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1、英汉互译中的文化差异Cultural Differences in C-E and E-C TranslationContentsAbstract.1Key words.1.Introduction .1.Literature Review .22.1 Defining culture from the angle of translation .22.2 Defining translation from the angle of cultural exchange.32.3Criteria of translation.52.3.1The informativeness of the cu
2、ltural message transferred from the SL text to TL text.52.3.2The effectiveness of the transferring of the cultural messages.5 .Methods of dealing with cultural differences.53.1Treaments of some special cultural phenomena of SL.53.1.1Idioms.53.1.2Proper name.73.2Treatments of customs and habits in SL
3、.73.2.1Different customs and different habits. .73.2.2General principles for correct treatments of customs and habit in translation83.3Treatments of psychological structure in SL.113.3.1Different psychological structures and their reflections in the SL text.113.3.2General principles for correct trea
4、tments of different psychological structures reflected in the SL text.113.3.3Different psychological responses and different associative meaning.12.Conclusion.14References.14Cultural Differences in C-E and E-C Translation摘 要： 语言是文化的载体；文化是语言的土壤；翻译是跨文化交流的桥梁。语言与文化是密不可分的,进行翻译也就是进行跨文化交际。翻译活动不仅是语言文字的转换活动，
5、更是不同文化的交流和移植活动。因此,翻译不仅涉及语言因素，也涉及文化因素。要成为合格的翻译工作者，必须要具有深刻的文化意识。在翻译过程中，译者应该注意文化因素的五个方面：物质方面、精神方面、交际方面、制度方面和观念方面。关键词：文化；文化差异；翻译；翻译原则；习语；专有名词；风俗习惯；心理结构Abstract: Languages are the carriers of culture; culture is the soil of language; translation is a bridge of exchange of two cultures. Translation itself
6、 is the process of cultural exchange. Translation is not only the activity of transferring two different languages, but also the activity of transferring two different cultures. Without knowing the differences between the two cultures, it would be impossible for a translator to achieve a correct and
7、 efficient cultural exchange through the medium of translation. In the process of translation, translator must pay more attention on the five aspects of culture: material aspect of cultural, intellectual aspect of culture, communicative aspect of culture, institutional aspect of culture, conceptual
8、aspect of culture. Key words: culture; cultural differences; translation; idiom; proper name; habit and custom; psychological structure.Introduction The early beginning of travel and contact brought realization and the existence of many tongues and confusion. It was in the process of cultural exchan
9、ge that people felt translation highly necessary. On the other hand, translation is the result of cultural exchange, and it is for cultural exchange.If the translator has any of the misunderstanding of cultural messages of the SL (source language) text, it is impossible to convey the whole cultural
10、messages from the SL text to the TL (target language) text. The more misunderstanding of the cultural message, the less cultural massage will be transferred to the TL text. Sometimes the cultural differences are very striking and obvious. They may involve conflicting values attached to the same obje
11、cts. Take “dragon” for example. In the Orient the dragon suggests good luck and fortune. It even a symbol of China and Chinese people are called “successors” of the Dragon. In the western world, however, the dragon is regarded as a threatening animal, symbol of evil power. As Xu Chongxin observes, c
12、ultural differences and cultural disparities usually bring the translator into a difficult position of attending to one thing and lose sight of another. Thus it can be said that translation is the product of cross fire of cultural exchange and cultural disparity. .Literature ReviewAs Professor Xu Ch
13、ongxin observes, cultural differences and cultural disparities usually bring the translator into a difficult position of attending to one thing and lose sight of another. Thus it can be said that translation is the product of cross fire of cultural exchange and cultural disparity. (1986:49) Therefor
14、e, solving the difficulties caused by the cultural differences is the most important task for translators and its process is also the process of cultural exchange. Speaking more specifically, the solving of the difficulties arising from cultural differences determines the informativeness and effecti
15、veness of cultural exchange through translation. The informativeness and effectiveness make up the degree of cultural exchange. The more cultural messages of a SL text are transferred to the TL text, the more faithful the translation will be, and the more informative the cultural exchange will be es
16、pecially where there are vast and striking cultural differences. At the same time, the more tactfully the cultural messages of the SL text are expressed in the TL text, the easier it will be for the reader to understand the TL text and the more effective the cultural exchange will be.2.1 Defining cu
17、lture from the angle of translationCulture is an ambiguous and intriguing concept. There are at least 200 different kinds of definitions of culture. What has been termed the classic definition of culture was provide by Edward Burnett Tylor, the father of cultural anthropology, in his “Primitive Cult
18、ure ”: “Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, moral, law, customs, and member of society.”(1971:1) American translator and linguist E.A. Nida raised “culture” could be defined briefly as “the totality of belief and practices of a society.”(1954:105)But with the increas
19、ing maturity of anthropological science, concept led to a multiplication and diversification of culture. By 1900, American anthropologists were using “culture” to refer to distinctive groups of traits characterizing particular tribal societies. In 1930, Ruth Benedict discussed: “culture as a pattern
20、 of think and doing that runs trough the activities of people and distinguishes them from all peoples.”(1930:37) In later years, culture became a term used to describe the distinctive human mode of adapting to the environment-molding nature to conform to mans desires and goals. There are three meani
21、ngs under the term of “文化” in 辞海:1) Extensively speaking, it refers the total of material and spirit fortune, which was created during the human history. Narrowly speaking, it refers to ideology of society and the system and organization that appropriate for it. 2) It refers to general knowledge, wh
22、ich also contains language. 3) It refers to the total systems that the feudal dynasty ordered. (辞海1980)“Culture” in English and “文化” in Chinese is becoming the same meaning after a long period of the developing and changing of semantics. Among various definitions of culture, there are two main group
23、s of definitions. That is to say, culture has at least two senses. In narrow sense, culture means intellectual and conceptual culture. In broad sense, culture means human culture in contrast with nature, i.e. the sum of peoples customs, material and spiritual products, ways of think and so on. Trans
24、lators and linguists tend to consider culture in its broad sense.2.2 Defining translation from the angle of cultural exchangeTranslation is not a new activity. Indeed, it is almost as old as human history. But a scientific definition of translation is not known by everybody even some translator. In
25、fact, a translators attitude towards the concept of translation is an important factor affecting the effects of translation in culture exchange. So it is necessary to know the definition of translation clearly for every translator.At first people only consider translation as an inter-lingual activit
26、y. For example, in “Websters New Collegiate Dictionary” (1960), translation means, “to turn into ones own language to another language”. This definition grasps nothing of the essence of translation and it has nothing to do with the social value of translation, culture exchange. According to the defi
27、nition cited by Slype, translation is “the process of replacement of a text written in a source language by a text written in a target language, the objective being a maximum equivalence of meaning.” (1983:33). This definition comes closer to the essence of translation but still it hasnt reach the t
28、rue essence of translation, intercultural communication and culture exchange. Introducing information theory into translation theory, E.A. Nida defined translation as reproducing the messages of SL with most appropriate and most natural equivalents of TL both semantically and stylistically. (1981:20
29、). Nida has in fact nearest to saying that translation is a most important medium for intercultural communication.Translation itself is the process of culture exchange. As Newmark points out, translation in normally written in modern language, which is in a form of interpretation, and lexically at l
30、east a reflection of the TL culture. (1982:35).Translation in fact is an intercultural activity: Comparing the differences of the two cultures, introducing new things from the SL culture into the TL culture, and making TL absorb something useful from other cultures.2.3Criteria of translationSome lin
31、guists and translation theorists had raised many different kinds of criteria of translation, the number of which is as great as that of the definition of translation and that of the persons who have undertaken to study them.The trinity principle of faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance was first
32、 put forth by Yan Fu as the criteria of translation. Although his interpretation of “faithfulness”, “expressiveness” and “elegance” is partial and problematical, the way these three characters were propounded is praise worthy and commendable. It is really succinct, readily acceptable and universally
33、 desirable. Of course, according to the new requirements of present day translation, Handfuls explanation of “elegance” as using the classical Chinese language before the Han dynasty is wrong. But his translation practice guided by his own criterion did promote culture exchange in a significant sens
34、e.Another principle of translation, the equivalent effect principle raised by E.A.Nida has been widely held for a long time and effectively started by a number of specialists in the field of translation abroad. As early as 1861, Matthew Arrold declared that “ a translation should affect us in the sa
35、me way as the original maybe supposed to have affected its hearers,” although he rejected in actual practice the principle of “similar response” or “equivalent effect” (as quoted in Savory 45) From above statements we can see the main types of the criteria of translation prevailing at home and at ab
36、road. They can help to promote the cultural exchange through translation in a significant way but they dont contain any direct claim for cultural exchange through translation. Since translation is the process and result of cultural exchange, the new approach to the nature of translation requires us
37、to formulate some criteria of translation directly from the point of view of cultural exchange.Referring to the above criteria, the assessment of the quality of a translation must be made according to the degree of the cultural exchange achieved through translation. Speaking specifically, our criter
38、ia consist the following two aspects:2.3.1The informativeness of the cultural message transferred from the SL text to TL textThis criterion requires us to try our best to convey as many cultural messages as possible from the SL text to the TL text. Generally speaking the more cultural messages are t
39、ransferred, the more faithful to the original author the translation will be and the more similar response can be achieve. We can judge the informativeness of the cultural messages transferred to the TL text.2.3.2The effectiveness of the transferring of the cultural messagesAs Newmark points out, “A
40、 translation is normally written and intended for a target language reader even if the source language text was written for no reader at all, for nothing but its authors pleasure”(1982:128). The translator has to assist his reader. It is usually very important for the translator to try to enhance th
41、e effectiveness of the transferring of the cultural message of the original text. Zero degree of the effectiveness of the transferring of the cultural messages, no matter how many messages are transferred this criterion has something to do with “expressiveness” and “elegance” of the trinity principl
42、e, and also with the readers response criterion of the equivalent effect principle above. Understanding the value standards of communication between the both parties and trying to pursue the common thing in the two different cultures is the key link to achieve intercultural translation successfully.
43、 As Newmark points out, the translation theorists main concern is “to select an appropriate general method of translation” (1982:22). Methods of translation are usually proposed to accord with the demands of the criteria of translation. Traditionally, there are two major methods of translation, lite
44、ral and free. Translation theorists at home and abroad have made a lot of discussions on them. Besides these two major methods, some other methods from the angle of cultural exchange are very useful in translation. Methods of dealing with cultural differences3.1Treaments of some special cultural phe
45、nomena of SL 3.1.1IdiomsIdioms are combinations of words whose meanings cannot be deduced from the meanings of the individual parts. The term “idioms” here is used in its broad sense, i.e. refers to phrase idioms, clause idioms and sentence idioms (proverbs and sayings), including “xiehouyu” (歇后语),
46、a special type of Chinese idioms. As long as the translated idioms can be understood and accepted by the TL reader to a certain degree, literal translation is the best way for promoting cultural exchange through the translation of idioms. In such situations literal translation of idioms can greatly
47、promote cultural exchange in enriching the communicative aspect of TL culture by introducing new idioms or other fresh figurative expressions. It is through literal translation of idioms that a lot of new idioms and other fresh figurative expression have become part of the Chinese language. The following are some of Chinese idioms or other figurative expressions originated from the literal translation of different types of English idioms. Every type of English idioms may be literal translated
