文化背景知识和翻译.docx
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文化背景知识和翻译.docx
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文化背景知识和翻译
文化背景知识和翻译
[Abstract]Itisagreedthatlanguageisacomponentofcultureandreflectsit;translationisnotonlythelinguisticbutalsothecommunicationofcultures.Culturebackgroundknowledgeisconcernedwithgeographicchatacteristics,historical,tradition,socialcustoms,religionartsandotheraspectsofasociety.Alsoitconditionsthepsychologicalmake-upofindividuals.Therefore,targetlanguagereadersmayexperiencecultureshockfromtranslationsdonotproperlydealwiththefactorsofculturesasaresultoftheirlackofculturalbackgroundknowledge,Thispaperdiscussestheinfluenceofknowledgeofculturesontranslation,andconcludesthattranslatorsshouldhaveavastandpreciseunderstandingofthetwoculturesconcerned.
[KeyWords]culture;translation;culturalbackgroundknowledge
[摘要]语言不仅是文化的组成部分,也是文化的反映形式。
翻译不仅仅是语言间的转换,而且是文化间的交流活动。
文化背景知识涉及历史、地理特征、传统、社会风俗、宗教、艺术以及社会的各个方面。
同时,文化背景知识也影响了社会成员的心理结构。
因此,如果翻译者缺乏文化背景知识并因此不能恰当处理好原文中的文化因素,译文读者可能要面对激烈的文化冲击。
本文将主要讨论译者文化背景知识对翻译的影响。
最后得出结论:
翻译者应该对相关的两种文化都有广泛而深入的认识。
[关键词]文化;翻译;文化背景知识
1.Introduction
Accordingtothetraditiontheoryoftranslation,peopleconsideredtranslatingactivitiesasaprocessoftransferbetweentwolanguages.Inthe1970s,thestudyoftranslationtendedtodevelopinseveraldirections.Itwasnolongerrestrictedtothetraditionaestheticandlinguisticstudyandbecomeculturalrethinking.
AccordingtothetheoriesofMarySnell-Hornby,BassnettandLefevere,wecanconcludethattranslationistopresentinanotherculturethemeaningandimplicationthatthetexthasinaspecificculturalcontext.Innature,translationisakindofcommunicationbetweencultures.Duringtheprocessoftranslation,theinterpretationandexpressionoftheconnotationofcultureemergeasproblemstobesolvedatthefirstplace.Thatrequiresthetranslatorsnotonlyshouldhavebilingualabilitiesbutalsoshouldhavetheknowledgeoftwoculturesof,evenseveralcultures.In1993,Nidapointedoutthat,forthetrulysuccessfultranslation,theknowledgeoftwoculturesismoreimportantthanthebilingualability.[1]
ananthropologist,thoughtcultureisacomplicatedgathering,includingknowledge,belief,arts,moralstandards,law,customsandalltheabilitiesandhabitsofindividualsasmembersofasociety.Thescopeofcultureisextremelywide-ranging.Languageisthereflectionofculture.Anykindoflanguagebasesonthegroundofcertainculture.So,theculturalcharacteristicsoflanguageincludethewayofthinking,psychologicalmake-up,historical,tradition,socialcustoms,believesandgeographicfeaturesthatthelanguagereflects.Tounderstandthesourcelanguageandtheoriginaltext,translatorshavetoanalyzethoseculturalcharacteristicsofalanguage.
2.Cultureandlanguage
Cultureisacomplicatedsystemincludingandinfluencingalmostalltheaspectsoflifeinasociety.Thelanguagethatthesocietyusesisnoexception.However,languagealsoinfluencesculture.Languageandcultureinfluenceseachotherandreflectseachother.
Cultureandlanguage
E.B.Tylor,ananthropologist,saidthatcultureisacomplicatedcombinationincludingknowledge,belief,arts,ethics,laws,customsandtheabilityandhabitsofindividualsasmembersofasociety.Hereknowledgereferstoacademicsubjects,bothscientificandnotscientific,forexample,mathematicsandlinguistics.Beliefcouldbedividedintotwosorts,politicalandreligious,whicharedifferentamongpeoplesandoftencoursedifferentcomprehensionandevenconflicts.ExamplesareChristianityinthewestcountriesandIslamintheMuslincountries.Artscomprisepainting,architecture,sculpture,literature,opera,dancing,musicetc.(Somepeoplemaintainthatfilmisalsoasortofthearts.)Ethicsisasetofprinciplesthatpeopleusetodecidewhatisrightandwhatiswrong.
Thescopeofcultureisnotmeasurable.Languageisapartofit.Alllanguagesgrowonthegroundofcertaincultures.Differentlanguagesarenotjustused,butalsocreatedindifferentculturalsituations.Thuslanguagesbeartheircharacteristicsinaccordancewiththoseofspecificcultures.Tounderstandthelanguageappropriately,wehavetoanalyzetheculturalcharacteristicsofit.
Languageisasystemofsounds,words,patterns,ectusedbyhuman’stocommunicatethoughtsandfeelings.Webeginourpreviewoflanguagebynotingthatitisimpossibletoseparateouruseoflanguagefromourculture.Initsmostbasicsense,languageisasetofsymbolsandtherulesforcombiningthosesymbolsthatareusedandunderstoodbyalargecommunityofpeople.Whenwestudyanotherlanguage,wesoondiscoverthatnotonlyarethesymbols(words)andsoundsforthosesymbolsdifferent,butalsoaretherules(phonology,grammar,syntaxandintonation)forusingthosesymbolsandsounds.
Worddifferencesareobviousinvariouslanguages.InEnglish,weliveinahouse.InSpanish,weliveinacasa.InTai,weliveinaban.Phonologyalsovariesculturally.InEnglish,wehave21consonantsand5vowelsandcombinetoform38variousphonemes.Vietnamesehas34segmentalphonemesconsistingofvowels,semi-vowelsandconsonants.TheFilipinolanguagehas21consonantsand13vowelsthatform26phonemes.Grammaticalstructuresareuniquetoeachlanguageaswell.InEnglish,wehavesingularandpluralnounsandpronouns,butinKorean,thedistinctionbetweensingularandpluralismadebythecontextofthesentence.InEnglish,verbtensesexpresscontrastbetweenpast,present,andfutureacts,butinVietnamese,thesameverbreflectsallthreeandthetimeoftheactionisinferredfromthecontext.Syntax,orthewordorderandstructureinthesentence,alsovariesdependingonthelanguage.ThenormalwordorderforsimplesentencesinVietnameseisthereverseofthewordorderinEnglish.Thatis,thepredicateisfollowedbythesubject.Forexample,theEnglishsentence"Theteacherdied"wouldbe"Namatayangguro"or"Diedtheteacher"inFilipino.InEnglishthesubjectisfollowedbyaverbandthenanobject,butinJapanese,thesubjectisfollowedbytheobjectandthentheverb.SoinEnglishwemightsay,"Johnsawthedog."butinJapanese,"Johnthedogsaw"wouldbecorrect.
Theseexamplesindicatethatifwewanttocommunicateinanotherlanguage,itisimportantforustoknownotonlythesymbols(words)ofthatlanguage,butalsotherulesforusingthosesymbols.Asweknow,languageismuchmorethansymbolandrulesystemthatallowustocommunicatewithotherperson——languagealsoshapetheprocessbywhichpeoplebecomeintroducedtotheorderofthephysicalandsocialenvironment.
Relationshipbetweenlanguageandculture
Languageandcultureinfluenceeachother,reflecteachotherandco-existwitheachother.Differentculturesresultindifferentlanguage.Differentlanguagesinturncausedifferentcommunicativepatternsandfinallydifferencesbetweencultures.
LanguageanditsculturalinfluenceareexemplifiedinthetheoreticalformulationsoftheSapir-Whorfhypothesis,whichstatesthatSapirandWhorfbelievethatlanguagefilterspeople’sperceptionandthewaytheycategorizeexperiences.Thishypothesisimpliesthatproclaimedthatthestructureofthelanguagepeoplehabituallyuseinfluencesthewaystheythinkandbehave.Thatistosay,differentlanguagesofferpeopledifferentwaysofexpressingtheworldaround,theythinkandspeakdifferently.Sapirwrote:
Humanbeingsdonotliveintheobjectiveworldalone,norintheworldofsocialactivityasordinarilyunderstood,butareverymuchatthemercyoftheparticularlanguagewhichhasbecomethemediumoftheexpressionoftheirsociety...Therealworldistoalargeextentunconsciouslybuiltonthelanguagehabitsofthegroup.Notwolanguagesareeversufficientlysimilartobeconsideredasrepresentingthesamesocialreality.Theworldsinwhichdifferentsocietieslivearedistinctworlds,notmerelythesameworldwithdifferentlabelsattached.
AgoodillustrationofthispointisthewordsnowinEskimoandEnglish.TheEskimoshavecountlesswordsforsnow.Forthemsnowisextremelyimportantandsocrucialtolifethateachofitsvariousformsandconditionsisnamed.InEnglish-speakingcultures,snowisfarlessimportantandthesimplewordsnowusuallysufficestheneeds.Whensomeneedsbecomemorespecific,however,longerphrasescanbemadeuptomeettheseneeds:
"cornsnow","finepowdersnow",and"driftingsnow".Onceagainthisprovesthatthereisaconnectionbetweenthewordsacultureselectsandtheideasandthingsofthatculture.Inshort,eachculturepresentstoitsmembers,eitherconsciouslyorsubconsciouslythroughwords,theideasandconceptsthatculturetransmitsfromgenerationtogeneration.
AnotherinstanceofhowlanguagedefinesexperiencecanbeseenintheNavajolanguage,whichemphasisthenatureandthedirectionofmovement.Ratherthansaying,"Onedresses,"theNavajowouldsay,onemoveintoclothing."Insteadofsaying,"Oneisyoung,"theNavajowouldsay,"Onemovesaboutnewly."LanguageisoneaspectoftheNavajonaturethatcoincideswiththenotionofuniverseinmotion.
AlthoughcompleteacceptanceoftheSapir-Whorfhypothesismaybecontroversial,itsapplicationofcultureandlanguageisclear:
languageisthereflectionofculture,andcultureisashapeoflanguage.Wehaveseenthatcultureinfluenceslanguagebywayofsymbolsandrulesaswellasourperceptionoftheuniverse.Equallyimportantisthefactthatmeaningshiftsfromculturetoculture.
Differentlanguageandcultureleadtodifferentcommunicativepattern
ChinesecommunicationpatternanduseoflanguagearesimilartothoseofJapa
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