On the Translation of Chinese Idioms from Pragmatic Failure.doc

毕业论文（设计）任务书论文题目on the translation of chinese idioms from pragmatic failure 从语用失误看汉语习语的英译学生姓名学 号专 业英 语班 级2007级班指导教师职 称起止时间2010年9月27日 至2011 年4月30日一、毕业论文（设计）的研究内容（或任务、目标）： 习语是语言词汇的重要组成部分,是一个民族的语言精华,它沉积了浓厚的历史和民族文化,是语言在长期的使用过程中形成的。习语包括形式简洁而意思精辟的固定的成语、谚语、俗语、俚语、歇后语和典故等。它的产生与文化密切相关,它不仅来源于生活,而且反应了其产生的文化背景。由于地理、历史、生活习俗、价值观念、宗教信仰等方面的差异,汉语习语承载了不同的民族文化特色和文化信息。但有些译者在进行汉语习语翻译时,因不了解汉语习语在意义和表现形式上等诸多方面的差异,而引起了语用失误,造成了交际目的的失败。所以,本文将从语用学的角度，通过列举翻译过程中的失误实例来探讨汉语习语翻译中的语用等效问题,以帮助英语学习者更好的掌握并了解汉英习语的文化差异，从而确保汉语习语翻译的顺利进行，并最终实现交际目的。二、论文进度安排：2010年9月27日开始 收集资料2010年11月13日前 完成开题报告2010年11月28日前 参加开题答辩 2011年1月3月 交论文初稿及修改论文2011年4月9日前 交论文定稿2011年5月前 参加答辩三、主要参考文献与资料：1 hichey, leo. the pragmatics of translation c. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press, 2001.2 leech, geoffrey n. principles of pragmatic m.london: longman, 1983.3 mey, jacob. pragmatics: an introduction m. beijing: foreign language teaching and research press, 2001.4 peccei, jean stilwell. pragmatics m. beijing: foreign language teaching and research press, 2000.5 thomas, jenny. cross-cultural pragmatic failure j. applied linguistics, 1983, 4 (2): 91-112.6 何兆熊 新编语用学概要m.上海：上海外语教育出版社.20007 何自然.语用学概论m.长沙:湖南教育出版社,1988.8 王德春.汉英谚语与文化m.上海:上海外语教育出版社, 1997.9 张宁.英汉习语的文化差异及翻译j.中国翻译,1999(3):6-10.指导教师签名： 年 月 日教研室意见：负责人签名： 年 月 日系审核意见：负责人签名： 年 月 日毕业论文（设计）开题报告论文题目on the translation of chinese idioms from pragmatic failure 从语用失误看汉语习语的英译学生姓名学 号专 业英 语班 级2007级班指导教师职 称一、选题的目的、意义及国内外研究动态： 目的和意义：习语是语言文化的浓缩与提炼，是文化的载体，它与传统文化密切相连，不可分割。它来源于生活，又反映了其产生的文化背景。由于地理、历史、生活习俗、价值观念、宗教信仰等方面的差异，汉语习语承载着不同的民族文化特色和文化气息，因此习语间的文化差异是多方面的。然而有些译者在进行习语翻译时，忽视了英汉语习语在意义和形式上诸多方面的差异，引起了语用失误。因此，通过对语用失误的探讨能在一定程度上帮助译者警觉在翻译过程中可能出现的语用失误，重视英汉文化差异，从而确保习语翻译的顺利进行，并最终实现交际目的。同时也能帮助学生提高翻译习语的能力，给英语教学注入新鲜血液。 国内外动态：习语是语言的精华，一直以来许多学者都对习语翻译进行过研究。笔者于2009年12月10日将“习语翻译”作为关键字输入中国期刊网，结果显示有35篇相关研究。其中大部分是从文化差异的角度来研究，比如可译性、灵活性或民族特性。相比之下，从语用失误来探讨习语翻译的不多。语用失误最先是由著名的语言学家托马斯提出来的，指表达不合适或表达方式不妥，不合目的语习惯等导致不能取得预期效果的语用、文化错误。我国学者何自然指出语用失误是指说话不合时宜的失误，或说话方式不妥，表达不合习惯等导致交际不能取得预期的效果。目前，据笔者所查阅的资料来看将语用失误与习语翻译两者相结合的研究不多，其中比较具有代表性的是吴秋兰的习语翻译中的语用对比。二、主要研究内容、创新之处：主要研究内容：本文将以语用学的理论为依据，结合习语翻译的特点，把语用失误作为切入点，通过翻译过程中的语用失误实例分析其失误的原因，并对英汉自然环境、宗教信仰、价值观念等方面的差异进行比较，以此来探讨具体翻译操作过程中的技巧和方法，以期帮助大家了解并掌握汉英习语的文化差异，从而确保汉语习语翻译的顺利进行，并最终实现交际目的。创新之处：以往的研究者们多从文化背景差异的角度分析习语的翻译，忽视了习语作为文化载体的交际作用，因此本文将从语言运用中语用失误的角度探讨汉语习语的英译。 三、研究方法、设计方案或论文提纲：研究方法：比较分析法、例证法，总结归纳法 论文提纲：i. 引言 ii. 语用失误的原因分析. 汉语习语翻译的技巧和方法3.1. 借用法3.2. 直译法3.3. 意译法3.4. 直译与意译相结合法3.5. 其它 iv. 总结四、完成期限和预期进度：2010年11月28日前 参加开题答辩 2011年1月3月 交论文初稿及修改论文2011年4月9日前 交论文定稿2011年5月前 参加答辩五、主要参考资料：1 hichey, leo. the pragmatics of translation c. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press, 2001.2 leech, geoffrey n. principles of pragmatic m.london: longman, 1983.3 mey, jacob. pragmatics: an introduction m. beijing: foreign language teaching and research press, 2001.4 peccei, jean stilwell. pragmatics m. beijing: foreign language teaching and research press, 2000.5 thomas, jenny. cross-cultural pragmatic failure j. applied linguistics, 1983, 4 (2): 91-112.6 何兆熊 新编语用学概要m.上海：上海外语教育出版社.2000.7 何自然.语用学概论m.长沙:湖南教育出版社,1988.8 王德春.汉英谚语与文化m.上海:上海外语教育出版社, 1997.六、指导教师意见：签名： 年 月 日 开 题 报 告 会 纪 要时间地点与会人员姓 名职务（职称）姓 名职务（职称）姓 名职务（职称）会议记录摘要：会议主持人：记 录 人：年 月 日教研室（或开题报告评审小组）意见：负责人签名： 年 月 日系工作小组意见：负责人签名： 年 月 日outlineabstractkey wordsi. introductionii. pragmatic failures in chinese idioms translation2.1. pragmalinguistic failures in chinese idioms translation2.2. sociopragmatic failures in chinese idioms translationiii. strategies to avoid pragmatic failures in chinese idioms translation3.1. literal translation3.2. liberal translation3.3. literal translation plus liberal translation3.4. loan translation 3.5. special treatment of complex idiomsiv. conclusion bibliography中文标题、摘要、关键词从语用失误看汉语习语的英译摘 要：习语是语言中的宝石，没有了它们，语言将变得索然无味。习语是人类智慧的结晶和人类生活的反映，是每种文化重要的组成部分，因此它们与历史、地理环境、文化和语言密切相关。在这篇论文中，首先介绍的是关于汉语习语的基本知识，比如定义、分类等，然后在分析具体语用失误例子的基础上，提出几种翻译汉语习语的技巧，包括借用法、直译法、意译法、直译与意译相结合法、以及特殊法。关键词：汉语习语；语用失误；语言语用失误；社交语用失误 on the translation of chinese idioms from pragmatic failureabstract: idioms are gems of a language, and without them, language will become tintless. idioms are the crystallization of human wit and reflection of peoples life. they are a significant component of every culture, so they have a close association with the history, geographical environment, culture and language. in this paper, some general knowledge about chinese idioms is introduced at first, such as the definition, classification of chinese idioms. then some translation examples of chinese idioms are analyzed to explore which elements could result in pragmatic failures, and based on it, five strategies are brought forward for the chinese idioms translation literal translation, liberal translation, combination of literal and liberal translation, loan translation, and special treatment of complex idioms.key words: chinese idioms; pragmatic failures; pramalinguistics; sociopragmatics i. introduction with the increase of cultural exchanges between china and english-speaking countries, as the core and essence of languages, idioms and its translation have been paid focus of attention by scholars these years. some scholars study idiom translation from the perspective of cultural differences, some scholars from nationalism, and still some from effective methods. while in this paper my attempts are made in expounding “the chinese idioms translation” from the perspective of pragmatic failure. chinese idioms are wisdom of chinese, and idioms are an important part of the language and culture of society. the typical chinese idiomatic expressions refer to “the language items which are highly bound up with culture” (吴秋兰,2007:14). chinese idioms include set phrases, common sayings, proverbs, two-part allegorical sayings and colloquialism. an appropriate use of idioms will add variety and force to ones verbal and writing communication. pragmatic failure, on the other hand, was first proposed by english jenny thomas. he defines pragmatic failure as “the inability to understand what is meant by what is said” (thomas, 1983:104). he ziran also points out that “pragmatic failures are not the general performance errors in using words or making sentences, but those mistakes which fail to fulfill communication because of infelicitous style, incompatible expressions and improper habit” (何自然,1988:23). from these definitions, we can learn that pragmatic failure occurs when the hearer fails to perceive the illocutionary force of an utterance or when the speaker fails to convey the intended illocutionary force. for instance, a british student in china had an appointment at noon, and when he was getting on his bike, a chinese student passed by. “你吃了吗?” the chinese asked, which of course, is a common chinese greeting around meal time. the british merely nodded with a smile, waved goodbye and went off, for he realized that the friends remark was nothing more than a chinese way of saying “hello”. if the greeting had been put literally into english “have you eaten yet?” it would have sound rather unusual and maybe the british might think: “is he going to invite me to have dinner?”such kind of pragmatic failures also frequently occurs in chinese idioms translations. for example, if “布衣蔬食” literally translated as “wear cotton clothes and eat vegetable food”, it maybe misleading nowadays. cotton clothes and vegetable food may be symbols of plain living in china, but they are totally different in britain, because a vegetarian diet, so far from being the poor mens monopoly, is every western doctors prescription for their overfed millionaire patients nowadays. so in order to avoid a pragmatic failure, “coarse clothes and simple fare” will be a better translation. ii. pragmatic failures in chinese idioms translationmany translators agree that the translation of idioms is one of the most complex works. alexander f. tytler maintained that “the greatest difficulty in translation is to translate idioms, and some idioms cannot be rendered at all” (tytler, 1930:5). so when translating idioms, its not easy to avoid pragmatic failures, which according to leech and thomas, can be divided into pragmalinguistic failures and sociopragmatic failures. 2.1. pragmalinguistic failures in chinese idioms translationpragmalinguistics in translation refers to “the study of pragmatic force or language use in the context from the viewpoint of linguistic sources” (thomas, 1983:100). pragmalinguistic failures happen, “when the pragmatic force mapped on to a linguistic token or structure is systematically different from that normally assigned to it by native speakers” (thomas, 1983:101). there are a lot of factors that may cause pragmalinguistic failures.first, translating the chinese idioms literally may cause pragmalinguistic failures. generally speaking, literal translation can be directly used when the images and figurative meaning are the same. however, some translators use the method of literal translation to translate chinese idioms without considering the differences of figurative meaning. for example, someone translated “人山人海” into “people mountain people sea”, which is typical chinglish, and foreign readers will be confused, because they always employ “there is a large crowd of people”. for another example, its obvious a stiff translation, if “好好学习, 天天向上” is translated into “good good study, day day up”. actually, native speakers express it by sentence such as “learn to make progress every day properly”, which is a simple and typical expression of english. as we all know, there are really a large number of idioms that cannot be interpreted literally such as “吃不了兜着走” (be in serious trouble), “穿小鞋” (to make things hard for somebody), “得陇望蜀” (the more you get , the more you want), “杞人忧天” (unnecessary anxiety), “不到黄河心不死” (refuse to give until all hope is gone), “鸡毛蒜皮”(trivialities), etc. in these idioms, metaphor is frequently used, so without the knowledge about metaphor, a translator will blind to interpret an idiom and cause pragmatic failures. second, replacing the english idioms with those seemingly equivalent chinese ones may cause pragmalinguistic failures. a chinese idiom sometimes may have a very close counterpart in the english language, which looks similar on the appearance but has a totally or partially different meaning. some inadvertent translators always easily dropped into the trap which laid by superficially identical or similar idioms, and lead to pragmalinguistic failure. for instance, a translator may be tempted to transfer the chinese idiom “拉后腿” into the english idiom “to pull somebodys leg”, but the difference between them is huge. the former means “to hold somebodys back” or “to be a hindrance to somebody”, while the latter means “to fool somebody for a joke”. for another instance, someone translated chinese set phrase “亡羊补牢” into english idiom “lock the stable after the horse has been stolen”. the two idioms look like having the same meaning at the first sight, but in fact their implications are different, with the former referring to “there is still a way to make up mistake after suffered loss”, while the latter “there is no use to regret the mistake which already made”. it is said that finding satisfactory equivalents for idioms is one of the hardest aspects of translating, because they so deeply depend on a specific social culture. so when translating chinese idioms into english, the translator should realize that he or she is dealing with an idiomatic expression typical of the chinese language. a good translation wont be formed until the chinese idiom has been recognized thoroughly.third, overlooking the implicated meaning also may cause pragmalinguistic failures. every chinese idiom has not only a literal meaning, but also a pragmatic implication. in this case, some translators who are not familiar with the chinese idiom easily accept the literal interpretation and miss the play on the pragmatic implication, which resulted in a serious loss of impact. for example, people from chinese usually use idiomatic expression “挂羊头，卖狗肉” to express the implication meaning of “in the name of helping others, while doing bad things”. however, some translators ignored the implicated meaning and translated it to “he hangs a sheeps head while sells a dogs meat”, or “he advertises mutton, but sells dogs flesh” which, i believe, foreign readers will hard to understand and will feel repugnance. and since the people from english-speaking countries have a very good relationship with dogs, and they treat dogs as their honest friends or even families, so the translation such as “cry up wine and sell vine-gar” or “say one thing and do another” will be better. each idiom bears an image and a figurative meaning. figurative meaning is the real meaning the writer or the speaker wants to express, so its much more important than image. when an idiom is being translated, the basic requirement is that its figurative meaning should be remained. so we should think it over before translating, lest those above mentioned mistakes should be made.2.2. sociopragmatic failures in chinese idioms translationsociopragmatics in translation refers to “the pragmatic studies which examine the conditions on language usage those derive from the social and cultural situation” (thomas, 1983:101). in translation, this consideration depends on the translators beliefs as well as his or her social knowledge. thomas presents two versions of apology as an example: “im sorry.” and “im absolutely devastated. can you possibly forgive me?” in both versions, the speaker apologizes, but it indexes different attitude and social relationship in each of the apologies. in chinese idioms translation, common sociopragmatic failures may caused by cultural differences between china and english speaking countries. culture is all-encompassing concept, which has at least two senses. in a narrow sense, culture means intellectual and conceptual culture. in a broad sense, it means human culture in contrast with nature, such as peoples customs, material, spiritual products, and ways of thinking and so on. as we all know, language can reflect various cultural phenomena, and translation is an intercultural activity, so that when we translate chinese idioms, we should take cultural differences into consideration. first, different customs may cause sociopragmatic failures. custom refers to generally accepted and long-established way of behavior in certain community. different countries have different customs, and sometimes the same image may have different implicative meaning for people from different cultures. for instance, “醋” means jealousy in the chinese, and there are some idioms like “醋罐子”, “醋劲大发”, while in english, its figurative meaning is “ bad temper” or “not happy”, so translators must know clearly the different customs between chinese and western countries.there are many other typical examples such as the attitude toward dragon and cattle. in chinese culture, dragon is a kind of sacred animal, which symbolizes “supremacy” and “flourishing vitality”, implying bright future, so we have set phrases “望子成龙”, “龙腾虎跃”, “龙飞凤舞”, etc. “望子成龙”, for example, if literally translated into “to expect ones son to become a dragon”, will puzzled foreign readers a lot, because in western countries, dragon is a monster, the symbol of “devil” and “evil”. also, in traditional chinese culture, “牛” is the sign of “diligence”. in ancient times, chinese farmers were engaged in farming with the help of “牛”, so in the eyes of chinese, “牛” is industrious, honest and tolerant, and people always gave love and praise to it. as a result, we have a lot of set phrases like “力大如牛”, “牛刀小试”, etc. “力大如牛”, for example, if literally translated into “as strong as a cattle” will be difficult to comprehended by english-speaking people, because in their countries, they cultivated land with the help of horses, so the better translation here maybe “as strong as a horse” . second, different living conditions may cause sociopragmatic failures, since idioms always have a close relationship with human beings work and life. most of idioms are originated from peoples daily life. for example, the people of china live in the asian continent, so there are many idioms about soil such as “挥金如土”, “土崩瓦解”, “土生土长” and so on. while britain is an island country, so a large number of their idioms are involved the image of “water”, among which “spend money like water”, “to keep ones head above water”, etc. furthermore, people from the chinese cultural background usually use the idiomatic expression “雨后春笋” to describe the rapid growth and abundant upsurge of something, which if translated to “like spring bamboo shoots after rain”, the native english readers may not fully understand. the reason is that bamboo is not an indigenous plant in britain, and the majority of british are not familiar with the living conditions of bamboo, so they are unable to figure out the essence of the literal translation of “雨后春笋”. as a result, the better translation for “雨后春笋” is “spring up like mushroom”. likewise, set phrase like “势如破竹” may not be understood by the english if