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1、英汉互译中的文化因素The Cultural Factors in Translation Between Chinese and EnglishContentsAbstract：.1Key words: .1I Introduction.1II What is Culture?.2III What is the Content of Culture?.3IV Historical Culture.4V Regional Culture.5VI Values.56.1 Appellation and Relatives.66.2 Religion.66.3 Ways of Thinking a
2、nd Writing.6VII Customs.87.1 Food.87.2 Colors.87.3 Addressing.97.4 Family.9VIII The Factors That can be Translated and Those That cant be Translated.9IX Translation Strategies.109.1 Substitution109.2 Adaptation.119.3 Footnotes .12X Conclusion.12References.13The Cultural Factors in TranslationBetween
3、 Chinese and English摘 要：文化差异是翻译中的障碍和难题，要在两种语言之间进行翻译，除了通晓两种语言文字外，还必须了解两种文化，并能深刻理解两种文化的差异。本文将从什么是文化，以及从历史文化、地域文化、生活习惯、价值观（包括伦理道德，意识形态，宗教信仰，以及与此相关的称谓语和亲属关系）、思维方式和行文特点等几个方面，论述中西方文化的差异,并分析文化中的不可译性和文化翻译的策略。关键词：文化 文化因素 文化翻译 文化差异 英汉互译 翻译策略 Abstract：Culture difference is a difficult problem and obstacle in t
4、ranslation. If we want to translate between Chinese and English, we should make acquainted with the two languages and we have to understand the two cultures, and we must profoundly comprehend the culture differences. Firstly this paper will talk about what is culture, and then discuss culture differ
5、ences from the aspects of historical culture, regional culture, custom, values (including ethical criteria, ideology, religion, and the relevant terms of addressing and relations of kinship) and ways of thinking and writing. Finally I will analyze the factors that cant be translated and cultural tra
6、nslation Strategies.Key words: culture; cultural factors; cultural translation; culture differences; C-E translation; translation StrategiesI IntroductionChinas rapid economic growth has put the country in the globe spotlight, and has made overseas greatly interested in China, and a large number of
7、books have been introduced to China. China as one of the oldest countries in the world attracts attention of the world people, but limited knowledge and language barriers have been the major hurdles for foreigners to know China better. So translation is the main way to solve this problem. The reason
8、 for translation as the main method is that it has many practical functions, and it is a vital channel of cultural exchange between different nations, as well as an indispensable mode of human social communication. And now translation between Chinese and English has covered every aspect of society i
9、n order to meet the needs of social development. The functions of it under different culture background or different era are not always the same. As a translator, he or she should be able to answer such questions: “What to translate? When to translate？How to translate and for whom?” In order to answ
10、er these questions, we must understand the function of translation and the social background that are related to. Translation is an important constituent of the human language activity, also is used by different nationalities, the nationals intercommunication. Translation itself by Nida (1976:75) is
11、 viewed as “essentially an aspect of a larger domain, namely, that of communication”. Steiner (1975:47) pointed out that after Babel takes an even wider view of translation “inside or between languages; human communication equals translation”, hence, translation is discussed within the wider context
12、 of communication, extending ideas put forward by a variety of translation. Therefore the activity of translation includes a series of language conversion; it is also the social and psychological activities in essence. Newmarks (1995) two statements are “translation is the most economical method of
13、explaining one cultures way to another” and “translation mediates culture”. Translation is a decision-making process in a certain social culture frame. The translators decision not merely depends on the language he/she learns, but also on the cultural environment of a specific era to a great extent.
14、 (Culture and Translation) Translation process can no longer be envisaged as being between two languages but between two cultures involving “cross-cultural transfer” (Snall-Hornby, 1998). During the translation process, translators will have to deal with problems such as culture differences, linguis
15、tic differences, and so on. How can these factors affect translation? The culture is the most important factor in translation, when we read the books, sometimes we know the words of a phrases or sentences, but our comprehension is wrong. Why? That is because there are cultural differences, and our i
16、gnorance of the source language cultures. What does “culture” means?II What is Culture?There are more than one thousand of definitions of culture. One of the oldest and mostly quoted definitions of culture was formulated by the English anthropologist Edward Burbert Taylor in 1871:“Culture is that co
17、mplex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”The other definition was defined by American anthropologist Alfred Louis Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn (1961:181) who had compiled a list of 164 definit
18、ions; their lengthy (165th) contribution was as follows:“Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiment in artifacts: the essential core of culture consi
19、sts of traditional (i.e., historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values. Culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other hand, as conditioning elements of future action.”(Translating Cultures: An Introduction for Translators, In
20、terpreters, and Mediators, 2004:16)There are so many different definitions about “culture”，“but no mater how it is defined, culture is the total sum of the material wealth and the intellectual wealth which have been created in the whole process of human social and historical development, or to the w
21、ay of life or life- style, possessing the time, the spatial significance, which are the most basic characteristics. (Wang Kefei, 1997:2).III What is the Content of Culture? Ke Ping (1994) mentioned that lots of cultural scientists have divided culture into four parts. Firstly, the technical system;
22、this includes production and science skills. Secondly, the social system includes politics, customs, history, law, social classes and education. Thirdly, ideology; this consists of religion, art, and way of thinking. The fourth is the linguistic system, which includes grammar and semantic. This show
23、s that culture covers almost every aspect of society. Similarly, David has also stressed about the same idea, where culture can be divided into: 1). Microcosm culture, which includes ideas, behaviors and products. 2). Macrocosm culture, which includes history, geography, institutions, cultural art c
24、raft (music, art, literature).As a cultural transmission carrier, translations influence is profound in the development of social, now globalization of the world science and technology, the economical and the information network speeds up unceasingly. Cultural polycystic integrations are clear; the
25、translation cultural function is day by day obvious. So the fundamental way to deal with translation is to approach the culture of the source language, and we should understand the source language and the target language. As Bassinet and Lefevere (1992) have said, “Translation reflects a certain ide
26、ology and poetics and as such manipulates literature to function in a given society in a given way” (Bassinet & Lefevere: “Translation/History/Culture” 1992). Because English and Chineses culture have the different background in historical, social, political, economical and the natural condition tha
27、t formed their ideology, ways of thinking, values, manners and customs. In order to translate an article properly, it is a requirement for a translator to have a good knowledge of source culture and target culture, and a good translator attaches much importance to the equivalence of messages conveye
28、d in the translated work so that the target language readers will respond to the translation similarly as the source language readers to the original.This article draws up from several aspects, such as, the historical culture, the region culture, the custom culture, the religious culture, the life s
29、tyle, ways of thinking and values, and chats the questions of which cultural differences there are and what should be paid attention to the translation and how to deal with different cultures by using suitable strategies and methods.IV Historical CultureHistorical culture is composed of the special
30、process of the history of the nations and social inheritance precipitates. In ancient time, people lived in a separate environment, the country and nation had different process of development, so every nation had their own historical culture. When we translate works of literature, the historical cul
31、ture is the biggest problems we have ever met.Historical literary reference is the most content of historical culture. It is the treasure of national historical culture. It has thick nation color and bright cultural characteristic. It contents a mount of information of historical culture and can man
32、ifests that different nation has different historical culture characteristic. If we want to translate well, we have to know the connotation of the historical culture and use different methods according to the different situation and content, or it is impossible to make the listener or reader underst
33、and clearly. For example, the Chinese idiom “东施效颦”, if we translate it into “Tung shi imitates Hsi shi”, the foreign reader will be puzzled, because we know the history that we understand its connotation. If we want to make the foreigner understand clearly, we should say: “Tung shi imitates Hsi shi,
34、 His shi was a famous beauty in the ancient Kingdom of Yue. Tung shi was an ugly girl who tried to imitate her way.” When they know history that they understand the idiom. There is another example; “三个臭皮匠顶个诸葛亮”Zhu Geliang is a well-known people in Chinese history. Everyone knows who he is. In China
35、he is the symbol of wit. The foreign reader doesnt know who Zhu Geliang is and what the relation between him and cobblers is. If we use literary translation to express the historical knowledge, we can translate it into “Three cobblers with their wits combined equal Zhu Geliang the ancient master min
36、d”. V Regional CultureRegion culture is that different nation lives in different places, so they have different nature condition and different geographical environment. Each nation has formed their own special culture. We know that the same phenomenon and the same object in different nations have di
37、fferent language expressions. From the point of traditions: English people live on island; peoples life has big relation with the sea, so in English there are a lot of words about navigation or original navigation. In contrast, in China the center culture is continental culture. In ancient China, th
38、e center of culture is far away from the sea, in Chinese, there are no words equivalent to the words about navigation, for example, able seaman, means “一级水手”, not “能干的水手（capable sailor）”, be left high and dry means “in trouble” not “高高在上”. And we can know the differences in region culture from the p
39、osition and its equivalent words, such as: in china if someone became the emperor, we will say face south back north (面南背北), and we always say “从南到北, 南来北往”,we always say the “南” first. But in English its not like that, if they say “从南到北”is form north to south . “ 北屋” is “a room with a southern expos
40、ure.” There are some position words ,such as “西北”、 “西南”、 “东北”、 “东南”, they are converse to Chinese in English. “Northwest”、 “southwest” 、“northeast” 、“southeast”. In China, most people live on land. From ancient to now, agriculture plays a very important role in peoples life and society. In China, fo
41、od is the first necessity of man. There are so many words and idioms related to agriculture, but in English we cant find the equivalent words. For example, in China when we meet somebody on the road, the Chinese always say: “吃了吗?”. In English, because they live in an island, the weather changes quic
42、kly, they always talk about weather when they meet other people, such as: “Its cold, isnt it?”VI Values Values include ethical criteria, ideology, religion, and relevant terms of addressing and relations of kinship. Its the core of special culture and ways of life. The values of the Chinese culture
43、have deep humanism spirit; On the contrary, the westerners have the personality of the extroversion.6.1 Appellation and Relatives.In China, we have a long history of feudal society and agriculture ploughs culture is the main culture. Chinese culture is a group-oriented culture. The relatives and rel
44、ation of society is clear and strict which forms a special social system. The blood relation is based on cognation. From ancient China, the family always has a large number of people; there are always several generations living together. In Chinese there are lots of words about appellation, and the
45、relation among the members of the family is transparent. In Western Country, there are nuclear families, western people emphasize individual life and like individual adventure. When children grown up, they will leave the family and have their own family. Therefore their family is very small, they al
46、ways less than ten people in one family. So, one word can represent several appellations. For example, in English, the word uncle has a far wider range of meaning than its Chinese counterpart. It could refer to what we call 叔叔、伯父、舅舅、姨父.6.2 Religion In Chinese and in English they have different religions. We can find this from the languages. In English there are a lot of words and idioms originated from Bible. Bible plays an important role in the process and development of western civilization. In English, people believe in God. In China the Buddhism is popular. People think there
