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1、英语颜色词翻译的分析Part One Introduction1.1 Research BackgroundPeople can not live without color. Language will be more vivid with color terms. Color terms are a part of language, and color terms translation is important in todays society. Lots of classic works are rich with color terms. Correct and accurate
2、 color terms translation helps to transmit the meaning of the source text.Color terms are endowed with various emotions of different nations. It is necessary to learn the cultural connotations of color terms before learning the nations language.The thesis, centering on the color terms translation, i
3、s divided into three parts. Chapter One makes an analysis of color terms definition and its history in Chinese and English. Chapter Two illustrates the difficulties in translating basic color terms and object color terms. Chapter Three makes a study of the two main translation techniques for color t
4、erms, that is, domestication and foreignization.Part Two Synopsis of Color Words2.1 IntroductionAs one of the parts of human beings vocabulary, color words play an important role, and have different functions in terms of different categories. The following chapter will give the general introduction
5、to the definition, Classification, and functions of color words.2.2 The Definition of Color Terms “Color term” indicates the word which is used to stand for a kind of color. This definition is well known throughout the word, but “color terms do not necessarily mean the same thing as colorful terms.
6、Colorful English may appear as idioms or in figurative expressions, while color terms are words which simply show different colors. Like the onomatopoeic word, a color term has little merit in itself. Only when it suggests the image of the original, or fortifies the sense in the version, it has valu
7、e in translation.”. (Xiao Junshi, P173, 1982) Obviously, as a part of words, color terms are used in writing to transmit information. In physics, it stands for the color reflected by objects.2.3 Classification of Color TermsThere are three main kinds of color terms: basic color terms and object colo
8、r terms. (1) Basic color terms mean “words used to describe the color of objects when they appear”. (Lu Hongmei, P135, 2006) Basic color terms come from the language of Anglo-Saxon, including seven kinds of colors. In Chinese, they are “赤、橙、黄、绿、青、蓝、紫”. In English, they are “red, orange, yellow, gree
9、n, blue, indigo and violet”. Although basic color terms contain only a few words, they can be used with other words to indicate more colors. They are very active.(2) Object color terms mean “terms used to indicate colors which are the names of objects”. (Lu Hongmei, P135, 2006) Lots of these kinds o
10、f words exist in any kinds of languages, such as “silver”(银色), “cherry”(樱桃红), “bronze”(古铜色), “emerald”(祖母绿), “ruby”(宝石红), “jade”(翡翠色), “chocolate”(巧克力色), “coffee”(咖啡色), and so on. (3) Emotional color words. From ancient times, color words have closely linked with emotions. They can stand for differe
11、nt emotions and moods; and people can express the deep meaning skillfully through color words. Hence, these emotional color words are not only widely used in literary works, but also in daily life, and other fields. It is worth noting that the same color words have different meanings due to differen
12、t cultures from different countries. In the west countries, red will make people feel bloody and violent, so “red activities” refers to radical movements. But in China, people like red which can stand for excitement and joy. They use “红榜” to represent the glory and honor, and “红双喜”to show the happin
13、ess of newly-married couple.2.4 Function of Color TermsGenerally speaking, color terms have all the functions which words have. In source language, the author always uses the color terms to express the image of the text. This is the first function of color terms, that is, informative function. For e
14、xample, the color terms used in the follow text form the landscape of an autumn evening.“The ground was a carpet of deep reddish brown in the glow of an autumn evening sun, tempered by the trees. Yong birches sprang up, caught light on one side, and were sparkling green there; the shadowy sides of t
15、he stems were warm, deep black-green. Behind the saplings, behind the brownish red soil was a very delicate sky, bluish grey, warm, hardly blue, all a glow. Against it were a hazy border of green and a net work of little stems and yellowish leaves. A few figures of wood gathers were wandering around
16、 like dark masses of mysterious shadow.” (Irving stone: Lust of life, Book Three)The second function of color terms is emotive function. It is accepted that different colors give people different feelings. Experiences show that color terms are the best way to describe ones emotion. An example is quo
17、ted below.“Then the morning clouds in the east turned deep red and sky above showed blue, the red clouds were pierced by golden rays, interweaving to spin a majestic, glittering web in the southeastern sky with the clouds as weft, the rays as warp. Fields, trees and wild grass changed their colors f
18、rom dark green to bright emerald”. (Bao Huinan, P124, 2003)This paragraph was translated from The Rickshaw Boy written by Lao She. The color terms describe Xiang Zis feeling specifically after he had escaped from danger. Obviously, without color terms, the original images can hardly be reproduced in
19、 the version.The third function of color terms is performative function, which is first used in Linguistic Study written by Austin and Searle. Color terms in different languages have different social connotation. Two examples are given as follows. 1.The government has given the green light to Sunday
20、 trading.政府已经允许星期日贸易。（Hua Xianfa, P266, 2000）2.There was no question of the republicans throwing in the towel or showing the white flag.共和党人不会认输，这是毫无疑问的。(Hua Xianfa, P270, 2000)In the first example, the English term “green” in the phrase “give somebody the green light” means “allowing and admitting
21、something”. In the second example, the phrase “shows the white flag” means “accepting defeat”. Rendering the English term “green” and “white” simply by the Chinese equivalents of “绿” and “白” would result into a significant loss of the metaphor.Part Three Historical Culture Differences Between Englis
22、h and Chinese Color Word3.1 Color Terms History in EnglishIn west countries, color terms are popular in fields like philosophy, physics, psychology, art and so on. The oldest theory in color terms history is Aristotles Black and White Theory, in which color is made up of hue, luminosity and saturati
23、on. At that period, all colors were thought as different degrees of mix of white and black. Black and White Theory was ended by Newton who saw seven colors of the sunlight through prism.Other theories appeared at the same time, such as Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and Cognitive Linguistics. In spite of th
24、e relationship between these theories, they all admitted color terms important position in English. Lots of English authors are familiar with color-scheme. For example:O wild west Wind, thou breath of Autumns being,Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves deadAre driven like ghosts from an enchan
25、ter fleeing,Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,Who chariotest to their dark wintry bedThe winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,Each like a corpse within its grave, untilThine azure sister of the Spring shall blowHer clarion oer the dreaming earth,
26、 and fill(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)With living hues and odours plain and hill:Wild spirit, which art moving everywhere;Destroyer and preserver; hear, O, hear! (Ode to the west Wind, first chapter)In view of the complexity of context, it is not always easy to choose the right exp
27、ression of some meanings. In the instance above, without the few color terms, it is impossible to imagine the governments turbidity and the authors feeling of the revolution.3.2 Color Terms History in Chinese Through the forming of color terms in China, color terms originate from peoples daily lives
28、. A lot of plants names are used as color terms, especially after the improving of painting, dying and ceramics. “Blue comes from a kind of plant called blue, and red comes from the plant called madder”. (Luo geng, P8, 2004) Many Chinese color terms come from the name of plants or minerals. Although
29、 there is no theory about the forming of color terms in Chinese history, it is possible to learn a lot of historical things which have relationships with colors. Countless color terms can be found in Chinese poems, essays and novels. The following instances are some typical examples.1.他觉得他的头颅仿佛在颈脖上旋
30、转；他眼前是红的，黄的，绿的，黑的，发光的，立体的，圆锥形的混杂的一团，在那里跳，在那里转He felt as if his head were spinning and his eyes swam before a kale endoscope of red, yellow, green, black, shiny, square, cylindrical, leaping, dancing shapes (Zhang Peiji, P64, 1979)2.这是梅花，有红梅，白梅，绿梅，还有朱砂梅，一树一树的，每一树都是一树诗。白玉兰花略微有点残，娇黄的迎春却正当时，那片春色啊，比起滇池的水
31、来不知道要深多少倍。It came from the variegated plum flowers, red, white, green, and vermilion. Standing there, ach tree was individually veiled in poetic inspiration. The white magnolias were beginning to turn yellowish although the winter jasmines were just showing a lovely yellow. The spring beauty there w
32、as immeasurable! Who knew how many times deeper than depth of Dianchi Lake nearby. (Lu Hongmei, P135, 2006)In the first instance, due to color terms emotive function of showing the feeling, color terms can not be replaced by the other kinds of words. In the second instance, plum is the popular flowe
33、r in China with countless kinds of colors. Above all, color terms play a very important role in Chinese and English cultures. Meanwhile, it is also true that a translators role in translating color terms is not an easy one. He is, in a sense, a kind of middleman, one who belongs to two language-cult
34、ure contexts. He must serve as a receptor of one message while being a producer of message in another language. It is important for a translator to know color terms definition and histories well. Part Four Translation Techniques for Color Terms4.1 Introduction Translation is often said to use one la
35、nguage to convey the meaning in another language. Historically, the experienced translators or translation researchers pay more attention to the relationship between culture and translation. In terms of different angles and emphases, there are varied methods in translation. This chapter will discuss
36、 several translation methods from the viewpoint of its definition and applicability, and provide with sufficient examples to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each method.Translation methods in this chapter include literal translation, free translation, substitution and explanation.4.2 Literal
37、 TranslationThe so-called literal translation is the basic translation method to convey the original meaning. It requires translators to make the expression form and sentence structure consistent with the original. Literary translation is mainly used the translation circumstances which have the cult
38、ural similarities between the original language and the target language, and make people have the same association. Like “White House”(白宫), “White flag” (白旗), “brown-eye beauty”(褐眼美女), “golden autumn”(金秋). This translation method owns the advantages such as to express the meaning of original languag
39、e directly, clearly, and retain the original format and contents in a faithful way. Because the similarities in English and Chinese, the corresponding terms can be found in the target language when people translate color words, or the two languages have the similar extended cultural meaning, particu
40、larly when people want to express the visual features of the objective things. In this case, the translator can use literal translation. Some examples will be given.Red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, blue, violet, who is dancing, waving the colored ribbon against the sky?赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞？The uniform
41、s were no longer of grey cloth but were grass green through-out, as delicately and attractively colored as the field.服装不再是灰色的，一律是草绿色，和春天田野里的色彩一样，娇嫩美观。He was dressed in a European-style suit of a pale grey material with pale-blue stripes.他穿一套灰色底子淡蓝色条纹的西服。 “What is purple? Clouds are violetIn the summ
42、er twilight.What is orange? Why, an orange,Just an orange!”什么是紫色？夏日夕阳里的 彩霞就是紫色。什么是橘色？当然啦！橘子就是橘色。In these examples, the color words in the original text all can be found the corresponding words in the target language, like “violet”(紫色), “ orange” (橙色), “grey”(灰色), “grass green”(草绿色), so the translato
43、rs choose literary translation to express the meaning of the original text, and the translations are easy to be understood by readers. Moreover, this kind of translation method leaves the format consistent with the original text.In addition, when some color items do not exist in the target language
44、at first, literal translation is an effective way to promote cultural exchange by introducing new expressions, enriching the linguistic aspect of target language culture. Besides, in a mass of linguistic facts, it has been found that some expressions both in English and Chinese adopt the same color
45、symbols and carry the same cultural connotations, thus literal translation becomes the most appropriate strategy. This is another situation where the translators will prefer to use literary translation. See the following examples:black humor: 黑色幽默red light district: 红灯区the white terror: 白色恐怖grey are
46、a: 灰色地带give someone green light: 给某人开绿灯As the examples above, none of them exist in Chinese at first. Literary translation is the most appropriate way to keep the original texts format and structure, and they have the equivalence between English and Chinese.But Literal translation has some limitatio
47、ns. For example, sometimes it leads to lengthy verbose translation, which is obscure, and sometimes it does not correctly convey the original meaning, and sometimes it is even counterproductive. So if the translators insist in taking literal translation without thinking of the whole conditions, ther
48、e must be mistranslation. If the color items contain the deep-seated symbolic meaning or if the translations need beautiful form and refined vocabulary, or if there is difference in the understanding in source language and target language, literal translation may not satisfy the requirements. 4.3 Fr
49、ee Translation According to different needs or compensate for the limitation of literal translation, people will use free translation. The so-called free translation is the method to break the surface structure of the original, and reorganize the deep meaning through the original understanding and digestion, then, transform it into the natural flow of the surface structure. The pr
