The Different Translations of Loong under the Background of Chinese and Western Cultures在中西方文化背景中对龙的不同阐释.doc

在中西方文化背景中对龙的不同阐释4235The Different Translations of Loong under the Background of Chinese and Western CulturesContentsAbstractIKey WordsI摘 要II关键词IIIntroduction1The Differences between Chinese Word Long and English Word Dragon2ALoong in China2B Dragon in Western Countries3C Comparison between Long and Dragon5Some Problems in Translation5A Illustration of the Wrong Translation of Long6BMisunderstandings Caused by the Wrong Translation7The Right Way of English Translation of Long9A Some Theories in Translation9B One Way of Translating into long9C Another Way of Translating into Loong10Conclusion12Acknowledgements14Bibliography15AbstractChinese people are proud of Chinese word long from ancient times till now which is the symbol of auspiciousness and authority But in Western peoples eyes the English word dragon is the symbol of devil and bugbear So long and dragon are quite different But in English-Chinese or Chinese-English translations the two words are often translated into each other The translations ignore the differences between Chinese and Western culture and cause cultural misunderstanding So how to translate Chinese word long into English becomes a serious problem It is a good way to translate them from the differences between long and dragon from the relation between characteristics of Chinese language and English languageKey Words:Cultural differences dragon long Loong translation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: 文化差异dragon 龙Loong翻译IntroductionIt is well-known that there are many differences between Chinese 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 serves as the communicational way between different nations And people also have begun to notice the misunderstandings caused by translations Especially culture-loaded words which stand for every nations culture and spirit are translated carelessly Then misunderstandings spread and expand Taking Chinese 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 Because of the translation from long to dragon great misunderstanding exists between Chinese peoples and western peoples mindsThe Differences between Chinese Word Long and English Word DragonThere are many differences between Chinese culture and western culture Therefore there are many differences between Chinese word long and English word dragonLong 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 Chinese people in ancient times admired long though it is just an imaginary animal in the legend In China long is attached to a plenty of commendatory cultural meanings Since the ancient times long has been regarded by Chinese people as the incarnation of their ancestor Consequently they like to think themselves as the offspring of long Hence long has been regarded as the symbol of China and Chinese 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 Chinese 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 supposed to bring good luck as an auspicious creature In the phrase wang zi cheng longlong means a successful person with pretigeIn Modern Chinese Dictionarylong 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 second meaning is the head of animals which can be black or bright can be slender or coarse can be short or long flying to the sky in spring and diving in the sea 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 Chinese Dictionary it also refers to the emperor in the feudal society of china It is recorded before Jie Zitui who is a Chinese 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 represents emperorLong can be regarded as imagery of heroes and wise persons There is a record in the old text The Stories of Three Countrieswhich 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 longwhich means that Zhuge Liang s wisdom and talent were buried Besides there is another phrase long pan feng yi in ancient records to demonstrate wise persons who are not known by most people Long in the ancient times also meant noble steedIn modern Chinese long in some phrases has lost its original meaning and got meanings of trope Such as the phrase shui long tou which looks like long The phrase yi tiao long is not a real long but series of good methods or ways Besides long juan feng and che shui ma long all mean tropeB Dragon in Western CountriesThe 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 several stories of saints or heroes dealing with the struggles against such monsters which in most cases are killed in the end The most notable story perhaps is the story of Beowulf An Anglo-Saxon epic around the year of 700AD tells how the hero Beowulf defeats a monster called Grandel but he is eventually mortally wounded during the process of slaying a dragonLi Zuowen page 852005 Dragon is the symbol of devil which can be seen in many western films For example in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire there is a cruel characterdragon 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 whose 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 because the figure has a half of heat from dragon he becomes a very rude person At last he gets his nemesis From these films dragon is well known to appear with a cruel image Western films can reflect western cultures Of course the characters in their films can reflect directors opinions The image of dragon in the films is the reflection of dragon in western legendIn 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 seven heads and ten horns and seven 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 serpent 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 represented 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 hugeWhen the dragon is used to refer to a person especially a woman it is always in pejorative sense 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 muchSo 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 phrase chase the dragon dragon means drug which can make people crazy and go to deathC Comparison between Long and DragonAccording 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 wise people 4 something that like the appearance of long 5 noble steed 6 constellation 7 a surname of Chinese people Yang Zijian page 27 2006 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 Poems it is said that you will trample the dragon under the feet So dragon is regarded as devil especially standing for gent in middle ageIn Chinese legend Emperor Huang laid the foundation of Chinese civilization and he was admired by his offspring Later he flied to the sky on the longwhich was sent by the God to welcome him Therefore the emperors in China after him name themselves real longChinese word long has much more meanings than dragon And meanings of long are fine while dragon mostly means bad thingsSome Problems in TranslationThere are many problems in Chinese-English and English-Chinese translations between long and dragon which cause many misunderstandings between different nationsA Illustration of the Wrong Translation of LongThere are many Chinese phrases with the word long When they are translated into English their meanings change a lot For example Chinese phrase long zhou are translated into English phrase as dragon boat Every Chinese person knows that rowing long boat is an activity in honor of Qu Yuan who was a famous Chinese poet Because the shape of boat looks like long we call it long boat Boat Festival is a happy day in China so long boat has the propitious and happy meaning In the phrase dragon boat dragon is a kind of bugbear As a result dragon boat is very ugly and strange in westerners eyes They may wonder why Chinese people like dragon boat And they cannot figure out the happy atmosphere when Chinese people row the boat Such translation cannot make westerners understand Chinese traditional culture so those two sides of communication cannot go on wellLong feng cheng xiang is translated into English phrase as dragon and phoenix bringing in prosperity This translation makes westerners confused They may think dragon is a bugbear and evil and why devil can bring in prosperity Long de chuan ren this Chinese phrase is the name that Chinese people regard them as But when it is translated into English it becomes offspring of the dragon Do Chinese people become offspring of devil How absurd misunderstanding Is Chinese persons image like thisIn different kinds of English-Chinese or Chinese-English dictionaries there are also many mistakes about the explanation of long and dragon There are some examples as followsIn Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English with Chinese Translation it is explained like this dragon n fabulous creature like a crocodile or snake often with wings and claws able to breathe out fire often guarding a treasure Colloq fierceIn A New English-Chinese Dictionary it is explained like this dragon n long xiong bao de ren yan li de renIn Longman English-Chinese Dictionary of Contemporary English it is explained as follows dragon com imaginary fire-breathing animal in childrens stories long2a fierce older woman esp one who allows too little freedom to ayoung girl in her chargeIn A Modern Chinese-English Dictionary it is explained as follows Long a kind of animal in the legendIn EnglishChinese translations dragon is all explained long and in Chinese English translations long is translated into dragon It is not difficult to find that the improper translations have gone deep into everyones mind The misunderstanding caused by it is very obvious In Chinese dictionaries long is a kind of supernatural animal which has antennae and whiskers It can make it rain as people wish But in Dictionary of English with Chinese Translation dragon is an imaginary fire-breathing animal however it is explained by Chinese word long This is very contradictive BMisunderstandings Caused by the Wrong TranslationThe improper translation exists in different parts of life The wrong translation make Chinese people face a lot of difficulties Some Chinese students who study in European countries are laughed by westerners when they introduce their nation is a country of dragon Though it is just a word it has hurt the feelings between Chinese and western people Words are also languages in some extents What is a language It refers to the culture of one country and can embody personality of one country So languages in different countries are different though they have something in common If using Chinese dragon for long western people maybe give the differences between dragon and Chinese dragon but they still can not imagine what Chinese dragon is like The translation cannot embody the characteristics of long There are also many other misunderstandings For example Chinese phrase wang zi cheng long means longing to ones son successful If some people translate it into longing to ones son to be a dragon western people will think why Chinese people want their children to be a cruel person The bad impression of dragon in western peoples eyes is deep for a long time It is very difficult to let them accept it Chinese emperors regarded them as long They are very proud of it Long means authority in their minds The emperors can