| sociolinguistics: n. 社会语言学 |
| synonymous: adj. 同义的 |
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文化与翻译--Part II 补充阅读--第一页
2. Cultural Factors Behind Semantic Differences |
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| It is a common thought about translating that each word is put into its counter part of the target language ． Most time it is right to do so ． But on some occasions it does not work ． Sometimes people even feel at a loss when they read translated versions ． Here I want to talk something about translating between English and Chinese from a cultural point of view ． There are many definitions for the word cultural ． Generally ， culture consists of both material and non-material products of human society ． The material products refer to cities ， organizations ， schools ， etc ， and the non-material to history, customs ， religions ， languages ， ways of living ， etc ． A language exists in a certain culture ． From the sociolinguistics point of view ， language cannot separate itself from culture ． A language is the carrier of culture ． On one hand ， language tends to reflect a nation's cultural background ． On the other hand ， every element of a culture has its influences on language ． A word is a basic unit of a language ． Words carry meanings for the language ． And meaning is not iso1ated meaning but meaning of a certain culture which determines the meaning and reveals its shadow through the meaning ． If we compare words of a language to leaves of a tree ， then culture is the root of the tree ． That what the 1eaves look like depends on the condition 0f the root ． A nation's culture gradually takes its shape in the people ' s living, working and other social activities ． Each nation has its unique culture because each has its own path of development ． Therefore ， it seems that there are no two words in any two languages ever have precisely the same meaning ． 0nly when a word is in a certain culture ， does it have a definite meaning ． Being put into another culture ， it is possibly of another meaning ． Semantic differences arise on such occasions ． In those years when the work week in China was six days ， the Chinese term “周末” had a different meaning with the English word weekend. At that time ，“周末” only referred to Saturday evening and Sunday, while weekend includes Friday evening ， Saturday and Sunday ． This shows us the semantic difference between Chinese and English due to cultural factors ． There are a lot of words or terms of both the two languages which are seemingly synonymous but actually refer to quite different objects or conceptions ． Most of this kind of phenomena finds their roots in cultural distinction analysis ． The cultural distinctions between China and English speaking countries ， mainly Britain and America ， exist in history, social systems ， living habits ， ways of thing ， etc ． The reason of the difference between “周末” and weekend lies in the different living systems of the countries ． Besides this, many other cultural factors contribute to explaining semantic differences ． a) Languages originate from people ' s living and working ． The meaning of a word is surely branded with the features of the environment from which it comes ． Words of both languages with different originating backgrounds can hardly be equivalent ， even if they have the same surface meaning ． “知识分子” is usually translated into English as intellectual ， for they are literally corresponding ． But in fact ， their referents are not equivalent ． The Modern Chinese Dictionary explains the meaning of the term “知识分子 ” as foll ows (translated into English) ： People who have r ela tively higher educat i on or people who are e n gaged in ment a l work . In everyday life ， Chinese people use the te rm “知识分子 ” to refer to teachers ， coll ege students ， d oc tors ， engineer ， etc ． In some under-developed areas ， even middle- sch oo 1 students are considered as “ 知识分子 ” because they do have “ relatively higher ed uc ation ” than o ther people do in the area ． While in weste rn countries , the word intellectual refers only to people who have high education and academic status ． Tracing the history of the two words gives us come explanation about their semantic difference. The root o f the word intellectual is intellect . According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, the word intellectual was first used in 15 94 when bourgeois ， as a cultured class ， came into being in Europe ． At that time it refe rred to this newly- bo rn class with high ed uc ation ， who are only a small percentage of the population ． While the Chinese term “知识分子 ” never appeared until the beginning of the 20 th centur y ， when Marxism was spread into China . It was widely used especially after the May 4th Movement in which young students played the key role ． The term “ 知识分子” th us refers to people who have certain scientific and social knowledge ． It covers a fairly wide scope of members of our society ． |
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