On Translation of Idioms in Chine and English from Cultural Perspective
wentworth earl millerIntroduction
Idioms are the esnce of language, which have strong national colors and distinctive cultural connotation. Both in Chine and English, there are various idioms. The differences are significant. The main reason is that the idioms加拿大出国留学费用 are culture-loaded. Language is a great part of culture, and idioms are considered as the cream of a language. Therefore, culture is fully reflected in the images and emotions of idioms. Hence, it is necessary to have a comparative study of English and Chine idioms from the perspective of cultural sources. iapWhen exploring English and Chine idioms, one should pay attention to the cultural background of idioms. In this paper, the author will make an analysis of cultural resources between English idioms and Chine idioms. Besides, this paper discusd the translation methods such as the literal translation, liberal or free translation, the method of borrowing, literal translation plus annotation and addition and omission. The aim is to enrich language learners' knowledge on cultural sources of English and Chine idioms. So it is helpful to avoid misunderstanding in cross culture communication.
上海口译网1. Literature review
星火英语网站
Many Chine scholars have made lots of rearches on English and Chine idioms. Their studies are mostly related to the classifications, features, structures, mantics, and so on. Only a few of them focus on their cultural sources. There are some examples. 雷锋精神演讲稿Lian Shuneng (2002) has discusd the different ways of thinking among Chine and English urs. According to Deng Yanchang and Liu Runqing's studies (1995), the proverbs might provide little clues to a people's geographical 考研政治真题enotebook是什么意思nvironment, history, social customs, social values, and their attitudes. However, their studies have only touched part of the influence of culture on Chine and English idioms. But they have not made systematic studies on idioms from the perspective of cultural sources. In this paper, the author will analyze the idioms from cultural aspects.
2. Definition of Idioms
In most languages, there are idioms. However, in different languages, the ranges and forms of idioms are not the same. Even in a certain kind of language, such as English, th
ere are many different kinds of definitions for“idiom”. So it is very hard to give a preci and widely accepted definition of “idiom”. There are basic criteria to decide whether an expression is an idiom or not. Firstly, an idiom must be well-established and accepted through common practice; condly, an idiom usually has an implied meaning. So generally speaking, an idiom is expressions, which is a term or phra or ntence who meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definitions and the arrangement of its parts. It can be known from the common u. Usually some people would naturally associate "idiom” with “cheng yu” and they think that idiom is the equivalent of “cheng yu”. In fact, English idioms and "cheng yu” are not equivalent. It is more similar to that of "shu yu" in Chine. We may find that they share quite a lot of common features. So they are corresponding linguistic and cultural phenomena. We can u with a contrastive approach to study them. In New Oxford Dictionary of English, (1998) idioms are a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from tho of the individual words. In Ci-hai (1999), “shu yu” is defined as “熟语是语言中定型的词组或者词句，使用时一般不能改变其组织。” (A “shu yu” is usually a fixed word combination or nt
ence who structure is usually unable to be changed in u.) “shu yu”includes “cheng yu”(成语，t phras), “su yu”(俗语，common sayings), “yan yu”(谚语，proverbs), “xie hou yu”(歇后语，two part allegorical sayings), and "cu su yu"(粗俗语，vulgar expressions). In this paper, the term English idiom is a broad n and the term Chine idioms refer to “su yu”.
3. Cultural Sources behind English and Chine Idioms
Language is the major part of the culture. According to Lado, conditionala language is both a part of culture and a medium through which the other parts of culture could be expresd. Idioms are the esnce of the language, so they are influenced by culture to a great extent. This part is to discuss English and Chine idioms from the cultural sources which include geographical environment, lifestyle, historical events, religious beliefs, customs and literature.
早中餐英文3.1 Geographical Environment
Different cultures and national features are mostly determined by different geographical environment. For example, people living in different environments will form different principle of conduct, which can be reflected in people's speech. For example, Britain is an island country with the deeply indented coastline. It has a long history of navigation. People who live along acoast and who livelihood depends on a will have a great number of idioms connected with a, sailing and fish. A lot of English idioms have derived from the a, marine climate, shipping and relevant experience and lessons. Such as, all at a; time and tide wait for no man ; cry stinking fish ; all is fish that comes to his net ; never offer to teach fish to swim ; in the same boat. Besides, the Englishmen love to talk about the weather. There may have two reasons. One is the uncertainty of the weather. In Britain the weather is constantly changing. Typically there is much rain in Britain every month, so there are many idioms connected with the weather such as it never rains but it pours; a storm in a teacup ; don’t prai the day until evening ; small rain lays great dust. The weather in Britain is changing. There is no climate but weather. This is the important difference of cultural sources between English and Chine idioms. I
n China, there are so many Chine idioms about climate and weather. For example:风调雨顺(Feng tiao yu shun)-propitious winds and rains or favorable weather;风起云涌（feng qi yun yong）-to surge forward like rolling clouds; 晴天霹雳（qing tian pi li）-a bolt from the blue;满面春风(Man mian chun feng)-to wear a radiant smile or to beam with satisfaction, and so on. China is one of the largest countries in the world. It posss vast plains, high mountains，various plateaus and etc. That is to say, the topography is complicated. There are so many Chine idioms connected with it. Such as,千山万水(qian shan wan shui)-ten thousand mountains and rivers; 江河日下(jian he ri xia)-to go from bad to wor or to degeneraate day by day; 山高水低(shan gao shui di)-the mountain is high and the river long or the virtues of a great man of lasting influence; 天南地北(tian nan di bei)-place near and far, and so on. Bad on the above analysis, it can be found that different geographical conditions lead to the reflection in idioms. This is the important difference of cultural sources between English and Chine idioms.
3.2 Lifestyle
The idiom is the mirror of the daily life of the people. People could u what they could find around them as a metaphor when they are expressing. Therefore, the lifestyle of people can be known from the ordinary words in their language. For example, sailors have created so many lively phras about a, farmers have invented a lot of expressions concerning farm work, and workers have produced words from all kinds of occupations. In addition, the fisherman u terms of fishing in his speech, the hunter often talks of his hunting or his dogs, the sportsman makes u of idioms of sports in the communication and etc. There are some idioms from cooking and food. In British and Americans, fish, bread, butter, egg, milk, wine and cake are the main food for. So it is easy for the people to take them as metaphors in their expression. The following are the idioms concerning with food in English. A piece of cake; From soup to nuts; A piece of cake; Hungry dogs will eat dirty puddings. In China, has a long history of cooking. The Chine are known as the most critical and causal eaters, Becau they pay more attention to food than any other people, this is reflected in the Chine sayings like:家常便饭(jia chang bian fan)-daily routine;粗茶淡饭 (cu cha dan fan)-plain tea and simple food;
添油加醋(tian you jia cu)-to exaggerate or give embellishment to;画饼充饥(hua bing chong ji)-to draw a pancake to relieve hunger. Such kinds of idioms are quite common in the Chine language. In the daily life, there are some idioms reflecting the philosophy of the Chine. Such as 吃人的嘴软, 欠人理短（chi ren de zui duan ,qian ren li duan）-Who receives a gift, lls his biberty. This is why some problems can be solved at the dinner table, which surpris the westerners very much.
