英语翻译论文_论文英语翻译

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The Influence to Translation from the Perspectives of

Cultural Background and Thought Style

Abstract …………………………………………………..………………………..……Ⅱ 1.Introduction ………..……………………………………………………………..…..1 2.The specific analysis of the influence to translation from the perspectives

of cultural background and thought style ………..…………………………..…2.1 From the perspective of cultural background…………………………………..….2

2.1.1 The translation of idioms…………………………………………………….3

2.1.2 The translation of enigmatic sayings ………………………………………..4 2.1.3 The translation of allusions …………………………………………………6 2.2 From the perspective of thought style………………….………………….……....7 2.2.1 Chinese emphasis on perception and intuition, and western emphasis on reasoning and logic……….……….………..………… ………….......7 2.2.2 Different ways of expreion determined by different thought styles …........8 2.2.3 Chinese belief in integration and western belief in individuality………........9 3.Solutions ……………………………………..……………………………....…...….10 3.1 To the problems caused by different cultural backgrounds………………….……10 3.2 To the problems brought about by different thought styles………………….……12 4.Conclusion ………………………………………………………………..……..…...12 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………..….......14 Research experience…………………………………………………....…...15 Acknowledgements………………………………………………………….…….....…16

I

The Influence to Translation from the Perspectives of

Cultural Background and Thought Style

Abstract: Despite the fact that the world is becoming a global village, translation remains a major way for languages and cultures to interact and influence each other.It is generally accepted that translation, not as a separate entity, blooms into flower under such circumstances like culture, societal functions, politics and power relations.Translation should be the reappearance of the original work.In other words, the image, the artistic effect, and the meaning of the original works should all be succefully delivered in the translated version.But there exist some factors that make it impoible to produce excellent translations.Among the factors that affect translation, different cultural backgrounds and different thought styles are the most influential ones and idioms, enigmatic sayings and allusions are the most culturally specific expreions that cause great difficulties for translators.Thought style is the factor that affects the composition of a sentence, a paragraph, or an article, and even the understanding of them.Because of Chinese emphasis on perception and intuition, Chinese characters are pictographic;and because westerners are reasonable and logical, objectivity is the main property of English vocabulary.Some unsucceful translations resulting from different cultural backgrounds and different thought styles are easy to be found in translated works which is hard for target readers to understand.The aim of this paper is to analyze the elements of cultural background and thought style that affect translation , and then to provide some good methods to overcome these difficulties.Through analyzing these barriers, it can be concluded that, to produce good translated versions, a well awarene of different culture backgrounds, a good command of different thought styles, and an adoption of proper translation methods are needed.In this paper, English-Chinese translation will be the example to be discued.Key Words:

translation;cultural background;thought style;translation method

摘要：尽管全世界渐渐成为一个地球村，翻译仍然是语言和文化之间交流互动，相互影响的主要方式之一。翻译，并不是一个单一的个体，它只有在文化，社会职能，政治和权力关系的情境下进行才能开枝散叶，这一点已普遍为人们所接受。翻译应该是原著

II 的重现，也就是原著的字面意思与其意象和艺术性的完美传达。在影响翻译的因素中，文化背景的不同以及思维方式的不同影响最深。在文化因素中，影响最大的是成语、歇后语以及典故。它们最具有文化特色，给译者带来很大麻烦。思维方式是影响写作句子、段落、文章的因素，也是影响对它们理解的因素。因为中国人重感性与直觉，所以汉语词汇较形象；而因为西方人重推理与逻辑，英语词汇的表意较具有客观性。一些由文化背景或思维方式不同引起的失败翻译随处可见，它们让读者难以理解。这篇论文旨在通过对文化因素以及思维方式影响翻译的探讨，进而提出一些翻译方法，以解决这些问题。通过对这两种因素的研究与分析，发现要做好翻译，我们就必须对不同文化深入了解，对不同文化背景下的思维方式精通掌握，而且还要适当选择翻译方法。在本篇论文中，英汉翻译将作为例子进行讨论。

关键词：翻译；文化背景；思维方式；翻译方法

III

The Influence to Translation from the Perspectives of

Cultural Background and Thought Style

1.Introduction Eugene A.Nida‟s definition of translation is : “Translation consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language meage , first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.” It‟s a replacement of textual material in one language〔SL〕by equivalent textual material in another language〔TL〕.The translator must strive for equivalence rather than identity.In a sense, this is just another way of emphasizing the reproducing of the meage rather than the conservation of the form of the utterance.Meanwhile, Newmark points out that only by combining both semantic and communicative translation, can we achieve the goal of keeping the „spirit‟ of the original.Semantic translation requires the translator retain the aesthetic value of the original, trying his best to keep the linguistic feature and characteristic style of the author.According to semantic translation, the translator should always retain the semantic and syntactic structures of the original.Many translation examples are hard for a native Chinese to understand though it‟s both grammatically and semantically right.Why sometimes we cannot get the right meaning from the original type? The problem lies in the improper choice of translation method.Translation should be the reappearance of the original version.In other words, the image and the artistic effect of the original version should all be succefully delivered, not just the meaning of the words in each sentence.There are many factors that affect understanding and translation, and the most influential factors are cultural background and thought style differences.This paper attempts to analyze these two factors.The first is cultural background difference.Language is produced and developed in pace with the production and the development of human culture.The differences of the development in different areas produce various idioms, enigmatic sayings and allusions which are broadly used in their languages.Only a thorough awarene of different cultural

backgrounds of both languages can well serve to produce qualified translated versions.The second is thought style difference and it determined different ways of expreion.Easterners emphasize perception and intuition, while westerners are rather reasonable and logical;Chinese people stre ideas while Westerners stre forms, which will affect their respective ways of expreion—hypostasis of the latter and the parataxis of the former;furthermore, Chinese people believe in integration while the westerners believe that the individual is the most important.What we can do for the translation is to know the difference and the culture of the two countries well and to make a great translated version.2.The specific analysis of the influence to translation from the perspectives of cultural background and thought style 2.1 From the perspective of cultural background Culture has always been the factor that affects translation most.Different countries develop their specific cultures in the proce of history.Language is the embodiment of culture, and in dealing with the translation of the original version, what is most important? It is the culture.Consequently, good management of culture is one of the key points in doing translation.And in culture, idioms, enigmatic sayings and allusions are the most culturally specific expreions that cause great difficulties for translators.the word-for-word translation of the original version are poibly a wrong delivery of the image and the artistic effect of the original version.Furthermore, different cultural backgrounds make language users choose different subjects in describing the same thing because it can completely and accurately deliver the meage to different people in different place.Culture has sharp nationality ,different cultures will naturally present different cultural forms.The cultural differences reflected to language is called linguistic difference.Cultural differences and thought style difference between Chinese and Western will cause certain effects.To really master English translation methods and skills, not only on the surface meaning of English words, it is more important to understand the foreign community, culture, historical background , customs and habits, understanding the cultural differences.To study the differences between languages from the perspective of cultural differences, can effectively hold the immanent connection between languages.2.1.1 The translation of idioms An idiom is “a phrase or a sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words, and which must be learnt as a whole unit”.It is produced, always in a historical story, in which some of the words or expreions are taken out to be used, spread and delivered to our modern society.Then idiom is bound to be one of the products of historical culture, and very culturally specific, and to some degree, untranslatable.The following examples aim at finding out some proper methods to overcome the difficulties in idiom translation.Example：鹬蚌相争

If we translate it word-for-word ,then it will be “A snipe and a clam locked in combat”, foreigners cannot understand the real meaning, what does it mean? What does people want to expre when they use this idiom? In fact, only Chinese people know ,there followed by a “profit”.There is a historical story: Long long a ago , there were seven countries in China.Seven countries always fought with each other or attacked one of them to get the right and area.At that time, Zhao ducal against Yan, Sue thought Zhao and Yan fought endlely, and Qin must get the profit, so it is to say if two parties fight, a third party will benefit, when we translate, in order to easily understand ,we can do :two dogs strive for a bone ,and a third runs away with it.The idiom of the source for the translation is every important.If you want to translate well and truly, at least , you should know where is the source and the background story, not just literal meanings.2.1.2 The translation of enigmatic sayings

An enigmatic saying is “a two parts allegorical saying of which the first part, always

stated, is descriptive, while the second part, some times unstated, carries the maage”.The use of enigmatic sayings is a phenomenon only appears in China, and it is peculiar to Chinese culture.It has in it so many things which are closely related to Chinese culture.If not properly handled, the translated version may not be understood by target readers.As we often mention that “三个臭皮匠，顶过一个诸葛亮”，if we translate the literal meaning as “ three cobblers equal Zuge Liang, the mastermind ”, may the foreign people can not know it well.We have read a lot of stories about Zuge Liang, and very familiar with him, but westerner may even not know who is he and also do not know why Zuge Liang get together with stooges.If use the literal translation method, it is difficult to deliver the rich historical and cultural information, therefore, only know the background well and translate a way which is more easy to let the foreign people know.So it can be translated like “ Two heads are better than one “.Enigmatic saying also contains a farmer‟s proverbs, such as “ 清明前后，栽瓜种豆 ”.Cobile security prepaid phonelanted beans.In Western countries, Tomb-sweeping Day is not existed, if do not explain clearly , they also don‟t know what holiday it is.Thus the weather in Chinese and Western has a big difference, all these elements can cause direct or indirect influence.But if both westerners and easterners can understand the translated version by using general knowledge, we can use literal translation, because enigmatic sayings also need image and the artistic effect of the original version.In sum, different translation methods adapt to different enigmatic sayings.2.1.3.The translation of allusions An allusion is defined as “an implied or indirect reference to something aumed to be known, such as an historical event or personage, a well-known quotation from literature, or a famous work of art”.“牛郎织女”

“牛郎织女” is a very beautiful eternal love story : the east of the Milky Way lived a beautiful girl called Vega, who is the daughter of the Emperor.She worked very hard on the loom woven and make beautiful clothes, hardly have time to dre up herself.God have

mercy on her life alone, allow her to marry a cowboy who lived on the west of the Milky Way.But after Vega married , she waste the textile work.God was so angry, ordered her back to the east side to work and let them meet with each other once a year.Annual autumn of seventh days, we always see crow heads bald, it is because the gigolo knit a meet, uses the crows do bridge and walk over from their head.Nowadays many Westerners know the romantic love story.It is compared to be apart of lovers.The translation between different languages is a one big obstacle of translation and culture is one of the symptoms among them.Culture and language are closely related, not from the culture background of the language system, but not without the use of language reflects the culture.Therefore , due to cultural differences translation problem are inevitable.But under the environment of the international development, ethnic culture infiltrate each other, the cultural differences are gradually being reduced.The unique language of different countries are gradually tends aimilation, words from outside have been accepted by the local people.The effect of cultural difference on translation is desalting due to globalization further communication.2.2 From the perspective of thought style

2.2.1 Chinese emphasis on perception and intuition, and western emphasis on reasoning and logic Because of Chinese emphasis on perception and intuition, Chinese characters are pictographic;and because westerners are rather reasonable and logical, objectivity is the main property of English vocabulary.Chinese characters are full of images.For example, Chinese character “刀” resembles the image of a knife;“伞”(umbrella), the image of an open umbrella;“日”(sun)and “月”(moon), the image of the sun and moon in the sky, etc.When comparing Chinese character with English vocabulary, it is easy to find that the former is direct and full of images，while the later is objective and functional, without considering the image of a word.Furthermore, Chinese people like using concrete things to symbolize the abstract things.For example, in “兵败如山”, Chinese people use “如山” to indicate the tendency of being defeated: nothing can resist and nothing can halt it, just like a falling mountain;“蚕食” is

used in Chinese to indicate the aggreion is gradually done but never pulled back, just like the silkworms are eating the leaves.These two examples are very good examples to show concrete things symbolizing abstract meanings.In dealing with these translations, we should translate its intended meaning.This kind of translation makes loses in image, but it is understandable.For some of this kind of words, we can translate literally, but it should be based on the understanding of the translated version by using general knowledge.If it can be literally translated without affecting target readers‟ understanding, it is the best one.2.2.2 Different ways of expreion determined by different thought styles Because of different thought styles of western people and Chinese people, there exists a distinct difference between English and Chinese ways of expreion.For example, say hello, Chinese like to ask “ do you eat? “ to show his regard, while the foreign people do not know it for real, maybe they will think you want to invite them to dinner instead of thinking it is just a greeting like “how are u”.Chinese people very modest , they always use “ 鄙人，犬子” or some words like that to instead of themselves, because modest it trade as a virtue, but not the Westerners think so.For example, when we be praised, we will say : 惭愧； 不敢当；哪里哪里；岂敢，maybe at this time, a foreign people will ask why, because the answer to the praise only one, that is “thank you”.On the eyes of Westerners , Chinese modesty is lack of confidence.For praise, Britain and the United States were frankly accepted and acknowledgments politely.We should pay attention to language and cultural differences when we do translations, unable to translate word-for-word, or it will be ”where where(哪里哪里)”，the kind of Chinese style English jokes.Another case: Did you enjoy your cla time？(老师您辛苦了)In China, the greet from students will let teachers pleased, but in British and American culture, the greeting is regarded as the negative of teacher‟s ability, very impolite.The specific circumstances, the traditional way of Chinese translation is different from the translation when it is translated into English.We should exchange and learning the thinking way of English and trying to avoid Chinglish translation.To sum up, a good consideration of the differences between English hypostasis and

Chinese parataxis is the foundation of translation.In translation from English to Chinese, after analyzing the property of hypostasis, we can produce paratactic Chinese version, while in translation from Chinese to English, after analyzing the property of parataxis, we can produce hypotactic English version.2.2.3 Chinese belief in integration and western belief in individuality

Chinese focus on the whole, used to one thought : make all to one.Oriental emphasizes holistic and comprehensive, Westerners emphasizes individuality.This can be seen manifestation of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine.Traditional Chinese medicine always make points on the whole, through the basic judging like “望，闻，问，切”.However , western medicine like anatomy, it focuses on the local only.Because of different thought styles, there is a difference in indicating things: the meanings of English words are concrete and specific, while that of Chinese characters are general.For example, when a Chinese say “车来了”, “车” here may refer to “bus”(公共汽车), “truck”(卡车), “taxi”(出租车), “coach”(长途公共汽车), “car”(轿车), or “minibus”(面包车).Through this we can easily observe that Chinese language is so ambiguous.The concrete and specific feature leads to the numerousne and complexity of English vocabulary.We have to remember them one by one, accurately and broadly, so that we can use it as we want, and produce precisely translated versions.3.Solutions 3.1 To the problems caused by different cultural backgrounds A.Learn the cultures of both languages It is not very easy for a person to live in the environment of two languages.Limit exists for both Chinese learning English and westerners learning Chinese, because of the single language environment they are in.But if we want to do good translation, we have to try our best to learn broadly and deeply the cultures of both languages.Culture comes from history and history has been recorded in books, so reading more books is one of the best ways to

learn different cultures.Moreover, culture comes from claical legend and folk tells, so communication with foreigners, travel to foreign countries, and joining summer camp in western countries are all good ways to learn cultures of other countries.Only after one can handle the cultures of both languages well, can one translate well.B.Adopt proper translation methods There are many translation methods, such as literal translation method, free translation method, transliteration, change of the function of words, etc.There isn‟t a perfect translation method, but a proper one in one circumstance.Because literal translation, free translation, transliteration are mostly used, more details about them will be followed.Literal translation refers to the translation that “the SL(source language)grammatical constructions are converted to their nearest TL(target language)equivalents but the lexical words are again translated singly, out of context.As a pre-translation proce, this indicates the problems to be solved”(Newmark, 2001: 46).The advantage of it is the relatively perfect delivery of the meaning of the words and image of the original;the disadvantage is the difficulty in understanding caused by the cultural default of different nations.Free translation is the translation which “reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without the form of the original.Usually it‟s a paraphrase much longer than the original, a so-called „intralingual translation‟, often prolix and pretentious”(Newmark, 2001: 46).Take the translation of the sentence “He is a horse” for example, it should be translated into “他跑得很快”.Here, if we translate it into “他是一匹马”, one is easy to misunderstand it as an obscene sentence.Only if we can translate the eence of it, can the readers really understand the meaning.“Transliteration is that, in order to deliver the main function of the language, the translation is done to reserve the pronunciation of the original language in the target language”(陈宏薇，1998：95).The translation of the brand “Coca-Cola” into “可口可乐” can be judged as a perfect translation.For Chinese pronunciation, the pronunciation of “可口可乐” is very close to that of the brand “Coca-Cola”;for the meaning, in China it means

that it tastes well and it is enjoyable, and the translated version exprees faithfully the meaning, the effect, and the pronunciation.3.2 To the problems brought about by different thought styles A.Learn more words and know how to use them “If a paage is a great building, words should be the bricks of it”(余光中.2002: 105).So it is neceary to learn more words to guarantee the comprehension.As an English learner, one should build up our vocabulary, and learn how to use it and become a good translator.B.Develop the ability of understanding both languages Translation is based on the understanding of the original version, so comprehensive ability is of great importance.Because of the differences of thought styles, the ways of composing sentences, paragraphs, and paages are different, and then the language produced is of great difference.So the ability of understanding the two languages is indispensable for a translator.“Practice makes perfect”.No matter how good you are at choosing proper methods, producing good translation is impoible if you refuse to practice it.4.Conclusion Through the above analysis of the translation examples and the research good methods of translation, we can see, not only should we consider the meaning of the words of the original, but also we should consider the following two factors: cultural backgrounds, and thought styles of different nations.Only a good awarene of the culture backgrounds of both languages can well serve to produce qualified translated works.Easterners, especially Chinese people, emphasize holistic and comprehensive, while westerners are rather reasonable and logical;Chinese people stre ideas while Westerners stre forms;Chinese people believe in integration while the westerners believe that the individual is the most important.Different cultural backgrounds call for our careful handling of cultures of the two nations.Through practice, we can strengthen our understanding and expreing abilities, and produce good translated versions.After all, only when our translation completely consider about the cultural backgrounds

and thought styles of different nations, together with the proper translation methods, can we well deliver the original version with excellent translated version produced.Bibliography

[1] 陈宏薇.汉英翻译基础[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社，1998.[2] 陈文伯.英汉成语对比与翻译[M].北京：世界书城出版社，2005.[3] 霍恩比(Hornby).牛津高阶英汉双解词典[M].北京：商务印书馆，2002.[4] 贾文波.应用翻译功能论[M].北京：中国对外翻译出版社，2004.[5] 连淑能.英汉对比研究[M].北京：高等教育出版社，1993.[6] 陆乃圣.英汉差异与翻译[M].上海：华东化工学院出版社，1993.[7] 余光中.余光中谈翻译[M].北京：中国对外翻译出版社，2002.Research experience

The thesis talks about the barriers that affect English-Chinese translation from the perspectives of cultural background and thought style.Translation is a difficult task.In order to provide thesis readers with a better understanding of the translation methods and guarantee a proper adoption of translation methods when they are doing translation, some examples and corresponding analyses have to be included in the thesis.So it is neceary for me to spend much time on data collection and in considering how to organize my thesis.Through the writing of this thesis, I have obtained more knowledge about the differences of Chinese and English, and the causes of them, which can make me recognize how I should use learning strategies to learn English culture and other knowledge well in the future.Moreover, through analyzing these factors and difficulties, I have learned some good translation methods and known how to use them.Acknowledgements

Firstly, great thanks will be given to our institute for giving me this chance to do some attempts to analyze these two barriers to English-Chinese translation.Then, I will thank all the teachers and friends who have helped me to get ideas in writing this thesis.And great thanks should be given to Xihua University Library for providing me with valuable data.The most special thanks will be given to Ms Li Xinxin for her carefulne in helping me to finish this paper.She is a responsible teacher.Without these above aistances, I could not finish this paper, so I want to thank them again.