Cultural Differences in CE and EC Translation

1、cultural differences in c-e and e-c translation英汉互译中的文化差异cultural differences in c-e and e-c translationcontentsabstract.1key words.1.introduction .1.literature review .22.1 defining culture from the angle of translation .22.2 defining translation from the angle of cultural exchange.32.3criteria of

2、translation.52.3.1the informativeness of the cultural message transferred from the sl text to tl text.52.3.2the effectiveness of the transferring of the cultural messages.5 .methods of dealing with cultural differences.53.1treaments of some special cultural phenomena of sl.53.1.1idioms.53.1.2proper

3、name.73.2treatments of customs and habits in sl.73.2.1different customs and different habits. .73.2.2general principles for correct treatments of customs and habit in translation83.3treatments of psychological structure in sl.113.3.1different psychological structures and their reflections in the sl

4、text.113.3.2general principles for correct treatments of different psychological structures reflected in the sl text.113.3.3different psychological responses and different associative meaning.12.conclusion.14references.14cultural differences in c-e and e-c translation摘 要： 语言是文化的载体；文化是语言的土壤；翻译是跨文化交流的

5、桥梁。语言与文化是密不可分的,进行翻译也就是进行跨文化交际。翻译活动不仅是语言文字的转换活动，更是不同文化的交流和移植活动。因此,翻译不仅涉及语言因素，也涉及文化因素。要成为合格的翻译工作者，必须要具有深刻的文化意识。在翻译过程中，译者应该注意文化因素的五个方面：物质方面、精神方面、交际方面、制度方面和观念方面。关键词：文化；文化差异；翻译；翻译原则；习语；专有名词；风俗习惯；心理结构abstract: languages are the carriers of culture; culture is the soil of language; translation is a bridge

6、of exchange of two cultures. translation itself is the process of cultural exchange. translation is not only the activity of transferring two different languages, but also the activity of transferring two different cultures. without knowing the differences between the two cultures, it would be impos

7、sible for a translator to achieve a correct and efficient cultural exchange through the medium of translation. in the process of translation, translator must pay more attention on the five aspects of culture: material aspect of cultural, intellectual aspect of culture, communicative aspect of cultur

8、e, institutional aspect of culture, conceptual aspect of culture. key words: culture; cultural differences; translation; idiom; proper name; habit and custom; psychological structure.introduction the early beginning of travel and contact brought realization and the existence of many tongues and conf

9、usion. it was in the process of cultural exchange that people felt translation highly necessary. on the other hand, translation is the result of cultural exchange, and it is for cultural exchange.if the translator has any of the misunderstanding of cultural messages of the sl (source language) text,

10、 it is impossible to convey the whole cultural messages from the sl text to the tl (target language) text. the more misunderstanding of the cultural message, the less cultural massage will be transferred to the tl text. sometimes the cultural differences are very striking and obvious. they may invol

11、ve conflicting values attached to the same objects. take “dragon” for example. in the orient the dragon suggests good luck and fortune. it even a symbol of china and chinese people are called “successors” of the dragon. in the western world, however, the dragon is regarded as a threatening animal, s

12、ymbol of evil power. as xu chongxin observes, cultural differences and cultural disparities usually bring the translator into a difficult position of attending to one thing and lose sight of another. thus it can be said that translation is the product of cross fire of cultural exchange and cultural

13、disparity. .literature reviewas professor xu chongxin observes, cultural differences and cultural disparities usually bring the translator into a difficult position of attending to one thing and lose sight of another. thus it can be said that translation is the product of cross fire of cultural exch

14、ange and cultural disparity. (1986:49) therefore, solving the difficulties caused by the cultural differences is the most important task for translators and its process is also the process of cultural exchange. speaking more specifically, the solving of the difficulties arising from cultural differe

15、nces determines the informativeness and effectiveness of cultural exchange through translation. the informativeness and effectiveness make up the degree of cultural exchange. the more cultural messages of a sl text are transferred to the tl text, the more faithful the translation will be, and the mo

16、re informative the cultural exchange will be especially where there are vast and striking cultural differences. at the same time, the more tactfully the cultural messages of the sl text are expressed in the tl text, the easier it will be for the reader to understand the tl text and the more effectiv

17、e the cultural exchange will be.2.1 defining culture from the angle of translationculture is an ambiguous and intriguing concept. there are at least 200 different kinds of definitions of culture. what has been termed the classic definition of culture was provide by edward burnett tylor, the father o

18、f cultural anthropology, in his “primitive culture ”: “culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, moral, law, customs, and member of society.”(1971:1) american translator and linguist e.a. nida raised “culture” could be defined briefly as “the totality of belief and practic

19、es of a society.”(1954:105)but with the increasing maturity of anthropological science, concept led to a multiplication and diversification of culture. by 1900, american anthropologists were using “culture” to refer to distinctive groups of traits characterizing particular tribal societies. in 1930,

20、 ruth benedict discussed: “culture as a pattern of think and doing that runs trough the activities of people and distinguishes them from all peoples.”(1930:37) in later years, culture became a term used to describe the distinctive human mode of adapting to the environment-molding nature to conform t

21、o mans desires and goals. there are three meanings under the term of “文化” in 辞海:1) extensively speaking, it refers the total of material and spirit fortune, which was created during the human history. narrowly speaking, it refers to ideology of society and the system and organization that appropriat

22、e for it. 2) it refers to general knowledge, which also contains language. 3) it refers to the total systems that the feudal dynasty ordered. (辞海1980)“culture” in english and “文化” in chinese is becoming the same meaning after a long period of the developing and changing of semantics. among various d

23、efinitions of culture, there are two main groups of definitions. that is to say, culture has at least two senses. in narrow sense, culture means intellectual and conceptual culture. in broad sense, culture means human culture in contrast with nature, i.e. the sum of peoples customs, material and spi

24、ritual products, ways of think and so on. translators and linguists tend to consider culture in its broad sense.2.2 defining translation from the angle of cultural exchangetranslation is not a new activity. indeed, it is almost as old as human history. but a scientific definition of translation is n

25、ot known by everybody even some translator. in fact, a translators attitude towards the concept of translation is an important factor affecting the effects of translation in culture exchange. so it is necessary to know the definition of translation clearly for every translator.at first people only c

26、onsider translation as an inter-lingual activity. for example, in “websters new collegiate dictionary” (1960), translation means, “to turn into ones own language to another language”. this definition grasps nothing of the essence of translation and it has nothing to do with the social value of trans

27、lation, culture exchange. according to the definition cited by slype, translation is “the process of replacement of a text written in a source language by a text written in a target language, the objective being a maximum equivalence of meaning.” (1983:33). this definition comes closer to the essenc

28、e of translation but still it hasnt reach the true essence of translation, intercultural communication and culture exchange. introducing information theory into translation theory, e.a. nida defined translation as reproducing the messages of sl with most appropriate and most natural equivalents of t

29、l both semantically and stylistically. (1981:20). nida has in fact nearest to saying that translation is a most important medium for intercultural communication.translation itself is the process of culture exchange. as newmark points out, translation in normally written in modern language, which is

30、in a form of interpretation, and lexically at least a reflection of the tl culture. (1982:35).translation in fact is an intercultural activity: comparing the differences of the two cultures, introducing new things from the sl culture into the tl culture, and making tl absorb something useful from ot

31、her cultures.2.3criteria of translationsome linguists and translation theorists had raised many different kinds of criteria of translation, the number of which is as great as that of the definition of translation and that of the persons who have undertaken to study them.the trinity principle of fait

32、hfulness, expressiveness and elegance was first put forth by yan fu as the criteria of translation. although his interpretation of “faithfulness”, “expressiveness” and “elegance” is partial and problematical, the way these three characters were propounded is praise worthy and commendable. it is real

33、ly succinct, readily acceptable and universally desirable. of course, according to the new requirements of present day translation, handfuls explanation of “elegance” as using the classical chinese language before the han dynasty is wrong. but his translation practice guided by his own criterion did

34、 promote culture exchange in a significant sense.another principle of translation, the equivalent effect principle raised by e.a.nida has been widely held for a long time and effectively started by a number of specialists in the field of translation abroad. as early as 1861, matthew arrold declared

35、that “ a translation should affect us in the same way as the original maybe supposed to have affected its hearers,” although he rejected in actual practice the principle of “similar response” or “equivalent effect” (as quoted in savory 45) from above statements we can see the main types of the crite

36、ria of translation prevailing at home and at abroad. they can help to promote the cultural exchange through translation in a significant way but they dont contain any direct claim for cultural exchange through translation. since translation is the process and result of cultural exchange, the new app

37、roach to the nature of translation requires us to formulate some criteria of translation directly from the point of view of cultural exchange.referring to the above criteria, the assessment of the quality of a translation must be made according to the degree of the cultural exchange achieved through

38、 translation. speaking specifically, our criteria consist the following two aspects:2.3.1the informativeness of the cultural message transferred from the sl text to tl textthis criterion requires us to try our best to convey as many cultural messages as possible from the sl text to the tl text. gene

39、rally speaking the more cultural messages are transferred, the more faithful to the original author the translation will be and the more similar response can be achieve. we can judge the informativeness of the cultural messages transferred to the tl text.2.3.2the effectiveness of the transferring of

40、 the cultural messagesas newmark points out, “a translation is normally written and intended for a target language reader even if the source language text was written for no reader at all, for nothing but its authors pleasure”(1982:128). the translator has to assist his reader. it is usually very im

41、portant for the translator to try to enhance the effectiveness of the transferring of the cultural message of the original text. zero degree of the effectiveness of the transferring of the cultural messages, no matter how many messages are transferred this criterion has something to do with “express

42、iveness” and “elegance” of the trinity principle, and also with the readers response criterion of the equivalent effect principle above. understanding the value standards of communication between the both parties and trying to pursue the common thing in the two different cultures is the key link to

43、achieve intercultural translation successfully. as newmark points out, the translation theorists main concern is “to select an appropriate general method of translation” (1982:22). methods of translation are usually proposed to accord with the demands of the criteria of translation. traditionally, t

44、here are two major methods of translation, literal and free. translation theorists at home and abroad have made a lot of discussions on them. besides these two major methods, some other methods from the angle of cultural exchange are very useful in translation. methods of dealing with cultural diffe

45、rences3.1treaments of some special cultural phenomena of sl 3.1.1idiomsidioms are combinations of words whose meanings cannot be deduced from the meanings of the individual parts. the term “idioms” here is used in its broad sense, i.e. refers to phrase idioms, clause idioms and sentence idioms (prov

46、erbs and sayings), including “xiehouyu” (歇后语), a special type of chinese idioms. as long as the translated idioms can be understood and accepted by the tl reader to a certain degree, literal translation is the best way for promoting cultural exchange through the translation of idioms. in such situat

47、ions literal translation of idioms can greatly promote cultural exchange in enriching the communicative aspect of tl culture by introducing new idioms or other fresh figurative expressions. it is through literal translation of idioms that a lot of new idioms and other fresh figurative expression hav

48、e become part of the chinese language. the following are some of chinese idioms or other figurative expressions originated from the literal translation of different types of english idioms. every type of english idioms may be literal translated into chinese and become part of the chinese language. e

49、.g.:打破记录 (from “to break the record”）酸葡萄 (from “ sour grapes”)武装到牙齿 (from “ armed to the teeth ”) 黄金时代 (from “golden age”) 火中取栗 (from “to pull the chestnut our of the fire)“潘多拉”的盒子 (from “pandoras box”)in rendering idioms, literal translation should also be applied in proper situations so as maintai

50、n the advantages in promoting cultural exchange. the following are some of the situations in which sl idioms can be successfully literally rendered into tl.1) the sl idiom used in its literal sense sometimes a sl idiom may be used in its literal sense. in such a case, only literal translation is the

51、 possible and the best way to render it. e.g.: the chiefs met the amicable pipe was smoked, the hatchet buried, and peace formally proclaimed. (w. irving: captain bonneville.)version: 首领们聚会在一起，轮流抽好烟，埋掉战斧，正式宣告和平。 it was and is the custom of the indians to go through the ceremony of burying the tomaha

52、wk when they made peace. when they went to war, they dug it up again. (j. barlett) (印地安人要讲和平时，便举行埋斧典礼，要开始作战时，又把战斧挖出来。这过去是，现在仍是印第安人的习俗。) 2）the sl idiom used both in its literal sense and its figurative sense some writers may intentionally use both the literal sense and the figurative sense of an idio

53、m to make a pun or to achieve some other special purpose. his intention and style can also be transferred to the tl text through literal treatment of the idiom sometimes. and only literal translation can achieve such purpose.e.g.:“oh! tell us about her auntie.” cried imogen: “i can just remember her

54、. shes the skeleton in the family cupboard. isnt she?”“she wasnt much a skeleton as i remember her.” murmured euphemia, “extremely well covered.” (j. galsworthy : in chancery)version: “哦！请给我们讲讲她的事吧，好姑妈，”伊莫金喊道：“我简直不记得她了，她是我们家衣柜里的骷髅，见不得人，是吗？” “我记得她并不像是骷髅，”尤菲米娅低声说，“肌肉挺丰满的呢。”3.1.2proper nameproper names

55、 are reflections of a culture. through this window of proper names, one can find some clues to the understanding of a culture. therefore, the translator should try his best to transfer as many cultural messages of proper names as possible to the tl text, increasing the informativeness of the cultura

56、l message transferred. in the transliteration of proper names some translators like using some words or characters which seems to be a tl proper name to translate a sl proper name for the purpose of more readability. but this treatment may block cultural exchange by giving the same in the way of nam

57、ing persons, place, etc. this treatment of proper names, therefore, should be avoided. for example, “franklin” should be transliterated as 弗兰克林 instead of 范克廉 and “stubbs” should be transliterated as斯塔布斯 instead of司徒拔.another disadvantage of this treatment of proper names is that it cannot produce true phonological correspondences between the sl and the tl because of the choosing of the words or