Analyzing the Importance of Culture in Translation from Translators’ Mistakes

1、從誤譯看文化在中英互譯中的作用analyzing the importance of culture in translation from translators mistakescontentsabstract.1key words.1i. introduction.2ii. the relationship between translation and culture. .21. the definitions of culture and translation.32. the relationship between culture and translation.33aim of

2、 the academic paper3iii. problems and solutions of the research.41. misunderstanding in cross-cultural communication.42. mistakes in intercultural translation.43. problems.5 4. solutions.5iv. the translators mistakes and relevant explanation.51. the translators mistakes in everyday life.52. the tran

3、slators mistakes in literature.63. the translators mistakes in proverbs.84. the translators mistakes in the explanation of festival.85. the translators mistakes in politics.96. the translators mistakes in advertising .9v. conclusion.10reference.11 analyzing the importance of culture in translation f

4、rom translators mistakesanalyzing the importance of culture in translation from translators mistakesabstract: this paper intends to give an explanation on the influence of culture in translation according to various mistakes of translation. culture gaps between the source language and the target lan

5、guage have always turned out to be a hard nut for translators to crack. therefore, there are still many translators mistakes because of culture. the research leads to the conclusion that translation is not only a linguistic activity, but a cultural communication in substance. the writer will discuss

6、 the topic from the translators mistakes in advertising, literature, place name, festival, proverb, politics and the translation of everyday life, and expect the perspective of this research. based on these, the writer will give a brief introduction of the relevant problems and solutions through tra

7、nslators mistakes, and by comparing the correct translation with the wrong one. this thesis sums up the importance of culture from translators mistakes and puts forward the main development of the research of culture factors and the importance of culture. we will include and discuss the examples fro

8、m chinese- english and english chinese. key words: the importance of culture; translation; translators mistakes摘 要：這篇論文旨在通過一些誤譯現(xiàn)象解釋文化對(duì)翻譯的影響。來源語言和目標(biāo)語言之間的文化差異縫隙總是譯者最為棘手的困難。因此，很多譯者因?yàn)槲幕膯栴}而導(dǎo)致翻譯中出現(xiàn)錯(cuò)誤。這一研究總結(jié)出的一個(gè)結(jié)論就是翻譯不僅僅是一個(gè)語言學(xué)活動(dòng),而且是物質(zhì)的文化溝通。作家將會(huì)從廣告,文學(xué),地名,節(jié)日,諺語和翻譯每天的生活這幾個(gè)方面以及期待透視這一研究討論來自翻譯者的錯(cuò)誤主題，以觀察文化在翻譯中的作

9、用。基于這些,作者將會(huì)經(jīng)過翻譯者的錯(cuò)誤在真實(shí)的和錯(cuò)誤翻譯的比較形式中提供相關(guān)的問題和解決的簡(jiǎn)短介紹。這一個(gè)論題通過來自翻譯者的錯(cuò)誤、提出文化因素在這項(xiàng)研究中的發(fā)展以及文化的重要性來總結(jié)文化在翻譯過程中的重要性。我們將會(huì)從一些漢英-英漢的例子中總結(jié)并加以討論。關(guān)鍵詞：文化重要性；翻譯；誤譯i. introductionnowadays, more and more people in china learn english, do e-c/c-e translation jobs. however, misunderstanding and wrongly translation are ubi

10、quitous. no matter what angle we should think about, nobody wants to make mistakes when translating. even though there are many reasons on it, in my opinion the biggest problem is culture. culture gaps between the source language and the target language have always turned out to be a hard nut for tr

11、anslators to crack. however, there are still many translators mistakes because of culture. cultural factors surface from the confrontation of cultural deposits in the process of translating, making it difficult to recapture the source culture from the source text. cultural default is defined as omit

12、ting of relevant cultural background knowledge shared by the authors and their intended readers. no linguistics text can exist out of a certain cultural context, here defined as the way a text is related to cultural elements in the source culture. even when all linguistic symbols can be semantically

13、 translated into a system of different linguistic symbols, the relationships among the texts to the source culture can never be reproduced by the version. this fact causes the translators attention to chose cultural factors which complicate the translation process. cultural factors surface from the

14、confrontation of cultural deposits of one language with another in translation, and therefore, demand decisions on the part of translators. meanwhile, we always find the mistakes in their works. in a sense, translation brings into focusing the cultural conflicts which are unavoidable and even insurm

15、ountable in message transfer. culturally branching language pair will often challenge translators with a high degree of untranslatability.ii. the relationship between translation and culturetranslation, no matter how many definitions there are, is basically a communication language. it is also a cul

16、tural approach of transplanting. we would like to say it deals with different cultures rather than different languages. in recent years culturally oriented translation studies appear. it does not see the source text and the target text simply as samples of linguistic material. the texts occur in a g

17、iven situation in a given culture in the world, and each has a specific function and an audience of its own. instead of studying specimens language under laboratory conditions as it were, the modern translation scholar and the translator thus approach a text as if from a helicopters: seeing first th

18、e cultural context, then the situational text, and finally the text itself.1. the definitions of culture and translation1) there are more than 250 definitions concerning culture. there are various ways of its classification. the first important anthropological definition of culture is presented by s

19、ir edward tylor in primitive cultures (1871). he defines culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (1979:13-14). tylors definition has continually been the basis of most mod

20、ern anthropological conceptions of culture.2) it has always been difficult for linguists and philologists to give a concise definition of translation. although there has been an enormous amount of research in translation in past, no authoritative answer has been given to “what is translation?” here

21、is a sample definition of “translation” proposed by ji xianlin, xu guozhang. they say translation is saying out or writing down what you want to express with another quomodo (chinese encyclopedia: 69). in modern pattern, translation is transforming the information and content in one pattern of words

22、 into another pattern to express.2. the relationship between culture and translationthe purpose and characteristics of translation are to exchange ideas and culture. translation promotes understanding among countries and nations. in translation, the principle of “seeking the common ground while rese

23、rving difference” should be practiced. culture concepts, which underline the variety of language usage and language habits, come to be the key area of translation studies. the ways of thinking, beliefs, attitudes and values of different cultures not only give rise to failures or misunderstandings in

24、 cross-cultural communication, but also pose headaches to translators, who should bridge the gaps between source text and the version.3aim of the academic paper i will do my research on individual diversity and analyzing the importance of culture in translation from translators mistakes by the follo

25、wing steps:1) expatiate on the importance and necessity of culture in translation on some angles when translators translate multicultural articles.2) the relationship between culture and translation, and the reason why we pay more attention to the importance of culture when students study e-c/c-e tr

26、anslation.3) table some angles of the function of culture in translation. for example, advertising, the name of people, place names, proverb, lang. and so on. 4) analyze every mistake we have found to prove the importance of culture in translation and ask translators to pay more attention to their k

27、nowledge about relative culture. and then we must solve the problems. (e-c/c-e)5) with these aims in mind find the relative approach to solve the problems6) conclude the frequent translation mistakes and tell translators what their failing is.7) what should translators do in the process of translati

28、on?iii. problems and solutions of the research1. misunderstanding in cross-cultural communicationin cross-cultural communication, translators always make mistakes, not only in grammar, pronunciation, words and expressions but also in culture. and culture factors always are the main reason in cross-c

29、ultural communication. and it can be divided into four forms: 1)social language is unbefitting;2)culture pattern is unacceptable;3)different attitudes conflict with each other;4)different expressions make them incomprehensibility;2. mistakes in intercultural translationthe western linguist, saussure

30、 made contribution to this theory. he put forward that linguistics had diachronic and synchronic. also, intercultural translation has diachronic and synchronic. it has huge cultural gaps between the east and the west. they have their own words and expressions to describe their ideas. here, there are

31、 two obvious mistakes:1) cultural dispositionhawkes, a professor in cambridge, translated “amitabba(阿彌陀佛)” into god bless my son when he translated dream of the red chamber. the result will lead to culture in confusion.2) cultural default cultural default is defined as absence of relevant cultural b

32、ackground knowledge shared by the translators themselves and their intended readers. here, i will give you some simple examples to explain it. for example:(1) she was ready to go, but first she wanted her book to be in print. 她準(zhǔn)備走了，但要目睹她把本出版后才瞑目。if we dont translate “瞑目”，there will be loss in transl

33、ation.(2) “阿駒，你現(xiàn)在是黨老爺了，地面上的情形一點(diǎn)不熟悉，你這黨老爺怎么干得下去呀！”子夜 but now: you are a party manone of the elite! if you are going to do your job properly, you must get to know about local conditionsif we dont give the words underline contextual amplification, the target readers cannot know the version.3. problems

34、in this thesis, i will put the stress on several parts: the relationship between culture and translation, expatiate on the importance and necessity of culture in translation on some angles, the relationship between culture and translation, and the reason why we pay more attention to the importance o

35、f culture when students study e-c/c-e translation. the writer will table some angles of the function of culture in translation. for example, advertising, the name of people, place name, proverb, politics and so on, and then analyze every mistake we have found to prove the importance of culture in tr

36、anslation and ask translators to pay more attention to their knowledge about relative culture. with these aims in mind we manage to find the relative approach to solve the problems.4. solutionsthe famous translator eugene nida said, in any translation there will be a type of loss of semantic content

37、, but the process should be so designed as to keep this to a minimum. in the development on the research, many translators omit their mistakes. here, we will find out their mistakes, analyze them and share the methods from idiographic examples to solve the problems.iv. the translators mistakes and r

38、elevant explanation1. the translators mistakes in everyday life1) in e-c translation, chinese translators always translate sauna, poseidon, and pandoras box and so on directly. these words represent the local culture strongly, and the chinese readers can not make clear of them. however, if we transl

39、ate them like this, maybe it will be better like this: sauna (桑拿浴，芬蘭式的一種蒸氣浴)；poseidon (波塞冬，希臘神話中的海神)；pandoras box (潘朵拉盒子，希臘神話中的故事).we have different attitude towards dog. in the west, “dog” means loyalty, braveness, wisdom. for example: a lucky dog (幸運(yùn)兒); every dog has his own day, (人皆有走運(yùn)的時(shí)候). in ch

40、inese the expression “old dog” is cursive, however in the west old dog means a person who is admirable, old or experienced.2）in c-e translation, the translators also adopt the same way in order to make the westerners understand the culture in china. because of cultural background, we chinese people

41、admire dragon and sing high praise for dragon. because dragon in china stands for symbolized auspicious luck. for example, “望子成龍” (long to see ones son become a dragon), “龍騰虎躍” (dragon rising and tiger leaping). however in the western countries dragon means “evil”, which should be wiped out. other e

42、xamples are: “氣功”(qigong, a system of deep breathing exercise )；“太極拳”(taijiquan, a kind of traditional chinese shadow boxing )；“清明”(chingming, a traditional chinese holiday to commemorate the dead observed in late spring).obviously, we are familiar with these words, and in our daily life, we know th

43、eir meanings when we see them. however, if the translators do not explain it，i believe we cannot use these words freely. similarly, if the translators translate these words directly and disregard the local culture, we will call this phenomenon default. and, the version must not be a good version, be

44、cause the readers can not understand the meaning of the source text. from the examples above, we can call them transliteration and literal annotation. the translators should adopt this way and introduce the original culture to readers, and make them understand the primary articles, and supply the lo

45、ss from literal translation.3) geographically, the british live on the island, so fishing and sailing play an important role in their daily life; we chinese people live on the land and depend on agriculture. so, sometimes we do not understand their living completely. now lets compare the two followi

46、ng translators:jenny is late because she has other fish to dry.詹尼晚了, 因?yàn)樗屑笔乱?。詹尼晚了，因?yàn)樗獣耵~(?)so in order to reach dynamic equivalent we must pay much attention to different culture. finally how should we deal with cultural differences in translating process? there are many equivalent idioms, proverbs

47、, however, because of the national identity, they are expressed differently. then we can replace one idiom with another idiom some times.2. the translators mistakes in literaturein literature, there are also many mistakes in translation. the typical example is when the translators translate dream of

48、 the red chamber. for example, 1) david hawkes, a professor in cambridge, translated “amitabba(阿彌陀佛)” into god bless my soul. lets compare the example from the story of stone translated by him, and the dream of red mansion translated by yang xian yi and gladys yang.(1) 周瑞家的聽了笑道：“阿彌陀佛，真是坑死人的事。”hawkes

49、 version: “god bless my soul”, zhou ruis wife exclaimed “you would certainly need some patience”.yangs version: “gracious buddha!” mrs. zhou chuckled, how terribly chancy.(2) 盛筳必散david version: even the best party must have an end.yangs version: even the grandest feast must have an end. in the examp

50、le 1,“阿彌陀佛” (gracious buddha)embodies the chinese culture, while in david hawkes version, “god bless my soul” expresses the christian civilization. similarly the chinese character in example 2 “盛筳” is translated by yang as feast meaning delicious food which coincides with chinese tradition food cult

51、ure, while in davids version he uses “party”, stressing the entertainments of joys.2) let us see another example about david hawkes translation. 那柳湘蓮原系世家子弟素性爽俠，不拘細(xì)事，酷好耍槍舞劍，賭博吃酒，以致眠花臥柳，吹笛彈箏，所無不為。liu xiang-lian was a young man of excellent family . he was of a dashing, impulsive nature, impatient of n

52、iceties. his chief pleasures were exercising with spear or saber, drinking and gambling, but he was not averse to gentler pastimes: he frequented the budding groves and could play on both the flute and zither.“眠花臥柳” is a euphemism for“狎妓” in han dynasty. if it was translated frequent the budding gro

53、ves directly. the translators will make mistakes.3) in other aspect, take the analects of confucius for example:子曰：為政以德，譬如北辰居其所而眾星共之confucius said “he who rules his state on a moral basis (would be supported by the people just as) the polar star is encircled by all the other stars”. in this version

54、“would be supported by all the people just as” is added to make the translation lucid and expressive.to sum up, cultural factor plays such an important role in translation. any translator must handle it carefully. lets take another example:4) henry hart, a translator of california university in amer

55、ica, translate the poem西廂記 of lin hejing 滄州白鳥飛，山影落清暉 to: on tsang chous high mountains the shadows fall;the birds wing their way to rest.here, “滄州”not a place name, but means a place of reclusion. for example, when zhuxi was dismissed, he changed his habitation “龍舌州”into “滄州”. that is, transliterati

56、ng this special word is overloaded translation. we can say that if the translator knows the background of the culture, he / she wont make mistakes like this. 3the translators mistakes in proverbsit is ubiquitous that it has many mistakes in the translation of proverbs. here, lets see some typical ex

57、amples:1)三個(gè)臭皮匠頂個(gè)諸葛亮true version: two heads are better than one.false version: three cobblers with their wits combined equal zhuge liang the master mindthe wisdom of the masses exceeds that of the wisest individual.apparently, the former is simple and easy-understanding. 2)不必杞人憂天true version: it is an unnecessary anxiety.false version: you cant like the man of qi who was haunted by the fear that the sky might falle