Abstract Animals and human beings have a close relationship. There are many words about animals in human’s language. People often use animal words to convey special feelings, enriching the connotation of the language. English and Chinese animal words, under the influence of their own language culture and customs, have many differences on their connotation meaning. Understanding these differences is of great significance for promoting Chinese and western cultural exchange. This paper, through the analysis of examples, explores the cultural differences of animal words between English and Chinese, to help readers better understand and use English and Chinese animal words.56292

Keywords: animal words; geographical differences; aesthetic value; culture

 摘要动物与人类之间一直有着密切的联系。人类语言中有关动物的词汇非常多，人们常常借用动物词汇表达特别的感情，丰富语言内涵。英汉中的动物词汇受各自的语言文化和习俗等因素的影响，其内涵意义存在着很大的差异。了解这些差异对于促进中西方的文化交流有着重要的意义。本文通过对实例的分析，来探讨英汉动物词中的文化差异，帮助读者更好的理解和运用英汉动物词汇。

毕业论文关键词：动物词汇；地理差异；审美价值；文化

Contents

1. Introduction １

2. Literature Review ２

3. Cultural Differences between Chinese and English ２

3.1 Historical Differences ２

3.2 Geographical Differences ３

3.3 Custom Differences ３

3.4 Aesthetic Value Differences ４

4. Same Animal Words ４

4.1 Historical Differences in “Dragon” and “龙” ４

4.2 Geographical Differences in “Beaver” and “海狸” ５

4.3 Custom Differences in “Dog” and “狗” ６

4.4 Aesthetic Value Differences in “Cat” and “猫” ７

5. Different Animal Words ８

5.1 Historical Differences in “Phenix” “Phoenix” and “凤凰” ８

5.2 Geographical Differences in “Bull” “Ox” and “牛” ９

5.3 Custom Differences in “Bat” “Vampire” and “蝙蝠” ９

5.4 Aesthetic Value Differences in “Lion” “Tiger” and “虎” １０

6. Conclusion １１

Works Cited １３

 1. Introduction 

In the long course of the development of human history, animals usually keep a close relation with human beings and influence human existence and development deeply. The close relation results in human complex feelings of fondness, sympathy or antipathy. Also, people often use animals to express their feelings. There are so many vocabularies with relation to animals in both English and Chinese culture. 

Animal words are words that express animal and those words, phrases and other idioms (Willey, 1990: 143). Those words can not only embody a certain quality, character, also can describe certain events and convey certain emotions concisely. In daily life, animal words often used by people to express their emotions, to enrich their own language because of rich expressive force, and has been integrated into all national languages, accepted and widely used. Due to the differences of the culture of all ethnic groups, all kinds of animal were given with a strong cultural characteristics and far-reaching social and historical origins. Cultural connotation differences of animal words in English and Chinese reflect the community’s culture background.