汉英习语的文化差异与翻译(2)
There has been a tradition in the study of idioms within the fields of lexicology and lexicography. Linguists have been carrying out researches for the purposes of understanding more about idioms. It’s interesting and inspiring to notice that recent idioms researchers have found themselves not only in linguistic paper, but also in other fields. Since 1990s, scholars have paid attention to culture elements in Chinese and English idioms. Culture studies in idioms have arouse interests of many scholars such as Ping Hong, Zhang Guoyang, etc, who make great contributions to culture study in idioms.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the cultural differences reflected in Chinese and English idioms, and to offer some principles and methods to deal with cultural differences in idioms translation. The paper consists of five chapters. Chapter one is an introduction. Chapter two gives an introduction about Chinese and English idioms from three aspects. It mainly elaborates the definitions and characteristics of Chinese and English idioms. It also illustrates the similarity between Chinese and English idioms. Chapter three mainly expounds the cultural differences about Chinese and English idioms reflected in living environments, customs and habits, religious beliefs and historical allusions. Chapter four focuses on idioms translation. It includes not only problems which may encounter in the process of translating Chinese and English idioms, but also principles and methods to deal with cultural differences in idioms translation. Chapter five is the conclusion. It discusses the relationship among the idioms, culture and translation and the attitude towards idioms translation on the basis of cultural differences.
II. Chinese and English Idioms
2.1 The Definitions of Chinese and English Idioms
Idiom is an important part of language. As a language form, idiom has its own characteristic and pattern. It is difficult to give a clear definition of idioms because of the following reasons. Firstly, people are often confused with their contents and forms. Secondly, experts have different views about how to pide idioms from narrow sense and general sense, and what kind of language expression really belongs to idioms.
Due to the difficulty of defining idioms, the word “idiom” even has not been collected in the Chinese authoritative reference books. According to “cihai”, “shuyu” (idiom) is fixed phrase or sentences of a language, which cannot be modified arbitrarily (Editorial Board of Cihai 1864). It must be interpreted as a semantic unit. It includes set phrases, proverbs, maxims, locutions and two-part allegorical saying, etc. According to “Modern Chinese Dictionary”, “chengyu” is fixed phrases or short sentences which are concise, having been accepted by common people through years of usage (Lv 173). Obviously, they are not the exact meaning of idioms.
However, there are many definitions of English idioms. “Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture” has two definitions of idiom: (1) a phrase which it is formed; (2) the way of expression typical of a person or a group in their use of language. (Summers 657) “The New Oxford English Dictionary” defines that idiom is: (1) a group of words established by usage as a meaning not deducible from those the inpidual words; (2) a form of expression natural to a language, person, or a group of people. (Pearsall 908)