中西文化差異與翻譯

PartOneIntroductionResearchBackgroundTranslationisanactoftranslatinginformationfromalanguageintoanotherlanguagewithaccuracyandfluency.Translationistheprocessoftransformingarelativelyunfamiliarexpressionintoarelativelyfamiliarformofexpression.①Itinvolvesthelanguage,thetext,thegraph,thesymboltranslation.Amongthem,“Fan”referstothelanguageofconversationconversion,“Yi”referstotheone-waystatementofthelanguageconversion.“Fan”referstotheconversationofthetwolanguagesintheimmediate,onesentencetotheconversion,thatis,afirstsentenceintoasecondsentence,andthenthesecondsentenceintoaword.Thisisarotating,alternatinglanguageorinformationconversion.“Yi”referstoone-waystatements,thatis,thespeakeronlysaidnottoask,thelisteneronlylistennottoanswer,themiddleforbilingualpeople,onlyforspeakerstomakelanguageconversion.Cultureisthesoilinwhichlanguagecanexistanddevelop.Themostbasictaskoftranslationistospreadandcommunicatetheculture.Inthe1970s,Westerntranslationstudiesbegantofocusontheinfluenceofcultureontranslation.Translationiscalled“InterculturalCommunication”and“cross-culturalcooperation”.People’sunderstandingoftranslationgraduallydeepened.Peoplerealizedthattranslationisnotlimitedtolanguage-levelcross-languageactivities,butalsoinvolvestwokindsofculturalactivities.Thedifferencesinhistoricalbackground,geographicalenvironment,religiousbeliefsandvalueshaveledtothedifferencesbetweenChineseandWesternculture,whichhascausedthebarrieroftranslation.ToachieverealcommunicationbetweenChinaandtheWesttranslatorsshouldcombinecultureandtranslationnaturally.SignificanceandObjectivesTheresearchofthispaperisofgreatsignificance.Firstofall,languagelearnerscangetadeeperunderstandingoftheculturaldifferencesbetweenChinaandtheWest,whichisveryhelpfultoourtranslation.Inaddition,learninginthisareafacilitatesourinterculturalcommunicationandenhancesourcross-culturalawareness.ThepurposeofthispaperistopromoteculturalexchangesbetweenChinaandtheWest,andtopromotecross-culturalcommunicationwithothercountriesbyunderstandingtheculturaldifferencesbetweenChinaandthewestandtranslatingstrategies.StructureoftheThesisInordertosystematicallyanalyzetheculturaldifferencesbetweenChinaandthewest,thispaperwillbedividedintofourparts.Thefirstpartisacomprehensiveintroductiontothisresearch.Thesecondpartintroducestherelationshipbetweencultureandtranslation.ItalsointroducesthefactorsthatinfluencethedifferencesbetweenChineseandWesterncultures,includinggeographicalenvironment,socialcustoms,religionsandvalues.Thethirdpartwillintroducethetranslationofmethods,includingforeignization,domestication,transformationandannotation.Inthisorder,Iwillanalyzetheinfluenceofculturaldifferencesontranslation.PartTwoTheRelationshipBetweenCultureandTranslationDefinitionofCultureFirstly,inthebroadestsense,cultureisthemixtureofmaterialwealthandspiritualwealthcreatedbyhumanbeingsinthepracticeofsocialhistory.However,beingviewedfromanarrowstandpoint,thencultureisthesocialideologyandtherelatedsystemandorganization.②Cultureinthenarrowsenseisthereflectionofthecorrespondingsocialpoliticsandeconomy,anditcanalsoreacttothecorrespondingsocialpoliticsandeconomy.Inviewoftheemergenceandprogressofthenation,culturehasanationalnature.Nomatterwhichideologyaculturerepresents,ofcourse,theculturewillbeaccompaniedbytheadvanceofsocialmaterial.Thecontinuityofthesocialmaterialadvancemeansthattheculturaladvancealsohasthecontinuityandthehistoricalinheritance.Secondly,culturereferstotheabilityofwritingandgeneralknowledge.Culturehasanunusuallycloserelationshipwithallscienceandart.Translationisakindofart,soofcourse,itshouldalsobesupportedbyculture.Thescopeofthecultureinvolvesanunusuallybroadrange,encompassingnotonlyhistoryandcustoms,butalsoidiomscloselyrelatedtolanguage.CulturalDifferencesBetweenChinaandtheWestGeographicalDifferencesThegeographicalenvironmenthasagreatinfluenceonthelocalclimateandalsohasasignificantimpactonthelanguageusedbythepeople.Forexample,thedifferencesbetweenChineseandEnglishregionalculturesareveryprominentintheirorientationandtheircorrespondingobjects.InChina,sinceancienttimes,therehavebeenthetraditionof“南面為王,北面為朝”“南為尊北為卑”.Peopleoftensay“從南到北,南來北往”“南”isoftenplacedinthefront.TheEnglishcultureistheopposite.TheEnglishandAmericanpeopleunderstandtheChineselanguage“從南到北”fromtheEnglishregionalculture,whichis“fromnorthtoSouth”.And“北屋”is“aroomwithasouthernexposure”.Suchazimuthwordsas“西北”,“西南”,“東北”and“南”aretheoppositeofChineseculture.Theyare“northwest”,“southwest”,“northeast”,“Southeast”,respectively.Inaddition,althoughtheword“東風”inChineseandtheword“eastwind”inEnglishareliterallyrelative,theirconnotationsarecompletelydifferent.ThecharacteristicsofChina’sterrainare:inthewestliethemountains,buttheeastisthesea.IntheChineseconsciousness,“東風”refersto“spring”,symbolizingthe“warmth”.ButinBritain,the“eastwind”isblowingfromthenorthernpartofthecontinent.IntheheartsoftheBritish,itissignsof“cold”.Andthe“westerlywind”isblowingfromtheAtlantic,andChina’s“東風”hasthesamesymbolicmeaning.Therefore,theBritishlovethe“WestWind”.ThelastverseofthefamousBritishpoetShelle’sOdetotheWestWindexpressesthegoodmeaningofthewesterlywinds:“O,wind,ifwintercomes,canspringbefarbehind?（啊，西風，假如冬天已經(jīng)來臨，春天還會遠嗎?）"③Ofcourse,withoutcomment,Chinesereaderscannotunderstandorwillmisunderstandtheexpression.DifferencesinSocialCustomsCustomsrunthroughthedailylifeandcommunicativeactivities.@Differentnationalitiesshowdifferentnationalculturestatutesandcustomsingreeting,appellation,complimentandtelephone.Ingreeting,theChineseoftensay“Haveyoueaten?”“Whereto?”“Whatareyoudoing?”whentheymet.TheChinesethinkthisisaneasy-going,cordialgreeting.Ifthoseexpressionsareliterallytranslatedinto“Haveyouhadyourmeal?”“WhereAreyougoing?”“Whatareyougoingtodo?”Itwillbehardforwesternerstoaccept.BecauseintheviewofWesterners,thesearepersonalprivacy,andshouldnotletothersknow.Suchgreetingsshouldbetranslatedinto“hello!”“OKmorning!”“Howare?”Intermsofappellation,themeaninganduseofthesameconceptindifferentlanguagesvaries.Themeaningof“姐姐”and“妹妹”,“哥哥”and“弟弟”inChineseareveryclear.Thewordsthatdenotethekinshipofthecousinsareentirelydistinct.“表哥”,“表弟”,“表姐”and“表妹”,“堂兄”and“堂弟”areallspecificwords,butEnglishisveryvague,general,allknownascousin.ModestyisthevirtueoftheChinesenation,sotheChinesepeopleusedtospeak“self-deprecating”toshow“humble”.Westernersdonotunderstandthis.Forexample,theChinesewilloftensay:“Preparationisnotgood.”“Myunderstandingisverysuperficial.”“Ifthereisanywrongplace,pleasecorrectit.”Whenfacingatableofrichdishes,thehostoftensay:“Thereisnogoodfood,pleasefeelfreetoeat.”Westernersdonotunderstandtheconnotationsoftheexpressing.Again,Chinesepeoplewillalwaysbehumbleandpolitewhentheyhearcompliments,theywillsay:“哪里,沒有,沒有.”ItisverydifficultforThewesternerstounderstand.Theywilluse“Thankyou”toexpressacceptanceofeachother’spraiseandapproval.WhenTheChinesemakeacall,theywillsay:“Hello,whoareyou?”“Whoareyoulookingfor?”“What'syoursurname?Iamso-and-so.”InWesternculture,thecustomarytelephoneusageis“Who'sthisspeaking,please?”DifferencesinReligiousBeliefsThegenerationoflanguageisboundtobecloselyrelatedtoreligion.Itisalwaysinfluencedbythelongdevelopmentoflanguage.Theshadowofreligionhasbeenprojectedintoeveryfieldoflanguageandculture.ThenumberofwordsrelatedtoReligioninChineseandEnglishishugeandspectacular.Forexample,“天公”,“陰陽”,“菩薩”,etc.Languageisthedirectreflectionofthought.Thetwototallydifferentreligiouswordsarethetrueportraitureoftwoethnicgroups.BeforetheSuiandTangDynasties,ConfucianismandTaoismdominatedthetworeligionsinChina.ManyChinesewordsrelatedtoreligionwererelatedtothis,suchas“太極”,“道”,“尊天命”,“行孝道”,“聽天由命”.DuringtheSuiandTangDynasties,alargenumberofBuddhismcamein,andalargenumberofBuddhistwordscamealong.TheideaofrecurrentretributionwasacceptedanddigestedbyConfucianismandTaoism.SoConfucianism,BuddhismandTaoismoccupiesthedominantpositioninChina.InBritain,Christianityisthemainreligion.TheteachingwasintroducedintoBritainin597years.Foralongtime,alargenumberofrelatedwordscameintoEnglish.TherearewordsfromLatintoEnglish,suchasangel（天使），monk（僧侶），aswellasthewordsborrowedfromFrenchinthemiddleages,suchasreligion（宗教）,dean（教長）andsoon,aswellasthelargeamountofwordsborrowedfromotherforeignlanguagesinthemodernEnglishperiod.It'smuchmorethanotherlanguages.Forreligiousculturaldifferences,weshouldpayspecialattentiontotranslation,otherwiseitwillcausemisunderstandingorevencausedisputesandcontradictionsbecauseofimpropertranslation⑤DifferencesinValuesThevaluesofeastandwestaredifferentwithregardtotheirunderstandingof“age”.TheChinesecherishageandrespecttheoldpeople.“Theelders”inChinaisasymbolofauthorityandwisdom.Onthecontrary,“old”IntheWestmeanslosingcompetitiveness.Therefore,whenWesternerstranslatetheword“old”,theyalwaystrytoexpressitwithatactfullanguage.Theyuse“themature”“theadvancedinage”“aseasonedman”“seniorcitizens”andsoon.Therefore,inChinaonthebuswordswrittenontheseatfortheelderlycannotbesimplytranslatedinto“forolderman”.Translationsshouldconformtothewesternconceptandthewordsshouldbetranslatedinto“courtesyseats”,soastobeacceptedbyWesterners.ChinesepeopleareinfluencedbyConfucianismandlikemodesty.ThisusuallyhappenswhentheChinesepeoplearetalkingabouttheirownthings.Theyliketoraiseeachotherwhentheytalkaboutothers.TherearemanyexpressionstoconveyrespectsinChinesesuchas“貴府”,“大名”,“恭候”,“貴姓”andsoon.ButwhentranslatingthemintoEnglish,weshouldomitwordsthatshowthemeaningof“respect”,aslongastheliteralmeaningisconveyed.Forexample,“貴府”canbetranslatedinto“yourhome”and“大名”shouldbetranslatedinto“yourname”.Conversely,intheWestifyoutranslate“貴府”into“yourhonorablehome”,“大名”into“yourgreatname”,Westernerswillthinkyouareaveryhypocriticalperson.It’ssatiretotranslatethemeaningof“敬”.TheImportanceofCultureinTranslationThereasonwhytranslationisdifficultisthatthelanguageshowsculture,whichcarriesalotofculturalconnotations,andmustaccepttherestrictionofculture.Ifwecommunicateinacertainlanguage,wemusthaveadeepunderstandingoftheculturalconnotationsofthelanguage.Therefore,whenwedotranslation,weshouldnotonlyhavebilingualability,butalsohavedualculturalknowledge.Especially,wemusthaveageneralunderstandingofthecultureincludingnationalcustoms,religiousbeliefsandcustomsofthetwolanguages.XuJun,awell-knowntranslationscholarinChina,said:Translationexplorationshouldpayattentiontothedevelopmentofspecificcountries.Ahistoryoftranslationbelongstoahistoryofculturalexchanges.Ifwewanttounderstandthecontributionoftranslationinhumanculturalcommunication,thenweshouldpayattentiontothehistoryoftranslationandthehistoryofculturalprogress.Weshouldstandonthehistoricalprogressofthepositionofinterpretationasthekeyfunctionofhumanactivities,fromthetranslationactivitiestotheadvancementofculturalcivilization,thepromotionoftheroleoftranslation,explainthemeaning,roleandpositioning.PartThreeTranslationStrategiesThedifferencesbetweenthetwoculturesintheChineseandWesterncountrieswillleadtothedifferenceinthepragmaticmeaningofthetwolanguagesinEnglishandChinese,andmakethetranslationandtheoriginaltextincompletelyorcompletelywronginthepragmaticmeaning.Therefore,intranslation,thetranslatorshouldnotsticktothegrammaticalstructureandliteralmeaningoftheoriginaltext,butshouldchoosethelanguagethatisequivalenttothepragmaticmeaningoftheoriginallanguage,sothatthereadercangetthesimilarpsychologicalfeelingtothereaderinreadingandappreciatingtheoriginaltext.TranslatorsneedtochooseappropriateandeffectivetranslationstrategiesaccordingtothedifferencesbetweenChineseandWesterncultures,soastoachievepragmaticequivalencebetweenthetargettextandtheoriginaltext.ForeignizationForeignizationmeanstotransformtheoriginallanguageintothetargetlanguage,andconverttheculturalcomponentoftheprimitivelanguageintothedestinationform.⑦Usingthetranslationstrategyofalienationtoconveytheimageandculturalconnotationoftheoriginaltext,itcanreflecttheoriginalappearance,directlytranscendthedifferencesinthelanguageandculturecommunication,andretaintheculturalcharacteristicsoftheoriginallanguage.Thisauthenticliteraltranslationgivesthereaderanexoticcultureandexoticatmosphere,whileleavingroomforimagination.Therefore,thistranslationisconducivetothemutualexchangeandinfiltrationoftwoheterogeneousculturesandlanguages,andpromotestheirintegration.Inordertomaintaintheoriginalimageandculturalcharacteristics,foreignizationshouldbethefirstchoicefortheculturalcharacteristicwordsonthewordlevel.Forexample,theoralexpressionsChocolateshouldbetranslatedinto“巧克力”,Coca—Colashouldbetranslatedinto“可口可樂”,Balletshouldbetranslatedinto“芭蕾舞”,Hackershouldbetranslatedinto“黑客”,Hippieshouldbetranslatedinto“嬉皮”,“胡同”shouldbetranslatedintohutong,“風水”shouldbetranslatedintofengshui,“太極拳”shouldbetranslatedintotaijiboxing.ThewordsexpressionsHoneymoonshouldbetranslatedinto“蜜月”,Bottleneckshouldbetranslatedinto“瓶頸”,Ivorytowershouldbetranslatedinto“象牙塔”,Double-edgedswordshouldbetranslatedinto“雙刃劍”,“紙老虎”shouldbetranslatedintopapertige,“四人幫"shouldbetranslatedintogangoffour,“赤腳醫(yī)生”shouldbetranslatedintobarefooteddoctor.ThephraselevelexpressionsWarmingupshouldbetranslatedinto“熱身”,Runrampantshouldbetranslatedinto“泛濫”,Breakthesilenceshouldbetranslatedinto“打破沉默”.Idiomsandproverbsarmedtotheteethshouldbetranslatedinto“武裝到牙齒”,crocodiletearsshouldbetranslatedinto“鱷魚眼淚”,wallshaveearsshouldbetranslatedinto“隔墻有耳”,newwineinoldbottlesshouldbetranslatedinto“舊瓶裝新酒”,“易如反掌”shouldbetranslatedintoaseasyasturningoverone’spalm,“口蜜腹劍”shouldbetranslatedintohoney-mouthedanddagger-hearted,“趁熱打鐵”shouldbetranslatedintostrikewhiletheironishot,“空中樓閣”shouldbetranslatedintocastleintheair.DomesticationDomesticationistotransformtheheterogeneouscomponentofacultureintothecontentofanotherculturewhichisfamiliartothetargetreadersinordertomakethereadersappreciatethegroovybetweendifferentlanguagesandcultures,andtomakethetranslationmoreconsistentwiththereaders’reading,expressingandappreciatinghabits.⑧Whenthetranslatorisinthepracticeoftranslation,inordertomakethetranslationmoreconsistentwiththelanguagevaluesandculturalconsciousnessofthetargetlanguagereaders,thetranslatoroftenadoptsthedomesticationaccordingtothelinguisticandculturalnormsofthetargetlanguage,sothatthetranslationachievesthepragmaticequivalence.Forexample,Englishexpression“aspoorasachurchmouse”istranslatedintoChineseas“窮得像個叫花子”.Thetwoareequivalentinpragmaticfunction.TheEnglishcounterpartof“蠢得像豬”is“asstupidasagoose”.Therearealsoexpressionssuchas“狐假虎威(anassinalion'sskin)”，“如雨后春筍(spring-likemushrooms)”，“It'sRainingcatsanddogs”whicharetranslatedinto“傾盆大雨”.Foranotherexample，Chinese“龍”，“鳳”isafictionalanimalimageinChinesetraditionalculture.Theproverb“龍生龍,鳳生鳳”isunfamiliartotheEnglishreader,anditspeculiarpragmaticmeaningcannotfindcorrespondingequivalenceinEnglish.Atthistime,thetranslatorhastochoosethereferenceobjectwhichisequivalenttothepragmaticmeaningoftheoriginallanguage,andtranslatesitinto“Eaglesdonotbreeddoves”.“XiShi”isthebeautyinChinesehistory.PeopleinEnglish-speakingcountriescannotsolvetheproverbwithstrongculturalcharacteristics“情人眼里出西施”.Therefore，thetranslatorshouldabandontheoriginalreferenceobject,andusethedomesticationstrategytodirectlytranslateitspragmaticmeaning,andtranslatesitas“Beautyliesinthelover’seyes”.“班門弄斧”canbetranslatedinto“teachone’sgrandmothertosuckeggs”.Englishidiom“GiveadogAbadnameandhanghim”canbetranslatedas“欲加之罪，何患無辭”.Thereareotherexpressionslike“對牛彈琴”whicharetranslatedintocastpearlsbeforetheswine.“本末倒置”shouldbetranslatedintoPutthecartbeforethehorse,“水中撈月shouldbetranslatedintoFishintheair,“說曹操,曹操到”shouldbetranslatedintotalkofthedevilandhetoappear,“江山易改本性難移”shouldbetranslatedintoaleopardneverchangesitsspots.TransformationTransformationreferstothetransformationofpartsofspeech,sentencepatternsandvoiceintheoriginalsentenceinordertomakethetargettextconformtotheway,methodandhabitofthetargetlanguage.⑨Specifically,intermsofpartofspeech,itconvertsnounstopronouns,adjectivesandverbs,andconvertsverbsintowords,adjectives,adverbs,prepositions,andadjectivesintoadverbsandphrases.Intheaspectofsentencecomposition,thesubjectbecomesadverbial,attributive,object,andexpression;thepredicatebecomesthesubject,theattributive,theexpression;theattributionbecomestheadverbialandthesubject;theobjectbecomesthesubject.Intermsofsentencepatterns,compoundsentencesbecomecompoundsentences,compoundsentencesbecomecoordinatesentences,andadverbialclausesbecomeattributiveclauses.Invoice,activevoicecanbechangedintopassivevoice.Forexample,"I'mallforyouropinion.”canbetranslatedinto“我完全贊成你的意見'“For”is