Definition

Cultural Differences between Cultural Differences between

Chinese and English IdiomsChinese and English Idioms

&the principles for the the principles for the

Translation of English IdiomsTranslation of English Idioms

By Group 3By Group 3

Definition

English or Chinese large quantities of idiomsidiomsfeatures: conciseness and vividness

the cultural element in idioms

a difficulty in translation

Cultural differences reflected in English and Chinese idioms

A. Idioms maintain close ties with

people's life and the culture people's life and the culture where they are created and where they are created and used. used.

As China has a long history of agriculture, a large number of idioms related to agriculture have been in use.

槁木死灰

对牛弹琴

竹篮打水一场空竹篮打水一场空

Living on an island, the English are keen on sailing and traveling, the English language abounds in idioms connected with navigation.

B. Differences of customscustoms are multi-sided, of which the most typical one is the attitude towards such animals as the dog, the cat, etc.

Take the dog for example. In China, the dog is of a humble status. Most of the Chinese idioms concerning with dogs are used in a derogatory sense, usually describing wicked persons, though the numbers of pet dogs have increased.

e.g.

A lucky dog

I am ill.

C. Language expresses thoughts, which in turn reflect subjective imagination. Under the influence of distinct cultural customs, each person refers to the same concept in different ways, leading to varied imagination. .

胆小如鼠—— as timid as a rabbit

D. Religious beliefsReligious beliefs produce an impact on people's life and mind, and on the English and Chinese languages as well.

E. There is no lack of idioms alluding to historical eventshistorical events. Such idioms are simply-structured but highly significant. And they cannot be just understood and translated from the literal meaning.

Most of English idioms of historical allusions come from the Bible and Greek and Roman mythologies.

a Pandora's

box

The PrinciplesThe Principles

The Principles for the Translation of

English Idioms based on the criteria of

faithfulness and smoothness and the

characteristics of idioms. We may put

forward four principles for the translation

of English idioms.

• E.g. “to rain cats and dogs”

• “ 下猫下狗” ,

• This is extremely nonsense to the Chinese reader who can never imagine cats and dogs are falling down from the sky when it rains. Because of its semantic unity, the idiom should be understood as a whole and translated into“ 大雨倾盆” .

• E.g. “She is a fox.” “ 她是个狐狸” .

• This translation undoubtedly transfers both the content and the form of the original. “Fox”or“ 狐狸” is a symbol of one who is cunning and greedy both in English and Chinese cultures. It can be asserted that this translation is a perfect translation.

Quite Acceptable

• However, “She is a cat.” “ 她是只猫” ??

nonsense to the Chinese reader, for the Chinese culture

does not endow the cat with any associated meaning and the sign

“cat” is simply an animal

The Chinese version offered by a dictionary is often out of context. But when we translate an English idiom, we translate it in certain context as is stated by Peter Newmark (2001:73),

“We do not translate isolated words, we translate words all more or less (and sometimes less rather than more, but never not at all) bound by their syntactic, collocational, situational, cultural and individual idiolectal contexts.”

Let’s compare the following: The two girls were once hand in glove

with each other.这俩女孩曾一度亲密无间亲如姐妹。

The traitor and the enemy were working handing in glove with each other. 卖国贼和敌人狼狈为奸。

The officials were handing in glove with him. 当官的和他穿一条裤子。

FourthlyFourthly, the translation should be concise, vivid and pleasant to the ear. Idioms are usually vivid and forceful. They read more smoothly and sound more pleasant to the ear, because they contain euphony in their word combination and strongly accented rhythms in their sentences (Yu and Guo,1999:176).That is why it becomes so easy for the common people to imitate and memorize them, and spread them far and wide. In idiom translation, the translator should try to reproduce the style of the original idioms.

To mention just a few:

• again and again 屡次三番• to call a spade a spade 直言不讳• Time and tide wait for no man. 时不待

人• to have an axe to grind 别有用心• to talk through one’s hat 胡言乱语• after one’s own heart 正中下怀• one’s hair stands on end 毛发倒竖

References The University of Birmingham & HarperCollins Publishers.

(2000). Collins Obuild English Dictionary. London ： The Author Nida, E. A. & Charles, R.T. The theory and practice of translation. Leiden: E.J. Brill 吕瑞昌等 (1983) 《汉英翻译教程》西安：陕西人民出版社 张培基等（ 1980 ）《英汉翻译教程》上海：上海外语教育出

版社 张维友 （ 2001 ）《英语词汇学教程》武汉：华中师范大学出

版社