ChineseDragonImageandTranslationStrategyInvolved英语毕业论文

北京理工大学珠海学院2008届本科生毕业论文 毕业论文Chinese Dragon Image and Translation Strategy Involved 学 院：专 业： 姓 名： 指导老师： 英 语 学 号： 职 称： Chinese Dragon Image and Translation Strategy InvolvedABSTRACTWhen many people in the West think of China, the animal that they think of is the dragon. For them, the dragon is an aggressive monster that breathes fire. Many popular legends tell of how dragons killed brave knights and ate beautiful maidens. For Chinese people however, the dragon is not an evil monster at all. Its a cultural and spiritual symbol for prosperity and good luck. The dragons main task is to create harmony and bring rain. Dragons are celebrated in art and architecture, and of course the dragon dance is a very popular ritual. Millions of Chinese have the word long, meaning dragon, as part of their name.Recently, some experts claimed that using the dragon as a national symbol could make Western countries have a negative view of China. But an internet survey indicates that 90% of Chinese people want to keep the dragon, and as more and more people are all familiar with that Chinese symbol, people in the West would no doubt want China to keep the dragon as well. This essay is aimed to prove that there is no need at all for our translators to give up dragon, the totem of Chinese, only for the sake of catering to the taste of the West, and as translators, we should promote some regulatory translation strategy about dragon in order to realize the mutual cultural balance between the West and China as well as to preserve the Chinese civilization, extensive and profound, with a time-honored history, in the long-run. The main content of this paper is divided into four parts. First of all, based on some examples in terms of Chinese and Western culture, it is essential to realize the mutual cultural balance between the West and China. Secondly, take the various translation versions of “The Four Asian dragon” for example, when dealing with some issues concerning dragon, there is no need for our translators to avoid the usage of dragon in order to cater for the Western taste. Thirdly, discovering the recognition and acceptance of the West toward Chinese dragon and the unified English expression from some Western countries and regions, like Wales for instance, we can utilize the word dragon in front of Westerners without causing misunderstandings as well as cultural shocks and conflicts. Last but not least, the final part plays a crucial role in this essay, promoting some regulatory translation strategies about dragon as well as introducing the feasibility and significance of this kind of strategy. Key words: Chinese dragon Western dragon difference cultural exchange balance translation strategy II中国“龙”意象的变化与翻译策略的调整摘 要中西方文化内涵的“龙”的意象相差甚远，在如何翻译中国“龙”的问题上，一直以来都是一个争论不断的话题。为了避免西方人对“龙”意象的敏感反应，不少翻译家有的“见龙则避”，失去应有的文化内涵，有的译“龙”为“虎”，造成表意混乱。随着中国综合实力的增强和中外文化交流的进一步展开，越来越多的西方人士在西方文化平台上（出版的书籍和词典以及制作的影音资料）表示已经认识到：中国“龙”和西方文化的“龙”意象完全不同。在其语言的表达上非常接近或已经认同中国传统文化中“龙”的意象和内涵。在经济全球化的今天，文化也有某种程度的全球化：只有民族的，才是世界的。在中外文化交流越来越强调双向性的今天，我们既要接受先进的外来文化，也要向外推介灿烂的中华文化，从而理直气壮得翻译出中国“龙”的文化内涵。文章的主要内容分为四部分：第一，从中西方文化实例入手，论述中西文化交流双向的必要性。第二，以“亚洲四小龙”翻译的混乱现状为例，论述中国“龙”的翻译，不能一味迎合西方的文化审美要求。第三，发掘西方人士对正宗中国“龙”文化的认同和英国威尔士“龙”以及亚洲多个国家 “龙”的统一英文表达，论述中国“龙”的翻译，不必屈从西方的传统口味。第四部分，举例说明关于中国“龙”翻译策略调整的可行性以及重大意义。作为翻译工作者，应调整在中国“龙”问题上的翻译策略，必须与时俱进，使“龙”文化和其他灿烂的中华文化得体地走向世界，为维护源远流长的中华文化做有现实意义和长远意义的伟大工作。关键词：中国龙 西方龙 意象差异 文化双向交流平衡 翻译策略调整 CONTENTSAbstract. I摘要.III1. Introduction.11.1. The Significance of Realizing the Mutual Cultural Balance between the West and China .11.2. The Meaning and Motivation of the Paper.42. No Need to Avoid the Usage of Dragon for the Sake of Catering for the Western Taste.62.1. Different Dragon Images in the West and China .62.2. Various Translation Versions of “The Four Asian dragons”.103. Knocking at the Door of the Western .133.1. The Recognition and Acceptance of the West toward Chinese Dragon .133.2. The Unified English Expression from Some Western Countries and Regions.143.3. The Regulatory Translation Strategies about Dragon When Introduced to the West.154. Conclusions.17Bibliography.19Aknowledgements.2023北京理工大学珠海学院2010届本科生毕业论文1. Introduction1.1. The Significance of Realizing the Mutual Cultural Balance between the West and China As we all know, China is an ancient civilization with a time-honored history dating back over 5,000 years. We Chinese people have made a major contribution to human progress by creating the splendid Chinese civilization with hard work and ingenuity. The Culture of China is one of the worlds oldest and most complex cultures. The area in which the culture is dominant covers a large geographical region in eastern Asia with customs and traditions varying greatly between towns, cities and provinces.Literarily speaking, it began with record keeping and divination on Oracle Bones. The extensive collection of books that have been preserved since the Zhou Dynasty demonstrate just how advanced the intellectuals were at one time. Indeed, the era of the Zhou Dynasty is often looked to as the touchstone of Chinese cultural development. The Five Cardinal Points are the foundation for almost all major studies. Concepts covered within the Chinese classic texts present a wide range of subjects including poetry, astrology, astronomy, calendar, constellations and many others. Some of the most important early texts include I Ching and Shujing within the Four Books and Five Classics. Many Chinese concepts such as Yin and Yang, Qi, and Four Pillars of Destiny in relation to heaven and earth were all theorized in the dynastic periods. Notable, Taoists and scholars of all classes have made significant contributions to and from documenting history to authoring saintly concepts that seem hundred of years ahead of time. Tang dynasty is renowned for poetry, Song for prose, Yuan for song, and Ming for novel, which stands testimony to that effort. Specifically, The Tang Dynasty witnessed a poetic flowering, while The Song Dynasty was also a period of great scientific literature, and saw the creation of works such as Su Songs Xin Yixiang Fayao and Shen Kuos Dream Pool Essays. There were also enormous works of historiography and large encyclopedias, such as Sima Guangs Zizhi Tongjian of 1084 AD or the Four Great Books of Song fully compiled and edited by the 11th century., What is more, The Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature known as Dream of Red Mansions, The Romance of Three Kingdoms, The Tale of The Marshes as well as The Journey to The West were written during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Many novels such as those mentioned above spawned countless fictional stories. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, Chinese culture would embark on a new era with Vernacular Chinese for the common citizens. Hu Shih and Lu Xun would be pioneers in modern literature. Therefore, from all of these, it can be learned vividly the originality, greatness, and profound richness of the Chinese civilization in terms of literature. . However, thanks to the means of modern transportation and communication, the world is getting small. The whole world community appears to be no more than a large globe village where the residents came together with different backgrounds and values. While experiencing the inevitable cultural exchanges and as well as cultural clashes, the villagers seek to live in harmony. As a matter of fact, thanks to Chinas economic development and the improvement of its citizens life, the Westerners vision of Chinese people has broadened. Their taste for art has improved. And they have developed more interests. They are not only concerned about Chinese traditional and modern culture and art but also eager to know about the trends of cultural development across the planet and to learn about different styles and schools of art. It will be impossible for us to scale new heights in art and impossible to present the world excellent works of our own creation with simple imitation which is by no means equivalent to novelty and originality. On the contrary, novelty and originality result from the combination of modern and traditional styles, the combination of these distinctive features of foreign cultures with those of our own nation, and the combination of artistry and education.As is known to all, in this modern world, the advanced culture has never been an isolated phenomenon, but the products of extensive exchanges with other cultures. Of course, the route and main current of any culture must bear its own distinctive national features. Cultural exchanges are by no means a process of losing ones own culture to a foreign culture, but one of enriching a nations own culture. Through cultural exchange, different cultures can absorb and influence one another. Mutual influence is a very complicated phenomenon in the field of culture. Therefore, absorbing foreign culture is a process of taking a bite, chewing and digesting. We should adopt the principle of eliminating the false and retaining the true, discarding the draws and selecting the essential, exporting more and importing the bests, and resisting corruptive influences. Such a practice will result in the disappearance of the particular features and styles pertaining to particular cultures. On the contrary, different cultures can learn from each others strengths to offset their weaknesses and complement one another. However, in the present world, cultural exchange, especially the one between Western and China, has experienced an unfavorable balance. An illustration of this point is that the past decades have witnessed continually surging enthusiasm among Chinese, like college students or even some schoolchildren, with the Western masterpieces (Chinese version), ranging from books, to films and TV programs, such as Wuthering Heights, and Pride and Prejudice, to name just a few. Most of these welcome a great popularity among readers in China. But, in the meanwhile, seldom do we find ours enjoy such a great reputation outside as high as those from foreign culture inside China. Every kind of culture in the world, endowed with its own characteristics, should be enriched through a two-way communication. Along with the increasingly rapid development of society and culture, the world, now referred as the earth village, seems to become smaller and smaller, providing a desirable advantage for international mutual communication. Cases can be seen everywhere around us that currently multitudes of Chinese commercials tend to attach increasing importance to some “imported” foreign festivals like Christmas Day and Valentines Day ,too numerous to list, rather than their traditional holidays such as Spring Festival and so on. This can be partly attributed to the consequence of the unbalanced exchange of culture, that is, cultural invasion or cultural migration. If things continue this way, gradually, the crystal of wisdom of our ancestors passed down generation by generation, the treasure of our traditional culture, may be lost. Therefore, in the context of globalization, in order to preserve the unique ethic identity of each kind of culture, it is essential to achieve dual cultural communication.1.2. The Meaning and Motivation of the PaperThe cultural difference is a kind of obstacle and difficult thing in translation, which demand that we should not only master the two languages but also be acquainted the knowledge about two cultures and understand the differences as well. Both China and Western countries have their own history development since they belong to different geographical circumstances and living background, local conditions and social customs, ethic regulations and life styles, process of development and other factors. Therefore, if we couldnt handle it well, the cultural differences will bring us a lot of troubles in the trans-cultural communication.Like the West Wind, Dragon means differently in the East from the West. Its cultures exit in both parts of the globe. Dragons are deeply rooted in Chinese culture, so Chinese often consider themselves, the descendants of the dragon. While in the West, dragons can be found in many literatures, but they look significantly different from the Chinese dragon. This paper is looking for some regulatory translation strategies about dragon.With the rapid development of China, more and more eyes have been thrown into this brilliant culture land.And Chinese Culture has become the hottest topic and studying material in the world. What I want to say is that, now, not any time of the other, really a good chance for promoting Chinese culture. Assimilating foreign culture properly, we should also appropriately let the outside world know our brilliant Chinese culture.There are two intensions for the word “dragon” between West and East. Because of different cultural backgrounds, “Dragon” has totally different meanings. But “Dragon” should not be translated into “tiger” or something else. After all, the international culture exchanges should be in a course of two ways, not of only one way. We shall not force the two meanings into one but keep different cultures in the world. Let the culture of the world be colorful.2. No Need to Avoid the Usage of Dragon for the Sake of Catering for the Western Taste2.1. Different Dragon Image in the West and China Almost all countries in the world have an animal symbol to represent their country. All countries are proud of their symbols, which they feel reflect national characteristics or the beauty and variety of their natural environments. The Easterners, especially the Chinese people, enthuse about dragon, taking pride of being the offspring of it. Many Chinese people around the world often use the term Descendants of the Dragon” as a sign of ethnic identity. This is because in Chinese mythology and folklore, the dragon is a divine and mysterious animal. Nobody really knows where the Chinese dragon comes from, though it looks like a combination of other animals, which has the body of a snake, the head of a horse, the antler of a deer, and the feet of animals, etc.But it seems the closest thing is still a snake and many people believe the Chinese dragon was a product of mystification of the snake used by the ancient Chinese as their totem. But there are also other theories, one of them, believing the Chinese dragon was originated from alligator since they look alike. It has a long body with scales, horns and claws and can walk, fly, swim, generate clouds and bring rain. They are legendary creatures: in contrast to European dragons that are considered evil, Chinese dragons traditionally symbolize potent and auspicious powers, particularly control over water, rainfall, and floods. The dragon culture has a long history in China. The relics related to dragons unearthed can be dated back to 5000 to 8000 years ago. The most representative one of them is a jade dragon unearthed from the Hongshan Culture (about 5000 years ago).For one example, Chinese emperors as believed were the real dragons and the sons of the heaven. Thus their beds are called the dragon beds, the throne called the dragon seat, and the emperors ceremonial dresses called the dragon robes. And dragons are on their robes, the throne, and even on the buildings in the imperial palace. A special structure is the nine dragon screen. In one word, the dragon is an important symbol of imperial power in ancient China. For another, the dragon also plays an important part in Chinese festivals. The dragon dance has a long history, which was already a popular event during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). The Dragon Boat Festival is almost purely dragon-related festival, and dragon boat race becomes a popular international sport now. Modern dragon boat racing is organized at an international level by the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF), a Member of the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) recognizing two types of Dragon Boat Racing activities, namely Sport racing, as practiced by IDBF member organizations; and Festival racing, which are the more traditional and informal types of races, organized around the world, where racing rules vary from event to event. The International Dragon Boat Federation is the international governing body for the team water sport of dragon boatracing, founded by representatives from Australia, Peoples Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Norway, Philippines, Singapore and the USA in Hong Kong on June 24, 1991. As of 1 Jan 2008, there are 62 countries or territories with membership of the IDBF, with a further 12 Countries with a known interest in the sport. Every country has its own Dragon Boat Federation. For instance, The Great Britain representatives are known as the British Dragon Boat Racing Association (BDA). Here, of course, the Dragon Boat Federation cannot be translated as Tiger Boat Federation.Last but not least，the dragon is the famous symbol of the Chinese nation today as well as the symbol of ancient China for thousands of years in the past when all the emperors in old China considered themselves the “Real Son of the Dragon”! Meanwhile worldwide it is sometimes used in the West as a national emblem of China.However, for Westerners, when it comes to dragon, the image that occurs on their mind would be a totally different picture. In European-influenced cultures, the dragon has aggressive, warlike connotations. They have traditionally been a symbol of evil. A typical Western dragon can fly and breathe fire. Many legends describe dragons as greedy, keeping hordes of gold and other precious treasure. In myths and folklore, dragons were monsters to be conquered. As dragons may be seen to represent the dark side of humanity, including greed, lust, and violence, the conquest of a dragon represents the confrontation and extinguishment of those evil instincts. The dragon has also been used as a symbol of war. Often, sea-going dragon ships would have a dragon head mounted at its stern to ward off sea serpents and evil spirits. Therefore, we can see clearly that the image of the Western dragon has already gained some positive meaning to some extent in the context of their cultural background. Dragoons, which are a particular kind of soldiers originating in the 16th century, received