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英语颜色词翻译的分析Part One Introduction1.1 Research BackgroundPeople can not live without color. Language will be more vivid with color terms. Color terms are a part of language, and color terms translation is important in todays society. Lots of classic works are rich with color terms. Correct and accurate color terms translation helps to transmit the meaning of the source text.Color terms are endowed with various emotions of different nations. It is necessary to learn the cultural connotations of color terms before learning the nations language.The thesis, centering on the color terms translation, is divided into three parts. Chapter One makes an analysis of color terms definition and its history in Chinese and English. Chapter Two illustrates the difficulties in translating basic color terms and object color terms. Chapter Three makes a study of the two main translation techniques for color terms, that is, domestication and foreignization.Part Two Synopsis of Color Words2.1 IntroductionAs one of the parts of human beings vocabulary, color words play an important role, and have different functions in terms of different categories. The following chapter will give the general introduction to the definition, Classification, and functions of color words.2.2 The Definition of Color Terms “Color term” indicates the word which is used to stand for a kind of color. This definition is well known throughout the word, but “color terms do not necessarily mean the same thing as colorful terms. Colorful English may appear as idioms or in figurative expressions, while color terms are words which simply show different colors. Like the onomatopoeic word, a color term has little merit in itself. Only when it suggests the image of the original, or fortifies the sense in the version, it has value in translation.”. (Xiao Junshi, P173, 1982) Obviously, as a part of words, color terms are used in writing to transmit information. In physics, it stands for the color reflected by objects.2.3 Classification of Color TermsThere are three main kinds of color terms: basic color terms and object color terms. (1) Basic color terms mean “words used to describe the color of objects when they appear”. (Lu Hongmei, P135, 2006) Basic color terms come from the language of Anglo-Saxon, including seven kinds of colors. In Chinese, they are “赤、橙、黄、绿、青、蓝、紫”. In English, they are “red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet”. Although basic color terms contain only a few words, they can be used with other words to indicate more colors. They are very active.(2) Object color terms mean “terms used to indicate colors which are the names of objects”. (Lu Hongmei, P135, 2006) Lots of these kinds of words exist in any kinds of languages, such as “silver”(银色), “cherry”(樱桃红), “bronze”(古铜色), “emerald”(祖母绿), “ruby”(宝石红), “jade”(翡翠色), “chocolate”(巧克力色), “coffee”(咖啡色), and so on. (3) Emotional color words. From ancient times, color words have closely linked with emotions. They can stand for different emotions and moods; and people can express the deep meaning skillfully through color words. Hence, these emotional color words are not only widely used in literary works, but also in daily life, and other fields. It is worth noting that the same color words have different meanings due to different cultures from different countries. In the west countries, red will make people feel bloody and violent, so “red activities” refers to radical movements. But in China, people like red which can stand for excitement and joy. They use “红榜” to represent the glory and honor, and “红双喜”to show the happiness of newly-married couple.2.4 Function of Color TermsGenerally speaking, color terms have all the functions which words have. In source language, the author always uses the color terms to express the image of the text. This is the first function of color terms, that is, informative function. For example, the color terms used in the follow text form the landscape of an autumn evening.“The ground was a carpet of deep reddish brown in the glow of an autumn evening sun, tempered by the trees. Yong birches sprang up, caught light on one side, and were sparkling green there; the shadowy sides of the stems were warm, deep black-green. Behind the saplings, behind the brownish red soil was a very delicate sky, bluish grey, warm, hardly blue, all a glow. Against it were a hazy border of green and a net work of little stems and yellowish leaves. A few figures of wood gathers were wandering around like dark masses of mysterious shadow.” (Irving stone: Lust of life, Book Three)The second function of color terms is emotive function. It is accepted that different colors give people different feelings. Experiences show that color terms are the best way to describe ones emotion. An example is quoted below.“Then the morning clouds in the east turned deep red and sky above showed blue, the red clouds were pierced by golden rays, interweaving to spin a majestic, glittering web in the southeastern sky with the clouds as weft, the rays as warp. Fields, trees and wild grass changed their colors from dark green to bright emerald”. (Bao Huinan, P124, 2003)This paragraph was translated from The Rickshaw Boy written by Lao She. The color terms describe Xiang Zis feeling specifically after he had escaped from danger. Obviously, without color terms, the original images can hardly be reproduced in the version.The third function of color terms is performative function, which is first used in Linguistic Study written by Austin and Searle. Color terms in different languages have different social connotation. Two examples are given as follows. 1.The government has given the green light to Sunday trading.政府已经允许星期日贸易。（Hua Xianfa, P266, 2000）2.There was no question of the republicans throwing in the towel or showing the white flag.共和党人不会认输，这是毫无疑问的。(Hua Xianfa, P270, 2000)In the first example, the English term “green” in the phrase “give somebody the green light” means “allowing and admitting something”. In the second example, the phrase “shows the white flag” means “accepting defeat”. Rendering the English term “green” and “white” simply by the Chinese equivalents of “绿” and “白” would result into a significant loss of the metaphor.Part Three Historical Culture Differences Between English and Chinese Color Word3.1 Color Terms History in EnglishIn west countries, color terms are popular in fields like philosophy, physics, psychology, art and so on. The oldest theory in color terms history is Aristotles Black and White Theory, in which color is made up of hue, luminosity and saturation. At that period, all colors were thought as different degrees of mix of white and black. Black and White Theory was ended by Newton who saw seven colors of the sunlight through prism.Other theories appeared at the same time, such as Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and Cognitive Linguistics. In spite of the relationship between these theories, they all admitted color terms important position in English. Lots of English authors are familiar with color-scheme. For example:O wild west Wind, thou breath of Autumns being,Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves deadAre driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,Who chariotest to their dark wintry bedThe winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,Each like a corpse within its grave, untilThine azure sister of the Spring shall blowHer clarion oer the dreaming earth, and fill(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)With living hues and odours plain and hill:Wild spirit, which art moving everywhere;Destroyer and preserver; hear, O, hear! (Ode to the west Wind, first chapter)In view of the complexity of context, it is not always easy to choose the right expression of some meanings. In the instance above, without the few color terms, it is impossible to imagine the governments turbidity and the authors feeling of the revolution.3.2 Color Terms History in Chinese Through the forming of color terms in China, color terms originate from peoples daily lives. A lot of plants names are used as color terms, especially after the improving of painting, dying and ceramics. “Blue comes from a kind of plant called blue, and red comes from the plant called madder”. (Luo geng, P8, 2004) Many Chinese color terms come from the name of plants or minerals. Although there is no theory about the forming of color terms in Chinese history, it is possible to learn a lot of historical things which have relationships with colors. Countless color terms can be found in Chinese poems, essays and novels. The following instances are some typical examples.1.他觉得他的头颅仿佛在颈脖上旋转；他眼前是红的，黄的，绿的，黑的，发光的，立体的，圆锥形的混杂的一团，在那里跳，在那里转He felt as if his head were spinning and his eyes swam before a kale endoscope of red, yellow, green, black, shiny, square, cylindrical, leaping, dancing shapes (Zhang Peiji, P64, 1979)2.这是梅花，有红梅，白梅，绿梅，还有朱砂梅，一树一树的，每一树都是一树诗。白玉兰花略微有点残，娇黄的迎春却正当时，那片春色啊，比起滇池的水来不知道要深多少倍。It came from the variegated plum flowers, red, white, green, and vermilion. Standing there, ach tree was individually veiled in poetic inspiration. The white magnolias were beginning to turn yellowish although the winter jasmines were just showing a lovely yellow. The spring beauty there was immeasurable! Who knew how many times deeper than depth of Dianchi Lake nearby. (Lu Hongmei, P135, 2006)In the first instance, due to color terms emotive function of showing the feeling, color terms can not be replaced by the other kinds of words. In the second instance, plum is the popular flower in China with countless kinds of colors. Above all, color terms play a very important role in Chinese and English cultures. Meanwhile, it is also true that a translators role in translating color terms is not an easy one. He is, in a sense, a kind of middleman, one who belongs to two language-culture contexts. He must serve as a receptor of one message while being a producer of message in another language. It is important for a translator to know color terms definition and histories well. Part Four Translation Techniques for Color Terms4.1 Introduction Translation is often said to use one language to convey the meaning in another language. Historically, the experienced translators or translation researchers pay more attention to the relationship between culture and translation. In terms of different angles and emphases, there are varied methods in translation. This chapter will discuss several translation methods from the viewpoint of its definition and applicability, and provide with sufficient examples to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each method.Translation methods in this chapter include literal translation, free translation, substitution and explanation.4.2 Literal TranslationThe so-called literal translation is the basic translation method to convey the original meaning. It requires translators to make the expression form and sentence structure consistent with the original. Literary translation is mainly used the translation circumstances which have the cultural similarities between the original language and the target language, and make people have the same association. Like “White House”(白宫), “White flag” (白旗), “brown-eye beauty”(褐眼美女), “golden autumn”(金秋). This translation method owns the advantages such as to express the meaning of original language directly, clearly, and retain the original format and contents in a faithful way. Because the similarities in English and Chinese, the corresponding terms can be found in the target language when people translate color words, or the two languages have the similar extended cultural meaning, particularly when people want to express the visual features of the objective things. In this case, the translator can use literal translation. Some examples will be given.Red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, blue, violet, who is dancing, waving the colored ribbon against the sky?赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞？The uniforms were no longer of grey cloth but were grass green through-out, as delicately and attractively colored as the field.服装不再是灰色的，一律是草绿色，和春天田野里的色彩一样，娇嫩美观。He was dressed in a European-style suit of a pale grey material with pale-blue stripes.他穿一套灰色底子淡蓝色条纹的西服。 “What is purple? Clouds are violetIn the summer twilight.What is orange? Why, an orange,Just an orange!”什么是紫色？夏日夕阳里的 彩霞就是紫色。什么是橘色？当然啦！橘子就是橘色。In these examples, the color words in the original text all can be found the corresponding words in the target language, like “violet”(紫色), “ orange” (橙色), “grey”(灰色), “grass green”(草绿色), so the translators choose literary translation to express the meaning of the original text, and the translations are easy to be understood by readers. Moreover, this kind of translation method leaves the format consistent with the original text.In addition, when some color items do not exist in the target language at first, literal translation is an effective way to promote cultural exchange by introducing new expressions, enriching the linguistic aspect of target language culture. Besides, in a mass of linguistic facts, it has been found that some expressions both in English and Chinese adopt the same color symbols and carry the same cultural connotations, thus literal translation becomes the most appropriate strategy. This is another situation where the translators will prefer to use literary translation. See the following examples:black humor: 黑色幽默red light district: 红灯区the white terror: 白色恐怖grey area: 灰色地带give someone green light: 给某人开绿灯As the examples above, none of them exist in Chinese at first. Literary translation is the most appropriate way to keep the original texts format and structure, and they have the equivalence between English and Chinese.But Literal translation has some limitations. For example, sometimes it leads to lengthy verbose translation, which is obscure, and sometimes it does not correctly convey the original meaning, and sometimes it is even counterproductive. So if the translators insist in taking literal translation without thinking of the whole conditions, there must be mistranslation. If the color items contain the deep-seated symbolic meaning or if the translations need beautiful form and refined vocabulary, or if there is difference in the understanding in source language and target language, literal translation may not satisfy the requirements. 4.3 Free Translation According to different needs or compensate for the limitation of literal translation, people will use free translation. The so-called free translation is the method to break the surface structure of the original, and reorganize the deep meaning through the original understanding and digestion, then, transform it into the natural flow of the surface structure. The process of translation involves not only two languages, but also two cultures. It makes people communicate with each other through the conversion of linguistic mechanisms or connecting the bridge of the target culture and source culture. For the differences between English and Chinese, what should be noticed is not only the function of color words, but also the cultural background. If color items are of different connotations, free translation can be used. It can be easily seen from the following examples:The black dog is over Jim now.吉姆现在意气消沉。Mike doesnt want the house; it always has been a white elephant.迈克不想要那房子，它一向是个累赘。As the literary tradition of “black dog” mentioned before, it symbolizes a metaphor for melancholy, despondency or depression, and has a great impact on sense of sight. So, this sentence could not be translated into “一只黑狗正在吉姆那儿”. And “white elephant” also comes from the literary tradition about a king who always shows his wealth and luxury through owning the rare items such as white elephant. It is clear that there will be a mistranslation if translators have no knowledge about that. He is a real blue blood.他是真正的贵族。This is also a color term with deeper meaning. When translators convey the information into the target language, they need to consider the symbolic meaning about the color word “blue”, and it is true of “a blue moon”(一个千载难逢的机会). Here are other examples given to show the importance of knowing the different symbolic meanings of the color terms in free translation.pink slip: 解雇职工通知单black leg: 骗子black smith: 铁匠yellow dog: 忘恩负义之徒In addition, when the translator wants to beautify the target language, four-character expressions can be used in Chinese. It is another case where free translation can be used. Here are several examples:The winter earth was covered by such beautiful white velvet.冬季的大地银装素裹。She gives me a black look.她对我怒目而视。ST3: He came out of the fight black and blue.打架之后，他遍体鳞伤。When his boss started to criticizing his work, he really saw red.当他的老板批评他的工作时，他火冒三丈。Finally, an additional example is provided.I do beseech ye, if you bear me hard, now whilst your purpled hands and do reek and smoke, fulfill your pleaser 若对我仍有嫌怨，惟望你们，趁着紫了的手尚在冒烟，能干必须干的我请求你们，要是你们对我怀着敌视，趁现在你们血染的手还在发出热气，赶快执行你们的旨意吧Comparing two translations, the advantages of free translation will be very clear.Though literary translation is very faithful to the form of the source text, it is very rigid, and influent. However, free translation is much more acceptable and easier to understand in some cases.4.4 SubstitutionSubstitution refers to a method of using the expression of the target text to replace the correspondent part in the source text. Some color words have different functions in the two languages, and as each language has its own habit of expression, and its own understanding in culture, some color words in the translation should be changed into another one that are well known by the users of target language, and the translations should be more in line with the habit of the target language. For instance:green-eyed: 眼红blue video tape: 黄色录像In English, “green” can be used to express the psychological statejealousy, while in Chinese usually used“红”. Likewise, “blue” is the very word in English to mean “obscene”, “pornography”, and“黄”(yellow) has the pejorative meanings of being “filthy, obscene, vulgar,” in modern Chinese, which can not be directly translated into “yellow”. Therefore, in the sense of “pornography” ,“黄”is equivalent to “blue” instead of “yellow”.If these color terms are translated by literary translation, people will misunderstand the original meaning. But by substitution it can translate English into the target one which can be easily accepted by Chinese. There are more examples as follows. red birch: 黑桦black bamboo: 紫竹black tea: 红茶pink eyes: 红眼病black cloth: 青布brown sugar: 红糖brown bread: 黑面包purple wine: 红葡萄short creamy skirt 米色短裙4.5 ExplanationSome translators want to maintain the form of source text without missing the deeper meaning. They may explain the meaning what the original text wants to express after the literal translation, or use the explanation as the attributive. Several examples are provided as follows: Oh, Look! My God! Her eyes look so blue today. Whats up?哦，看呐，我的上帝！她的眼睛今天格外的蓝，我的意思是充满了忧伤。她怎了？That man always shows off his wealth. He is like the blue-stocking to make me sick.那个男人总是在炫耀自己的财富。他就像十八世纪中期那些爱穿蓝袜子，好卖弄学问的女学者一样让我觉得恶心。Translation in this way can not only keep the original color terms and the text forms, but also give the explanation of the meaning of color word in the source language to help people understand the translation well. It is a good translation method. One thing needs to point out is that when it is used, try to avoid complex and lengthy explanation. What is needed is that the core meaning is explained in a concise way. Part Five ConclusionVocabu
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