Cultural Dissimilarities and Idiom Translation2.doc

Cultural Dissimilarities and Idiom Translation Cui Jing Ren Huaiping  崔静 任怀平  [Abstract]: Chinese and English idioms carved with their own cultural characteristics  account for a great part in translation. In this thesis, the effect of cultural dissimilarities is  analyzed on the translation of Chinese and English idioms, and specific approaches drawn to  deal with the problem.  [Key words]: cultural barriers; Chinese and English idioms; cultural dissimilarities   Introduction    Language can not exist without culture as its component. As part of language, idioms that include sayings and proverbs are characterized by their richness and vividness in their concise expressions. In translation, this special language form is greatly involved. In a broad sense, human beings share common culture and cultural similarities are the overlaps of cultural features between languages. When idioms of the source language is similar to those of the target language in terms of choice of words, collocation and social meanings, translation becomes easy because of the positive influence of cultural similarities. But a term in one language may not have a counterpart in another language. The main differences between Chinese and English idioms lie not only in the language expression ways of vocabulary, grammar, and rhetoric devices, but also in their different cultural backgrounds, because Chinese and English idioms originate from different cultures. Thus, in translation of idioms, much attention should be paid to the dissimilarities of cultures as well as languages themselves.  1. Cultural Dissimilarities In any language, there is a profound cultural intention relative to its own physiology, convention, and religious belief, etc. Eugene Nida has categorized culture into five kinds: (1) ecology culture, (2) material culture, (3) social culture, (4) religion culture, and (5) language culture. English and Chinese idioms, closely related to their own cultures, convey different cultural features that result in great effect in idiom translation.1.1 Regional Cultural DissimilaritiesRegion cultures refer to the cultures formed by different regional environment and living conditions. Different language forms, as partial reflection of region cultures, are applied by different nations to show their attitudes towards things or phenomena. Briton is an island country where navigation business was in the lead while Chinese have lived in mainland and cultivated a love for farming and land life. So saying someone is extravagant, we say “spend money like water” in English, but “挥金如土” in Chinese. Furthermore, there many English idioms about ship and water have no counterparts in Chinese, e.g. “to rest on one’s oars” (暂时歇一歇), “ to keep one’s head above water”（奋力图存）, “all at sea”（不知所措）, “as close as an oyster”（守口如瓶）, “to trim the sails to the wind”（顺势前进）, etc. And there many Chinese idioms related to land and farming can find no equivalence in English, both in meaning and in image, such as “立足之地” (a place to live in), “平分秋色”(to have equal shares of honor, power, etc.), “叶落归根” (to end one’s days on one’s native soil), “瓜熟蒂落” (At the right time things become easy.), “桑梓之情” (the friendship of fellow countrymen), “男耕女织”(man tilling the farm and wife weaving--- living a happy country life), etc. 1.2 Conventional Cultural DissimilaritiesDue to different conventions, different nations have obvious cultural dissimilarities in metaphor and aesthetic standards. The representative one is embodied in people’s attitude towards dogs. A dog is a kind of low animal in China and dogs in Chinese idioms are often used in a derogatory sense, as is reflected in sayings like “狐朋狗友”“狗急跳墙”“狗拿耗子，多管闲事”etc. In Western countries, dogs are usually considered as man’s loyal friends. The word “dog” in English idioms is neutral in its connotation. The image of dogs is often linked with human behavior. For example, when we say “Every dog has his day.” , we mean that everyone may enjoy good luck or success sooner or later. And the idiom “sick as a dog” means seriously sick. Similarly, the meaning of “dog-tired” is “very tired”.1.3 Religious Cultural DissimilaritiesReligion cultures, mainly formed by religious beliefs and consciousness, are the main components of human culture. Different religion cultures reflect different attitudes towards admiration and taboo of different nations. In the west, religions play an important part in social life and ideological field, embodied in custom and art. The Bible, the holy book of Christian religion, is one of the chief sources from which English idiomatic expressions sprung. A great number of Bible coinages and idioms have passed into daily English speech with no knowledge of their origin. For instance, “a thorn in the flesh”, “to turn the other cheek”, “the apple of one’s eyes”, “a drop in the bucket”, “wolf in sheep’s clothing”, “ pride goes before a fall”, “do as you 。