中国特色词汇翻译论文 第2页
English Translation of Terms with Chinese Characteristics
ABSTRACT Terms with Chinese characteristics express the unique things in Chinese culture, which contain the connotation of Chinese culture for thousands of years. When the Chinese culture is spread around the world, how can these terms with Chinese characteristics be translated into English without losing the original meaning and be accepted by the English-speaking people? The paper, by giving a number of examples, introduces some methods of translating terms with Chinese characteristics, including transliteration, literal translation, and free translation and so on. These methods help to understand how Chinese culture-loaded words are transformed into English used in English, and how they gradually integrate into the traditional English and satisfy the demand of communication in English. On the other hand, the paper also gives some examples of how these terms are translated by American leading media. What’s more, it gives some examples of English translation of Chinese recipe. At last, it also offers some views on the prospect of the spread of terms with Chinese characteristics in English-speaking countries.
Keywords: terms with Chinese characteristics English translation vacancy in vocabulary Chinese recipe name Foreignization毕业论文
http://www.youerw.com2.2.1 Accumulation of Historical and Cultural Factors that Causes the Vacancy in Vocabulary
China is an ancient oriental civilization with a long history, so its traditional culture and thoughts can be reflected in its language naturally. And traditions are deeply rooted in Chinese’s minds. Just take “龙” as an example. In Chinese culture, “龙” is one of the miraculous animals according to ancient legend. Besides, it is also regarded as the symbol of the Chinese nation, forming a kind of totem of Chinese culture. Now we Chinese people are called “descendants of loong”. So we can realize the great influence of “龙”. In ancient China, many emperors took “龙” as the symbol of power. While in western countries, “龙”(dragon) is dangerous. In these cultures, dragon is the symbol of evil, a monster spitting fire. This example is the result of traditional accumulation, causing the difference to the same thing by different nations. Its further development leads to the vacancy in vocabulary. Other examples are “中秋节” (Mid-Autumn Day), “泼水节”(Water-Splashing Day). These are the Chinese traditional festivals and the accumulation of fine Chinese culture, which have been passed on from generation to generation since the ancient time. These traditional festivals are not only exclusive to the Chinese people, but they are popular among some foreign people who love these festivals. While people in Europe or United States have faith in Christian, so there are a lot of words and festivals relating to the Bible, such as “a covenant of salt” and “as poor as a church mouse”. On the other hand, Buddhism and Taoism are two important component of Chinese culture. This can be reflected in “苦海无边,回头是岸”( The sea of suffering is boundless; yet a turn of the gear is the other shore) and “佛法无边” (the powers of Buddha are unlimited). More examples with folk culture in China, such as “武术”(wu shu), “功夫”(kung fu), “秧歌”(yang ko), were unheard by foreign people before Chinese reform and opening-up. The examples above show the vacancy in vocabulary because of the different cultures.
2.2.2 Region- Cultural Difference Causes the Vacancy in Vocabulary
Region-cultural difference refers to the differences of geographical locations, natural conditions and ecological environment in different nations. The generation of language is related to people’s work and life. Lots of idioms, slangs, allusions, sayings, maxim and proverbs in English translation with Chinese characteristics are with a strong Han ethical character and geographical feature. Chinese people are living on the Asian continent, so their living is inseparable from land. While England is an island country with well-developed maritime industry. For this reason, there are lots of land-related vocabularies in Chinese, while there are sea-related vocabularies in English. For example, in Chinese, we use “土崩瓦解” to describe something or somebody totally collapsed. On the other hand, we use “get into hot water” to express someone is in difficulty. Another example is that we use “烂醉如泥” to describe someone is drunk, while in English it is “drunk as a sailor”. It use “sailor” instead of “泥”(mud) in English. [3]本文来自优*文~论-文^网
In addition, the geographical difference affects the changes in weather so that it will affect the farming and animal husbandry, which is another cause of vacancy in vocabulary. In northwest of British Isles, it is humid and rainy, so it is suitable for the growth of mushrooms. But China is located in the southeast of Asia with a vast territory and the weather in different areas is different greatly. Therefore, “雨后春笋”in Chinese used to express a large number of new things emerging is translated into English ---“spring up like mushroom” or “to mushroom up”.
2.2.3 Cultural and Customs Difference Causes the Vacancy in Vocabulary
The differences in custom between English and Chinese can be reflected in many ways, such as in diet, marriage ceremony, the preference to colors and the relationship with relative and so on. These differences also lead to the vacancy in vocabulary. For example, people like using red ornaments to decorate the house, because the red color represents good luck in China. Brides and bridegrooms often wear in red when they are getting married. While the red color stands for violence and blood in western countries. On the other hand, in western countries, brides and bridegrooms wear in white to show their pure true love, while white is regarded unfortunate in China [4]. Because of this, it is not “a red day” out of Chinese people is a lucky day, but “a white day” is. So “红人” ,which can not be translated into “a red-haired girl” but into “a white headed boy”. How about their different attitudes towards pets? People like pets in western countries. Dog is one of their favorite pets and regarded as their loyal friend. However, dog is treated as a kind of inferior animal in Chinese culture. It is considered as degrading. Many Chinese terms with “狗”(dog) are negative, such as“狗胆包天”,“狗仗人势”,“狗腿子”,“狗头军师”,“狗急跳墙”and so on. While in English, terms with “dog” are not negative, such as “be top dog”, “a lucky dog”. Besides, we can find many terms with Chinese characteristics, such as “裹足”(bound feet—— a vile feudal practice which crippled women both physically and spiritually), “童养媳”(child wife—— girl raised from childhood to be wife of son of family). Moreover, there are some terms reflecting the Chinese living habits. For example, “炕”(kang:——a heatable brick bed). From the above example, we can figure out that cultural and customs difference also leads to the vacancy in vocabulary.
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