A Comparison of Cultural Connotations Between Chinese and English Animal Words and their Translation.docx

A Comparison of Cultural Connotations Between Chinese and English Animal Words and their Translation.docx

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AComparisonofCulturalConnotationsBetweenChineseandEnglishAnimalWordsandtheirTranslation

ACOMPARISIONOFCULTURALCONNOTATIONSBETWEENCHINESEANDENGLISHANIMALWORDSANDTHEIRTRANSLATION

Abstract

Therearealargenumberofwords,idiomsandexpressionsbothinChineseandEnglishthatarerelatedtoanimals.Someoftheirmeanings,culturalconnotationsandtherangeofusagearethesameorsimilar,andsomearedifferent.Ontheonehand,theyarethesameorsimilar,becausehumanbeingshavesomesimilarcapabilitiesofthought,somesamelawsofcognition,andsomeanimalshavethesameimportantroleinthehumanlifeofthesetwonations,andhavethesameattributesandfeatures.Ontheotherhand,becauseofthelongcourseofhistorybetweenthesetwosocialgroups,theyarediscrepantinreligion,history,geographicalenvironmentandcustoms.Thesediscrepanciesmakeanimalwordsdifferentintheirculturalconnotationsinthesetwolanguages.Becauseofthesediscrepancies,weshouldconsiderthedifferencesandsimilaritiesoftheculturalconnotationscarriedbyanimalwordswhentranslatinganimalwords.Onlyinthisway,canwetranslatecorrectlytherealmeaningsandthestyleoftheoriginal,andpromotethecross-culturalexchangesbetweenthetwocountries.

KeyWords:

animalword;culturalconnotation;discrepancy;translationmethod

汉英动物词的文化内涵对比及翻译

摘要

中英文里都含有大量和动物有关的词语、习语和表达。

它们的词义、文化内涵及其应用范围都有相同或相似之处，也有不同之处。

一方面，它们有共同或相似之处，这是因为人类有相似的思维能力；共同的认知规律；一些动物在汉英两大民族生活中占有同等重要的地位；以及这些动物本身的固有属性和特点。

另一方面，由于汉英两大社会群体在各自漫长的历史进程中，各自的宗教不同；历史文化不同；地理环境不同；习俗不同，这又形成两者之间的差异。

由于这种差异的存在，在翻译时，我们应充分考虑动物词所含文化内含的差异。

只有这样，我们才能正确传译出原文的真正含义和风格，促进两者的跨文化交流。

关键词：

动物词；文化内涵；差异；翻译方法

Contents

1.Introduction1

2.CulturalconnotationsofanimalwordsinChineseandEnglish1

2.1AcomparisonofanimalwordsinChineseandEnglish1

2.1.1Basiccorrespondenceofculturalconnotations2

2.1.2Partialcorrespondenceofculturalconnotations2

2.1.3Nocorrespondenceofculturalconnotations2

2.2ThecausesofthediscrepancybetweenculturalconnotationsbetweenChineseandEnglishanimalwords3

2.2.1Religion3

2.2.2History3

2.2.3Geographicalenvironment4

2.2.4Customs5

3.SomeMethodsoftranslatinganimalwords6

3.1Literaltranslation6

3.2Substitution7

3.3Liberaltranslation8

4.Translationschangeasthetimechanges8

5.Conclusion9

Bibliography11

AComparisonofCulturalConnotationsBetweenChineseandEnglishAnimalWordsandtheirTranslation

1.Introduction

Inthelonghistoryofhumanbeings,animalsarealwayscloselyrelatedtoourexistenceanddevelopment.Someareakindofimportantfoodtopeople;someofferthelaborforagriculture;somesupporttheinspirationsforsomeinventionsofscienceandtechnology;andsomeareakindofclosefriendsofpeople,playinganimportantroleinthemankind’ssociety.Thusanimalwordsandexpressionshaveslowlybecomeasignificantmemberofthebasicvocabularyofmanylanguagesintheworld.ChineseandEnglisharenoexception.SomeanimalwordsinChineseandEnglisharethesameorsimilarinculturalconnotations,becausetheChinesepeopleandtheEnglishpeoplehavesomesamecapabilitiesofthought,somesamelawsofcognition,andsomeanimalshavethesameimportantroleinthehumanlifeofthesetwonations,andhavethesameattributesandfeatures.Butsomeofthemaredissimilarordifferent.ThecauseofitisthattheEnglishpeopleandtheChinesepeoplearedifferentinreligion,history,geographicalenvironment,customsandsoon.ThispapertriestoelaboratethesimilaritiesandthedifferencesbetweentheculturalconnotationscarriedbyanimalwordsinChineseandEnglish,findoutthecausesofdifferences,andthendiscusssomemethodsandtechniquesfortranslatingtheseanimalwords.

2.CulturalconnotationsofanimalwordsinChineseandEnglish

Inlinguistics,Englishlexiconincludessimplewords,compoundsandidioms.Andthemeaningofawordincludesgrammaticalmeaningandlexicalmeaning.Lexicalmeaninghastwoparts.Theyareconceptualmeaningandcognitivemeaning.Theformeristhecenterofthemeaningoftheword,anditindicatesdefinitelytheobject.Conceptualmeaninghascomparativestability,soitisalsocalledreferentialmeaning.Cognitivemeaninghasthemeaningofemotionalcolor,itshowsemotionsandattitudestothecontentsthatthewordrefersto.Socognitivemeaningisalsocalledconnotativemeaning.Culturalconnotationcontainscognitivemeaningsandculturalmeanings.Culturalconnotationofawordreferstotheculturalinformationthatawordhasbeengivenbythesociety,includingtheaddedmeaningortheimpliedmeaninggivenbythesocialbackground,andthespecialfeelingsconveyedamongacertainsocialgroup.

2.1AComparisonofculturalconnotationsofanimalwordsinChineseandEnglish

Accordingtothelinguistic-domaincategory,therearethreecasesincorrespondenceofChineseandEnglishanimalwords.Theyarebasiccorrespondence,partialcorrespondence,andnocorrespondence.

2.1.1Basiccorrespondenceofculturalconnotations

Therearevariousthingsintheworld.Differentnationshavedifferentviewstodifferentobjectivethings,butallhumanbeingshavesomesimilarcapabilitiesofthought,somesamelawsofcognition,andsomeanimalshavesomesameattributes.Indifferentlanguages,somesameanimalswillbeendowedwiththesameorsimilarimages.Theseimageswillmakedifferentnationshaveasameorsimilarassociationofsomeideas.TheirusagesandmeaningsbothinChineseandEnglisharebasiccorrespondenceorsimilarity.

e.g.

（1）eatlikeawolf狼吞虎咽

（2）fishintroublewater浑水摸鱼

（3）ridethetiger骑虎难下

（4）parrotwhatotherpeoplesay鹦鹉学舌

（5）killtwobirdswithonestone一石二鸟

2.1.2Partialcorrespondenceofcultureconnotations.

TheEnglishcultureconnotationsofsomeanimalwordsarethesameorsimilartotheChineseculturalconnotationsofotherChineseanimalwords.Theirimpliedmeaningsarethesame,buttheirnamesaredifferent.Thisisacasethatweoftenhaveintranslation.

e.g.

（1）killthegoosethatlaygoldeneggs杀鸡取卵

（2）asstrongasahorse壮如牛

（3）likeadunktowater如鱼得水

（4）adrownedrat落汤鸡

（5）likeacatonhotbricks热锅上的蚂蚁

（6）Betterbetheheadofadogthanthetailofalion.宁为鸡头，不为凤尾

2.1.3Nocorrespondenceofculturalconnotations

Becauseofthedifferencesbetweenthetwoculturesandimagethoughtsofthetwonations,it’snaturalthatthetwonationshavedifferentemotionalreactiontothesamekindofanimal.Indifferentculturesandcivilizations,thesamekindofanimalmightbegivendifferentculturalconnotations,whichwillleadtothevacancyofculturalconnotationintheotherlanguage,andleadtotheobstaclesforcross-exchanges.Forexample,peacock（孔雀）represents“arrogance”inEnglish,butitstandsfor“beauty”inChinese.TheChinesethink“owl”（猫头鹰）means“ill-omened”,whileinEnglishculture,itisviewedas“wisdom”.And“鸳鸯”meansthathusbandandwifeinChinese,but“mandarinduck”hasnotsuchculturalconnotationinEnglish.“山羊”hasnospecialmeaninginChinese,but“goat”means“lecher”inEnglish.InChinesewehavetheidiom“指鹿为马”,buttheequalexpressioninEnglishis“talkblackintowhite”.TheEnglishversionoftheChinesesaying“挂羊头卖狗肉”is“tocryupwineandsellvinegar”.

2.2ThecausesofthediscrepancybetweenculturalconnotationofEnglishandChineseanimalwords

Thecultureofanationisformedbymanyfactors.Andthedevelopmentofasocietyinfluencestheformation,thedevelopmentandthedisappearanceoftheculture.CulturalconnotationsofsomeanimalwordsinEnglishandChinesearecloselyrelatedtothereligion,history,geographicalenvironment,andthecustomsofanation.Accordingtothesefactors,IwilltakesometypicalanimalsforexampletoelaboratethecausesoftheirdiscrepanciesinChineseandEnglish.

2.2.1Religion

WeknowthatthereisabigdifferencebetweentheChinesereligionandtheEnglishreligion.TheChinesepeoplebelieveinBuddhism,buttheEnglishpeoplebelieveinChristianity.ThatiswhysomeanimalwordsaboutreligionarequitedifferentinChineseandEnglish.Forinstance,“dragon”and“龙”havedifferentculturalconnotationsinthetwolanguages,ChineseandEnglish.IntheChineseculture,“龙”hasbeenasymbolof“power,beingsacred”fromancienttimestonow.Inthefeudalsociety,emperorswereaddressedwith“真龙天子”.Tosomeextent,“龙”isasymbolofChinaintheworld,whichstandsforthesourceoftheChinesecultureofaboutfivethousandyears.ItisaspecialproductoftheChineseculture.TheChinesetakeproudofbeing“thedescendantsofdragon”（龙的传人）.SomeChineseidiomslike“望子成龙”,“龙凤呈祥”arewellknowntotheChinese.Theirmeaningscontainacommendatorysense.ButbecauseoftheinfluenceoftheBible,thedragoninwesterners’mindsisakindofevilmonster,whichcanvomitfireandsometimespossessthreetonineheads.Therefore,therearefewidiomsandphrasesaboutdragoninEnglish.Generallyspeaking,inEnglishtheworddragonhasaderogatorysensewhenitisusedtorefertosomebody.CollinsCobuzldEnglishLanguageDictionaryexplains:

Ifyoucallawomanasadragon,youmeanthatsheisfierceandunpleasant.So“亚洲四小龙”isoftentranslatedas“thefourtigersofAsia”,not“thefourdragonsofAsia”.

WehavesomeotheridiomsthatareassociatedwithanimalsfromtheBible:

（1）castpearlbeforeswine明珠暗投（把珍珠抛给猪）

（2）separatethesheepfromthegoats把好人与坏人分开

2.2.2History

Eachnationhasitsownuniquehistory,whichaffectsthecultureoftheirs.Meanwhilethehistoryisanimportantpartandfactorofeachnation’sculture.

InChinese,“ox”hasthesame