Understanding English and Chinese Idioms from a Cultural Perspective.doc

understanding english and chinese idioms from a cultural perspective1. introductionevery language in this world has a great many of idioms, especially those highly developed tongue. idioms consist of set phrases and short sentences, which are peculiar to the language in question and steeped in the national and regional culture and ideas, thus being colorful, forcible and thought-provoking. (zhang weiyou, 2011, p181) its believed that foreign language learners learn not only language, but also the culture in which language shapes and develops. the process of receiving a language is also the process of acquiring the culture related since they affect each other so deeply and widely.english and chinese, as two of most highly developed languages in the world, definitely contains abound idioms. britain and china which once have contributed a lot to world civilization and caused a tremendous impact to the whole world are absolutely representatives of western culture and orientals. culture means the customs, institutions, objects, techniques, organizations，family patterns and political systems that characterize the life of a human community，which are explicit(dai lisheng, 2009)a better understanding of english culture would help people learn a language better. idioms as an important part of language, is intimately bound up with culture.2. definition of idiomsaccording to oxford advanced learners english-chinese dictionary, an idiom is a group of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of individual words. idioms are expressions that are not readily understandable from their literal meanings of individual constitutes, and in a broad sense, it includes colloquialisms, catchphrases, slang expressions, proverbs, etc. correspondingly, chinese has similar terms such as “成语”(chengyu) which in current chinese dictionary is defined as phrases or short sentences that have been accustomed used and consist of a certain number of characters, brief and profound, “歇后语”(a two-part allegorical saying) which refers to a riddle-like sentence composing of two separate parts, and “谚语”(proverb), a simple sentence, widely used, easily understood and profound truth contained.3. cultural differences reflected in the english and chinese idiomsidioms are shaped in a community after a long periods living of the local people, and it is the reflection and expression of the culture of a certain race, because of this, the differences on geography, history, custom and living habits will be reflected in the word-using in idioms (yang chunli, 2010). britain and china both have its own culture characteristics. the development of a nations culture to a great extend is also the process of a language shapes. idioms as an important part of the language are deeply affected by the culture, including historical background, religion belief and social customs.3.1 differences in historical backgroundhistory, from whatever aspect is a vast treasure since it records a nations development. britain and china are two counties having long history and that result in the significance difference of these two languages.firstly, britain is a coastal country whose development is obviously affected by ocean culture whereas china is an agricultural country so that most chinese idioms are related to agriculture. for example, people use “drink like a fish” to describe somebody excessive amounts of alcohol in english while “牛饮” in chinese; the idiom “ spend money like water” is used to describe somebody spends money in great quantities while “挥金如土” in chinese. there are a lot of similar examples such as “a drop in the ocean” and “九牛一毛”. secondly, allusions are idioms related to history stories. britain and china are countries with long history, resulting which english idioms are different from chinese. most english idioms allusions from bible or greek and roman mythology whereas chinese originate from historical records such as shih chi, anthology such as the book of sons(诗经), literature works such like the peony pavilion(牡丹亭), folktales like liang shanbo and zhu yingtai. for instance, in english, there are idioms like achilles heel, rest on ones laurels, swan song, labor of sisyphus, and so forth; in chinese, there are 名列前茅(come out in front), 三顾茅庐(repeatedly to request somebody to take up a responsible post), 才高八斗(to describe a man of great talent), and so on.3.2 different in religion beliefreligion belief is one of the most important of a nations culture. most english countries believe in christianity and in most of the westerners opinion, the world is created, ruled by god, everything is under his control and everyone should worship him, love him, and believe in him. correspondingly, bible is the holy law of peoples behavior that everyone should obey. the belief in christianity and worship to god generate many idioms which come from bible or concern with christianity, their faith, just as the following: as poor as a church mouse, aarons serpent, apple of sodom beat swords into plowshares.chinese, however, believe in buddhism or taoism, which impacts the formation of idioms. buddhism emphasizes that in this world, everything, everybody are equal and people should help each other turn to good and enjoy happiness. buddha, according to chinese, represents love and mercy so that buddha, in chinese idioms, are always combined with hope, help, good luck and praise, for example, 借花献佛(offer presents provided by somebody else), 放下屠刀，立地成佛(the butcher who lays down his knife and he immediately becomes a buddha which means that the moment a person throw his evil thought away, he steps toward good and would be a good person), 临时抱佛脚(seek help at the last moment), 佛口蛇心(to describe a person with honey words but evil intent).3.3 different in social customslanguage is shaped during peoples daily life and social customs have a great influence on idioms. there are many aspects reflecting the distinct differences between english and chinese social customs.ranking the first on this list is peoples attitude toward animals. there are two typical examples, dog and dragon. in britain and many english countries, dog is their humans friend representing loyalty, but in china, dog is connected with derogatory and pejorative sense. these two absolutely different attitudes can be figured out from the idioms of these two languages, and the following are evidence: every dog has its day; be top dog; love me, love my dog; lucky dog, etc. 狐朋狗友(disreputable gang, a group of people doing evil things together); 狗吠非主( the dog barks at a man who is not his master; to describe a person fawn upon the rich and powerful persons and do some evil); 狗苟蝇营(seek personal gain shamelessly). another good example is the view of dragon. in british opinion, dragon is a monster with a lot of evil deeds like watching princess, breathing fire, even killing people. many idioms about dragon are associated with bad or even terrible things like chase the dragon; dragons teeth; the old dragon, etc. . but in the light of chinese view, dragon is symbol of power, idioms contain the character of “龙”(dragon) usually express peoples good wishes such as 龙凤呈祥(the dragon and the phoenix bring prosperity, implying in extremely good fortune); 望子成龙(hope the son will be a dragon, indicating that hoping ones children will have a bright future); 藏龙卧虎(hidden dragons and crouched tigers, suggesting a place where talented and able men still remained in concealment)the second one is the feeling towards colors, among which red is one of the best proof. red, in western countries, is always considered danger and admonition and used for traffic signs and sometimes it implies someone is in debt (ni wanhui, 2009). there are many english idioms containing “red” expressing negative sense. for example, red in tooth and claw, a red rag to a bull, see red, as red as a beetroot, etc. . another element having great influence on idioms is the diet. its well known that westerners main food is bread while chinese rice. so, “bread” and “rice(米)” are respectively two words appearing in idioms of these two languages. in english, there are idioms like “bread and wine”, “make ones bread”, “bread and butter on both sides”, and so forth while in chinese, 米珠薪桂(rice is as expensive as pearls and firewood as dear as cassia. it means the cost of living is pretty high.); 巧妇难为无米之炊 (even a clever housewife cannot cook without rice. it means that nothing can be done without necessity).4. conclusionidioms are great treasure to a language, to human beings as they reflect not only language itself, but also a nations history, religion belief, social custom and many other cultural