翻译

外国语学院汉英翻译学期论文2011 至 2012学年度第2学期题目：英汉动物词汇文化与翻译姓名：孙喜丰年级：2009语言文学本1班学号: 0401090135Culture connotation of animal words and translation Abstract: A language and its culture are closely connected with each other, which c an’t exist without its culture. Languages of all nations contain a lot of words denoting animals and so do Chinese and English. So the culture connotations of animal words should be paid more attention during the CE translation. This paper tries to make an analysis of English and Chinese animal words and phrases from the view of translation work. Accordingly the culture difference should be kept in the translators’ mind, only by this way, and we can say this translator is qualified.Key Words: animal words; culture connotation; translation1. IntroductionAnimals are friends of human beings from ancient times. In the social development, animal words gradually get their established connotations in all languages, that is, people associate their feelings and emotions, even happenings and natural phenomena with various animals (Liu, 1989: 46). Many animals have become a kind of symbol in people’s thinking, and this symbol is reflected in the language. As translators, we should have a good knowledge of the culture background of the animal words and try our best to avoid the false or unfaithful translation.2. Cultural Connotation of Animal Words in English and ChineseSimilarities and dissimilarities in the cultural connotations of animal words in the two languages should be taken into consideration in cross-cultural communication and translation because both English and Chinese are rich languages with a great number of words in which there are many words concerning animals related with people closely. The symbolism of animals reflects special animal cultures of different nations. So the cultural connotations of animal words in one language sometimes coincide with those in another. However, under more circumstances, they are distinguishedfrom each other. Next I will introduce three aspects deserving our attention in the cross-cultural translation.2.1 An Animal Word with the Same Cultural Connotation in English and ChineseThanks to the similar ecological environment, animal has marked characteristics whether Chinese or English speaking people have something in common on the attitude towards them. People in the two cultures try to study animals from their basic properties, which offer them the same or similar association and c ultural connotation of animals. There are similar sayings in the two languages.2.1.1 Adjective Phrase“as fat as a pig” “肥得像头猪”, “as happy as a lark” “像百灵鸟一样快乐”, Wolf as cruel as a wolf “像狼一样凶残”, as busy as a bee “像蜜蜂一样忙碌”as cunning as a fox” as “他这个人像狐狸一样狡猾”.2.1.2 V erb Phrase“make an ass of oneself”“干蠢事”“live a dog’s life”, “过着狗一样的生活”“makea monkey out of somebody”,“拿某人当猴耍”2.1.3 None PhraseEnglish speaking people use bug to refer to someone who is partial to somebody or something, such as “a camera bug”（摄影迷）, “a football bug”（足球迷）, “a bug at sports（体育迷）”.In China , bug has a similar usage, for example, “懒虫”means a lazy person; “糊涂虫”refers to an unwise person; “蛀虫” refers to someone who embezzle national or others’ properties.These animal words with both the same denotative meaning and connotative meaning prove that they reflect the common characters of the two cultures in some aspects. So we just need to follow the meaning of the animal words when we are doing the translating work.2.2. An Animal Word with Different Cultural Connotations inEnglish and Chinese2.2.1 DragonThe dragon in English and “龙”in Chines e are both imaginary animals but have very different connotations.To Chinese “龙” is something sacred and has been referred to as the ancestor of the Chinese nation. That is why the Chinese call themselves “龙的传人”(descendants of the dragon) and Chinese feudal emperors were often referred to as “真龙天子”,wearing “龙袍”，living in palaces decorated with the dragon. “龙王”（the dragon king）is a powerful god in Chinese legendary which rules the seas and other water bodies and is in charge of raining . Many Chinese wo uld “望子成龙”，but its literal translation “to expect one’s son to become a dragon” would sound ridiculous to the English speaking people, because in their mind the dragon is some evil monster which can spit fire and possesses three to nine heads. There are very few English idioms with the word “dragon” except “blind dragon” and “fight like a dragon”. Out of such consideration, “亚洲四小龙” is properly turned into “the four tigers of Asia”.2.2.2 DogIn Chinese, dogs are generally connected with unpleasantness. Phrases with dogs are used as disparaging terms, just look at these words:走狗,狐朋狗友,丧家犬（狗）,狗仗人势,狗东西,狗腿子,狗眼看人低……And dogs are usually connected with various bad human actions: “狗嘴里吐不出象牙来” is used to describe a bad person that can not speak good words; “狗急跳墙” is say ing about a bad man who is landed in a predicament but still trying to put up a last-ditch struggle; and “挂羊头，卖狗肉” means to do evil deeds in the name of justice.I n English people calls dog as: Man’s best friend. The word “dog” in most situations is in good sense in English, used to describe a person who deserves the deserving pity. Such as “help a dog over a stile” (帮助人度过难关), “a lucky dog” (幸运儿), “an old dog” (老手/上了岁数的人), “love me, love my dog” (爱屋及乌), “every dog has his day”(凡人皆有得意日), these statements obviously reflect the cultural minds of people who speaks English, they treat dog as a pretty companion,man’s best friend.2.3 The Same Cultural Connotation of Different Animal WordsThat is to say, different animal words can express a same or similar mea ning. Although the animal word people use in one language is different from that used in the other one, they are similar in figure of speech.2.3.1 “鼠”and RabbitTo describe that a person is timid, Chinese people say “胆小如鼠”, while in English people would use “rabbit”, “chicken”, or “pigeon”, for instance “as timid as a rabbit”, “chicken-hearted” and “pigeon-hearted”.2.3.2 House and “黄牛”Chinese say “吹牛” while English say “talk horse”; to describe some one is strong, people in English say “he is as strong as a horse” while Chinese say “健壮如牛”;English say “work like a horse(马)” while Chinese say “温驯肯干似老黄牛”.These dissimilarities should known by the translators. So we can transmit the accurate meaning to the readers. If not, we might cause some confusion or misunderstanding to the readers from different countries. What’s worse that will even influence the relationship between the countries. Before we translate some works, we had better investigate the relevant background culture information to avoid some mistakes.3. ConclusionIn a word, people often connect some qualities and characters with some animals. Many association differences of animal and are caused by the differences of cultural connotations, cultural traditions and cultural attitudes. These differences would lead to some misunderstanding and errors in translating expression, so it’s important to know the precise cultural causes and cultural differences in translation. It can help us understand the words and deeds of western people. We should store o ur minds with related cultural background knowledge at the right time to solidify our knowledge structure and improve our capacity to acquire and apply knowledge.References：[1]邓炎昌，刘润清. 语言与文化[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1989:46-47.[2]吴光华.现代英汉综合大辞典.上海:上海科学技术文献出版社,1990:26-30.[3]Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary (Extended sixth edition).Oxford University Press, 2004.。