中西方文化背景中对龙的不同阐释
The Different Translations of Loong under the Background of Chine and
Western Cultures
Abstract
Chine people are proud of Chine word long from ancient times till now, which is the symbol of auspiciousness and authority. But in Western people’s eyes, the English word dragon is the symbol of devil and bugbear. So long and dragon are quite different. But in English-Chine or Chine-English translations, the two words are often translated into each other. The translations ignore the differences between Chine and Western culture, and cau cultural misunderstanding. So how to translate Chine word long into English becomes a rious problem. It is a good way to translate them from the differences between long and dragon, from the relation between characteristics of Chine language and English language.novellus
Key Words
Cultural differences; dragon; long; Loong; translation
citrus
摘要
从古至今,中国人都对汉字龙感到自豪,因为龙是吉祥和权威的象征。而在西方人的眼中,英语单词dragon意味着罪恶和怪物,是邪恶的象征。因此龙和dragon 在很大的程度上是不同的。但是在英译汉或汉译英中,我们会经常把这两个词互译。这种翻译忽视了中西方文化的差异,从而造成了严重的文化误解。显而易见,这种翻译是有问题的。因此如何把汉字龙翻译成英语就成为一个很严肃的问题。从龙和dragon的差异、汉语和英语这两种语言特点的差异来确定龙的英译不失为一种好的方法.
关键词
dinosaur
文化差异;dragon; 龙;Loong;翻译
Introduction
It is well-known that there are many differences between Chine and Western culture. Nowadays cultural communication between different countries is very frequent, so accurate translation becomes in great need as occasions require. But great differences exist in different languages. People in every nation always understand other nations’ culture with their own views without considering whether they are right or wrong in origin, as is a very common phenomenon. Hence the
misunderstandings between different nations come into being. It is more and more important that cultural understanding rves as the communicational way between different nations. And people also have begun to notice the misunderstandings caud by translations. Especially culture-loaded words, which stand for every nation’s culture and spirit, are translated carelessly. Then misunderstandings spread and expand. Taking Chine word long for example, long is a traditional culture-loaded word. Long is always translated into English word dragon in many translations. But the English word dragon is a kind of bugbear, which can breathe out fire according to western legend. Becau of the translation from long to dragon, great misunderstanding exists between Chine people’s and western people’s minds.
高中试卷网Ⅰ.The Differences between Chine Word Long and English Word Dragon
There are many differences between Chine culture and western culture. Therefore, there are many differences between Chine word long and English word dragon.
A. Long in China
In ancient china, there are many origins about long, such as lizard, crocodile and dinosaur and so on. Long is regarded as totem in ancient times. Chine people in ancient times admired long thoug
h it is just an imaginary animal in the legend.
最新游戏名In China, long is attached to a plenty of commendatory cultural meanings. Since the ancient times, long has been regarded by Chine people as the incarnation of their ancestor. Conquently they like to think themlves
as the offspring of long. Hence long has been regarded as the symbol of China and Chine people, and China is called dong fang ju long---a huge oriental country. In China, the traditional symbols of royalty are long and feng. The word long stands for the Chine king or emperor and feng for the queen. Therefore many things which are connected with the king or royalty contain the word long, such as long yan which means the appearance of the emperor, long ti which means the body of the emperor and long pao which means the robe for the emperor. Besides, long is suppod to bring good luck as an auspicious creature. In the phra wang zi cheng long,long means a successful person with pretige.
In Modern Chine Dictionary,the original meaning of long is a kind of a supernatural animal, which carries horns and whiskers and only has one head. It can make rain as wanted in legend. The cond meaning is the head of animals, which can be black or bright, can be slender or coar, can
be short or long, flying to the sky in spring, and diving in the a in autumn. In the other words, long is the head of changeable water animals, which is helpful for everything. So people awe and admire it as totem. In lunar calendar, Feb. 2nd is a traditional festival of long. On this day, people pray for spring rain and good harvest.
In Modern Chine Dictionary, it also refers to the emperor in the feudal society of china. It is recorded before Jie Zitui , who is a Chine historical person, left Jin Dynasty, he wrote a poem,“有龙于飞,周遍天下……龙返其乡,得其处所。”Long in this poem reprents emperor. Long can be regarded as imagery of heroes and wi persons. There is a record in the old text The Stories of Three Countries,which says that “徐庶见先主,先主器之,诸先生曰:‘诸葛孔明者,卧龙也,先主岂愿见乎?’” Here, Xu Shu regarded Zhuge Liang as latent long,which means that Zhuge Liang ’s wisdom and talent were buried. Besides, there is another phra long pan feng yi in ancient records to demonstrate wi persons who are not known by most people. Long in the ancient times also meant noble steed.
In modern Chine, long in some phras has lost its original meaning, and got meanings of trope. Such as, the phra shui long tou, which looks like long. The phra yi tiao long is not a real long, but ries of good methods or ways. Besides, long juan feng and che shui ma long all mean trope.
B. Dragon in Western Countries
The dragon is often a symbol of devil to westerners. They regard the dragon as a fierce monster that can destroy some other things. Therefore, in their opinion, it can make many disasters. There are veral stories of saints or heroes dealing with the struggles against such monsters, which in most cas are killed in the end. The most notable story perhaps is the story of Beowulf. An Anglo-Saxon epic around the year of 700A.D, tells how the hero Beowulf defeats a monster called Grandel, but he is eventually mortally wounded during the process of slaying a dragon.(Li Zuowen, page 85,2005)umbilicus
音乐的英文单词
Dragon is the symbol of devil, which can be en in many western films. For example, in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, there is a cruel character—dragon. Most people know that Harry Potter is a righteous boy. In this movie, he fights against the dragon to stop it from destroying the world. In another cartoon film Shrek the Third, who end is very different from other similar films, there is a very cruel dragon named Boss. In the film Boss always hurts others. There is another film about dragon---Region of Fire. In this movie, after the dragon was waked by others, he begins to destroy the world for a long time. Many people are killed by him. In the film Dragon Heart, becau the figure has a half of heat from dragon, he becomes a very rude person. At last, he gets his nemesis. From the films, dragon is well known to appear with a cruel image. Western films can refl赛车培训学校
ect western cultures. Of cour, the characters in their films can reflect directors’ opinions. The ima ge of dragon in the films is the reflection of dragon in western legend.
In Bible, Satan, a devil, is called the great dragon. Revelation in the Books of The New testament of Bible describes dragon like this: A great red dragon, with ven heads and ten horns, and ven diadems on his head. And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there is no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, then ancient rpent, which is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (John, page10, 1998) In Microsoft Encyclopedia, dragon is described as a legendary reptilian monster similar in form to a crocodile and usually reprented as having wings, huge claws, and a fiery breath. Above it is about the appearance of dragon.
From the description, dragon is very ugly, and its figure is very huge. When the dragon is ud to refer to a person, especially a woman, it is always in pejorative n. As in Collins Cobuild Language Dictionary, it is said, “If you call a woman a dragon, you mean that she is fierce and unpleasant.” For example, she is a bit of dragon around this place. In Europe, there is a famous dragon named Hydra, which is very cruel and rude. Hydra has nine heads and has long life. It is very
different from long in China. And European people hate Hydra very much.
con是什么意思So dragon in western countries mainly means cruel and bad things. For example, “we call her a dragon” means she is very rude. “The Old Dragon” refers to the Satan in Bible, and in the phra “cha the dragon”, dragon means drug, which can make people crazy and go to death.
C. Comparison between Long and Dragon
According to the analysis above, long and dragon can be compared as follows. Dragon: (1) having many heads; (2) ugly in appearance; (3) cruel person;
(4) evil force; (5) Satan; (6) drug. Long: (1) having one head; (2) emperor;
(3) wi people; (4) something that like the appearance of long; (5) noble steed; (6) constellation; (7) a surname of Chine people.(Yang Zijian, page 27, 2006)
2021英语四级成绩查询入口官网There are many differences between them. They originate from different cultures. The first meaning of dragon comes from Europe. In Western Europe, dragon has many heads. The third meaning of dragon in English originated from Greek legend. In the legend, the dragon always plays the role of keeper, keeping golden apple garden, spring and so on. In Revelation, Satan is named dragon. In P
oems, it is said that you will trample the dragon under the feet. So dragon is regarded as devil, especially standing for gent in middle age.
In Chine legend, Emperor Huang laid the foundation of Chine civilization, and he was admired by his offspring. Later he flied to the sky on the long,which was nt by the God to welcome him. Therefore, the emperors in China after him name themlves real long.
Chine word long has much more meanings than dragon. And meanings of long are fine, while dragon mostly means bad things.
Ⅱ.Some Problems in Translation