An Analysis of Culture Differences in Translation.doc

An Analysis of Culture Differences in TranslationAbstract: Culture refers to the total pattern of beliefs, customs, institutions, objects, and techniques that characterize the life of a human community. Translation is the tool of cultural communication. To some extent, the change of language is only the surface of translation, and the essence of translation is to transmit culture information. To reinforce the consideration of culture difference in translation is a very important topic for all translators. This paper mainly talks about the influence of Chinese and English culture in translation. It shows the definition of culture, language and translation, and then discusses the relationship among culture, language and translation. This paper is an attempt to illustrate how culture differences influence translation, mainly tackle the idiom, taboo and advertisement.Key words: Culture; language; translation; culture differences摘 要：一个社会的文化指的在社会中生活的人的信仰、习俗、制度、目标、技术等的总形式。翻译是文化交流的工具。从某种程度上说，语言的转换只是翻译的表层，文化信息的传递才是翻译的要点。在翻译时加强文化因素的考虑时非常重要的。本文主要讨论了中英文化差异对翻译的影响，罗列了文化，语言和翻译的定义，讨论了三者之间的关系。文章主要探讨了文化差异尤其是习语，禁忌语和广告语的差异对翻译的影响。关 键 词；文化；语言；翻译；文化差异ContentsI. Introduction.1II. How are Culture Differences Formed?.1A. Differences in living environment.1B. Differences in religion.2C. Differences in way of thinking2D. Differences in customs.3E. Differences in historic allusion3III. The Relationship among Language, Culture and Translation.3A. What is culture.3B. What is language.4C. What is translation.4D. The relationship among language, culture and translation4IV. Culture Differences in Idiom Translation.5A. Similarities5B. Differences61. Cause of living environment62. Cause of social customs.63. Cause of religion.74. Cause of historic allusion.7V. Culture differences in advertisement translation.7VI. Culture Differences in Taboo Translation9A. The similarities between Chinese and English linguistic taboo.91. In profanities.92. In terms concerning disease, death and physical disability.103. In terms concerning parts or excretion of the body.10B. The differences between Chinese and English linguistic taboo.101. In subject.102. In numbers.11VII. Conclusion.12 Works Cited.13I. IntroductionIt is quite safe to say that any country in the world has its own glorious and specific culture. From culture, we can learn about the beliefs, customs, values, behaviors, institutionsand communication patterns a group of people share. Human culture can not exist without a means of symbolic communication. In order to understand the significance of a message from someone, we need to understand the way that person looks at the world, and the values that weigh heavily in that persons cultural backpack. Language is an indispensable carrier of culture, it gives people a tool of communication with the member of another culture. The language used by a speech community is closely related to the culture of that community. Every language is part of a culture, and it serves and reflects cultural needs. Obviously, if we want to learn a foreign language well, it is not enough for us to master its pronunciation, grammar; we also have to learn the native speakers culture. Translation, in its narrow sense, is an inter-lingual communication activity. However, such inter-lingual communication extends far beyond the structure of linguistic similarities and contrasts. One reason is that some words translations depend on the culture of the language community. Therefore, translating from one language into another can not be done satisfactory without adequate knowledge of the two cultures involved. It must be restricted by culture. So we should allow the great importance of cultural factors in translating in mind. The cultural differences in translating are more significant than the purely linguistic differences. Translation is an inter-lingual and intercultural activity. The translators should take the culture factors while in determining the meaning of words. How are Culture Differences FormedA. Differences in living environment1. European living environmentBritain is an island country surrounded by the sea. It lies in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north coast of Europe, navigation industry and fishery occupies the important status in Britain's economic life. Therefore, the British have produced a large number of idioms related to navigation and fishing. For example, spend money like water means “spends money wasting, wasteful”; “Go by the board” shows (arranges) to fail, (plan) fails ; “Burn one's boats” , likens “cuts off all means of retreat and gives up the route of retreat by oneself”; “All at sea” shows the meaning of “at a loss” .2. Chinese living environmentChina is the land country. It is an agricultural country with a long history, and there are a lot of idioms related to this. For instance “problems can easily be solved when the conditions are ripe”, “pull the grass up by its roots”, “plant melons and you get melons, sow beans and you get beans”, etc.B. Differences in religion1. European religionMost European believe in Christianity. They agree with the view it is God that make the world and all the things go is under Gods control. There are many festivals about it. Christmas Day, which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, is the biggest and the best loved holiday in the United States. Easter Sunday is the second of the two most important religious holidays for Christians. Some idioms mainly relate to Christianity in English, for instance: “In the right church, but in the wrong pew” (have entered the church correctly, but the chair has sat by mistake, it is generally speaking right to liken, but wrong on the detail), “go to hell”, etc.2. Chinese religionOur country is a polytheism country. Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism are Chinese most profound religions. Taoisms Jade Emperor, Buddhisms Yama, Myths Dragon King are Chinese traditional cultural figures. It is the most influential among them with Buddhism particularly, so the idiom in Chinese mainly comes from Buddhism, relate to Buddha, temple, Buddhist monk, etc.C. Differences in way of thinking1. European thinking wayThe most important value in Anglo-American culture is personal freedom, which regards individual as basic unit, and put stress on everyone born equal. Also, European believe only by ones own hard work, can he be successful. As some saying go “God helps those that help themselves”, “self is our centre”, “life is a battle”.2. Chinese thinking wayChinese culture can be said as “our culture”, “collective culture”. Its core is loyalty and filial piety. For example, Chinese always say “All within the Four Seas are brothers(四海之内皆兄弟)”, “Great trees are good for nothing but shade（大树底下好乘凉）”. Chinese emphasis humanities, ethics, intuition, perception and harmony. While English stress nature, logic, change, competition, science and technology.D. Differences in customsThere are many differences in social customs between Chinese and English languages. The most obvious is the attitudes towards dogs. We can find the following idioms like: “狐朋狗党”, “gang of scoundrels”, “狗眼看人低”. In English idioms, the dogs image is often used to indicate human characteristics: “luck dog”, “幸运儿”, “every dog has his day” , “凡人皆有得意时”.E. Differences in historic allusionThere are some differences in historic allusion between Chinese and Western culture. We could not try out the meaning from individual parts of the idioms, such as “Pandoras box”, “Achilesheell”, “Penelope sweb” and so on. For Chinese, they must be familiar with “wangyangbulao(亡羊补牢)” , “yanerdaoling(掩耳盗铃)” , “huashetianzu(画蛇添足)” . The Relationship among Language, Culture and TranslationA. What is culture“On the whole, it is used to refer to the total pattern of human learned behavior transmitted from one generation to another. The manifestations of this pattern may include the ideas, skills, arts, tools, ways of life, etc. of a certain people. Any particular language is a form of learned behavior and therefore part of the culture.”(Yang Xinzhang 1) From above we know that culture has been given many definitions. A communitys culture refers to the total pattern of beliefs, customs, institutions, objects, and techniques that characterize the life of a human community. Davis, Linell state that culture is like the water a fish swims in. For most people, they are swimming in the water, but they cant describe the water even if they want to. B. What is language?We use language in most of our daily life, we can feel the existence of language everywhere. Language, as the expression of culture, separates us from other animals and makes us human. But what is language? “language is a means of verbal communication. It is instrumental in that communication by speaking or writing is a purposeful act”. (Hu 3) Websters New World Dictionary offers several most frequently used senses of the word “language”, namely, 1 (a) human speech; (b)the ability to communicate by this means; (c) a system of vocal sounds and combinations of such sounds to which meaning is attributed, used for the expression or communication of thoughts and feelings; (d)a the written representation of such a system ;2 (a)any means of expressing or communicating, as gestures, signs , or animal sounds; (b) a special set of symbols, letters, numerals, rules etc .used for the transmission of information, as in a computer;(p.759) C. What is translationTranslation is a kind of cross-cultural communication via language as a medium. In China, there are two kinds of views on translation: one regards translation as an art; the other regards it as a science. Eugene A. Nida and Charles R. Taber(1982:12) state that “Translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.” In Websters Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, the definition of “translation” is given like this “to turn into ones own or another language.” D. The relationship among language, culture and translation.Language is the primary means by which a culture transmits its beliefs, values and norms. It gives people a means of interacting with other members of the culture and a means of thinking. Culture and language are intertwined and are shaping each other. It is impossible to separate the two. So it is easy to make a conclusion that language is both the production and cattier of culture. “The relationship between language and culture is also distinctive in the work of Edward Sapir. Even though Sapir is brought to believe that language and culture are not intrinsically associated, he believes that language and our thought-grooves are too much involved as to be impossible to untie each other”(Yang Xinzhang 211).The study of the relations between translation and language is the eternal of translation studies, which depends on the nature and characteristics of translation itself, because translation achieves its goal of cross-cultural communication through the transformation of languages.Translation is the tool of cultural communication. Nowadays, more and more people begin to realize that translation is not only the Interlingua change, but also the culture change. To some extent, the change of language is only the surface of translation; the essence of translation is to transmit culture information. If one isnt conscious of culture, he may merely deal with how to change the English words into Chinese. And the ignorance of culture problems may lead to unessential mistakes. So the culture difference is as same as language difference, which can be the barrier in communication. Culture Differences in Idiom Proverbs, which derive from life, are the condensation and embodiment of the language and culture of a nation. They can reflect geography, history, and customs of a nation. So it is necessary to study a nation's proverbs when we try to study its culture. English and Chinese proverbs, being treasures of two different languages, see distinct differences resulted from cultural differences. Therefore, how to faithfully translate idiom from a culture to another culture is responsibility for every translator. A. Similarities Both Chinese and Britain have a long-time history, both countries have the similar experience and thought. During the communication of the two countries, cultures are interacting. This made some idioms have the same or similar culture characteristic: “Every man has his weak side”. In this idiom, we see that it is translated into English directly. “每个人” is translated into “every man”, while “他的” is “his” and “弱点” is “weak side”. Lets see more examples:“Good advice is beyond all prices”. “好的建议是无价之宝”。A good book is a good friend. “一本好书就是一个好朋友”。Fact speaks louder than words. “事实胜于雄辩”。A bird in the land is worth than two in the bush. “一鸟在手胜过双鸟在林”。In such condition, we could use the source language to translate the target language directly. (Feng 135)B. DifferencesIt is an acknowledged that Chinese and English cultures are totally different. So in translation, one shouldnt merely do a word-by-word or sentence-by-sentence job. Instead, he should try to understand what is implied by analyzing its microscope circumstance in order to express the information of original works exactly.1. Cause of living environmentBritain, as an island country, its culture relates to the sea. So many English idioms are related to the sea life. “A sea of trouble（无穷的麻烦）”, “like a fish out of water（如鱼离水，感到生疏）”, “feel the fishes（葬身鱼腹；晕船）”, “at sea（茫然，不知所措）”.China is a typical agricultural country and has a large population involved in agriculture. So there are many idioms about agriculture: “As a man sows, so he shall reap.（种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆。）” “A single flower doesnt make a spring.（一花独放不是春，百花齐放春满园。）.” “Follow the vine to get the melon.（顺藤摸瓜）”.