英语专业本科毕业论文中西方龙的对比研究先仁出品,绝对.doc

A Comparative Study on Chinese Loong and Western DragonKevin Lee Class 1, Grade 2009, School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Beijing Normal UniversityAbstract: Nowadays with the rapid development of strength, width and depth of the global cross-cultural communication, the cultural communication between China and western countries is becoming more and more frequent. However, some cultural conflicts which are caused by this communication are also inevitable. The cultural contradiction between Chinese loong and western dragon is one of the typical examples. The differences and similarities of the two imaginary creatures are embodied in many respects. Besides, how to transplant the meaning of Chinese loong into English is related to the harmony of the cross-cultural communication between China and western countries. Therefore, this project is worth studying and researching intensively. This article aims to analyze the different understanding of Chinese loong and western dragon, so as to promote mutual understanding and communication.Key Words: loong; dragon; idiom; cross-cultural communication; English translation1 IntroductionThe English word “dragon” is usually translated to Chinese as lng (龙) and the English translation of lng (龙) is usually “dragon” or “Chinese dragon”. However, it is also well known that Chinese and western cultures are quite different, and thus the translation still needs discussion so as to avoid misunderstanding. Lng (龙) is an important symbol of Chinese history for almost five thousand years. It is obvious that lng (龙) plays an important role in the Chinese customs, policy, religion, literature and so on. Lng (龙) was translated into “dragon” from Ming dynasty and the word “loong” firstly appeared in the English translation of “龙凤”cigarette in 1940s. However, lng (龙) and dragon are quite different both in appearances and connotations. In Chinese culture lng (龙) stands for auspiciousness, cleverness, happiness and majesty while dragon is the symbol of demon, fierceness and evil in western culture. Because of this, lng (龙) should not be translated into “dragon” any longer. The cross-cultural communication is so frequent that the accurate translation is more and more necessary. But there are a lot of differences in different languages, and each nation tends to understand other nations culture from its own view without thinking about whether it is appropriate or not(Zhao, 2006). Accordingly, the misunderstandings diffuse and spread. To avoid misduderstand, this article, referring to lng as “loong”, makes a comparison between Chinese loong and western dragon, and discusses the proper translation of the word lng (龙) and some relevant idioms.2 Different appearancesLoong is an imaginary creature in ancient Chinese legends, whose body is pretty long just like a snake. Its head is like a camels or a horses, horns are like a deers, eyes are like a rabbits, ears are like a bulls, scales are like fishs, claws are like a hawks, and it also has long whisker and beard(Zhao, 1999: 2). It has four legs to walk, flies in the air, hides in the cloud, swims in the water, and it can call for rain.However, dragon in the western mythology is quite different from loong in appearance. Dragon is mainly the image of snake. Moreover, it has some scary, frightening and repulsive characteristics such as crocodile, lizard, bat and toad whose appearance is ugly and disgusting. According to the description of western legends, a dragon is like a huge lizard with a long tail and wings. It is a fierce monster who can breathe out fire(Li, 2011: 2). 3 Different symbolic meanings3.1 Symbolic meanings of loongLoong is an auspicious and mythical creature full of miraculous power in the view of Chinese people. In traditional Chinese culture, loong is the symbol of bliss and power, and in contemporary Chinese culture it also represents prosperity, boom and fortune. Therefore, the Chinese culture is called the loong culture by people all around the world, and loong has become the symbol of the Chinese nation and the hard-working Chinese people. Loong is a product of totem in ancient Chinese. It is an auspicious mark. As is described in the Journey to the West, loong is an immortal to call for rain dispatched by the god(Yang, 2000: 2). The ancients regarded loong as the head of four immortal animals. They are loong, phoenix, unicorn and tortoise. Since the immortal loong stands for auspiciousness and triumph, it was used as the pattern of Chinas first national flag in Qing dynasty. Now as ever, the auspicious designs with a long and a phoenix are believed to bring great fortune. Loong is an emblem of the imperial power. It had been the mark of Chinese imperial family for thousands of years. In Chinese history, the emperor of each dynasty called himself the real loong. Even all the emperors daily stuffs are named with a character of lng, such as lngt (龙体), the body of the emperor, lngzu (龙座), the throne for the emperor, lnggun (龙冠), the emperors splendid official cap, lngchung (龙床), the emperors bed, lngpo (龙袍), imperial robe, and lngbi (龙被), the quilt for the emperor(Li, 2011: 1). Because loong had been monopolied by the imperial family, and it had been an exclusive symbol of supreme emperor for thousands of years in feudal China, there was a great distance and gap between loong and civilians. Accordingly, loong had also been regarded as a symbol of feudal privilege and rule. Thats why the republic governments in modern China preferred to use western patterns as Chinas national flag or emblem rather than loong, although it is the symbol of Chinese nation. Loong is also one of the twelve zodiac signs in traditional Chinese culture, which include mouse, bull, tiger, rabbit, loong, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Different from others, loong is the only zodiac sign who has no archetype. If someone is born under the year of loong, he will be expected to be brave, energetic, and more likely to be successful in his career. So many Chinese parents would like to name their baby after long whether it is born under the year of long or not. Generally, long is worshiped by the Chinese.3.2 Symbolic Meanings of DragonThe Revelation of the New Testament records a tale that the archangel Michael slaughtered a dragon. According to the Bible, dragon is an incarnation of Satan who is the biggest enemy of Christianity(Li, 2007). Accordingly, dragon was undoubtedly uglified and vilified under the long spiritual rule of Christianity. In accordance with the Bible, the devil Satan who opposed the god was called “the old dragon/ the great (red) dragon”, and some believers were considered to be heroic and valiant by killing a dragon. Cavaliers also found that they could obtain honor, property, amazing power and the heart of girls by hunting dragons. Since the dragon is the enemy of human beings and it is vicious, slaughtering a dragon becomes the behavior of bravery and conquering nature. Throughout the ages, there are plenty of works whose theme is fighting against dragons. The most famous must be Beowulf and Saint George(Li, 2011: 2). The British epic Beowulf describes that a fierce dragon who could breathe out raging fire was defending treasures. It burned the hero Beowulf severely, but it was finally killed by Beowulf. The Saint George and the Dragon records that a dragon ate some people nearby. When it was about to eat the daughter of the king, Saint George arrived and defeated it. As the dragon could make people feel horrible and scared, it was used as the mark of flags for wars. Dragon is the main mark of war for the British royal family before Britain was conquered by the Normans.Dragon in the western culture can be classified based on different metals or colors. Golden dragon is a combination of east and west, and it is clever and brilliant. Silver dragon is comparatively quiet. Brass dragon is militant and talkative. Copper dragon is an incurable tricker. And all the chromatic dragons are thoroughly evil dragons. Red dragon is rather greedy born with destruction. Blue dragon is arrogant and haughty, and it will defend its treasures at any cost. Green dragon is adept in flattering others, and eager to control other creatures. Black dragon is quite bad-tempered and cruel. White dragon, however, is considered to be stupid, just like a lower creature(Li, 2011: 3).4 Different uses in Chinese and English4.1 Positive use of loong in ChineseThere are many expressions about loong in Chinese language. Most of their meanings are active and inspiring. For example, lngfngchngxing (龙凤呈祥), it is a phrase which means loong and phoenix could bring bliss and auspiciousness. It can also be used as an adjective to describe the love between a couple. Lngfifngw (龙飞凤舞)，which is used to describe the splendor of mountains or the power of someones handwriting. And it illustrates that loong and phoenix are active and vigorous animals. Some other phrases such as shnglnghuh (生龙活虎) and lngmjngshn (龙马精神) also exhibit the vitality of loong.As loong stands for auspiciousness and bliss, it is often used to describe a person who has these features. When you want to describe a son-in-law is respectable and decent, you may use chnglngkuax (乘龙快婿) whose literal meaning is that a well-content son-in-law is just like riding a loong and bringing happiness. Loong is an indomitable animal. Therefore there are some phrases about loong to describe a person who persists in his goal and never gives up, such as lytiolngmn (鲤鱼跳龙门) which means a carp could finally be a loong after his insistent efforts of leaping into the loong gate. Loong is full of abilities and talents, and the phrase whcnglng (卧虎藏龙) refers to those talents who are not recognized by others. Obviously, since loong is an honorable and successful animal, parents also hope their child could be successful just like a loong some day which is the meaning of wngzchnglng (望子成龙). Although loong is auspicious and blissful, it is not always amiable and approachable to civilians. On the contrary, it is quite majestic and prestigious. Sometimes, it may even be fierce just like the emperor. This feature can be easily found in the phrase lngtnhxu (龙潭虎穴) which means the deep pond and cave where a loong and a tiger live. Its symbolic meaning refers to an extremely dangerous place.4.2 Negative use of dragon in EnglishSince dragon is regarded to be evil in western culture, some derogative expressions about dragon are derived in English language. For example, if someone has got the “dragon”, he needs to brush his teeth, because here “dragon” just means bad breath. In another case, when you find a man wearing a pink skirt and blue heels with purple highs, you may want to “dragon” his outfit, or say, “That guys outfit is so dragon .” You mean the outfit makes you feel sick. It is so disgusting. Dragon can refer to those impenetrable women vividly(Yang, 2000: 2). For instance, “She is a real dragon. Youd better keep away from her.” Here dragon has a metaphor meaning of shrew. If you call a woman “dragon”, you mean that she is unpleasant and fierce. For example, “She is a bit of dragon around this place.” A “dragon lady” can be paraphrased as a woman behind the ruler. It means a woman whose identity is the wife of the ruler, and she has much great power just like a female dictator(Li, 2011: 3). It applies to a lot of empresses in the Chinese history. And it would be really funny if someone takes its translation for granted as xiolngn (小龙女) because they are completely different. In English slang, the phrase “chasing the dragon” means smoking heroin and inhaling the fumes. This slang derives from the description about dragon of ancient legends. Since a dragon can breathe out fire and smoke, someone taking the heroin is like chasing the dragon.Another phrase “dragon teeth” originated from the Greek tale of hero Cadmus. Cadmus killed a fierce dragon and sowed its teeth into a land. Soon after, the dragons teeth became some warriors and jumped out from the land to attack Cadmus. Cadmus cast a huge rock among the warriors and these warriors began to kill each other. Therefore, “dragons teeth” has a connotation of killing each other and “sowing dragons teeth” has a metaphor of disharmony or conflicts(Liu, 2007: 2). 5 English translation of Chinese lng (龙)There are mainly two kinds of translating methods. They are free translation and transliteration. Free translation is to translate a foreign language based on its own meanings, and try to find a counterpart in the other language which is close to the meaning. Transliteration is to create a word or phrase based on the pronunciation of its counterpart foreign language. Which translating method shall the translator choose? The translator should do it based on the translating standards of Yan Fu. Furthermore, the translator ought to pay much attention to the harmony of context, and make sure the translation is equivalent to the original work and culture. If there is any need, free translation and transliteration should be used simultaneously.The English word dragon is from Latin DRACONa large snake or serpent. The Oxford English Dictionary gives this definition an imaginary animal with wings and claws who can breathe out fire(A S Hornby & Sally Wehmeier, 2004: 515). Obviously, since the Chinese dragon and western dragon cannot find the proper counterpart in each others culture, transliteration should be adopted to translate this object full of exotic style. The word loong was created on the base of the pronunciation of its counterpart character in Chinese at least 60 years ago. In 1940s, “Loong” has firstly appeared in the packaging of Loong Voong cigarettes. As we all know the Chinese character “龍”is an ideograph, so is the “Loong”. In “Loong”, double “o” look like the two big eyes of the loong. By contrast, the Chinese pinyin long looks more like a one-eyed loong(Huang, 2006). Besides, long is similar to the English word “long”, which has a lot of meanings that may make people feel confused. When it is an adjective, it means a large amount in length, distance and time. For instance, “long long ago, a long journey”. When it is a verb, however, it means to desire strongly or persistently. For instance, “he longs to go back home”. For these two reasons, thats why “long” wasnt adopted to be the best transliteration. Actually, some westerners indeed write “long long ago” as “loong loong ago” deliberately so as to emphasize it is rather long. For this sense, “loong” emphasized the long body and long history of Chinese lng (龙). Since the two-eyed “loong” is similar to lng in pronunciation and will not cause any negative association, it can be well accepted by both Chinese and westerners. Therefore, it is strongly suggested that “loong” should be the best translation, not long or Chinese dragon.There exist plenty of Chinese idioms about loong, and here are some proper translations. Chnglngkuax (乘龙快婿) whose literal meaning is that a well-content son-in-law is just like riding a loong bringing happiness, so its proper translation should be “a son-in-law of high ran