translate english and chinese names and their cultural connotation(英语专业论文)本科学位论文

中国某某某某学校学生毕业设计(论文)题目： Translate English andChinese Names and TheirCultural Connotation姓名 : 0000班级、学号： 000000000000系 (部) ：经济管理系专业：商务英语指导教师 : 0000000开题时间： 2009-4-10完成时间： 2009-10-292009年10月29日目录课题 Translate English and Chinese Names and Their Cultural Connotation 一、课题(论文)提纲二、内容摘要二、参考文献Translate English and Chinese Names and Their CulturalConnotation000000[Abstract] As carriers of cultures, Chinese and English names are full of cultural connotations, and result in cultural gap between English and Chinese. Personal names are not only symbols that distinguish one person from others, but also social symbols. It is “a mirror of culture”. Through comparative study on a nation’s history,religion, concepts of moral and value, we can see different cultural connotations between English and Chinese names. And then suggest some translation principles and methods. There are some similarities between English and Chinese names, such as totemism, consciousness of root-seeking, specializing points. In Chinese names, we can find the culture of religious concepts,Confucian-worship, hierarchy. And the religion,personal-orientation, individualism can also be found in English names. In the translation of Chinese and English names, translators should follow the pronunciation of the owner’s language and adopt the established popular translated names, use transliteration and paraphrase so as to reflect the real meaning of English and Chinese names.[Key Words] English names and Chinese names; cultural connotation; translation principle; translation method 1．IntroductionNames are used by human beings and they are the signs for people to distinguish one person from the others. They have some particular functions that no other signs can perform. They are not only linguistic symbols, but also social symbols, representing relationship in societies and cultures. “Each person has his name which distinguishes himself from other members in the community,and each country has its own name system owing to their different historical and cultural background”. [1] P1 In a word, personal names are windows for people to see through different cultures in different societies. For these reasons, the translation of Chinese and English names should follow the pronunciation of the owner’s country and adopt the established popular translated names, use transliteration and paraphrase so as to reflect the real meaning of Chinese and English names.2．Relation between personal name and culturePersonal names are the products of the historical development of human society. They reflect the ancient civilization and splendid cultures from different respects. The choice of name tells something about human society and reflects the social culture. Therefore, the development of personal names cannot be isolated from the social culture background. Names are the inseparable part of culture and the inevitable outcome of cultural evolution. Like other linguistic phenomena they play the role of carrier and propagator of cultures.Culture influences every aspect of human social life and influences people’s behavior. Personal names are the outcome of people’s behavior, so the influence of culture can be seen from the changing of personal names. For example, “in ancient China, “龟”（gui,tortoise）was often used as personal name which had good connotation of longevity. However, after Ming Dynasty, the connotation of the character changed, which indicates a man whose wife is not loyal to him. Then few people use “龟”as personal names”.[2] P2 In addition, personal names are restricted by culture, for instance, Chinese people are greatly influenced by Confucianism, so obvious proprieties can be seen in Chinese names. “English people believe Christian and religious sense can be found in their names”.[3] P51 On the other hand, as a kind of social reality, personal names exert its influence and action on societies and cultures. For example, the taboo on using the personal names of emperors was formed under the influence of feudal hierardy culture. Once it had been formed it began to restrict every aspect of people’s life. In short, personal names and culture influence restrict each other and act on each other. From personal names, people can see the cultural similarity and difference in different society.3. Comparative study between the two name systemsEvery nation has its own history, during which it has shaped its own particular characteristics. As a special social and linguistic phenomenon, names relate to cultures extensively and profoundly. When we learn a foreign language and try to make effectivecommunication, we must understand its culture and need to know about names and naming, just as when we study a language we need to know its vocabulary and its grammar. In this section, we are going to make a comparative study on these aspects between Chinese and English name systems.3.1 Similarities between the Two Systems3.1.1 Totemism“At beginning, the basic of personal name is totemism. Totemism may be animals, plants or unliving things. The group often takes some totem as their ancestor, and then used it as their own names”.[4] P51 “In ancient times, the human beings were not only afraid of natural power, but also respect it. Therefore, both in Chinese and English personal names, we can find lots of names from place, animal, plant, unliving things in nature or natural phenomenon”.[5] P82 For example, in Chinese names, Yan Emperor（炎帝, one ancestor of Chinese people）lived near Jiang Water（姜水, a name of a river）, so his tribe used jiang (姜) as their tribe name, Huang Emperor (黄帝, another ancestor of Chinese people) lived near Ji Water (姬水, a name of a river) and used ji (姬) as the tribe’s name, and yao (姚) came from the place called yao xu (姚墟) where Shun (舜, an ancestor of Chinese people) lived. In English, people used the natural phenomenon as family names,such as Frost, Rain, and Snow etc. And some names come from animal names, for example, Bird, Bull, Lion, Fox, Wolf and so on. Some come from plant names, for instance, Flower, Apple, Lily, Rose. This phenomenon reflects similar cultural connotation that names are associated with primitive totemism.3.1.2 Consciousness of root-seekingIn Chinese and English names, we can find names taken from their birth-place names, such as Liu Zongyuan (柳宗元), a famous poet in Tang Dynasty, was born at He Dong, so he has another name Liu Hedong (柳河东). In China, nowadays, we also have names like Wang Changcheng (王长城), Li Changjiang(李长江), etc. These names are closely connected with Chinese places. In English people also take places as their personal names. “For example, Washington(华盛顿)，Brook(溪流), Well (泉), Wood (林木) and so on”.[6] P81 These similarities show, as human being, they all have the consciousness of root-seeking.3.1.3 Specializing characterMost names in literary works have special meaning. “They symbolize some connotations that go far beyond their literary meanings. They become some general terms indicating certain meaning, symbolizing certain people, or referring particularly to certain situations or actions”. [7] P31For example, Shylock, in Shakespeare’s comedy The Merchant of Venice indicates some usurers and businessmen who are mean and cruel. It can also be used as verb referring to the action of owing usury. For instance, “His income derived from illicit activities-bookmaking, gambling, shylocking, and questionable union activities”.Take the personal name Zhu Geliang （诸葛亮）as another example. It can be used not only to refer to the specific person who once really existed in history, but also used as a common noun.“诸葛亮”in the saying “三个臭皮匠，顶个诸葛亮”（Working together, three ordinary men can be as wise as Zhuge Liang who was a very wise man in the Three States Period ）is not specific a person, it refers to same wise men like him. In Chinese literature, we may find names with specially implied meaning chose by writers who tend to take advantage of homophone, which acts as a pun. For example, characters in The Story of Stone that written by Chao Xueqin. Jia Yucun (贾雨村)，Jiahua(贾化)，Zhen Shiyin(甄士隐)，which pronounce the same as jia yu cun (假语存--lies exist), jia hua (假话--tell lies)，zhen shi yin (真事隐--truth is hidden).Both in Chinese and English, there are also names in great authors’writings which are taken as current vocabulary.Hamlet is the hero in Shakespeare’s tragedy “Hamlet”. His unclemurders his father so he wants to take revenges on him. But he hesitates so much in his avenging plan that in the end he has to pretend being mad. “Hamlet”in present English is not only one of the characters in Shakespeare’s tragedy, but also considered as a synonym to a person who is hesitating in doing something or to a hesitating action. If people think someone is very hesitating in doing something, they may say“You are Hamlet”. Rip Van Winkle is one of the heroes in the works of the American writer Washington Irving. He is a hen-packed man. Once being scolded by his wife, he runs into the Catskill, a mountain near his village. He feels relaxed there and drinks too much before falling asleep. When he wakes up, it is too many years later that everything in the village has been greatly changed. Rip Van Winkle is now referring to some people who are old-fashioned, or whose minds and thoughts are dropped far behind from the present society. People may express someone’s idea that is out of date, by saying “This is the opinion of same Rip Van Winkle”.3.2 Differences between the two name systemsIt is said that every coin has its two sides. We talked about their similarities above, and now, we are going to talk about the differences between Chinese and English name systems and their culture connotation3.2.1Origin of family namesFamily names reflect different national cultures and ancient civilization from various points of view. Being a kind of social phenomenon and complicated psychological process, family names reveal social reality. So the development of family names cannot be separated from the social and cultural background on which they rely. The form and use of family names are developing progressively with the evolution of history and changing of society.(i) Origin of Chinese family names“The number of family names in Chinese is much smaller than that of English name. So far, we have all together less than ten thousand family names, in which 6363 family names are from the Han nationality. But in the west, there are 156 thousand family names, among which thirty-five thousand are frequently seen in daily life”.[8] P6 “It is thought that Chinese family names came about in matriarchal clan society. At that time, every clan got the distinctive clan name based on their totem or dwelling places. The clan names are the earliest family names which in Chinese are called 姓(xing)”.[9] P9 After population of a clan multiplied, the clan divided into several branches and moved to different places to live. Then each branch would get their own branch name to distinguish this branch from the others. The name of each branch is called氏(shi). The difference between them is that, the former one is used to tell apart different families in ranks of family in the society. So “xing”is not changeable, but “shi”can be changed. In ancient China, there would be thousand of people shared the same family names, they came from the same clans and lived in the same villages, some of them may move to other places, but they couldn’t change their family names.According to historical records, in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, “xing”and “shi”began to have class color besides their original function. “Shi”, especially, was best owned by their ruler. As a result, “shi”became the mark of the aristocracy. Only the aristocrats had “shi”, and the ordinary people had no “shi”. All the aristocrats were men at that time. Therefore, only men had “shi”. “The distinction between “xing”and “shi”disappeared in Qin and Han Dynasty. They became one that is called “xingshi”in Chinese and refers to family names”.[10] P10 This phenomenon indicates that the original function and distinction of “xing”and “shi”were of no significance after the centralized feudal social system was established.(ii) Origin of English family names“The history of English family names is much shorter than the Chinese ones. It came about in the Middle Ages”.[11] P34 They arein large number. Social cultural factors play an important role in the development of English family names. They reflect a complete picture of English feudal society. So they are the living fossils for studying English history and culture.English family names are the historical product of English society. They experienced nearly three centuries from nonexistence to full development. There was a time when no one had a hereditary family name. “When the ancestors of English people invaded Britain in the 5th century, they formed a tribal society. English people didn’t get family names until 1066 when Normans conquered Britain. The Normans certainly didn’t have a fully developed family names system”.[12] P80 It was not yet their conscious policy to identify a family by one name. But there were not enough names for distinction. In a certain period more and more names were duplicated. This phenomenon brought great trouble to people in communication. So when people were talking about a person who was absent, they often employed additional phrases for further identification. For example, when they referred to John who lived under the hill, they would add descriptive phrase as “from the hill”. Then John became “John from the hill”to indicate which John they were talking about. Although the additional phrases can play the role for further identification, theyare too complicated. Therefore, some unimportant words are often omitted. Then “John from the hill”is changed into “John Hill”. With the development of feudal society, there was an urgent need for people to solve the problem of personal identification. For this reason, people created a new way for expression that they began to add their father’s or manor’s name behind their given name. In fact, the additional phrases which are called “bynames”are the embryos of English family names. They played an important transitional part in the development of English family names. Gradually, these bynames were turned into hereditary family names.From the beginning of the 15th century nearly all English people inherited family names at birth and the word “surname”was used with the meaning we give it today. It had been borrowed from French “surnom”, deriving from Latin super, and was used at first to mean “an extra name”or “a nickname”. Modern French translates “surname”as nom de femile, so in English surname is also called family name.3.2.2 Forms of names and cultural connotation(i) Forms of namesIn both Chinese and English, the personal names can be divided into surnames and given names. A person’s family name isinherent. He/She got his/her family name before he/she was born. Therefore family names are not selectable. The case is different in given names. Given names are not inherent but selectable; one can choose his given names. But the way in which these names are used varies in the two languages. A fundamental difference is the order in which these names occur. In Chinese, the family name comes first and the given name is placed after it. And there are two kinds of family name, one is single surname, the other is double surname. For example, 王国强(Wang Guoqiang), 司马相如(Sima Xiangru). Here 王(Wang) and 司马(Sima) are family names, 国强(Guoqiang) and 相如(Xiangru) are given names.However, in English, the family name is at the end, and the given name is in the front. “The given name could be divided into Christian name (first name) and middle name (second name)”. [13] P58In western counties, most people have middle names, the number of which can be one, two, three or even more than tens, such as “an American writer Robert Peter Tristram Coffin and a British writer Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde”.[14] P11 Here Robert and Oscar are given names, Peter Tristram and Fingal O’Flahertie Wills are middle name, Coffin and Wilde are family names. Middle names are only used in very formal situation for official purpose,such as on a document. Usually people omit them or use the capital letters instead. Therefore the writer mentioned above is called Robert Coffin and Oscar Wilde on most occasions. As most English –speaking people believe in Christianity or Catholic, according to the religious custom, a baby who was born around one week should be baptized and named in the church. So the given name can also be called baptized name or Christian name. Although given names are frequently referred to as Christian names, this does not mean that the person is a Christian or the name has been given by the church. Nowadays, it is usually used as a synonym for “given name”. Many parents take their baby to church to be baptized, but the given names are chosen by their parents before this. And even if a person has never been baptized, their names can still be called Christian names.(ii) Cultural connotationThe opposite orders of Chinese and English names are reflection of different cultures on personal names. Chinese family names represent the relationship of clan, group and consanguinity; Traditional Chinese culture emphasizes the generality. Therefore, in this kind of culture atmosphere, Chinese people put their family names which represent their ancestors, clans and groups before their given names, which symbols person individuality while thewestern people not only emphasize individual person and individuality, but also value the independent personality andself-consciousness, they think the given names are life and soul of a person, so they highly value them.Contrary to the high esteem of given names, English people think family names are not very important. The reflection of this sense leads to the different order of name, i.e. given names are put before family names. And we can also find the different culture connotation in women’s names. Chinese women remain their family names and given names, even in the past. However, in most western countries, the women once married, they should change their family name to that of their husbands’according to the custom. For example, when Mary White marred John Brown, her name should be changed into Mary Brown.Incidentally, as mentioned above, the given names inEnglish-speaking countries are also called Christian names. The phenomenon reflects the important role in people’s life.3.2.3 Patriarchy, Confucian-worship, religion“With the influence of Patriarchy, Chinese people often use birth orders or their father or grandfather’s given names as shi (氏). In Zhou Dynasty, people used the characters 孟（meng）, 伯（bo）, 仲（zhong）, 叔(shu), 季(ji ) to indicate the birth order of children.And they were usually used as shi”.[15] P16 According to the rule of Patriarchy, the emperor’s son was called 王子(wangzi ,son of an emperor), son of 王子is called 王孙，（wangsun, grandson of an emperor）,and the son of 王孙must use this grandfather’s given name as his “shi”. Chinese name are not only influenced by Patriarchy, but also influenced by Confucian-worship. An obvious feature is the use of generation character. That is members of each generation of a patriarchal family use the same character in their given name, different generation use different character. Thus the name can show their bearer’s position in the family hierarchy. However, the generation character is gradually disappearing with the disappearance of clan families and the fulfillment of theone-child policy in China. Today, religion influence can also be found in English personal names. “Religion, especially Christianity plays a great important role in the development of English personal names. Not only the Christians, but also common people are influenced by it. Therefore, their names have connections with the religion, they reflect English national cultures. In English-speaking countries, “John”is a very popular name used by men, which comes from Hebrew, Yohanan meansing “the gift from god”. “John”is a name of believer in Bible, so it becomes so popular on personal names”.[16] P35 In the 16th and 17th century, Puritansshow great beliefs in religion. They gave their children slogan names, such as Be-courteous, Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith,the-lord-is-near. Such names were much laughed at by the public. The more sensible puritans had in the meantime managed to display their religious beliefs in less eccentric ways and created a group of names, which have survived to the present day. This naming group featured the “virtues”and it includes such names as Charity, Faith, Grace, Honor, Joy, Hope, Patience, Prudence and Felieity.3.2.4 Hierarchy and equality“Confucius emphasized the distinction between upper class and lower class, the superior generation and inferior generation. The hierarchy rules were strictly obeyed”.[17] P75 In feudal society, when people came across the given names of the emperor, they had to avoid them. If a person’s own given name was the same as the emperor’s in coincidence, he had to change his own given name even family name. For instance, “the emperor in east Han Dynasty was named 刘庄(Liu Zhuang), when 庄忌（Zhuang Ji）in West Han went to East Han, he had to change his name into 严忌(Yan Ji) Not only the emperor’s names were taboos, the names of the order generation were also taboos for the younger generation. Therefore, in China a son never used his father’s given name as hisown names”.[18] P44What is highly valued in the west is individualism and as a result equal relationship among people is highly valued. And therefore what is advocated is not the obligations and responsibilities ascribed to each member of the society according to his or her social position but humanitarianism and human rights. The way of using their father or grandfather’s names as their own names is a practical way of naming. For example, “British politician William Pitt and his son William Pitt, American artist George Inness and his son shared the same name”.[19] P44 That is because before the appearance of family names, the consanguinity of family was mainly manifested through duplication of names and alliteration. And duplication of names is the simplest way. Latter family names appeared, but the tradition of using father or grandfather’s name to name a baby survived. For the purpose of identification, “the elder and the younger”or “senior”or “junior”are respectively put behind the father and son’s names. Such as, James Earl Carter, Sr, and his son James Earl Carter, Jr, usually in Britain people use “the elder and the younger”, in America, people use “senior”, and “junior”.3.2.5 Other aspects“Chinese people not only have formal name and courtesy name(字),but also have literary name(hao 号), which is not unique phenomena in Chinese names. Western people also have nickname, but it is not as common as Chinese”.[20] P14Zi and Hao are the products of ancient Chinese culture. “Zi”is used by the person of inferior position to address the person of superior position. This reflects the worship of given names and hierarchy in ancient China. “Hao”, which is kind of laudatory title, usually shows a person’s interests, hope or spiritual sustenance. Although “hao”has come about very early, it prevailed after Tang and Song Dynasties and reached its climax in Ming and Qing Dynasties. This is the result of the prosperity of literature since Tang and Song Dynasties, but it is not used now any more.In both systems of Chinese names and English names, there are diminutives or hypocoristic names. These names are used differently in Britain or America and China. Chinese diminutives can only be addressed by the family members or very close friends. The younger generation and other people cannot address a person with his diminutives. While English diminutives are associated with the given names and usually are the variants of given names. And a person’s diminutives are used in his whole life and can be addressed by other people besides his family members and friends.4. Translation of Names4.1 Basic rules in the translation of namesNames are used to indicate one individual in order to differ him from other persons in the community. Therefore, the methods and principles in translating names either from Chinese to English or English to Chinese are highly regarded in the translation field. The translation of general names should follow two basic rulers: namely follow the pronunciation of the owner’s language and adopt established popular translated names. Besides, the methods of annotating transliteration and paraphrase and others are necessary in translation in many cases so as to reflect the real meaning of the names.4.1.1Chinese names into English“Following the pronunciation of the owner’s language means when translating personal names, one should follow the pronunciation of the owner’s language. According to this principle, the names of Chinese people should be translated according to Chinese Phonetic Alphabet”, [21] P70 which also called transliteration. However, Chinese names are quite different with that of English names, great confusion appears in spellings. If one’s name is Zhang Jianhua, there may be eight ways of spelling.Zhang Jianhua Zhang Jian-hua ZHANGJianhua ZHANG Jian-huaJianhua Zhang Jian-hua Zhang Zhang JianHua Jian Hua Zhang“These difficulties are caused by the difference between two naming systems. The basic solution to them is culture transmission”. [22] P39 In order to let people who come from different countries get full understanding of each other’s culture, we need some principles to standardize these naming spelling.(a)To put family name ahead of given name. For example, “张健”should be transliterate into “Zhang Jian”, but no “Jian Zhang”. (b)“Family name and given name should be departed. There should be not any space or marks like hyphen or point between different characters in the given name. And the first letter of them must be capitalized”.[23] P82 For example, “邓小平”should be translated into “Deng Xiaoping”.Some names of Chinese people are not translated according to Chinese Phonetic Alphabet. They adopt the established popular translated names. For example Confucius(孔子)，Sun yat-sen(孙中山)，Soong Ching Ling(宋庆龄)，Tan Kah Kee(陈嘉庚)，YuanShi-Kai(袁世凯), Chou En-Lai(周恩来) and so on.4.1.2English names into ChineseOwing to the differences between Chinese and English namingsystems, there are difficulties and confusion in the translation of names, principles are also needed to standardize the transliteration.(a) To put the family name at lastAs we all know, English names have their own forms: first name + middle name + family name. According to their traditional culture, we should put their Christian names at first and then middle names, and family names in the end.(b) There should be a point among the first name, the middle name and the family nameIn the third part of this dissertation, we have made a comparative study between the two systems. Chinese given names may contain two characters but these two characters are considered as one. In English, first name is different from middle name; they have different functions and are used respectively. Therefore, in transliteration English first name and middle name, there should be a “.”between them. And“.”is also needed between family name and given name. For example, “John F. Kennedy”should be transliteration into“约翰. F.肯尼迪”. As to the short form of middle name, we can remain it in the transliteration.(c) To keep the national characteristics of English names “Translators should try to keep the national characteristics of English names in transliteration”.[24] P49For example, “Smith”。