英汉动物文化内涵的比较与翻译（全英文）.docx

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1、英汉动物文化内涵的比拟与翻译（全英文）AbstractThroughout the long history of social evolution, human beings have maintained close contact with animals, resulting in an interdependent relationship between man and animals. The images of animals take root in the everyday life of all nations, forming unique animal culture

2、 of each nation. Therefore, a lot of words, idioms, or expressions denoting animals or with vivid images of animals have become part of English and Chinese languages. Due to the different cultural backgrounds such as geographical environment, customs and religion, however, these animal words are qui

3、te different in cultural connotation, though some similarities do exist. Therefore, to realize the transformation of cultural connotation from the source language to the target language is the key to a successful translation. This requires the translator to adopt appropriate translation methods to d

4、eal with these differences in order to achieve functional equivalence. In this thesis, a number of animal words are analyzed from the perspective of cultural connotation between English and Chinese and several translation methods of animal words are suggested.Key Words: animal words; cultural connot

5、ation; similarities and differences;favorable meaning; derogatory meaning; translation摘要在漫长的人类开展史上，人类与动物频繁接触，人与动物之间产生互相依赖的关 系。动物的形象在各国日常生活中留下烙印，形成各国独特的动物文化。因此, 大量含有动物形象的词语、习语、熟语等进入英、汉语。然而，由于地理环境、 风俗习惯、宗教等文化背景的不同，其语言中经过历史沉淀而形成的动物词汇在 文化内涵上虽有类似之处，但更多的是差异。因此，实现从原语到目的语的文化 内涵转换就成了实现成功翻译的关键了，这就要求译者采用适当的方法来

6、处理这 些差异，以求功能对等。本文收集了大量英汉语动物词汇，分析了两种文化的差 异并简要地介绍了几种动物词语的翻译方法。关键词：动物词语、文化内涵、异同、褒义、贬义、翻译ContentsIntroduction11 Language and Culture2“Magpie is another interesting example. In China a magpie is a symbol of good luck. If a magpie sings in a tree beside houses, people would think some happy thing would ha

7、ppen. However, the picture is quite different in western countries. In some places in Scotland, if a magpie flies near a window, it is a symbol of bad luck. In a state of England, if someone happens to meet a magpie he has to spit three times to avoid bad luck. If we say traditional culture has been

8、 out of date, we should not doubt about the items under the word magpie. The Oxford Reference Dictionary （published in 1956） offers us three explanations 1: a kind of crow with black and white plumage and a long tail, reputed to collect objects.If we should translate the explanation as/喜鹊/ it would

9、degrade our culture. 2: a random collector. 3: a chatterer. All these explanations have nothing to do with good luck.Bat is entirely different in cultural connotation in the East and the West. To English people, talking about bat, they are very frightened. A bat is very annoying, which means ugly an

10、d evil”. Therefore, in English, expressions with bat have derogatory meanings, e.g. z/as blind as a bat （有眼无珠）“crazy as a bat （发痴）/have bats in the belfry （异想天开）“You must have been as blind as a bat not to have seen me, I was sitting at the next table （你肯定是瞎得没有看见我，我就坐在旁边的桌 子上）Mentioning of the bat o

11、ften evokes, on the part of the English speaking people, the image of an ugly, sinister, blood-sucking creature. On the contrary, to Chinese people Jbat means auspicious for the letters蝠and福are pun in sounds. It is a symbol of good fortune in China-well-beings, happiness-all positive qualities. Howe

12、ver, it is usually associated with negative qualities in the West.2.3 Animal Words with No Corresponding Cultural ConnotationsLanguages distinguish from each other by different cultures. Some connotations exist in one language but they dont exist in another. That is, there are rich connotations of o

13、ne thing in one culture but none in another. Likewise, the connotations of an animal word are plentiful in one culture while none exists in another because it lacks corresponding associations.2.3.1 Animal words bearing Chinese connotations but none in EnglishChinese people like to use the mandarin d

14、uck as the symbol for love because a mandarin couple always lives together in the water at ease. In a newly-married couples room, there are many things with pictures about mandarin duck such as 鸳 鸯帐，鸳鸯被，鸳鸯枕ey But the image of the mandarin duck in the phrase has to be turned into love birds as the ma

15、ndarin duck is a kind of duck, which has no symbolic meanings at all in English.The English speaking people feel puzzled when they hear 你真熊/他太牛了”那 个家伙简直像条泥瞅Because in English, bear has no symbolic meaning of stupidity or incompetence, neither does cattle refer to stubbornness. There is no “loach in

16、most English speaking countries. Thus people do not regard it as a kind of fish, let alone a cunning animal. Of course they can not understand the connotative meaning of ”滑as sly, tricky, diplomatic and so on.Chinese people believe that tortoise can live for hundreds of years. So tortoise is a symbo

17、l of a long life in Chinese culture. It is for this reason that there are many carvings about tortoise on ancient palaces, temples and other buildings in China. On the other hand, tortoise has a very derogatory meaning. It is offensive if somebody is called 王八/乌龟王八蛋In English there are no such allus

18、ions whether with a favorable meaning or a derogatory meaning.Silkworm comes from China and the silk fabrics are very popular among foreign countries. Silk culture of China is known in the whole world as ”丝绸之路leading to the western countries. Silkworm is spoken highly in the poem for its dedication.

19、 Silkworm is endowed with rich and varied cultural connotations in China whereas to most English speaking people, silkworm is, at most, a kind of small insect. Generally speaking, it is obvious to see the great influence of different cultures on animal words.2.3.2 Animal word bearing English connota

20、tions but none in ChineseIt is difficult for Chinese people to understand some animal words because they have special meanings in English, for example, zzas merry as a cricket Jas cunning as a dead pig Jas dumb as an oyster and as happy as a crow, and so on.“White elephant refers to an animal with a

21、 huge body, a long nose, big ears, and sharp teeth in Chinese. However, in English it refers to a huge but clumsy and useless thing.“Buffalo has no connotative meanings in Chinese, whereas, in American English, an idiom “to buffalo exists. Its origination has something to do with Westward Expansion”

22、. At that time, people in the west part of America hunted a great number of buffalo for the skin as they could get much money from leather trading. However, they found that it was not an easy job to hunt buffalo, so some people complained: “We are buffaloed. It means that they felt helpless. Then it

23、 has evolved into a threat, menace.In English, “beaver is hardworking by nature and known for building complex “homes with branches of trees, stones and mud. A ranger beaver refers to a diligent person. ZZA goat in English refers to a person who sexually harassing women. Duck is able to be used to a

24、 lovely person apart from the denotative meaning. Cow is a symbol of hardy and filthy. ZZA unicorn, looking like horse but having only one horn, exists in the western legend. It refers to something existing in name only. In Chinese, there is no animal word with such an image, let alone corresponding

25、 cultural connotations.Chinese people consider chicken, goose, and ox as common animals. Therefore, they feel confused when they come across the following sentences: “You are a chicken, and that is why you will not climb the tree.” You are a goose. How can you do that?”In the first sentence, we cann

26、ot get what the person said from the denotative meaning but its connotative meaning implies cowardice. In the second sentence, goose suggests stupidity and foolishness.Sense vacancy is the evidence of national peculiarity of cultures in languages. Some animal words are endowed with special cultural

27、connotations in Chinese but none in English, or vice versa. This phenomenon will make people from two cultures confused to some extent.2.4 Different Animals with Similar Cultural ConnotationsIn English and Chinese, some animal words have different referential meanings but they have similar or the sa

28、me cultural connotation, that is, two different animal words from the two cultures bear the same connotation. These words show that people in different cultures understand the world around them in their own way and the phenomenon is related to their history to some extent.For example, in Chinese cul

29、ture, 鼠、 龟、 兔 have the connotation of timidity as shown in the following expression: 胆小如鼠(as timid as a rat), 缩头乌龟(a tortoise with its head recoiled),、良心兔子胆(with a wolfs heart and a rabbits gut), while in English culture, sheep, rabbit, chicken and pigeon all stand for timidity as in as timid as a r

30、abbit, chicken-livered, pigeon-hearted.Besides,猪、熊、驴 stand for stupidity or foolishness.蠢猪(stupid pig),蠢驴(stupid ass), and 熊样(you are really like a bear) are often used as an abuse meaning fool or idiot. However, in English culture, besides pig and ass, cuckoo, toad, goose and dog are also associate

31、d with the connotation of stupidity.To mean urgent”, Chinese people would say热锅上的蚂蚁(like a hen on a hot girdleZ, but English people would like to say, Tike a cat on hot bricks(热砖上的猫)”To mean brag, in Chinese, people would say吹牛But in English, people would say “talk horse. In English, the horse is al

32、so often used to refer to a person, such as a veiling horse”. Plain good sense is referred to as “horse sense. In the Chinese language, there is no such allusions, but 牛is often used to refer to a person. A hardworking person is called a”老黄牛 J Lu Xuns saying of 俯首甘为孺子牛 (Head-bowed, like a willing ox

33、 I serve the children)% known to almost everybody in China. This is because Chinese people have been using 牛 in farming for thousands of years while horse has been used for most farming work in Britain. Similarly,people of the two languages always use different animal words to express the same thoug

34、ht, especially in idioms as following:噤假设寒蝉 as mute as a fish鸡犬不宁 lead a cat and dog life露马脚 let the cat out of the bag落汤鸡 a drowned rat鸡皮疙瘩goose flesh杀鸡取卵 kill the goose that lays the golden egg瓮中之鳖rat in a hole拦路虎 a lion in the way深入虎穴 beard the lion in his den狐假虎威 donkey in a lions hide狡兔三窟 a sma

35、rt mouse has more than one hole害群之马a black sheep对牛弹琴 cast pearl before swine玩猫腻 play the fox with sbThere is no doubt that the animal words are heavily culture-loaded. The cultural connotation of the animal words should by no means be ignored in the process of translation between two languages. How

36、to handle the cultural dissimilarities is one of the key points that should be taken into consideration in translation.3 Suggested Methods of Translating Animal WordsAnimals are given particular connotative meanings in different cultures by customs, religions, literary works, legends, fables, mythol

37、ogy, life style, as well as economical and geographical environment of the people in the culture. Therefore, the idioms or expressions containing words denoting animals or with the vivid images of animals are culture-specific and heavily culture-loaded. We must bear in mind that every culture is uni

38、que in its own way. Therefore, different symbol and cultural connotation of the same animal word in different cultures seem to be inevitable. To keep the animal image and convey in the target text the cultural connotation of the source text, or to give up the cultural connotation and replace the ani

39、mal image of the source text by another animal image with the same or similar symbol and cultural connotation, is a question a translator confronts. This part aims to deal with approaches to proper translation of animal words.Literal TranslationDue to the cultural universals, the figurative meaning

40、or the associative meaning of some animal words may have the same symbolism in both Chinese and English. When the connotative meaning of an animal word is produced by its nature, literal translation is often preferred and can be accepted by target language readers without much difficulty. Literal tr

41、anslation can not only keep the cultural color of the source language, in some degree, but also expose our readers to source language. In Chinese some animal words are translated into English directly.纸老虎is translated as “paper tiger”. Literal translation can introduce those vivid descriptions of an

42、imal words in the source language to foreign readers. In this way, they have an opportunity to learn more culture from the source language. Translation, which is a kind of cross-cultural communication, is both transformation of language and transplantation of culture. Here are some examples:(13) To

43、shed crocodiles tears.挥鳄鱼泪。(14) We are packed like sardines.挤得像罐头沙丁鱼。(15) A cat has nine lives.猫有九条命。(16) They lead a cat-and-dog life.他们过着猫狗的生活。(17) When the cats away, the mice will play.猫儿不在，鼠儿成精。(18) 我竟成了泥猪赖狗。I should have become a pig wallowing in the mud, a mangy dog.(19)他是初生牛犊不怕虎。He is like a

44、 newly-born calf which is not afraid of a tiger.Free TranslationFree translation means to keep the meaning of the original text, and it may be defined as a supplementary means to convey mainly the meaning and spirit of the original without trying to reproduce its sentence patterns, diction or figure

45、s of speech. Due to cultural difference between English and Chinese, many animal words in phrases or sentences have different meanings. Thus, if we adopt literal translation and problems arise, then free translation should be considered. For example,炒就 鱼，in the local dialect of Guangdong and Hongkon

46、g means to fire sb (in American English) and “to get the sack in British English. If we translate it literally, it would seem so ridiculous. The proper way to say他被新来的老板炒了觥鱼”should be He was fired by the new boss”. Here go more examples:(20) Among so many well dressed and cultured people, the countr

47、ygirl felt like a fish out of water.同这么多穿着体面又有教养的人在一起，这个乡下姑娘感到很不自在。(21) All right, I blame myself, but its the last time. We were cats paw. Thats all.得了，怪我瞎了眼，可是我再也干不了，我们上了人家的当，没别的。(22) If you run after two hares, you will catch neither.脚踏两只船，必定落空。(23) Im not talking about castles in the air- the do

48、nkeys carrot.No, I mean something weve all shared.我说的不是空中楼阁，叫大家望梅止渴。不，说的是我们大家都有份的事。(24) You might as well cast your pearls before swine.那无疑是对牛弹琴。ExplanationPeter Newmark said: As a last resort, explanation is the translation (225). With the increasing emergence and development of translation theorie

49、s, we are no longer subjected to the idea that we must give a word for word translation to every word or expression in the original so as to retain the original forms. On the contrary, sometimes we change the form of the original to convey the meaning of it. Vast and profound Chinese culture has a long history which has many historical allusions that are not familiar to f