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习语的翻译--Part I 课文学习--第五页
（ Translation of Idioms ） |
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| The Importance of Culture Differences in Idiom Translation I ． Introduction Culture is a complicated concept, which has both the broad sense and narrow sense ． On a certain occasion ， the culture of narrow sense 1ays stress on spirit ， dealing with the social superstructure and customs and habits; and the culture of broad sense deals with different aspects of society ， including the national culture ， the culture of the society system and convention and the spiritual culture ． Culture has such characteristics as the nature of society ， of nationality ， of religion ， and of times ． ( 李延林、潘利锋、郭勇主编《英语文化翻译学教程》 2003 年，第 6 页 ) Different countries have different cultures ． The culture variation existed in cultural exchanges when translating from one language to another can cause great communicative barriers, and sometimes even can cause clashes between two cultures and some ridiculous mistakes can lead to the failure of communication between two countries ． According to some report ， the culture clashes did bring about some economic losses ． Idiom refers to those originating from historical events ， fables ， mythologies ， legends etc ．， whose characteristics are of a distant origin and a long development ， full of relating strong national coloring ， established by a certain group of people through long social practices ( 李延林、潘利锋、郭勇主编《英语文化翻译学教程》 2003 年，第 65 页 ) and widely used among the people ．“ Time and tide wait for no man ．岁月不待人。”“ Time tries truth ．时间检验真理。” “ Knowledge comes from experience alone ．知识来自经验。 ( 实践出真知。 ) ” are a few popular idioms existing both in English and Chinese ． They are the summaries of people ' s life experiences and widely used by both of these two peoples ． Idiom is like a mirror of reflecting and expressing its culture, at the same time it has become the carrier and container of the culture; whereas the culture is the soil that idiom exist, and each culture has its own idiomatic way of collections. Therefore in idiom translation ， it is an important issue to understand and handle the relationship between idioms and culture ． For instance ， the historical culture of Britain being an Island country and once being the dominator of the sea ， induce the Englishman describing someone as wasteful and extravagant in money to say as “ Someone spend money like water ”． Whereas Chinese majority have the culture of living in the continent ， and they have a close tie with the land ， when they want to express the same feeling ， they would say “某人挥金如土”． Another example is the dog culture in English and Chinese ． In western world, dog is considered the best friend to human beings ， and in English idiom we can always hear “ You are a lucky dog ” ( 你是个幸运儿 ) ，“ Every dog has his day ” ( 凡人皆有得意日 ) ． whereas in Chinese history ， people had a very bad opinion of dog ． They used to be ready to use it to belittle or swear at a person or speak ill of what a person has said or has done, so that they could express their deep hatred for the person who behaved himself or herself very badly. So in Chinese idioms or words ， we can always hear such expressions as ：‘走狗，狗仗人势；狗腿子；狗眼看人低；狗咬吕洞宾；狐朋狗友；狗拿耗子；狗咬狗；狗嘴里吐不出象牙来' and many other such sayings ． From the above ， we can see the important role that culture palys in the idiomatic expression in each culture and at the same time we can know that it is the culture that makes the different sense for its idioms ． Each culture will make the sense for its idioms ． II ． Cultural disparities However, we also find that there are disparities between English and Chinese cultures- disparities in geography, living environment, customs and habits, religions and legends etc . And in most cases it is impossible to find an idiomatic expression in one culture that is entirely equivalent literally to the one in another, or sometimes they are completely different from their literal indications or even contain contrary meanings to it. For example ， in Chinese we say “此路不通”， but you cannot take it for granted that the English version is “ This road does not go through ”． Although you have translated out all its meaning ， the English version will not ， at least not remind the English of a signpost ， saying “ No thoroughfare' ' or “Not a thorough street ”． Another common idiom in English “ To carry coals to New Castle ” indicates another common problem ． This idiom will easily be translated into “运煤到纽卡索”， but the reader will by no means know what you are talking about ． Even when the referential meaning “多此一举” (making a unnecessary move)is added in ， still the reader will not understand completely because they may not know what “ Newcastle ” means ， in this case ， a note of identifying this place rich in coal is necessary ． The connotation of white in Chinese also includes something unhappy ． At funerals Chinese pay respect to the dead and express their sorrow by wearing white and writing elegiac couplets in white paper ． In the west ， however ， white is the traditional color for the brides at weddings ． and to wear white at western funerals would be offensive ， so care should be taken in translating such idiomatic phrase as “红白喜事”． To avoid misunderstanding and disputation ， it can be simply put as “ Weddings and Funerals ”． Culture differences between two languages do bring about unexpected difficulties in idiom translations ． However, since translation is the process of a written or spoken message rendering of the meaning of n word, speech, book ． or other text in another language ， and what a translator really does is expressing other people's idea in a different language, therefore, as long as we stick to the rule that the content if the translation must strictly comply with that of the original, the culture differences will just become the most beneficial tool enabling the translator to achieve the faithfulness to the original text ． |
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