从动物习语看中西文化差异英语专业毕业论文

从动物习语看中西文化差异Abstract Language is a cultural carrier. Culture-loaded vocabulary plays an important role in a language. Different social backgrounds and national cultures have a great effect on the cultural connotations of vocabulary. Animals are friends of human beings. Languages of most nations contain a lot of words denoting animals, and so do Chinese and English. Along with the development and progress of human society, many animals are tamed to become domestic animals serving people, and many others have become peoples pets. So animals have become part of peoples life. Animal idioms gradually have got their established connotations in all languages. That is, people associate their feelings and emotions, even happenings and natural phenomena with various animals, which are thought to present different characters like people, or serve as symbols. Many animals have become a kind of symbol in peoples thinking and this symbol is reflected in the language. However, because of different history and culture, the connotations of animal words in one language do not necessarily coincide with those in another because of different outlook of life and concept of beauty in different cultures. This dissertation attempts to compare the similarities and differences of animal idioms, the causes for differences and the translation methods of dealing with cultural differences. Therefore, we can not only better master and use the animal idioms accurately, but also understand the eastern and western cultures, promoting the cross-cultural communication and translation practice. Chapter one is the introduction dealing with the relationship between the language and culture. Chapter two makes a comparison of similarities and differences in animal words meanings of idioms. Owning to the different social backgrounds, customs and religions, differences are bound to appear in animal idioms in both languages. When talking about the differences, I compare the animal terms in Chinese and English idioms according to the connotative meaning, affective meaning and reflected meaning. I also talk about the meaning gap in Chinese and in English. Chapter three focuses on the analysis of the causes for the differences from the following aspects: influence of region, influence of convention, influence of religion, influence of history, influence of fables and mythologies and influence of borrowed language and foreign language. Chapter four deals primarily with the methods of dealing with cultural differences from five translation methods: literal translation, free translation, image-shift translation, literal translation plus annotation and literal plus free translation. 【摘 要】 语言是文化的载体，作为文化载体的词汇在语言中扮演重要的角色。不同的社会背景和不同的民族文化对词汇的含义有很大的影响。动物是人类的朋友，包括英语和汉语在内的所有语言中都有很多表示动物的词汇。随着人类社会的进步，很多动物成人类的朋友，为人类服务，也有很多动物还成为人们的宠物。可见动物已经成为人们生活的一部分。动物词汇也逐渐形成特定的涵义，也就是说人们把他们的一些情感，甚至是发生的事件，自然现象都和动物联系起来，认为动物能够表现不同人的个性，或者是表示某些象征。许多动物已经在人们的思维中形成某种象征，并体现在语言当中。然而，由于不同的历史和文化，不同的人生观，以及不同文化的审美观，动 物词汇的内涵意义会因为语言的不同而不同。 本文就中英动物习语的异同的论述，引起中西文化差异的成因和翻译上如何处理文化差异的方法三点进行比较，使我们能够更加准确、更加形象地使用动物习语，也能更好地了解中西文化，促进跨文化交际，对习语的翻译实践也有一定的实际意义。 第一部分是引言，主要处理语言与文化的关系；第二部分比较习语中动物词汇的异同。由于不同的社会背景，风俗习惯和宗教信仰，在中英语言中，不同点便自然而生。在谈到不同点时，根据内涵意义、情感意义和反映意义将习语中的动物词汇进行分析，同时也谈到中西文化中动物词汇的空缺；第三部分从地域性的影响、风俗习惯的影响、宗教信仰的影响、历史的影响、寓言神话的影响和借用语和外来语的影响来强调分析中西动物词汇文化差异的成因；第四部分从翻译方法上来处理中西文化差异，提出的翻译方法主要有直译、意译、形象转换法、直译加注释法和直译加意译法。 1. Introduction “Language and culture, intrinsically dependent on each other, have evolved together through the history.” 1 “On the one hand, language as an integral part of human being, permeates his thinking and way of viewing the world, language both expresses and embodies cultural reality. On the other, language, as a product of culture, helps permeate the culture, and the changes in language uses reflect the cultural changes in return”.2 Language is the base of entire culture, and it is only in language that culture can be well-presented and handed down from generation to generation. On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture; it reflects language. Language reflects characteristics of culture and predicts the developing orientation of culture. In the broadest sense, language is the symbolic representation of a people; the development of language often embodies the change of culture. It comprises their historical and cultural backgrounds as well as their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking. To understand a language, one must know well about its culture and vise versa. 2. A comparison of similarities and differences in meaning 2.1 Similarities in meaning Animal is mans best friend. Different animals have different natural instincts and life styles. During the long-term intimate contact with the animals, people have the deep-rooted understandings towards animals. And both the Chinese people and English people nearly have the same knowledge of animals natural instincts and ways of life. For example, English people would say, “He is as sly as a fox. Hes foxy, and youre got to watch him. ”At the same time, Chinese people would understand the meaning of the sentence as well, in Chinese, “他像狐狸一样狡猾，他很狡猾，你得注意点”. This example indicates that “fox” can be used to describe someone who is cunning and deceitful. This example states that different languages and cultures endow “fox” the same cultural associative meaning. The following animal vehicles have the same associative meanings both in English and in Chinese. Donkey can be regarded as a kind of animal with dopey and stubborn temper. So the “donkey (驴)” is used to show the character with obstinate and stupid temper both in English and in Chinese, e.g.: “as stubborn as a donkey (像驴一样固执的)”.Birds can fly to any place they like to. No wonder they are the embodiment of freedom in both English and Chinese. For example: “Bring the child down to me for a fortnight. I have a huge old garden where he can be as free as a bird and perfectl y safe”.Parrot is a kind of bird that can imitate peoples sound. English people and Chinese people use “parrot(鹦鹉)” to refer to those people repeat someone elses word and ideas without really understanding what you are saying, e.g.: “He doesnt have an idea of his own. He just parrots what other people say. (他没有自己的主张，常常鹦鹉学舌。)”.Pig or swine has such characteristics: dirty, greedy, lazy, selfish and ugly, for example, “make a pig of oneself (贪婪地狼吞虎咽到吃喝)”; “live like a pig in clover(生活奢侈)”;“He has been a pig about money. (他对钱贪得无厌)”. 2.2 Differences in meaning Because of different cultural, historical and traditional background, actually, English people and Chinese people would have different associative meanings towards the same animal vehicle. 2.2.1 Same vehicle with different meanings “Everybody knows that words represent meaning. The problem is that they may represent several types of meaning simultaneously.”3 “According to Geoffery Leech(1981:9-23), meaning in the wider sense may embrace 1. conceptual meaning(or sense); 2. connotative meaning; 3. social meaning; 4. affective meaning; 5. reflected meaning; 6. collocative meaning; and 7. thematic meaning.”4 Among them, “connotative meaning, social meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, and collocative meaning can be brought together under the heading associative meaning.”5 (i) Same vehicle with different connotative meanings “Connotative meaning is the communicative value an expression has in addition to the purely conceptual meaning.”6 “Connotations of words vary from culture to culture. If they are ignored, serious misunderstandings can occur in cross-cultural communication. The connotations of a great many English words are different from those of their translation equivalents in Chinese.”7 Some of these English animal words will be discussed in the following paragraphs. Dog is a distinctive example in the two cultures. “狗” is very pejorative in meaning in Chinese. This can be readily illustrated by the Chinese words and idiomatic expressions in which it is an element: “走狗”, “丧家狗”, “狗头军师”, “狗急跳墙”, “狗腿子”. Many others can be added to this list, but they are enough to exemplify the negative attitudes of the Chinese people towards these creatures. In English culture, however, a dog is a pet, which can even be considered a family member. For example, “there are three faithful friends: an old wife, an old dog and ready money. (人有三个忠实的朋友：老妻、老狗和现金。)”. 8 It is hard for English speakers to understand why “走狗” is a pejorative term in Chinese. To them a dog is lovely and a “running dog” is doubly lovely. “ Dog and 狗 convey the same conceptual meaning, but their connotations are quite different in English and Chinese cultures.”9 In English culture, owl is symbolized of wisdom. “As wise as an owl” indicates that the native English people associate wisdom with this bird. In childrens books and cartoons, the owl implies calmness and solemn. For ex ample, “He peers owlishly at us through his glasses(他透过他的眼镜严肃而机智地打量着我们); A tenant offering five bales of cotton was told, after some owl-eyed figuring, that this cotton exactly balanced his debt. (一个佃农交了5包棉花，老板精明地一盘算，告诉他说这些棉花刚好抵上他所欠的债务。)”.10 However, there is a superstitious belief that owl is an unlucky bird and is the symbol of the disaster and death among the Chinese peoples minds, as the Chinese saying goes, “猫头鹰进宅，好事不来（an owl visiting a home pretends misfortune in that house）”. (ii) Same vehicle with different affective meanings “Affective meaning is communicated when the feeling or attitudes are expressed in language. In other cases, affective meaning is conveyed through the mediation of conceptual, connotative, or stylistic meaning.” 11 Lets take the dragon for example. In Chinese, especially in ancient time, people thought dragon is a mythical animal with great power. To Chinese, a dragon is something sacred and has been referred to the ancestor of the Chinese nationthat s why the Chinese all call themselves descendents of the dragon and Chinese feudal emperors were often referred to sons of dragons, wearing clothes with designs of dragons. Chinese idioms that involve the word “龙”with good connotations are as follows: “龙腾虎跃”, “龙生龙，风生风”, “龙风呈祥”, “生龙活虎”.Many Chinese would say “望子成龙”,but its literal correspondence of form: “To expect ones son to become a dragon” would sound puzzled and ridiculous to the native English people. In western peoples minds, the dragon is a large imaginary animal that has wings and a long tail and can breathe out fire. To the westerners, the dragon is often a symbol of evil, a fierce monster that destroys and therefore must be destroyed. It originates from the Bible story, in which the Satan, who fought against the God, was called the great dragon. Dragon in the western world is a cruel and vicious creature. Several stories of saints or heroes deal with struggles against the monsters, which in most cases are slain in the end. “There is an example from the Collins Conbuild English Language Dictionary, If you call a woman a dragon, you mean that she is fierce and unpleasant.（如果把一个女人叫做dragon，是说她很凶，很令人讨厌。）”12 In Chinese peoples eye, “bat” means “auspicious” for the letters “蝠”and “福”are pun in sounds. To English people, they are very frightened because the bat is annoying and ugly and connected with evil and darkness. Therefore, in English, expressions with “bat” have derogatory meanings, e.g.: “as blind as a bat (像蝙蝠一样瞎)”; “crazy as a bat (像蝙蝠一样疯)”. The Chinese people give preference to the petrel. Petrel is a bird that flies over the vast ocean with courage to brave the storms. So petrel is associated in China with braving hardships and ordeal and courage. The petrel emerges in many juvenile diaries, youthful fictional writings, and appears as the trademark for a number of products. However, the English people do not like petrel, because they think petrel is the symbol for disaster s, for when a storm is arising, petrel will flush, flying like lightening between black clouds and the sea. So the petrel is considered as an omen of disaster in English. For example, “storm petrel” means a person regarded as a herald of trouble, strife or violence or someone who delights in such trouble, etc. 2.2.2 Different vehicles with same reflected meaning “Reflected meaning arises in words of multiple conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word forms part of our response to another sense.”13 “It reveals the fact that English and Chinese speakers may view the same thing in different ways”.14 This will be illustrated by the following examples. To Chinese people, tiger is a big and powerful carnivorous animal that is called the king of the beasts, so tiger is the symbol of the bravery, courage, vigor, decisiveness and power, e.g.: “虎虎有生气, 虎头虎脑，虎将”etc. In contrast, English people consider that the king of the beasts is lion, and lion is the symbol of the courage, ferocity, dignity of dominance, as can be seen from such expressions: “regal as a lion(狮子般庄严)”; “majestic as a lion(像狮子一样雄伟)”. The lion in English culture enjoys high prestige. “Richard I, king of England in the latter part of the 12th century, was known as lion-hearted for his courage and chivalry.”15 There is an expression “to be brave as a lion”. When someone is called a lion, he is referred to a celebrity or a famous person. Therefore, there is another idiom like “a lion-hunter”, which means “hosts or hostesses who seek out celebrities with whom to impress their guests.” Its no wonder, then, that the English have chosen the lion as their symbol as in the expression “the British lion”. The word has been used to form many English idioms with such connotations. For instance, “lions share” means the largest part; “the lions den” means a place of great danger; “to meet a lion in ones path” means to encounter a daunting obstacle etc. To mean “boast”, in Chinese, people would say “吹牛”.But in English, people would like to use “talk horse”. In western countries, horses are beasts of burden, while oxen are raised for milk and beef. Horses have more opportunities to demonstrate their strength than oxen that are strong domestic animals, too. So even though “strong as an ox”can be heard in English, “strong as a horse” is used more frequently. In China, however, oxen are the major beasts of burden in rural areas. No wonder there are such idiomatic expressions as “力大如牛”, “壮得如牛”in Chinese. But no Chinese would say “力大如马”, “壮得像头马”. To refer to “urgent”, Chinese people would say “热锅上的蚂蚁”.But the English people would prefer to say, “ like a cat on hot bricks(热锅上的猫)”. To mean someone is wet through, Chinese people would say “像只落汤鸡”. In English, people would say “like a drowned rat”. Chinese people usually like to use “鸡”as a vehicle, such as “鸡皮疙瘩”, and English people would say “goose pimple”. Chinese people say “杀鸡取卵”, but English people give such idiom, “to ki ll the goose that lays the golden egg”. 2.2.3 Meaning gap (i) Gap in Chinese In English culture, some animal vehicles have rich and varied cultural connotations. It is known that bull is just an ordinary animal in China and doesnt have special cultural associative meanings. The Chinese people may guess the literal meaning of the idiom, “a bull in a china shop(瓷器店里的公牛)”.But they would not have the image that would be evoked in the minds of English-speaking people: an angry, snorting bull charging into a shop filled with exquisite fragile porcelain. Consequently, Chinese would be less appreciative of the vividness of the expression “a bull in a china shop”, which means a person who is clumsy and bungling and causes a lot of trouble in a situation requiring tact and delicacy. Beaver is a hard-working animal in North America, but the Chinese people know little of it. A beaver has a unique technique and ability for creativity. Its constant activity, its habit of gnawing down trees and building complex “homes” and its skill and ingenuity in doing this have earned for the animal the name eager beaver. So the idiom “eager beaver” in English means someone who is too industrious and works harder than they should. The term sometimes has a slightly derogatory connotation. However, to most Chinese people, a beaver is only a kind of animal without any cultural connotations. Cat has rich cultural connotations in English culture. In the English mythology, cat can even affect the change of the weather, as the saying goes, “to rain cats and dogs(倾盆大雨)”and “the cat has a gale of wind in her tail.(这猫尾巴里有一阵大风)”; “there is nothing for it but to wait and see how the cat jumps(眼前只有静待，看看事情如何转变，英语中“猫怎样跳”指风向怎样变。) In western countries, cat is a household pet. Under the particular cultural background, the “cat” can be used to refer to many kinds of character, for example, (1) Dont listen to her gossip; she is a cat. 别听她搬弄是非，她是个心地恶毒的女人。 (2) He was down with fever and was sick as a cat. 他发烧病倒，病情严重。 (3) I cannot stand that man; Hes as sleek as a cat. 我对那个人简直无法忍受，他花言巧语，油头滑舌。 It is difficult for Chinese people to understand the above examples. However, the Chinese people use “cat” as metaphors to refer to persons in different senses such as “馋猫”; “夜猫子”. (ii) Gap in English All the Chinese people know the “crane” in Chinese stands for longevity. So Chinese parents name their child as “鹤年”or “鹤龄” to show their hope that the child will live to a ripe old age. The crane is often paired with the pine tree, which is a symbol for sturdiness and long life. But to western minds, crane is thought to be an ugly bird, which does not arise any such association. “Tortoise” in Chinese peoples minds has two meanings, one symbolizes longevity; the other means “foolish people”. However, “tortoise” doesnt have such kind associative connotations in English culture; the tortoise is just a slow-moving and not very attractive creature. “鸳鸯” i n Chinese usually refers to the couple, but in English , the mandarin duck doesnt have such cultural connotations . 3. Causes for Differences Just as discussed above, animal words have different cultural connotations in English and in Chinese. What are the main reasons causing such differences in cultural connotations? English and Chinese animal words convey different cultural features and messages of their own nations, and reflect their own culture. The following analysis may help understand cultural connotation differences in animal words. 3.1 Influence of region China is an agriculture-cultivating country. From the invention of the farming, the agricultural culture is on the dominant role in China. Ox is the main farming tool in the agricultural history in China. The “ox” is the symbol of power and hardworking in Chinese culture. For example, “健壮如牛”, “牛劲”, “老黄牛”, “孺子牛”etc. But in Britain, the English people always attach importance to the livestock husbandry, so the horse plays an important role in the western culture. Here are the English idioms associated with the horse, for example, (4) work like a horse 辛苦地工作 (5) eat like a horse 狼吞虎咽 (6) lock the stable door after the horse is stolen 亡羊补牢 What is more? Britain is a sea-rounded country, and there is a vast seacoast so its resources in fishery are very rich. Because of this, there are so many idioms about fishery such “ a big fish(大人物)”; “ a poor fish(倒霉的家伙)”; “have other fish to fry(有另一见更重要的事要做)”; “make fish of one and flesh of another(偏爱一方；厚此薄彼)”; “never after to teach fish to swim(不要班门弄斧)”; “ a whale(聪明的人)”. 3.2 Influence of convention Due to different living conventions, different nations have obvious cultural differences in concept of value and aesthetic standards. For instance, in Chinese, the animal word “magpie” is considered as good luck because “magpie” in Chinese, is pronounced “喜鹊(Xi Que)”.“喜(Xi)” in Chinese means good and happy. In Chinese tradition, there exist such idioms as “喜鹊叫，好事到(when magpies are calling, it must have good news)”. However, in