1 文化与语言的关系

1DefinitionofCulture,Ifwelookbackuponthehistoricaloriginofculture,wecanfindthatthewordculturewasfirstusedinChineseancientbooks.Itsmeaningisoppositetouncivilized,pristineandwildness,andhasgreatdifferenceswiththemeaningofculturewhichweusetoday.Nowadays,thewordcultureisoriginalfromtheLatinwordcultuswhichstemsfromcolere(tend,cultivate).InlateMiddleEnglish,thesensewascultivationofsoilandfromthis(early16thcentury)arosethepresentmeaningofcultivationofthemind,facultiesandmanners.ThemeaningofEnglishcultureisrelatedtopolitics,law,andeducationetcsociallife.Fromtheendofthe19thcentury,scholarsaroundtheworldtriedtogiveadefinitedefinitiontoculture.,However,thedefinitionsvaryalotfromeachotherbynow.TheearliestandthemostwidelyacknowledgeddefinitionofculturewasgivenbytheBritishanthropologistEdwarTylorinhisPrimitiveCulture(1871).Heputsforwardthefirstimportantanthropologicaldefinitionofculture.Cultureisthatcomplexwholewhichincludesknowledge,belief,art,morals,law,custom,andanyothercapabilitiesandhabitsacquiredbymanasamemberofsociety(Tylor,1871:1),Morespecificallyconcernedwithlanguageandtranslation,inATextbookofTranslation,PeterNewmarkdefinescultureasthewayoflifeanditsmanifestationsthatarepeculiartoacommunitythatusesaparticularlanguageasitsmeansofexpression(Newmark,1988:94)DanielBatesandFredPlogproposeadescriptivedefinitionCultureisasystemofsharedbeliefs,values,customs,behaviorsandartifactsthatthemembersofasocietyusetocopewiththeirworldandwithoneanother,andthataretransmittedfromgenerationtogenerationthroughlearning(Samovar(2)systemculture,whichcomesdownfromthepastgeneration,orchangescontinuously,orexistsbyallsortsofcodesandregulations;(3)materialculture,whichismadebypeopleandservespeople,suchashouse,clothes,etc.,2TheRelationshipbetweenCultureandLanguage,Ithasbeenwidelyrecognizedthatlanguageandcultureareinseparable.NidapointsoutSincecultureisdefinedsuccinctlyastotalityofbeliefsandpracticeofasociety,nothingisofgreaterstrategicimportancethanthelanguagethroughwhichitsbeliefsareexpressedandtransmittedandbywhichmostinteractionofitsmemberstakesplace.Whenitisusedincontextsofcommunication,itisboundupwithcultureinmultipleandcomplexways:(Nida,2000:105)TheanthropologistHuckhohnalsothinksthathumanculturewithoutlanguageisunthinkable.Iwouldliketoanalyzetherelationshipbetweencultureandlanguagefromthefollowingthreeaspects.,First,languageisapartofculture.AccordingtothedefinitionofculturegivenbyMicrosoftEncartaEncyclopedia,apeoplescultureincludestheirbeliefs,rulesofbehavior,language,ritual,art,technology,styleofdress,waysofproducingandcookingfood,religion,andpoliticalandeconomicsystems.Wecandrawaconclusionthatlanguageisacomponentofculture.Secondly,languageisthecarrierofcultureandlanguagereflectsculture.AsMr.XuGuozhangsaysthat“语言是人类特有的一种符号系统，当它作用于文化的时候，它是文化信息的载体和容器。”(许国璋,1991:1),Languageisthebaseofentireculture,anditisonlyinlanguagethatculturecanbewellpresentedandhandeddownfromgenerationtogeneration.Fromlanguage,wecanknowthenaturalenvironment,habits,religion,andhistoryofthepeople.Thirdly,cultureinfluenceslanguageandshapeslanguage.InArabian,therearemanywordstoexpresstheanimalcamel,however,thereisonlyonewordtonametheanimalcamelinChinese.ThisisbecausecamelisoneoftheimportanttraffictoolsfortheArabian,andtheyclassifycamelsaccordingtotheirages,sizes,andtypes,etc.Solanguageisinfluencedandshapedbyculture.,Accordingly,wecanconcludethatlanguageandculture,asdifferentastheyare,areintricatelyinterwovenandtheyrelyoneachother.Wecannotseparatethetwowithoutlosingthesignificanceofeitherlanguageorculture.Tounderstandalanguage,onemustknowwellaboutitscultureandviseversa.Soitisquitereasonabletosaythatlearningalanguageis,inaway,learningthecultureandhabitofthecountrywherethelanguageisspoken.,3.DefinitionofTranslation,Beforewegofurthertostudytherelationshipbetweencultureandtranslation,itisnecessaryforustomakeclearwhattranslationis.First,letslookatsomedefinitionsoftranslationfromdifferentaspectsgivenbymanyexperts.Catford(1965:20)definestranslationasthereplacementoftextualmaterialinonelanguage(SL)byequivalenttextualmaterialinanotherlanguage(TL).Bythisdefinition,heevidentlyseeksforthetranslationoftextualmaterial,thatis,ofthelanguageitself.Inotherwords,translationisbilingualswitch.,SagerJakobsonthinksthattranslationisaninterpretationofverbalsignsbymeansofsomeotherlanguage(Shuttleworth,1997:182)InNidaandTaberwords,translationconsistsinreproducinginthereceptorlanguagetheclosestnaturalequivalentofthesourcelanguagemessage,firstintermsofmeaningandsecondlyintermsofstyle.(Nida&Taber,1969:2)BothNidaandTaberattachimportancetomessage,thatis,themeaningandstylethatalanguageconveys.Sotheythinkthattranslationinitsverysenseiscommunication.,ChrestianeNordholdsthepointthattranslatingmeanscomparingcultures.Translatorsinterpretsourceculturephenomenainthelightoftheirownculture-specificknowledgeofthatculture,fromeithertheinsideortheoutside,dependingonwhetherthetranslationisfromorintothetranslatorsnativelanguageandculture.(Nord:2001).BassnettandLefeverepointoutthattranslationhavebeenmadewiththeintentionofinfluencingthedevelopmentofacultureandin1998theyfurtherarguedthatthestudyoftranslationisthestudyofculturalinteraction.,AccordingtothetranslationdefinitiongivenbyChrestianeNordandthetheoryofBassnettandLefevere,wecanseeclearlythatallofthemhavestrengthenedtheimportanceofcultureintranslation.In文化研究语境下的翻译研究(TranslationStudiesintheContextofCulturalStudies)WangNingsaysthattranslationstudiesatleastcontainsthesetwotypesofstudies:initsnarrowsense,dealingwith,iteraltranslationaimingatturningthecontentinonelanguageintoanotherlanguage,andinitsbroadsense,exploringinturningtheculturalconnotationinonelanguageintoanotherculturalform.Theformeriscalledliteraltranslationandthelatterculturaltranslation.,QiuMaorusays,Translationisthebridgeforthecommunicationbetweentwolanguages.Itsmaintaskistoreproducetheideologicalcontentsfromthesourcetexttothetargettext.Whenthetranslatoristranslatingthesourcelanguage,hemustbeintroducingandbroadcastingthecultureofthesourcelanguage.Inthissense,inter-linguistictranslationmustbeculturaltranslation.(GuoJianzhong,2000:319).,ZhangJin(1987)associatestranslationwithculturalexchange,uncoveringthepurposeoftranslation:“翻译是两个语言社会之间的交际过程和交际工具，它的目的是要促进本语言社会的政治、经济和文化进步，它的任务是要把原作品中包含的现实世界的逻辑映象或艺术映象，完好无损地从一种语言中译注到另一种语言中去。”,ChenHongwei(1996)assertsthat:“翻译是跨语言(cross-linguistic)，跨文化(cross-cultural)，跨社会(cross-social)的交际活动。翻译的过程不仅是语言转换过程，而且是反映不同社会特征的文化转换过程。Thisdefinitionrevealstheessenceandfunctionoftranslation.Itisnotonlyawindowopentoanotherworldbutalsoachannel,throughwhichforeignculturescanpenetratethenativeculture,enrichit,evenchallengeit.,Accordingtotheabovedefinitionsoftranslation,wecandrawaconclusionthattranslationresearchhasshiftedfromliteraltranslationtoculturaltranslation.Translationhasbeentakenasanactivityofinterculturalcommunication.Themajortaskoftranslationistoturntheculturalcontentinonelanguageintoanother,sowhetheritisfaithfulornotlargelydependsonthedegreesofthetranslatorsgraspofthetwolanguagesandthesubtledifferenceoftheculturalcontentexpressedinthelanguages,4.TheRelationbetweenCultureandTranslation,Thecloserelationshipbetweenlanguageandculturedecidesthecloserelationshipbetweentranslationandculture.In文化研究语境下的翻译研究(TranslationStudiesintheContextofCulturalStudies),Mr.WangNingpointsoutthattranslationstudiesatleastcontainstwotypesofstudies:initsnarrowsense,dealingwithliteraltranslationaimingatturningthecontentinonelanguageintoanotherlanguage,andinitsbroadsense,exploringinturningtheculturalconnotationinonelanguageintoanotherculturalform.Itisobviouslythattranslationincludesnotonlytheswitchoftwolanguages,butalsotwocultures.,Mr.WangZuoliang,thefamousChinesescholar,pointsoutthatthoughthetranslatortranslatestheindividualwords,whathefacesistwocultures.SusanBassnett(1980)alsogivesusherstatementabouttherelationshipbetweentranslationandculture,Inthesamewaythatthesurgeon,operatingontheheart,cannotneglectthebodythatsurroundsit,sothetranslatorwhotreatsthetextinisolationfromthecultureisinhisperil.,Firstly,culturenecessarilyexertsagreatinfluenceontranslation.Thewaysofthinking,beliefs,attitudesandvaluesofdifferentnationsnotonlygiverisetofailuresormisunderstandingsincross-culturalcommunication,butalsoposeheadachestotranslationtheoristsandtranslatorswhoaretryingtobridgethegapsbetweensourcelanguag