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1、Session 22Classification and Translation of Idioms 习语的分类与翻译,Each language contains many elements derived from its culture,such as idioms andother fixed expressions.First,it is necessary to have a clear knowledge of some basicconcepts.一、A Brief Discussion of Several Fundamental Concepts 1.1 Definitio
2、n of Idioms Each language has many idioms.Idioms are linguistic chunks(语言模块)made up of fixed,expressions and sentences.Idioms include set phrases,proverbs,allusions,common sayings or folk adages(俗语),ect.They are known as“熟语”in Chinese.The meaning of an idiom is not clear from the meaning of its indi
3、vidual words.An idiom must be learned as a whole unit.English has many idioms.E.g.give way,a change of heart,be hard put to it.Chinese also boasts plenty of idioms.E.g.“小题大做”(to make a mountain out of a molehill 鼹丘)、“后来居上”、“朝秦暮楚”(serve 等。,the State of Qin in the morning and the State of Chu in the e
4、veningbe quick to switch sides;be fickle;be inconstant);“杯弓蛇影”(mistaking the reflection of a bow in the cup for a snakebeset withimaginary fears;extremely suspicious);“杯水车薪”（trying to put out a blazingcartload of faggots with a cup of wateran utterly inadequate measure）,Idioms are based on peoples c
5、ommon experiences in life.They shine with peoples wisdomand they are characterized by national cultures.No wonder some people say that idioms are the cream or the best part oflanguage.,Translation is not only an inter-lingual transfer,but also a cross-cultural communication.Before we talk abouttrans
6、lation of idioms,we think that it is necessary to discuss the relationshipbetween language and culture.,between language and culture.,1.2 The Relationship Between Language and Culture Culture is the medium evolved by humans to survive.Nothing in humanlife is free from cultural influence.It is the ke
7、ystone in civilizations arch andis the medium through which all lifes events must flow(Samovar&Porter,2000:22).Culture is really an extremely,wide and complex concept.The modern technical definition of culture,as sociallypatterned human thought and behavior,was originally proposed by the 19th cen-tu
8、ry British anthropologist,Edward Tylor(2005):“Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge,beliefs,arts,moral,law,customs and any other capa-bilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”The strategies for translationof idioms,including culture-loadedexpressions,are the liter
9、al trans-,There is no standard definition of culture.In Ci Hai(辞海),the definition of cul-ture is“in a broad sense,the sum total ofmaterial and spiritual wealth created by human beings in the process of social de-velopment;narrowly speaking,it refers to social ideology and the institution and org-ani
10、zation structure corresponding to it.”(“从广义来说，指人类社会历史实践中所创造的物质财富和精神财富的总和。从狭义来说，指社会的意识形态，以及与之相应的制度和组织结构。”),“Language is the principal means where-by we conduct our social lives.When it isused in contexts of communication,it is bound up with culture in multiple and com-plex ways”(Kramsch,2000:3).At fi
11、rst,language expresses cultural re-ality.The words people utter not only re-fer to common experience and the know-ledge about the world that people share,but also reflect their attitudes and beliefs.,Secondly,language embodies cultural reality through verbal or non-verbal com-munication.Members of a
12、 social group Not only express experience;they also create experience through language.Theygive meaning to it through the medium Theychoose to communicate with one another.Finally,language symbolizes cultural re-ality.Language is a system of signs that is seen as having itself a cultural value.,Spea
13、kers identify themselves and others through their use of language;they view their language as a symbol of their socialidentity.The prohibition of its use is often perceived by its speakers as a rejection of their social group and their culture.“Although a language may be regarded as a relatively sma
14、ll part of a culture,it is also indispensable to both the functioningand perpetuation of culture.”“Language And culture are two interdependent symbolic systems”(Nida,2001:139).,Human culture without language is un-thinkable.Without language,there wouldNo culture.Language is the keystone of culture.W
15、ithout culture,language wouldlose all its meanings and vanish in the end.“A language is a part of a culture and a culture is a part of a language,the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture”(Douglas,1980:16).,1.
16、3 The Relationship Between Culture and Translation Translation is in its essence a kind of Intercultural communication and is closelyrelated to culture.Translation and cultureshare an interdependent relationship.First,translation definitely involves culture.In applied linguistics and anthropology,a
17、culture is closely linked with a certain lan-guage and makes this language culturally-loaded in a manner different from other,languages.The intimate relationship bet-ween language and culture determines that in the process of translation,culture is an important part needed to be dealt with,and more
18、attention should be paidto cultural elements.Second,translation is a means of trans-mitting culture ever since nations and languages have been in contact with eachother.Translation serves as a bridge between different cultures.,For instance,many English expressionshave found their way into the Chine
19、se language,while the Chinese people feel no foreignness at all,for they have been assimilated into the Chinese language,such as“Ivory tower”(象牙塔),“a trump card”(王牌),“honeymoon”(蜜月),“blue-print”(蓝图),“The Open-door Policy”(门户开放政策),etc.Third,translation promotes cultural de-velopment by importing fore
20、ign cultural,nourishments and transplanting the out-side cultures into its own cultural environ-ment,thus enhancing the improvement of the world cultures on the whole and leading to the bettering of the world civili-zation.Take China as an example.In Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty,a large numberof wor
21、ks of Sutra were translated into Chinese,which was s a great impetus to the development of Buddhism in Chinesereligion.,Last but not least,culture exerts a great influence on translation.Eg.the translators aesthetic habits and optionswill be affected by the culture in which he finds himself.1.4 Tran
22、slatability and“Untranslatability”of Culture Translatability and“untranslatability”seem always opposite to each other;however,it is a matter of degree,since,there are similarities and differences be-tween cultures at the same time.“Untran-slatability”indicates the limitation of trans-lation,which is
23、 relative rather than abso-lute.To some extent,the degree of trans-latability depends on the relationship be-tween the cultures involved.The closer the relationship,the higher the degree.,Human beings live on the same globe and share many experiences.We knowthat at least ninety percent of the basics
24、tructures of all languages are quite simi-lar,and language universals far outweighthe divergences.Though English and Chinese are different languages,we still can find many equivalent expressions andclosely related expressions both at bothlinguistic and cultural levels.E.g.“burn ones boat”(破釜沉舟),“an
25、eye for an eye,a tooth for a tooth”(以眼还眼，以牙还牙),“to pour oil on the flame”(火上浇油),etc.,However,the diversity of culture is obvious.Because of different geogra-phical locations,conventions,religiousbeliefs,values,political systems and soon,the cultural differences are displayed,which are certainly embo
26、died in different languages.The influence of culture on language makes it difficult to translate artistic images,puns,allusions and otherfigurative speeches which are rather subtle,and ambiguous even to Chinese readers Without the prerequisite knowledge of history and poetic cultivation.They will al
27、ways be the obstructions in the processof translation.Thus the translated versionis bound to lose something,especially itsbeauty in form and in sound.In a word,the cultural universals of thewhole world make languages translatablewhile the cultural characteristics of differ-ent nations make languages
28、“untranslatable”.,Translatability coexists with“untransla-tability”.Therefore,in the process oftranslation,translators should have adequate cultural awareness and applysuitable translation strategies so that they may avoid falling into the“Cultural Traps”.,1.5 Basic Strategies for Translation of Idi
29、oms,We have some essential translation approaches for translation of all texts,such as the literal translation approach,the liberal translation approach,and the literal-plus-liberal translation.Ofcourse,they are suitable for translationof idioms.Lets review them one by one.How to define each of them
30、?,These translation approaches have been popularized and adopted by many trans-lation theorists&practitioners in China.Of course,there are other translation strategies which include foreignizing translation(异化)or foreignization,and domesticating translation or domesticati-on（归化）,which have been intr
31、oduced to China from the West.1.5.1 Foreignization and Domestication,A famous German theologian,philosopherand translator,argued that“there are only twomethods.Either the translator leaves the author in peace,as much as possible,and moves the reader towards him;or he leaves the reader inpeace,as muc
32、h as possible,and moves the authortowards him.”(Venuti,2004:19-20).It can be illustrated by the following figure:.,Although Schleiermacher gave a detailed description of these two translation strate-gies,he didnt propose definite terms for each.Different scholars defined thesetwo translation strateg
33、ies from their own understandings.E.g.Lu Xun(鲁迅,1984:301)thought domestication as“rewriting,changing a foreign story into a Chinese story and changing foreigners into Chinese.”,Some scholars use other terms insteadof foreigni-zation,such as“alienation”,“Europeanization”or“westernization”.It was Lawr
34、ence Venuti,anItalian American translation theorist,who firstcoined these two translation strategies in his book The Translators InvisibilityA History of Translation:a domesticating method(domesti-cation)is an ethnocentric(以人为中心的)reduction of the foreign text to TL cultural values,bringing the autho
35、r back home,and a foreignizing method(foreignization)is an,ethnodeviant(偏离人的，不考虑读者的)pressure on those values to register thelinguistic and cultural difference of theforeign text,sending the reader abroad(2004:20).So generally speaking,domes-tication is a TL culturally oriented transla-tion strategy
36、in which a natural,fluent styleis adopted in order to minimize the linguis-tic and cultural strangeness of the foreign text for target language readers;foreigni-zation is a SL culturally oriented transla-,tion strategy in which the original forms and content,especially the original cultural features
37、 are kept in order toretain the foreignism.1.5.2 Domestication and Foreignization Vs Liberal Translation&Literal Translationwe know that these two pairs of dichoto-mies(一分为二，二分法)share some similarities.Free translation and domes-tication pay much attention to the target,audience,because of idiomatic
38、 sentences,familiar expressions and cultural phenomena,sometimes the target language readers may not realize that they are actually reading a translated text from another culture.While literal translation and foreignization put em-phasis on the linguistic and stylistic featuresof the source text,and
39、 the target text trans-lated in this way may not be very smoothin language and the content may not be fami-liar to the target readers,so they may feel foreign when reading the translation.,Some say that the dichotomy of domestica-tion and foreignization is the development and elevation of the dichot
40、omy of free trans-lation and literal translation from the diachronic prospective.But I dont agree.In my view,as the literal translation stresses faith-fulness both to the original form and content,it certainly highlights transplanting the foreign cul-tural aspects of the source language text into th
41、e target language text.,二、Classification and Translation of English and Chinese Idioms,2.1 English and Chinese Idioms Corresponding to Each Other and Their Translation,As people have many things in common,e.g.they have many similarities in modes of thinking,life habits,cognition abilities,as well as
42、 in geogra-phical conditions and geological environments,i.e.they share many cultural aspects,there are plenty of idioms between two cultures and two languages.,The same is true of English and Chinese.There are quite a number of idioms in English and Chinese which correspond to each other.Look at th
43、e following:The great fish eat up the small.大鱼吃小鱼。He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount.骑虎难下。/Its the saddle that makes the horse and the tailor,the man.人靠衣裳马 靠鞍。/One swallow does not make a summer.一燕不成夏。/洗手不干 wash ones hands of/旧瓶装新酒 new wine in old bottles./玩火者必自焚。He who plays with fire gets
44、burned.,Please give more examples of this type of idioms.Which is the best strategy for translation of such idioms?在翻译此类习语时，“等效理论”（Tytler,1790;Nida,1964,）得以彻底实施，即 这样的英汉习语应该套用相互对应的习语 进行对等翻译The literal translation approach is applicable here,and it is used with the best possible result.Why?,2.2 Practi
45、ce in Various Ways2.2.1 Ask your partner or desk-mate to give more examples of this type of idioms.(1minute)2.2.2 Translate and make sentences with the following idioms:be armed to the teeth be as mild as a lamb to play with fire as gay/cheerful as a lark(像云雀 那样快活),to shed crocodile tears Beauty lie
46、s in the lovers eyes.In the country of the blind,the one-eyed man is king.to teach a pig to play on a flute to flog a dead horse There is no smoke without some fire.Beauty is but skin-deep.Can the leopard change his spots?As gaudy as a peacock 像孔雀一样华丽,武装到牙齿；全副武装鳄鱼的眼泪；伪善的眼泪；猫哭老鼠假慈悲情人眼里出美人；情人眼里出西施盲人国里
47、，独眼人称王。山中无老虎，猴子称霸王。教猪吹笛；对牛弹琴；做荒唐不可能的事鞭打死马；做无用功；白费唇舌无火不生烟。无风不起浪。美貌只是一层皮。不可以貌取人。花豹岂能改变身上的花斑？本性难移像孔雀一样华丽；穿得过于艳丽,2.2 English and Chinese Idioms That Partially Correspond to Each other and Their Translation 英语和汉语分属两种不同的语系，属于不同民族的母语。在不同的环境下生存的人们，其生活经历和对外部世界的看法不可能完全一致，因此，反映人民生产和生活的习语也必然千差万别，对应的习语毕竟是少数，大量的习
48、语只是呈半对应关系。半对应的英汉习语通常是比喻意义相同，但喻体迥异。为使目的语读者顺利地理解源语习语中所承载的文化信息和比喻意义，译者最好对源语习语喻体加以转换，,用合适的目的语习语将其译出，以达到跨文化交际的目的。如：as timid as a hare胆小如鼠；as strong as a horse力大如牛；as poor as a church mouse一贫如洗；Man proposes,God disposes谋事在人，成事在天。/宁为鸡口，不为牛后。Better be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion./正中下怀 after on
49、es own heart/一箭双雕 kill two birds with one stone/水中捞月 fish in the air/过河拆桥 kick down the ladder/进退维谷 between the devil and the deep sea.翻译半对应的英汉习语时，套用喻体不同但喻意相同的习语是可取,可行的译法。这种改变喻体、保留喻意的译法是一种活译法。2.3 English and Chinese Idioms Which Do not Correspond to Each Other and Their Translation,由于英汉两种语言有巨大差异，英语习
50、语中存在大量与汉语惯用法和汉文化特征大相迥异的习语，既非对应的习语，汉语习语中也有为数不少的与英语表达习惯和西方文化大相径庭的非对应的习语。非对应习语的喻体意象和表达方式是源语所特有的，它们在译语中是空缺的，体现了东西方人民认识上的差异。这类习语用两种不同的译法处理：一是采用直译法，二是使用意译法。由于人类有许多共识，,源语中有些包含独特喻体的习语在目的语读者心中引起的联想意义很可能也相同，这类习语的比喻意义谁都能理解。因此，英汉两种语言均有很多互不对应的习语可采用直译法处理。如：sour grapes 酸葡萄；eye foreye and tooth for tooth以眼还眼，以牙还牙；b
