage of colors and color words as well as in the understanding for the same color. There are a large quantity o

39、f English color words. According to etymology, they can be divided into two kinds, basic color words and object color words. The former are some words which are used to express the color of something originally, such as white, black, gray, brown, red, green, yellow, blue and purple. The latter are n

40、ames of some objects initially, and anyone of them has a distinctive color. Later these words can refer to the characterized colors of the objects as well as themselves. For example, gold, silver, orange and so on. As international exchanges happen frequently and constantly, we should grasp and rese

41、arch different color expressions and scientific translation methods between English and Chinese, which will play a positive role in improving our translation skills, promoting international mutual understanding and winning better cooperation.Works CitedBaugh, A.C. A History of the English Language.

42、Peking: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2001.Gill, R. Mastering English Literature. London: Mac Milan Education, 1985. Hornsby, A. S. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English. London: Oxford University, 1974.Knowles, G. A Cultural History of the English Language. U.S.A.:

43、A Holder Arnold Publication, 1997.Lott, B. A Course in English Language and Literature. U.S.A.: Edward Arnold, 1989.Wales, K. Northern English: A Social and Cultural History. London: Cambridge University Press, 2006.陈永烨. “英汉颜色词所表现的中西文化差异” J辽宁工程技术大学学报，2005戴炜栋,何兆熊.新编简明英语语言学教程A.上海：上海外语出版社,2002邓炎昌，刘润清语言

44、与文化M北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1991蒋栋元“论颜色及颜色词的文化差异” J 四川外语学院学报，2002，(3)唐振华“英汉颜色词的翻译” J中国科技翻译，1997，(2).生命列车The Train Of Life1. 不久以前，我读了一本书。书中把人生比作一次旅行。2. 人生一世，就好比是一次搭车旅行，要经历无数次上车、下车; 时常有事故发生; 有时是意外惊喜，有时却是刻骨铭心的悲伤 3. 降生人世，我们就坐上了生命列车。我们以为我们最先见到的那两个人-我们的父母，会在人生旅途中一直陪伴着我们。 4. 很遗憾，事实并非如此。他们会在某个车站下车，留下我们，孤独无助。他们的爱、他们的情

45、、他们不可替代的陪伴，再也无从寻找。 5. 尽管如此，还会有其他人上车。他们当中的一些人将对我们有着特殊的意义。 6. 他们之中有我们的兄弟姐妹, 有我们的亲朋好友。我们还将会体验千古不朽的爱情故事。7. 坐同一班车的人当中，有的轻松旅行。8. 有的却带着深深的悲哀 还有的,在列车上四处奔忙，随时准备帮助有需要的人 9. 很多人下车后，其他旅客对他们的回忆历久弥新 但是，也有一些人，当他们离开座位时，却没有人察觉。10. 有时候，对你来说情深义重的旅伴却坐到了另一节车厢。你只得远离他，继续你的旅程。11. 当然，在旅途中，你也可以摇摇晃晃地穿过自己的车厢，去别的车厢找他 12. 可惜，你再也无

46、法坐在他身旁，因为这个位置已经让别人给占了 .13. 没关系。旅途充满挑战、梦想、希望、离别 就是不能回头。因此，尽量使旅途愉快吧！14. 善待旅途上遇见的所有旅客，找出人们身上的闪光点。15. 永远记住，在某一段旅程中，有人会犹豫彷徨，因为我们自己也会犹豫彷徨。16. 我们要理解他人，因为我们需要他人的理解。17. 生命之谜就是：我们在什么地方下车？坐在身旁的伴侣在什么地方下车？我们的朋友在什么地方下车？我们无从知晓 18. 我时常这样想：到我该下车的时候，我会留恋吗？我想我还是会的。和我的朋友分离，我会痛苦。让我的孩子孤独地前行，我会悲伤。 我执著地希望在我们大家都要到达的那个终点站，我们

47、还会相聚 19. 我的孩子们上车时没有什么行李，如果我能在他们的行囊中留下美好的回忆，我会感到幸福。20. 我下车后，和我同行的旅客都还能记得我，想念我，我将感到快慰。21. 献给你, 我生命列车上的同行者, 祝您旅途愉快!1. Not long ago, I read a book, in which a mans life was compared to a journey.2. The life of a man is just like a hitchhiking，during which many times we go up and down. Now and then things will happen accidently, some of which are to be unexpected excitement，while some heart-breaking sorrows.