On Cultural Elements in Literary Translation 英语专业毕业论文.doc

on cultural elements in literary translationabstractlanguage is an integrated part of culture. as is known, there are lots of languages in the world. so there are lots of different cultures. in translation cultural elements usually pose a problem for translators. it is indispensable to attach importance to cultural elements in literary translation. the culture is very important for literary translation. the role of language within a culture, the influence of the culture on language are so pervasive that scarcely any text can be adequately understood without careful consideration of its cultural background.to sum up, languages do not operate in isolation but within and as part of cultures; cultures differ from each other in various ways and there is by no means a one-to-one relation of exact lexical equivalence between their languages in most cases. translators have to transmit special cultural qualities from one language to another through a multi-pronged approach. from this perspective it is necessary for them to possess cross-cultural consciousness. key words: translation, language, culture, cultural elements i摘 要语言是文化的综合部分。我们都知道，世界上有许多种语言，所以自然有许多种不同文化。翻译过程中，文化通常是翻译程序的一个重要要素。它是翻译的基础，它能够改善文化体制，它从各个方面反映当今的社会现象。因此，翻译必须受到语言的限制，翻译的综合反映就是语言的精髓。语言对文化的影响渗透到各个方面，所以必须充分了解文化背景才能足够地理解本文。从这个透视中，他们拥有交叉文化的意识是必要的，他们必须从语言的要素去彻底把握翻译的结构以及它的理论基础。总之，语言不能孤立存在，它是文化的一个部分。在一般情况下，它们的语言是均等的，但不是一对一的关系。所以，翻译者不得不用细微的方法，把一种语言转化为专门的文化质数。关键词：翻译；语言；文化；文化要素contentsabstracticontentsiiiintroduction 11. language and culture 1 1.1 the definition of language and culture1 1.2 the relation of language and culture22. translation and culture 4 2.1 the importance of culture for translation 5 2.2 the influence of culture on translation63. cultural elements 7 3.1 social element7 3.2 the religious and ideological elements8 3.3 geographical and environmental elements10conclusion 11bibliography12acknowledgements introduction translation has played a significant role in the communication among nations since antiquity. as is known, there are quite a lot of languages in the world and nobody can know all of them. thus translators are required to function as intermediaries in cross -national and cross-cultural exchanges. translation is an art, a bilingual art. like painting, translation enables us to reproduce the fine thought of somebody, not in colors, but in words of a different language. it is indispensable to attach importance to cultural elements in literary translation. just as eugene a. nida says, the role of language within a culture and the influence of the culture on language are so pervasive that scarcely any text can be adequately understood without careful consideration of its cultural background. this paper is supposed to interpret the close relations among language, culture and translation as well as explain some aspects of cultural elements in literary translation. 1. language and culture 1.1 the definition of language and cultureto illustrate the relationship between language and culture is worthwhile to start by giving the definitions of them. many linguists have agreed to accept the view that language is, in essence, a system of symbols designed for the purpose of human communication. according to ji xianlin, a famous chinese scholar, there exist more than 500 definitions about culture, from which we can know that culture is not easy to define. the classic definition of it is provided by the 19th-century english anthropologist edward burnett tylor: culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. eugene a. nida defines it in a simplistic manner as the totality of the beliefs and practices of a society. in a broad sense, it usually refers to the totality of material culture and spiritual culture. 1.2 the relation of language and culturelanguage and culture are closely related in that they are mutually necessary: language can exist and develop only in a social setting while culture may be maintained and conveyed only through language; in a sense, language is part of and medium of culture. particular structures of language may reflect to a certain degree the way people think. different people think differently because their language offers them different ways of expressing the world around them. on the other hand, differences in culture may mean differences in language. it is advisable to be aware that words have meanings only in terms of corresponding culture. when a culture experiences radical changes the vocabulary also undergoes relevant alterations. to some extent culture influences what people think and express. moreover, it makes constant use of language to perform its crucial functions such as emotive and aesthetic ones. claire kramsch, professor of german and foreign language acquisition at the university of california at berkeley, thinks that language is the principal means whereby we conduct our social lives; when it is used in context of communication it is bound up with culture in multiple and complex ways. to his mind, language expresses, embodies and symbolizes cultural reality. particular meanings are adopted by a social group and imposed in turn on its members. for instance, a bouquet of roses is accepted as expressing love and chrysanthemums are reserved for the dead in many countries. it would be controversial for individuals to express their own particular love or mourning without resorting to the symbols the society generally recognizes. from this perspective, it is proper to say that social conventions and norms of social appropriateness are the product of societies of language users. people who identify themselves as members of a social group acquire common ways of viewing the world through their interactions with other members of the same group, which is reflected in the way they use language -what they choose to say or not to say and how they say it. if individuals of different languages do not understand each other, it is not because their languages can not be mutually translated, but because they dont share the same way of viewing and interpreting events and they dont agree on the meaning behind the words. culture is heterogeneous, not homogeneous. members of the same social group have different biographies and life experiences so that they may differ in age, gender, ethnicity, opinions, etc. in addition, culture is constantly changing as we can see from the difficulty many contemporary readers have with ancient poetry. language is intimately linked not only to the culture that is and the culture that was, but also the culture of imagination that governs peoples decisions and actions. 2. translation and culture in encyclopedia britannica, translation is defined as the act or process of rendering what is expressed in one language or set of symbols by means of another language or set of symbols. involving the transposition of thoughts expressed by one social group into the appropriate expression of another group, it entails a process of cultural de -coding, re -coding and en -coding. peter newmark holds that frequently where there is cultural focus there is a translation problem due to the cultural “gap” or “distance” between the source and target languages. the process of transmitting cultural elements is a complicated and vital task. since cultural meanings are intricately woven into the texture of language it is imperative for translators to possess cross -cultural consciousness. caught between the need to capture the local color and to be understood by the audience outside the cultural situation, translators have to be aware of two cultures. one of the main goals of translating is to initiate the target -language audience into the sensibilities of the source -language culture. 2.1 the importance of culture for translationchristiane nord explains in translating as a purposeful activity: functionalist approaches explained (shanghai, 2001) that translators interpret source -culture phenomenon in the light of their own culture -specific knowledge of that culture, depending on whether the translation is from or into the translators native language and culture. to her mind, in the case of a translation, the translator is a real receiver of the source text who then proceeds to inform another audience, located in a situation under target -culture conditions, about the offer of information made by the source text. the translator offers this new audience a target text whose composition is, of course, guided by the translators assumptions about their needs, expectation, previous knowledge and so on. these assumptions will obviously be different from those made by the original author, because source -text addressees and target -text addressees belong to different cultures and language communities. this means the translator cannot offer the same amount and kind of information as the source -text producer. what the translator does is offer another kind of information in another form. for truly successful translating, biculturalism is even more important than bilingualism, since words have meanings just in terms of corresponding culture. only by being in the countries where a foreign language is spoken can one acquire the necessary sensitivity to special meanings of words and phrases. for example, in some parts of latin america the spanish word “huahua” means “baby”, and in others “bus”. people become so accustomed to their own ways of doing things that they cannot conceive of other people accomplishing the same purposes by quite different actions. many people knock on doors to make their presence known, but in some parts of the world people may call the names of the occupants or they may cough or clap their hands. 2.2 the influence of culture on translationhowever, as cultures are increasingly brought into greater contact with one another, multiculturalism should be paid attention. translators are not just dealing with words written in a certain time, space and social situation; rather, it is the “cultural” aspect of the text that should be taken into account. multiculturalism, which is a present -day phenomenon, plays a role here, because it has had an impact on almost all peoples worldwide as well as on the international relations emerging from the current new world order. furthermore, as a result of rapidly growing technology, nations and their cultures have started a merging process. barriers are disappearing and distinctions are being lost. the sharp outlines that were once distinctive now fade and become blurred. 3. cultural elements translators are faced with an alien culture that requires its message to be conveyed in a proper way. cultural words, proverbs and idiomatic expressions, whose origin and use are uniquely bound to the culture concerned, are hard to deal with. successful translation will depend on the understanding of culture they are working with. culture is a complex collection of experiences that are correlated with history, society, religion, tradition, custom, geographical elements and so on. people from one culture may or may not understand those from another. here translators are expected to build a bridge between them. 3.1 social elementsevery nation has its own history and it in turn exerts influence on its language and culture. in the course of history, language and culture have been experiencing a process of absorbing the fine and discarding the obsolete, resulting in the enrichment of them. some historic events and persons as well as typical characters and stories of epoch -making classics are granted special meanings and added to the vocabulary of language or the context of culture. the bible, shakespeares plays, greek and roman legends are extremely influential in the western culture. in china, doue, created by the noted ancient playwright guan hanqing, is usually used to represent those wronged. people of a different culture may be unable to understand and wonder who she is. in this case translators have to explain in the notes, making it understandable. as a matter of fact, due to the contributions of translators some historical or cultural terms of one culture have been borrowed by language of a different culture. for example, napoleons defeat in the battle of waterloo is often employed by many chinese people to symbolize failure; the story of romeo and juliet described by shakespeare are known around the world as love tragedy. social elements play a part in the language and culture of a nation. chinese people attach much importance to family relationship. there are quite a lot of words for different family members and relatives in chinese while in english there exist much fewer ones. and in the indian culture people show respect to their elders by addressing them in plural. translating names is worth careful consideration too. a name is a linguistic cultural element and an author usually uses it for its associative value. if a single objects, a persons, or a places name already has an accepted translation it should be adhered to. 3.2 the religious and ideological elementsbesides, the important role of religion and ideology cannot be ignored in the culture of a nation. religion is a worldwide phenomenon that has played a part in all human culture. an adequate understanding of it must take into consideration its distinctive qualities and patterns as a form of human experience as well as the similarities and differences in religions across human cultures. religious elements, myths, legends and the like are major components of any culture. they present major problems in translating a text. this sensitive issue demands translators full attention. needless to say, most western people believe in christianity while chinese people are greatly influenced by buddhism, taoism and confucius thought. in addition, custom, tradition, beliefs and feelings differ from culture to culture. this can be demonstrated by greetings between people. english people usually greet each other by saying “hello”, “good morning”, “how are you” and so forth while chinese people using “where are you going”, and so on. in a christian marriage the exchange of kisses is part of the ceremony but in an indian context “have you had dinner” this would be totally inappropriate. what is considered a good omen, whether an event, an animal or a bird, may not symbolize the same thing in another. chinese people take dragons for the great while in the west they stand for the evil. dogs are favorite pets of american people and expressions concerned are generally complimentary. by contrast, in china dog -related expressions are always derogatory. the white color may represent purity and black evil in one culture, but it may not be the same in another. moreover, food and clothing also count in the culture of a nation. regarding food habits, the very flavor behind a food or its significance is untranslatable to an audience who has never heard of or tasted it. for instance, certain foods are prepared only during certain festivals and such foods remind people of the season or some religious story. but this is not experienced by an audience of a different culture. people in the northern part of china always eat jiaozi during the spring festival. dress code or ornaments used and the symbolism behind them also pose a problem for a translator. in india some of the ornaments are meant for a woman whose husband is alive and a widow has certain restrictions. this idea of widowhood is non -existent in other countries. 3.3 geographical and environmental elementslastly, geographical and environmental elements are also part of culture. for instance, snow is a part of the eskimos life. there are over twenty words to identify different kinds of snow in their language. china is situated to the west of the pacific ocean while europe is located to the east of the atlantic ocean so chinese people use east wind whereas english people employ west wind to symbolize the coming of spring. the great british poet shelley wrote ode to the west wind to express his confidence in the future. “if winter comes, can spring be far behind?” in the poem is now well known worldwide. conclusion to sum up, languages do not operate in isolation but within and as part of cultures; cultures differ from each other in various ways and there is by no means a one -to -one relation of exact lexical equivalence between their languages in most cases. translators have to transmit special cultural qualities from one language to another through a multi -pronged approach. translation