A Comparative Study of Color Words in English and Chinese.doc

a comparative study of color words in english and chinesei. introductionevery language has a kind of words for color. that is what color words we call. there are more than 7 millions colors in the world. the colorful nature offers human beings a more interesting living place, otherwise a dull world. due to different geographical location, culture and tradition, different nations have different feelings and ideas about colors although they may share some common points on colors. words have basic meaning and sometimes they are used in their other meanings, something deeper than its basic concept. in my view, culture connotation of colorful words reflects to a certain extent the culture and psychology of a certain nation. therefore, to have a contrast study on colorful words is necessary. in this way we may get a deep insight in a different culture so that we can express our thoughts more exactly and avoid any possible errors and misunderstandings in communication with people from other parts of the world.however, even though chinese and english nations have a nearly same understanding to natural colors, their distinguished cultural backgrounds cause them to have different feeling about the associative meaning, implication, and allusion of colors. there are so many factors: custom, geographical condition, way of thinking, religious belief, and national psychology, as well as the difference of language expression. people have different emotion to color, in commendation or derogatory sense. all these factors form different colorful connotation with their own characteristic.while doing translation work, we have to be sure that we know what people truly mean by using these words at different place, time, with different attachment or even with different tones. in different languages, color words have different meanings. since english and chinese belong to different families of language, as to the same color words, they have some similarities and differences. affected by specific feature of language and culture, people have different reflections to colors and consequently the words of colors in both languages carry the different meanings, to the same color words, there are different understanding and usages between chinese and english culture. therefore, it is practically useful to know and study the differences, thus improving the cultural communication and get well in translation practices. so when translating the color words, we should pay more attention to the symbolic significance of color words, avoid misinterpret words through taking them too literally. ii. basic symbolisms of color wordsbecause the chinese and english people are under different historical and cultural background, color words are of different connotations:a. black and whitein western culture, black and white symbolizes darkness and brightness. in the bible, black symbolizes the evils, devils, pain and misfortunes. so black color is also called “dead color”. white is the symbol of god, angel, happiness, joyment and virtue. there is a saying: “white symbolizes happiness, joyment and purity but black symbolizes sadness and death.” (gu jiazu，90) another famous saying by ralph wdldo emerson is: “the grey past, the white future.” (baltin 1982) in the classic ballet “the swan lake”, black swan represents evil, cheat and hatred; white swan represents kind heart, purity and beauty. when it comes to a metaphor of black color, people feel a feeling of something scared and even devil, like: “a black villain” -a bastard, a ruffian; “black death”-the famous plague over europe; “black flag” a pirate flag, death sentence flag; “black ingratitude”being extremely ungrateful; “black words” inauspicious words; “talk black into white” doing sophistry; “black band” underworld, secret crime group; “a black letter day” an inauspicious day, misfortune day; “blackmail” detrude extort; “black money” money that not being declared its duty; “black hearted” being vicious; “black art” sorcery. all these phrases and words show that “black” is closely related to things that are bad, devil, angry.as the opposite of black, white has the connotations in western culture as beauty, hope, happiness and joyment. in the bible stories, angels have always a pair of pure white wings, with a silver white aureole suspending above their heads; christmas is the grandest festival for the western people in the whole year which is equal to chinese spring festival. “a white xmas” a christmas day all covered with white snow; “white hands” being fair and honest; “white knight” a politics reformer or a successful man on carrier; “white lie” a lie said meant to avoid man from being embarrassed; “a white day” an auspicious day; “days marked with a white stone” days that people are happy. in famous western childrens stories, it had its heroine as “snow white” which had gained the universal empathy and affection by children all over the world. she is the embodiment of person who is smart, beautiful and kind. the “white house” in washington, us is the symbol of its nations power. the street which concentrated british government offices in london, uk is called the “white hall”. western governments official documents are “whitepaper”. from the examples above, it is not hard to find in western culture, there is a tradition that “white” is attached to importance while “black” is avoid as a taboo.in chinese traditional culture, both black and white are in the “five colors”, the fundamental colors. ancient people think that the green color of east symbolizes the growing of all living things; the red of south symbolizes all the beings are in great condition; the white of west shows autumn; the black of north shows winter. people have harvest in autumn and store things in winter. though under harvest, people gradually becoming sad and grieved because the climate is being solemnly silent, living things being withered and felled and peoples radius becoming smaller. the kind of feeling about directions and seasons ancient people feel now passed to nowadays. so in chinese culture, both black and white are inauspicious, in ancient articles when referring to black, it means the underclass. in modern times, the derivates of black in chinese are always with something bad, misfortune, disastrous, evil, like: “黑帮”, “黑话”, “黑货”, “黑心”, “黑名单”, “背黑锅”, “黑云压城城欲摧”. “黑匣子” seems to be a neutral word but it only be opened and checked after an airplane disaster, so black here symbolizes disaster.“白” in chinese feudal society is the color for common people. in ancient times, common peoples clothes are forbidden from color, so they were called “白衣” which becomes “布衣” in later times. people of ancient time who do not get a scholarship or a position in government offices are called “白丁”, “白身”. the house of a non-scholar is called “白屋”. in chinese, whites derivates are always of derogatory connotations of doing thing in vain, looking people down and worthless, like: “白搭”, “白费”, “白送”, “白眼”, “吃白食”, “一穷二白”, and so on. in traditional opera, “白脸” is the symbol of betrayal and cheat. cao cao is one role of this kind. both “黑” and “白” are the opposite side of “红” in contemporary political concept, meaning reactionary, backward and diehard, like: “白区”, “白匪”, “白军”, “白据点”, “白专道路”, “白色恐怖”, “白色政权”, and so on. in a certain historical period, 黑s derivates brought people disasters and misfortunes, like: “黑材料”, “黑五类”, “黑夫妻”, “黑后台”, “黑干将”, “黑爪牙”, “黑秀才”.today in chinese funerals, people commonly have black gauze around arms with little white flower on the chests to show their lament and respect. so we see that chinese show lot hatred to both black and white even scary in many occasions. the two colors are taboo.b. yellowyellow is in the middle position among the “five colors”, it is the emperors color. this indicates the worship to earth from ancient times. it is hard to change it natural color so it is treated a color of honor. the tradition started in tang dynasty that only loyal members can wear yellow clothes. we see yellow is legally recognized as the color of honor in feudal times. it symbolizes the emperors power, glory and grandeur. so far yellow is still a symbol of ancient china. words and phrases about yellow in chinese: “黄屋” emperors vehicle, “黄榜” emperors proclamation, “黄门” government office, “黄衣” government high-rank official. buddha believers are fond of yellow color because in their classical work they wrote that yellow is the color of sun, representing brightness. this is why we can see they wear yellow clothes. in modern chinese phrases like “黄灿灿”, “黄澄澄”, “黄花闺女”, “黄道吉日” reflect chinese peoples affection for yellow.but in the west, yellow can not be treated like this. in english culture, yellow symbolizes always the connotations of sickness, sorrow, coward and disgusting. genghis khan and yihe boxing campaign really shocked the western people so they slandered yellow people “the yellow peril”; other phrases like: “yellow dog” a mean man; “yellowdog contract”; “yellow-livered” coward; “yellow oaks” a distrustful appearance; “yellow trek” coward; “yellow back” common tales in 19th century; “yellow journalism” a porn newspaper style which means to attract people by all means.one might wonder that sometime yellow has derogatory meanings, like: “黄色书刊”, “扫黄打非”. this is true but the fact is we got the western influence on yellow color. in tradition, todays “黄色” in history before is “桃色”. “绯闻” is one proof. in a society which yellow color is related to the royal members there would be no possibility that yellow would have to do with the meanings like mean or dirty.c. redthe color stands for blood and fire. in the west, red is always derogatory, representing cruel, mad, disaster and bloody, like: “red hands” murderer, killer; “be caught red-handed” arrested on spot; “red-headed” raving fury; “red-light district”; “red-neck” hick, villager, southern american peasant; “red-ruin” war disaster; “red skin” derogatory name to american indians; “red-typist” bureaucratic; “red alert” , an rpg game by westwood a coupe of years ago. the final objective in the game is to defeat the soviet union red army and capture the country. we can see from this the westwood company used the scary feeling western people have to be red to make money. it hinted the world would come to chaos and disasters if the red soviet union stands without being taken down.in chinese peoples mind red is symbol for auspicious, success, honest and prosperous. this originates from the worship to god of sun. ancient powerful and rich peoples clothes are called “朱衣”, their houses are “朱门”, their vehicles are “朱轩”. in beijing opera, guan yus facial makeup is red, which symbolizes his straight and loyal characteristic. in traditional chinese wedding ceremony, auspicious words are wrote in red and placed on a wall. the bride covered by red veil on the head and a red coat. the bridegroom wears a big red flower on the chest. these red clothes not only bring an auspicious air to the ceremony but also hint a “红火的” future. in chinese “红火” describes prosper and lively; “红尘” means a prosperous human world; “红利” the profit or salary company give to its works; “红包” means reward or gift as money, but people do not think it is vulgar. “红颜” means a beautiful girl, this is already known by all. because red color symbolizes success, like: “大红人”, “大红大紫”, and is the most visually stimulating color, so it came to be most political color in modern chinese representing revolution and advance. it is used a lot, like: “红旗”, “红军”, “红心”, “红小鬼”, “红卫兵”, “红色政权”, “又红又专”, “红色娘子军”, “红色根据地”.on addition, “红枫” symbolizes the heat of revolution, “红烛” symbolizes the spirit of contribution. in the culture revolution period, “红海洋” was used to represent the revolution.d. greengreen is also in the middle of spectrum. it is a balancing color symbolizing peace, friendly hope and vitality. no matter in chinese or in english, greens symbolizing is about the same. as people all over the word had acknowledged peace is a pigeon holds a green olive branch in the mouth. green makes people think about a harmonious and peaceful nature. “a green day” a worm winter; “a green old age” gain vigor with age; “g-berets” special forces in the us army; “green card” permition for foreigners temporary stay in america; “green power” power of money; “in the green wood” in the vigorous young age; “keep the memory green” never forget. green stands as number one in the “five colors” symbolizing all living things growing. green usually gives people the feeling of vigor and then associates peoples mind to young age. so in ancient chinese articles green words were used very often to describe a beautiful young woman, like: “红男绿女” and “绿窗” stands for a ladys house. du mu wrote in his work: “明星荧荧,开妆镜也;绿云扰扰,梳晓鬟也” *(1). “绿云” represents a girl s black and dense hair. zhou bangyans work wrote: “人静乌鸢自乐,小桥外,新绿溅溅” *(2).here, green stands for spring river water. in ancient times, green is the color for lower rank officials so it symbolizes low rank but meanwhile a hope to enter a higher rank. because green symbolizes life and hope, greens derivates in modern chinese are closely related with agriculture, like: “绿洲”, “绿肥”, “绿地”, “绿野”, “绿荫”, “绿油油”, “绿葱葱”, “红花绿叶”.iii. auxiliary symbolism of color wordsenglish linguist palmer said: “language faithfully reflects a nations whole history, culture and all its kinds of games and entrapment, all sorts of beliefs and prejudices” we have talked the basic symbolisms of color words, but if you take them as all that would be wrong. we should know color words symbolisms are not sole for it is part of language. we have here two layers of them: basic symbolism and auxiliary symbolism. these two layers can be about the same, or different or even totally different.a. english part1. black and white black symbolizes death, crime and disaster, meanwhile grandeur, dignity and honor. “black suit” and “black dress” are the most favorable dress in western tradition. in grand occasion, rich and powerful people are always in black. symphony orchestra members are all in black. in service industry such as hotel and restaurant, black is the color for higher managing workers. “blackball” the opposite of leisure “disco”, a ball people should wear formally.black men brought to america were called “negro”. along with the success against racial discrimination in resent dozens of years, black men are against being called “negro”; they are against being together called with other minorities “colored people” as well. they chose “black” to represent themselves. “black is beautiful” 黑就是美. this was a fashionable slogan at that time. in black mens culture, they call everything with “black”. “blackenglish” 黑人英语; “black and tan” or “b-belt” gathering area of black men. “black capitalism” 黑人资本主义, “black nationalism” 黑人民族主义, “black studies” 黑人文化研究. “black terror” 黑人拳击选手.white is a word for hope, peace, brightness and happiness in english. but sometimes it is derogatory. like: “white feather” a scared appearance, coward. this originated from western chicken contest people believe a rooster with white tail must be coward. “white flag” give up fighting. “white-handed” no working but living in comfort. “white-terror” 白色恐怖, “white trash” 穷苦白人, “white-wash” 零分惨败.2. other colorsred is also being derogatory and commendatory in english. “paint the town red” 狂欢,饮酒作乐; “red-blooded” 健壮的,有勇气的; “red-hot miracle” 意料之外的结果; “a red-letter day”a custom in church that all festivals wrote in red. today people use it for any day worth doing ceremony. “red ribbon bath” 法国荣誉团勋章; “red-ho” 热狗, 红肠面包; “red-cross” 圣乔治十字架, 英国国章. these words show red using for commendatory meanings.in west, yellow is also the symbol for love. “yellow book” can not be translated to “黄色书刊”, it is a government report. “yellow pages” is a phone book in the us. “yellow-stone national park” 黄石公园. “green” can be jealous expect lively in western culture. “o! beware, my lord, of jealousy, it is the green eyed monster which doth mock, the meat is feeds on” 啊, 主帅, 你要留心嫉妒啊, 那是一个绿眼的妖魔, 谁做了它的牺牲, 就要受它的玩弄. *(3) additional, “green” can be young but ignorant, inexperienced. like: “a greenhorn” -涉世未深; “hes too green for the job” 他办这事还嫩了些. b. chinese part1. black and whitewe said above chinese people take white as taboo, black is not that serious. black is the royal color in han dynasty. in modern chinese language, we praise our fertile earth with “黑油油的土地”; “乌黑发亮的眼睛”, “黑里透红的皮肤” for praising peoples appearance.white can be pure and innocent in chinese. “清白” innocent; “洁白无瑕”, “白璧无瑕” pure. sometime white symbolizes justice, kind and brightness; it is the same with englishs white.2. other colorsordinary people know that red is for revolution, advance and success. they dont know red symbolizes another thingthe color of prisoner. in kuomintangs period, red means to common people “危险”, “坐牢”. “戴上红帽子” means you will go in jail. before that time, people said the drivers doing “戴红帽子的工作” which means they might hit people to death and that will surely result a sentence. no matter in ancient or now, we give a red cross on prisoners name that gets a capital punishment. so red is also the color of prisoner. we call the prisoners “赭衣”. “扫黄打非” fight against porn things. though we have phrase like this but the yellows extended meaning was brought out by western influence. if you want a porn word in english, it is “blue”, like: “blue films” 色情片; “blue gag” 黄色笑话.there is a joke. when a teacher asked students to make sentences with “green” a foreign student said: “我喜欢戴绿色的帽子” this made the teacher cant help laughing. obviously this student didnt know that green is not only for life and