Culture Difference between Chinese and English
时间:2008-01-04 18:52来源:作者:潘志涛点击:3499次
Culture Difference between Chinese and English
A comparative Study of English and Chinese idioms
from their different derivation
1. Introduction
As is known to all, idioms are the important part of language. And it serves as a bridge between different people and cultures. It is applied at high frequency, it transforms plenty of cultural information such as history, geography, religion, and military, custom, nationality, psychology, thought pattern and etc. also it contains a large number of culture features and culture backgrounds. So different cultures bring out the similar and different idioms between Chinese and English. We should know much about culture through studying idioms and in turn get better understanding of idioms by learning the cultural background behind them. Francis Bacon said,
―Generous wit and spirit of a nation are discovered by their idioms‖. Comparing English and Chinese idioms will help us have a better understanding of differences and similarities of the two languages in the process of learning English. In addition, it helps us in translation.
2. The definition and classification of idioms
2.1 Definition
What are idioms? Different scholars have different opinions and definition. Some are considering it as the cream of language; some thinks it is the treasury of language; some thinks it to be the important part of language. To sum up definition of idioms in some authoritative dictionaries: Longman Active Study English-Chinese Dictionary: a phrase which means something different from the meanings of the separate words; The Concise Oxford Dictionaries: a group of words established by usage and having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words; Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English: a phrase words from which is formed; Webster‘s New World Dictionary of the American Language: an accepted phrase, construction, or expression contrary to the patterns of the language, or having a meaning different from the language or having a meaning different from the literal.
To be brief, idiom is a special kind of language form that phrase, structure or expression established by usage. Total understanding of it relies on its ways of usage.#
2.2Classification
Language can not exist without culture as its component. As part of language,
idioms including set phrases, common sayings, proverbs, idiomatic phrases, slang, a two-part allegorical saying and allusion etc. English idioms mostly consist of set phrases and idiomatic phrases, proverbs, common sayings, allusion and slang (张安德，杨元刚，2003：21). Chinese idioms mostly include set phrases; and Chinese set phrases chiefly have four words. Also include proverbs, common sayings, allusion and a two-part allegorical saying.
3.The rich and varied derivations of idioms in English and Chinese
Every nation has its own language, and idioms are the core and the quintessence of language. They have a strong expression, deep allusion, succinct to the point; most of them have distinctive image that suitable to metaphor thing. Like its classification, its derivation is also very wide, and its content is rich and varied. They are people‘s cognition for the objective world, and for human themselves, reflection on philosophical problem, summary of life experience etc.
3.1Common language among people
These kinds of idioms have close relation with people‘s everyday life. They are active, vivid, expressive and graphic. There are great amount of those idioms in English and Chinese. They are one of the most important components for idioms.
3.1.1 Deriving from farming
China is a typical agricultural nation with a large population of farmers, who live on the land; farming is the root of our nation. Every dynasty in ancient #China took it seriously. As a result, many idioms are related to farming. Their desire for good weather for crops, praying for good harvest and looking forward to happiness and health are all reflections through language. For example:
留得青山再，不怕没柴烧A man who fights and runs away will
come and fight another day.
斩草不除根，逢春发又生Cut weeds and dig up the
roots-stamp out the source of the trouble or they will grow again.
种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆Plant melons and you will get melons.
Sow beans and you will get beans.
(张安德，杨元刚，2003：17)
These idioms are closely bound up to farmers‘ everyday life. But because of lack of education, the amount of four-words idioms spoken by farmers are limited in Chinese while proverbs used by farmers are enormous. These proverbs are fruits of their labour and intelligence experience. No other country can have such variety of proverbs deriving from farming as China.
3.1.2 Deriving from sailing
# Though China is also located to the sea, and it has long coastline, sailing had seen remaining at an undeveloped stage, idioms deriving from sailing are few.
China has adopted close-door policy for long, and put ―sea ban‖ into practice, so idioms deriving from sailing in Chinese are less than those of English, while the Great
Britain is an island nation with advanced fisheries. As a result, there are many English idioms about navigation, such as:
To keep one‘s head above water奋力图存，使免于负债
To know the ropes 内行，懂得秘诀
To be over head and ears in debt 深陷债务中
All at sea 不知所措
A cold fish 冷漠的人
In low water 不如意
3.2 Deriving from military affairs#
Some idioms deriving from military affairs are difficult to understand and translate; it would be helpful to know about the origin of them. China is one of the countries which have large scale of civil strife in history. We can say Chinese history is about its history of war. A large number of wars were recorded in the famous history book, such as Shih Chi/Historical Records，Annals of Zuo，Three kingdoms . Lots of idioms were derived from them. It‘s the source of idioms about wars. “天下大势，分久必合，合久必分”Chaos of war dispute live through the ages, for this reason idioms deriving from military affairs was widely used. Here are such idioms:
To turn hostility into friendship/bury the hatchet 化干戈为玉帛
To know the enemy and know yourself and you can fight a
hundred battles with no danger of defeat 知己知彼，百战不殆
All is fair in war 兵不厌诈
Speed is what counts in war 兵贵神速
Resort to arms 兵戎相见
#
Chaos of war broke out in English history, so there are many idioms related
to military affairs in English:
Mark time 踌躇/犹豫不决
Mask one‘s batte ries 掩盖敌意
Stick to one‘s guns 坚持立场
Have been in the wars 在生活中吃过苦头
A horse for a kingdom 一匹马换一个国王
3.3 Deriving from allusion
3.3.1 Deriving from historical events
History culture is formed by a specific history development and historical legacy. Because they have different history backgrounds, Chinese culture and English culture are totally different. History culture is composed of tradition, decrees, regulation, poems, ancient books and records etc. Here are some examples:#
破釜沉舟To burn one‘s boats/To cross the Rubicon
明修栈道，暗渡陈仓To pretend to advance along one path while
secretly going along another/to do one thing under cover of
another
一败涂地To meet one‘s waterloo
3.3.2 Deriving from myth
English idioms mostly stem from Bible、Aesop‘s Fables、Greek and Roman myths. Here are some allusions which western readers can know well, but it is difficult for Chinese reader to understand.
Gordian knot 棘手问题
The touch of Midas 点石成金
Trojan horse 内部颠覆者（即起内部破坏作用的因素）欺骗性程
序#
Achilles‘ heel 唯一致命弱点
Penelope‘s web 永远完不成的巨作
A Pandora‘s Box 潘多拉之盒？灾难
Cat‘s paw 猫抓风（被人利用的人）
（谢道华，1999：59）
Many Chinese idioms are the crystallization of tremendous amount of Chinese fables and tales. For example:
孙悟空七十二变Seventy-two transformations of the Monkey
King
精卫填海The mythical bird JingWei trying to fill up the sea with
twigs and pebbles-dogged determination to achieve one‘s purpose #“世上无难事，只怕有心人”，“劳民伤财”，“猪八戒上阵倒打一耙”All these famous idioms come from Journey to the West. “画龙点睛”，“夸父追日”，“嫦娥奔月”are from traditional Chinese legend. All these have a rich cultural background and historical origins.
3.3.3 Deriving from allegory
The knowledge of the origins of English idioms about animals may help us understand what they mean better. Many idiomatic expressions come from everyday life of English people. Some idioms originate from allegories. An allegory is a style of a story in which the characters and events are used as symbols of truth. For example, ―bell the cat‖ refers to a person who takes a risk or does something that is dangerous, especially for the good of others. The idiom is originated from a story of some mice that agreed to put a bell round a cat‘s neck so that they would know when the cat was near. But none of the mice had the courage to do it （陈文波，1982：59）. The other examples are: cry wolf, sour grapes, the lion‘s sha re, sweet lemon, and so on. Some Chinese idioms also come from allegory, the story about东郭先生is the typical. That is Master DongGuo –the soft hearted scholar who narrowly escaped being eaten by a wolf which he had helped to hide from a hunter: a native person who gets into trouble through being soft hearted to evil people.
3.4 Alluding to well-known literary words
Some idioms have their origin in well known literary works. It is very difficult for us to understand, and the amount of such idioms is small in English language. As we all know, we must know them very well if we want to be good learners in English.
Here are such idioms:
Paint the lily 锦上添花，画蛇添足#
By the skin of one‘s teeth 死里逃生
A deed duck 将失败的计划
It is no use crying over spilt milk 生米煮成熟饭
The early bird catches the worm 捷足先登
We can clearly see most idioms have their metaphorical images, which are cultivated by realistic environment and social status.
3.5 Influenced by religions and beliefs
There are large amount of idioms related to religion beliefs existing in English and Chinese language. They are different in beliefs, politics and human history. Buddhism and Daoism are the important part of Han nationality culture. Its stories and allusions bring out innumerable idioms for Han culture and language. There are many religions existing in China, comparatively speaking, Buddhist has more influence on Chinese culture, thus, many idioms come from Buddhist, such as:
借花献佛
临时抱佛脚
#跑得了和尚跑不了庙
做一天和尚，撞一天钟
放下屠刀，立地成佛
Also, Daoism, which originates from China, has a great influence on Chinese and some Chinese idioms directly or indirectly come from Daoism, like
灵丹妙药
阎王要你三更死，哪能留你到五更
狗咬吕洞宾，不识好人心
道高一尺，魔高一丈
八仙过海，各显神通
Many Americans and British believe in Christianity. They read ―Bible‖; they regard many idioms deriving from Bible as their guide and rules of behavior. For example, Do as you would be done by; Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die; A soft answer turneth away wrath etc. Bible has affected profoundly in west. They uphold Christian culture. Here are some idioms related to their religion beliefs:#
To bow down in the house of Rimmon 向异教徒屈膝投降
A covenant of salt 不可背弃的盟约
Give up one‘s lions 准备行动
As poor as a church mouse 家徒四壁
Bear one‘s cross 背负十字架
No coming to heaven with dry eyes眼无泪水难进天国We should take these idioms seriously when we study English, otherwise, we will be confused. Such as “谋事在人，成事在天”is ―Man proposes, God disposes‖ the translation seems to be the best way, however, the two background of beliefs and cultures are different, if it is translat ed into ―Man proposes, God disposes‖ Chinese would have believe Christianity instead of Buddhism. Thus, we should take ―Heaven‖
instead of ―God‖, when we translate it into Chinese.
Only when these idioms are more meaningful in broad sense beyond the realm of religion, can they become membership of the Chinese idioms. Therefore, such Chinese idioms stemmed from religion are no more than those English idioms stemmed from Bible. Apart from this, the forms of these two categories are apparently different; English idioms exist in form of sentence, while Chinese in phrases.
#
3.6 Deriving from loanword
Many stories coming from myth turn into idioms at last. Those words are acceptable in native culture; they are used frequently and also turn out to be native people‘s own property. For example:
A flash in the pan 昙花一现(比喻某事物一出现就很快消
逝了)something appears for a very short time.其中的昙花
come from the vocabulary of Sanskrit, and it transliteration.
A white elephant 白象(比喻沉重的负担，无用而累赘的东
西)something useless and burdensome
English Puritan immigrate to America at early days , they create many new styles of expression by language culture of local Indian.
Indian file 鱼贯而行
Indian Summer 小阳春
# Indian club 瓶状物（花样体操比赛时用）
Indian hemp 大麻
Besides, some Chinese idioms stem from foreign language. For example: Be
a cat‘s paw; Gean de la Fontanie: Monkey and Cat; Ivory tower; One-sided wish .etc. All these idioms come from foreign language, but the structures of them have the characters of Chinese language, as time goes by.
4. The features of idioms between English and Chinese
Idioms between English and Chinese all contain fixed phrases and sentences. Each part among them is fixed. That can not be separated or replaced as one pleases. Idioms are a complete unity. We can not understand them according to each consisting word‘s meaning. Idioms all have history cultural sources. Idioms u se many different figures of speech, that exist many different image symbols. There are some concrete parts of following to illustrate some features of idioms.
4.1 Different figures of speech
Both English and Chinese languages have features of rich derivation, vivid language and those words in idioms have implied profound meaning. They are relevant to the English and Chinese features of language words, system, also relative to the human‘s ways of thought and aesthetics mentality. Chinese is reduplica tion or reversal, contrast or juxtapose antithesis or parallelism. But in English, to avoid reduplication, synonym is always used to express one thing or one concept, this style of writing is obvious. Chinese and English languages mostly use figures of speech. They usually put a lot of efforts in form, sound, and meaning. They use metaphor, pun
or paronomasia, repetition etc. It makes idioms full of wit. # There is a great deal of rhetoric in English and Chinese idioms. These are:
Simile: like a cat on hot bricks 象热锅上的蚂蚁
Metaphor: 沉鱼落雁之容，闭月羞花之貌（have features that
can make fish sink and alight, and looks that can outshine the
moon and put the flowers to shame.）
Metonymy: 老骥伏枥，志在千里(An old steed in the stable
still aspires to gallop thousand li-an old hero still cherishes high
aspiration.)
Personification: Failure is mother of success.（失败乃成功之
母)
Euphemism: die in bed of old age 寿终正寝
Inversion: A thousand sails pass by sunken ship, ten thousand
saplings shoot up beyond the withered tree（沉舟侧畔千帆过，
病树前头万树春）
Aphorism: Where there is a will, there is a way.有志者事竟成。
Antithesis: Love me, love my dog. 爱屋及乌#
Irony or Sarcasm: 五十步笑白步(One who retreats fifty
paces mocks one who retreats hundred –the pot calls the kettle
black)
Contrast: To say every fine word and do every foul deed（好话
说尽，坏事做绝）
Pun or paronomasia:东边日出西边鱼，道是无晴却有晴(In
east the sun is shining, in the west rain falling.)
Hyperbole: Complete sincerity can affect even metal and
stone-faith will move mountain.（精诚所致，金石为开）
Repetition: Good will be reward with good, and evil with evil;
if the reward is not forthcoming it is because the time has not
yet come; When the tim e comes, one will get one‘s due reward.
（善有善报，恶有恶报，不是不报，时候未到；时候一到，
一切都报）
Rhetorical question: Who knows that every grain in the bowl is
the fruit of so much pain and toil.（谁知盘中餐，粒粒皆辛苦）?
Anadiplosis: 知无不言，言无不尽#(Say all you know and say
it without reserve.)
Chiasmus: 人不犯我，我必犯人(We will not attack unless we
are attacked; if we are attacked, we will certainly counter
arrack.)
（张安德，杨元刚，2003：26）.
4.2 The fixed feature of idioms
Owing to i dioms‘ deriving from history events，allusions，myth and tale etc. English and Chinese idioms have its habitual and usage feature. Even though some of
them do not conform to grammar and logic, they can not be altered. For instance: 仰望、展望、鸟瞰、盯住、浏览、凝视、巡视、观察.These words all have the meaning of ―look‖, but they can not use ―look‖ instead. For the structure of language, some idioms of English and Chinese are illogic and grammatically incorrect. For example: Diamond cut diamond. ―cut‖ is a verb not singular norns , and not accord with English grammar. But it should not write like this: Diamond cuts Diamond. Equally to Chinese idioms, for example: 非驴非马should not write like 不驴不马。
4.3 The image symbol in Chinese and English
# By the comparative study of English and Chinese idioms, we can not only understand the nationality feature, but also we can gain fun from different analogous images. We do not suffer from this kind of study, moreover we can understand idioms well, use it appropriately, and even it helps for English and Chinese translation. Here are the comparative of symbol of English and Chinese idioms. They can be helpful for English learners.
4.3.1 Similarities in meaning and symbol
English and Chinese are different in contexts and cultures, but people also use similar symbol to describe the same thing or view. These kinds of idioms can translate literally when we directly to understand.
Strike while the iron is hot 趁热打铁
Follow in somebody‘s footsteps 步入后尘
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder 情人眼里出西施
A yes man 跟屁虫
（Harry Collis,2004：200）
Because these kinds of idioms are similar in meaning and symbol, it‘s easy to learn. We should pay attention to compare them when we are learning language. # 4.3.2 Similarities in meaning, differences in symbol
Although lion and tiger are two different animals, the meanings they signify are same in the two different cultures. Both two sometimes stand for threaten and obstacle. It is unsuitable to strive for the forms match while we try to understand or translate these kinds of idioms. If not it will be difficult to express the original meaning clearly.(金惠康，2004：375) Such idioms can be illustrated by these examples:
When a man is going down hill, everyone will give him a
push. 墙倒众人推
Hold a wolf by the ears 骑虎难下
Like a rat in the hole 翁中捉鳖
All is fish that comes to one‘s net 抓到篮里便是菜
A lion in the way 拦路虎
Have a card up one‘s sleeve 胸有成竹#
Sit on the fence 脚踩两只船（随风倒）
The above idioms are very interesting. Meanwhile, we are attracted deeply by the
nationality feature of different language in different cultures.
4.3.3 Similarities in symbol, but not with the literal meaning
When we read some English famous books we always come across many idioms, which are variant based on fixed idioms, we can not understand easily by the literal meaning. We translate it according to its metaphoric meaning. Here are some idioms of this kind:
In the same boat 指处于困境而不是同舟共济的意思
Once bitten, twice shy 一回上当两回乖，而不是一朝被蛇咬
十年怕井绳
Child‘s play 简单容易而不是视同儿戏的意思
To be touch and go 指危险处境而不是一触即发的意思
4.3.4# Similarities in symbol, opposite in meaning
The numbers of the se kinds of idioms are few, but we can use the ―reverse thought‖ to understand them.
Like a fish out of water 与如鱼得水意义相反
Many a good cow hath a bad calf 与虎父无犬子意义相反
Cry stinking fish 与王婆卖瓜意义相反
Hard words break no bones 与恶语伤人六月寒意义相反4.4 The variability of idioms
On one hand, English and Chinese idioms have its fixed feature, and on the other hand, they also have features of variability. Go along with the past time, people will change words, increase words or decrease words to attar original idioms. Here are some examples:
Give somebody an inch and he will take an ell改为Give him
an inch and he will take a mile 得寸进尺
Neither fish nor fowl 改为# Neither fish, flesh nor fowl 非驴
非马
People also use ways of increase or decrease to charge idioms
for terse “山重水复疑无路，柳暗花明又一村”改为“山
重水复”
“鞠躬尽瘁，死而后已”改为“死而后已”
5. Conclusion
To sum up, the study of idioms in both English and Chinese can help bridge the cultural gaps and enhance the effectiveness of cross-cultural communication. Also it can help English learners to have a better understanding of idioms and arouse their interest in the study of idioms and that of the language as a whole.
# References
Basil Hatim. Communication Across Cultures: Translation Theory and
Contrastive Text Linguistics. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language
Education Press,2001.
C.L.K. Henderson. A Dictionary of English Idioms [M]. Harlow: Longman House,
1956.
Harry Collis. 101 American English Idioms. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2004.
#The Concise Oxford Dictionary. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2000.
Webster’s New World Dictionary of American Language. College Edition, 1992(2).
包惠南, 包昂. 《中国文化与汉英翻译》. 北京：外文出版社，2004。
包惠南. 《文化语境与语言翻译》. 北京：中国对外翻译出版公司，2003。
陈文波. 《中英习语的比较分析》［Ｍ］. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1982。
金惠康. 《跨文化交际翻译续编》. 北京：中国对外翻译出版公司，2004。
陆国强. #《现代英语词汇学》. 上海：上海外语教育出版社，1983。
任学良等. 《中外语言文化比较研究》. 延吉：延边大学出版社，1994。
谢道华. 《常用有趣习语》. 北京：中国对外翻译出版公司, 1999。
张安德, 杨元刚. 《英汉词语文化对比》. 武汉：湖北教育出版社，2003。The History of Linguistics
时间:2008-01-08 15:30来源:作者:点击:74次
by Frederick J. Newmeyer of the University of Washington
Historical Linguistics
The modern field of linguistics dates from the beginning of the 19th century. While ancient India and Greece had a remarkable grammatical tradition, throughout most of history linguistics had been the province of philosophy, rhetoric, and literary analysis to try to figure out how human language works. But in 1786, an amazing discovery was made: There are regular sound correspondences among many of the languages spoken in Europe, India, and Persia. For example, the English 'f' sound often corresponds to a 'p' sound in, among others, Latin and Sanskrit, an important ancient language of India:
ENGLISH LATIN SANSKRIT
father pater pitar
full plenus purnas
for per pari
Scholars realized that these correspondences--found in thousands of words-- could not be due to chance or to mutual influence. The only reliable conclusion was that these languages are related to one another because they come from a common ancestor. Much of 19th century linguistics was devoted to working out the nature of this parent language, spoken about 6,000 years ago, as well as the changes by which 'Proto-Indo-European', as we now call it, developed into English, Russian, Hindi, and its other modern descendants.
This program of historical linguistics continues today. Linguists have succeeded in grouping the 5,000 or so languages of the world into a number of language families sharing a common ancestor.
The Study of Language Structure
At the beginning of the 20th century, attention shifted to the fact that not only language change, but language structure as well, is systematic and governed by regular rules and principles. The attention of the world's linguists turned more and more to the study of grammar --in the technical sense of the term the organization of the sound system of a language and the internal structure of its words and sentences. By the 1920s, the program of 'structural linguistics', inspired in large part by the ideas of the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, was developing sophisticated methods of grammatical analysis. This period also saw an intensified scholarly study of languages that had never been written down. It had by then become commonplace, for example, for an American linguist to spend several years working out the intricacies of the grammars of Chippewa, Ojibwa, Apache, Mohawk, or some other indigenous language of North America.
The last half-century has seen a deepening of understanding of these rules and principles and the growth of a widespread conviction that despite their seeming diversity, all the languages of the world are basically cut from the same cloth. As grammatical analysis has become deeper, we have found more fundamental commonalities among the languages of the world. The program initiated by the linguist Noam Chomsky in 1957 sees this fact as a consequence of the human brain being 'prewired' for particular properties of grammar, thereby drastically limiting the number of possible human languages. The claims of this program have been
A Comparative Study of English and Chinese Idiom
时间:2008-01-05 07:36来源:作者:彭安算点击:550次
A Comparative Study of English and Chinese Idiom
Idioms are the important part of a language. As a language form, idioms has its own characteristic and patterns and are used in high frequency whether in written language or oral language because idioms can convey a host of language and cultural information when people chat to each other.
What do idioms mean? Different experts have different opinions and definitions to idioms. Some people consider idioms as quintessence of a language. Others regard them as treasury of a language. These statements in certain degree reflect the idioms' characteristics, but can't be regarded as idioms' definition.
It is difficult to give a clear definition to idioms. First, people are often confused with their scope, content and form. Second, experts have different opinions about how to divide idioms from narrow sense and general sense. What kind of language expression really belongs to idioms .All of these causes bring difficulty to define a idiom .Maybe owing to those causes, the word “ idiom” even hasn't been collected in such authoritive reference books as Modern Chinese Dictionary and Cihai(辞海).However, some English Dictionaries give“idiom”a varity of definitions. For example, Longman Active English-Chinese Dictionary (1990) defines an idiom as “a phrase which means something different from the meanings of the separate words”. The concise Oxf ord Dictionary (2000) gives such a definition as “a group of words established by usage and having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words ”. Longman Dictionary of contemporary English (1998) gives the definitive “ a phrase which means s omething different from them meanings of the separate words from which it is formed ”. And Webster's New World Dictionary of the American language (2nd college edition, 1972) gives this definition “an accepted phrase, construction, or expression contrary to the patterns of the language having a meaning different from the language or having a different from the literal”.
According to all the above mentioned “idiom” is a phrase or a group of words approved by people and has unique form. Its meaning is different from the literal. In general sense, the scope of English and Chinese idioms includes, set phrase common sayings, proverbs, idiomatic phrases, slang, a two-part allegorical and allusion, and so on.
As to English and Chinese idioms, English idioms mainly include:(1) set phrase, idiomatic phrases such as “to have one's head in in clouds”, “the man in the streets”; (2) proverbs such as “many men, many minds”, “No man is born wise or learned”;(3) common sayings “to charge someone an arm and a leg”, “going banana”; (4) allusion such as “much cry and little word ”, “skeleton in the cupboard”;(5) slang “slang off”. Chinese idioms generally include:(1) set phrase especially the four-word set phrases “气贯长虹”，“国泰民安”; (2) proverbs “好事不出门,坏事传千里”; (3) common saying “天下无难事, 只怕有心人”;( 4) allusion “青女素娥”; (5) a two-part allegorical saying “肉包子打狗-有去无回”, and so on.
Each nation has its own language，among which idiom is the essence and treasure, and has strong c ultural characteristics. Because of idiom’s advantages, having a long history, and a profound moral and strong expression. Idioms often have strong national color and local color. Generally, idioms could be divided into four aspects: set phrases, proverbs, common sayings and a two-part
allegorical saying. Just as its scope, English and Chinese idioms come from different fields, including people's thoughts about objective world, human being themselves, philosophy and the life experience, and so on, about people's thoughts about objective world and social law. There are such idioms as: “As brooks make rivers, rivers run to sea. / All rivers run into sea.” (犹如小溪汇成江河, 江河奔向大海。/ 大江总东去, 时代总向前). And from the following idioms, you can know (1) people's judgment on on e's manner and action: “The greatest talkers are the least doers. / Great braggarts are little doers.”(最伟大的空谈家是最渺小的实干家. / 语言的巨人, 行动的矮子.) “ First think, then speak. / Look before you leap.” (先思而后言. / 深思熟虑而后行.) People's experience about society and life:” L ife is a comedy to him who thinks and a tragedy to him who feels. /Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass.”(对于明哲善思的人来说, 人生是个喜剧；对于多愁善感的人来说, 人生是个悲剧. / 生活无目的, 犹如航海无罗盘.) (2) citizen's altitude towards national affairs“Every man has a share of responsibility for the fate of his country.”(国家兴亡, 匹夫有责.) In short, idiom is the sediments of culture and the vital component part of a culture and a language, which is deeply influenced and limited by a culture. Idiom, the essence of a language, is the carrier of a culture.
The mass of people is the creator of a language. Starlin had said that if one wants to study a language, one should establish a link between this language, and the people who create and use this language and their cultural history. Most of English and Chinese idioms are created by the masses. Folk common saying is the main source of idioms, such as “百闻不如一见” ( It is better to see once than hear a hundred times.), “人不知, 鬼不觉” (not know by man or perceived by ghosts), “成人之美” (help one accomplish something good). Many English and Chinese idioms created by people during their working and farming, are the true-to-life portraryal of common people's life. Peasants produce idioms about farm work while sailors create idioms about sailing and life on sea. Idioms towards sports and hunting are created by athletes and hunters, and so on.
The British live on sailing and fishing, thus there are numerous idioms related to sea fishing, such as “to beep ones head above water (奋力图存, 使免于负责)” “to know the ropes; (懂得秘决, 内行) “ to be over head and ears in debt) 深陷于债务中) in china ,people often praise a man for his good ability in a small village as “小庙里的大菩萨”, but English people praise that man as a big fish in a small pond. The Chinese set phrase “疾风知劲草” (sturdy grass withstands high winds) means that strength of character is tested in a crisis and adversity is the measure of a man. There have more similar idiom like this, good pilot is not known when the sea is calm and the water is fair. (天气晴朗和大海平静时看不出好水手). The Chinese idiom “未雨绸缪” (to plough mulberry field and repair the house before it rains) implies that people should make enough preparation before something changes bad. The similar English idioms is “ while it is fine weather, mend your sail”（修帆趁天晴）. As England is an island country, English people are fond sea. They established a dose connection between their life struggle and sea. So you could get many idioms related to sea
from their talking.
A Language is not only the means by which people exchange their views each other, but also the medium which human beings reflect the subjective thoughts towards the objective world. Different nations have different living-surroundings and customs, For example, the Chinese translate the id iom ―一箭双雕‖ as ― to shoot two hawks with one arrow‖, but the English say ―to kill two birds with one stone‖. Viewing from a different angle, such different expression toward one same idiom reflects the habit difference of each nation. The westerners are deeply interested in watching horse racing. Therefore, many set phrases derive from this sport. For example, people use ―a dark horse‖ to metaphor the unexpected winner and use ―beton the wrong horse‖ or ―back the wrong horse‖ to describe the man who made a false judgemen or got a wrong choice consequently.
Different history produces different allusions. However, different aullsions all over the world are amazingly similar. The Chinese allusion “破釜沉舟” （to break the cauldrons and sink the boats after crossing, to burn ones boats）originate from Historical Records, which means to cat off all means of retreat and to defeat the enemy till one gains the success. The idiom “burn ones boats”, however, der ives from a western allusion. In 49 BC, Kaisa, the General of old ancient Roman, commanded the country’s armed forces to attack the Roman city, crossing Kubicon implied that Kaisa declared war to Roman Senior Congress and Pongpei, the most powerful man at that time. After they crossed the Rubicon, Kaisa had proclaimed “We have crossed the Rubicon. We must go forward but never fall back.” Using the idiom to metaphor 破釜沉舟, expressed the meaning that once a man made a decision or an action, he cannot change later. The idiom “to meet one’s Waterloo” derives from a western allusion. In 1815, Napoleon had all but suffered a devastating defeat in waterloo. With this idiom, people describe a man who suffered a complete defeat or an attack. Astonishing parallels can often be found in history. The Chinese allusion “败走麦城” deriving from The Romance of Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong of the early Ming Dynasty, is the same meaning as “to meet one’s Waterloo”.
There are many characteristics in English and Chinese idioms. The first one is colorful and vivid in meaning, which is rich and varied. English and Chinese idioms have various rhetoric meaning, such as 明喻(simile) , “like a cat on hot bricks” (像热锅上的蚂蚁)；暗喻（metaphor）“沉鱼落雁之容，闭月羞花之貌”(have features that can make fish sink and birds alight , and looks that can outshine the moon and put the flowers to shame); 借代（metonym）: 老骥伏枥；志在千里(An old steed in the stable still aspires to gallop a thousand Li);回文(chiasmus)：人不犯我，我不犯人；人若犯我，我必犯人。(We will not attack unless we are attacked ;if we are attacked , we will certainly counterattack);倒装（inversion）: “A thousand sails pass by sunken ship, ten thousand saplings shoot up beyond the withered tree ”(沉舟侧畔千帆过，病树前头万木春)。There are any other rhetorical means we can’t list one by one here .The second one is similarity in metaphorical meaning. Because people’s experience and thoughts about the world in many quarters are similar,
although English culture differs from Chinese culture, there are similarities, even the same between these two cultures. For example, both in the east and the western country, workers have the experience “strike while the iron is hot”(趁热打铁), and nearly all peasants say “As a man sows, so he shall reap”(种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆). Through the struggle with nature both the easterners and westerners have come to know that unity is strength. The following idioms “a bolt from the blue” and “晴天霹雳”, “burn one’s boats” and “破釜沉舟”, “add fuel to the fire” and “火上加油”, and so on, as well versed in connotations well as figures. Unless such circumstances, English and Chinese idioms in usage are interlinked, which is conformed to the structure and form of idiom and faithful to the original figure and characteristic.
Just as one word has many synonym words, both English and Chinese idioms have the character of similarity in metaphorical meaning. For example, the English idiom “in for a penny, in for a pound” shows that “一不做，二不休；一旦开始就干到底”；and “to go the whole hog” shows that “全力以赴”；“one may as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb”(犯重罪和犯轻罪都受一样的处罚，不如索性一不做二不休). These idioms are extremely similar in metaphorical meaning. Chines idioms also have this character, such as “一不做，二不休”, “全力以赴”, “一往无前” and so on. The third one is p olysemy. English and Chinese idioms have the characteristics of polysemy. The same word or phrase of idioms often has various interpretations. For example, the phrase “looking at” in the sentence “He is looking at the manuscript” has two meaning “to see and red” and “to examine and think over”. So th esentence can be translated into two different sentences: the one is 他在检查手稿，another is 他在看手稿. Another example, the famous sentence “To be or not to be”, deriving from Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, also has two translation forms: “生存还是毁灭”or “存在还是消失”. That’s because the word “be” usually has two meanings: “存在” and “生存”. However, readers can get the concise meaning from the context. There is a close relation between origination of idioms and people’s living-surroundings.
Idioms, the carrier of culture and information, are the important part of a language. Generality and particularity coexist in different cultures. Cultural generality reflects cultural similarity and cultural particularity reflects cultural varity. It is the cultural particularity tat causes English and Chinese idioms having strong national and cultural characteristics. Some idioms are apparently in harmony but actually at variance. Idioms, deriving from different living-surroundings, have striking national and cultural color. Since ancient times, Chinese have lived off the land. The agricultural population in China holds the most part of whole population. Peasants accumulate a wealth of experience from farm work which far too many idioms full of agricultural culture rise therefrom, such as 瓜田李下(in a melon path or under a plum tree); 瓜熟蒂落(when a melon is ripe, it falls off its stem-things are settled once conditions are ripe), and so on. While England is a island country which fishery and navigation historically has a booming development. As a result, many idioms derive from sailing and fishing, such as “struggle not against the stream”; “pull not against the wind”; “a cold fish”, and so on.
Different idioms originate from different customs and reflect them. Folk custom, long-established by human being, is a general term of habits, etique, convention and belief and a fixed cultural pattern approved by people. There are numerous English and Chinese idioms about customs. However, owing to the custom difference, although the British and Chinese describe the same thing, there is quite a complete difference. For example , the Chinese often say ―红白喜事‖（red and white affairs）. They hold that weddings are red (happy) affairs while funerals are white (sad) events. ―Red‖ derived from Han people‘s traditio nal marriage customs. When holding weeding ceremony, the bride wears in red and is carried in a red sedan, lighting red candles in every houseroom, pasting up red paintings, eating red eggs. ―Red‖ is the symbol of happiness and jubilation. ―White‖ originat ed from the tradition custom that in funeral ceremony, the relatives are dressed in white and with burlap over their shoulders in mourning for deceased people. However, the marriage and funeral custom in western countries is totally different from that of the Han people. In England and American, the bride wear white garment when holding wedding ceremony, because they think that white stands for pure and honest. So ―正式婚礼‖ in English is ―white wedding‖ , among which white is entirely contrary to red in Chinese. As to funeral ceremony, the westerners consider life superior to other. The death of individual life is extremely sad. Where can people find happiness? In order to avoid touching on the sensitive issue, they express ―died ‖in a roundabout way. For exam ple they usually say ― passing away‖ or ― kick the bucket‖ or other euphemisms to stand for ― died ‖.
The religion of the Chinese is quite different from that of English. The British and American believe in Christianity, which is a vital part of their national culture and extremely exert an influence even dominates people‘s life and daily activity, therefore many idioms related to Christianity rise therefrom. For example , the sentence ― Man shall not live by bread alone , but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God ‖ (人不能靠面包过活，还要靠发自上帝的每个旨意生活) , quoted from Bible. Matthew, implies that human need not only material life but also spirit life. There are many other idioms such as ― God forbid ‖, ― He that serves God for money will serve the devil for better wages.‖ and so on. However, in China people are deeply influenced by Buddhism. The set phrases deriving from Buddhism hold more than ninety per cent among foreign words. Take the following digital idioms for example : 一尘不染 , 二佛升天 , 三世轮回 , 四大皆空, 五体投地 , 六根不净, 七手八脚, 八共得水 , 九泉之下 . Thus from those, we can know, different idioms reflect different religions.
In any country, the national characteristics are reflected not only in the native language, but also in the connotation of the national culture. Idiom, as a particular language form, has different symbolic meaning. The same object has different, even completely contrary meaning between English culture and Chinese culture. For example, dragon in
Chinese culture is the symbol of authority, regarded as a mascot. The word “dragon” is a commendatory term. From the following idioms, you can understand fully “望子成龙”（long to see one’s son become dragon - long to see one’s son succeed in life）“龙驹凤雏” （dragon colt or young phoenix - a brilliant young man）. On the contrary, dragon in English culture is the symbol of evil, often regarded as a fierce and brutal beast. The slang “chase the dragon” refers to the drug addicts. Another example, dog is usually the symbol of base and sordid men in Chinese culture. Thus “dog” is a derogatory term in Chinese mind. People often say 狗仗人势（like a dog threatening people on the strength of its master power）, 狗嘴里吐不出象牙（no ivory issues from the mouth of a dog）. However, in English culture, the dog is the guard of a house and the helpful friend of men. In the western countries of mediaeval age, dog was often the symbol of loyalty to feudal lord and faith to marriage. Thus “dog” is a commendatory term in English people’s mind. Usually, people draw an anology between human and dog, such as “every dog has his day”, “a luck dog” and “to teach an old dog new tricks”. The word “dog” is often used as a term of abuse in Chinese culture while in English culture it is used as a term of praise.
Owing to the cultural difference, the use of idioms is not encouraged or the learners who have little knowledge about the circumstances under which they are to be applied, nor should one attempt it at the expense of intelligibility, which will ultimately do harm to successful communication
.
Idioms, the carrier of rich cultural information, are a vital part of language. Because of the cultural difference, English and Chinese idioms have their own characteristics with strong national color. Although generality, to a certain extent, exist in between English and Chinese idioms, there has particularity in language expression, cultural intension as well as in origin and usage Cultural differences between China and the West
时间:2008-01-05 06:12来源:作者:王颖点击:885次
Cultural differences between China and the West
Thesis statement: As English students, we are necessary to know something about
the cultural differences between China and western countries.
I. Cultural differences in communication
A. The limitation to the contents of conversation in different cultures
B. The direct or indirect expression in different cultures
C. The cultural differences can affect and limit the quantity of talk
II. The differences existing in area culture
A. Differences in location or direction
B. Differences in metaphor and aesthetic judgement to animals
a. Cat and Dog
b. Cow and Horse
III.Differences in rites
A. Greetings
B. Names
IV. Differences in custom culture
A.Colors
B.Numbers
V. Conclusions
Abstract: The cultural difference is a kind of obstacle and difficult thing in the course of translation. In our English study, it is unavoidable to make translations between Chinese and English, which demand that we should not only master the two languages but also be acquainted the knowledges about two cultures and understand the differences as well . Both China and western coutries 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 couldn't handle it well, the cultural differences will bring us a lot of troubles in the course of our language studying and the trans-cultural communication.
Key words: cultural difference, historical background, local condition, customs
I.Cultural differences in communication
When people in different cultures communicate with others, they have to follow some norms limited and regulated by different cultures concretely. It is necessary to know such rules as when to make conversation and when not to make conversation, what to say and what not to say, and what kind of situations suitable, and how to say. The cultures are different, the norms of them are therefore different. There will three parts to illustrate different manifestation of conversation in different cultures.
A. The limitation to the contents of conversation in different cultures
Generally speaking, there are some themes to be talked freely in both culture. For example, in western culture, people are usually allowed to talk about weather. job. amateur. hobby or some national events. But some other topic are limited such as ages, in come, religious belief or marriage etc, whereas such topic can be allowed to talk about freely in China. In western culture, it is natural for men to compliment lady's appearance, stature or wearing. But in Chinese tradition, such things belong
to taboos to some extents. Although there are some changes in China nowadays, there still exist limitation. So if an American boy compliments a Chinese girl to be sexy. It is unacceptable, but this seems natural and common to Americans are on the contrary. Even a mother could compliment her daughter in such words in American.
B. The direct or indirect expression in different cultures
About how to express hopes, denands and opinions in conversation, there exist some differences. Different cultures always have different customs. Chinese are prone to some indirect way, always exchanging greetings before get to the point. In their conversations, greetings seems like a prelude, which may have little and even nothing connected with the subject. And the people's attitudes are so humble that there seldom appears any offensive words while the western people tend to direct their expression which come straightly to the point and spoken frankly. In addition, they often show their stands when explaining the reason during their talks. Chinese often take different way by complying with the conversation order, explain reasons first, then show stands. Even if the modernized methods of communication are used, there still exist cultural differences in social intercourses. Take a phone call for example, a German who is wanted on the phone will certainly tell his name first without hesitation, but a Chinese would like to wait for the other's name before he tell his, unless he gets the others‘ name, or he will not be willing to show who he is.
C. The cultural differences can affect and limit the quantity of talk
Such illustration will make this clear. In Chinese tradition, people could seldom say ―thank you‖ all the time. However once there's a need to express thanks, the words ―thank you‖ or ―thanks a lot‖ would be not enough. There would come more words to express their thankful feeling and they will even thank many times,whereas the people in the English countries have the different reaction. Although they express ―thank you‖ all day and there's hardly any place not to use such words, they seldom express twice or more times to the same people and the same thing.
II. The differences existing in area culture
A. Differences in location or direction
The area culture refers to the kind of culture founed by the people's
location,natural condition and geographical environment, such culture show the phenomeno that different nations use different language forms to express the same things, the difference of area culture between China and England is a good example. In China, there's a tradition that one must be the domineer, if he's always seated facing the South, but one must be the subject if he's always seated facing North. In such a tradition, south stands for nobility while North is the humble direction, people often say from South to North ―come and go between South and North‖, the location of the word ―South‖ is always put forword. However there's c onversal situation in the