英语习语的特点及其翻译

英语习语的特点及其翻译［Abstract］Language is a main carrier of culture. It comes from culture and at the same time it is one of the effective ways to spread and inherit the culture. In this paper, the attention is focused on the characteristic features of English idioms, such as their origins, forms, styles, characteristics or features. As the language changes, so do the English idioms. All the things above cause a lot of troubles for people to understand idioms in a correct way. The style of English idioms is simple and vivid, and also the origins of English idioms are wide-ranging. Furthermore the form of English idioms and figures of speech are various. All of these cause the difficulty for people to understand. This paper mainly discuss the correct ways for people to understand and translate English idioms, and the purpose of this paper is to help the reader have an exact understanding and translation English idioms and to use them correctly.［Key words］English idioms,features,understanding,translationI. IntroductionLanguage, first, is a tool for people to communicating with each other; second, it is a window for people from different countries to know each other better. Language can reflect the national characteristics of anation, while idioms are crystals of language. They contain abundant information of culture, and they can largely reflect culture. Besides, idioms contain extremely profound and rich meanings and carry a vivid image.It is very hard for us to have a better understanding of English idioms, because English idioms have some specific features, mainly in terms of forms and figures of speech. Unlike most common vocabularies, they have implied meanings. So to understand them thoroughly and use them correctly, we should trace back to their origins of culture. There are many sources for them and this paper mainly discusses the following: from common people, legends, myths, tales and other classic works. Clearly knowing the background information of idioms will ensure a better appreciation and effective translation of English idioms. In other words, idioms carry rich cultural connotations. So culturally translating English idioms becomes a good way to realize cultural interaction.Ⅱ. Idioms, Language and CultureMany people try to give English idiom a clear definition. However, it is very hard for them to do so. Idioms, which constitute a large part of our knowledge of language, are one of the most important components of language. In order to make a comprehensive study on idioms in English, we will begin the research with the definitions of idiom in English.2.1 Various definitions of English idiomsAs it is hard to define culture, it is also hard to name idiom. The definitions of English idiom are different in different dictionaries. However, all of the definitions below have shared some similarities of English idioms in spite of some differences.The Webster’s New World Dictionary defines “idiom” as “an accepted phrase, construction or expression contrary to the usual patterns of the language or having a meaning different from the literal.” From this definition, it is clear that English idioms can be a phrase, a clause or even a sentence.The definition of “idiom” in Oxford English Dictionary is “a group of words whose meaning cannot be deduced from those of the individual words.”For this definition, it indicates that unlike any linguistic pattern, the meaning of an idiom cannot be predicted from the meanings of its individual or constituent words.These definitions show that idioms are a number of words whose meanings are different from the individual words of the idioms when they are alone. The words in idiomatic expressions cannot be deleted, added to, replaced by synonymous words, or put in different order.2.2 Relationship among idioms, language and cultureWhat is language? Different people have different ideas. In fact, the definition of language is not only affected by time, but also affected by the development of the study on the nature of language. It indicates that due to the persistent efforts of scholars and researchers, people are getting to know the nature of language. In the past, language was mainly viewed from a static angel. People paid more attention to its internal structure than to its social usage.What is culture? It is also hard to give a clear definition. According to Nida’s illustration, “it is a mixture of almost every aspect of a society, such as religion, politics, history, arts and so on. It is different among different counties in the world” (Nida 102).The relationship between language and culture is illustrated by Eugene A. Nida as follows: “Culture is the totality of beliefs and practices of a society; nothing is of greater strategic importance than the language through which its beliefs are expressed and transmitted and by which most interaction of its members takes place” (Nida 126). Language does not only come from culture, but also it is the main carrier of culture, while idioms can be called the crystals of language. English idioms occupy an essential part in its vocabulary, and they are the most colorful and fascinating aspects of English vocabulary.In a word, language is a component of culture and plays a veryimportant role in culture. Language and culture rely on each other. Language is the base of entire culture, and it is only in language that culture can be well presented and handed down from generation to generation. On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture. Language reflects characteristics of culture and predicts the developing orientation of culture. The development of language often embodies the change of culture. It comprises their historical and cultural backgrounds as well as their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking. To understand a language, one must know well about its culture. So it is quite reasonable to say that learning a language is learning the culture and habit of the country where the language is spoken.Ⅲ. Origins of English IdiomsWithout knowing the origins, it is hard for us to understand the meaning of certain English idiom, because the meaning of English idioms cannot be guessed word by word, or from their literal meanings. Knowing the origins of the English idioms can help us to have a better understanding of the implied meaning of English idioms.When tracing back to the origins of English idioms, we can find there are many sources, but the main sources are just as following: from the speech of the common people, the legends and tales, religions and classical works. From the above, we can know that English Idioms comefrom all aspects of our life, and it is beneficial for us to know the origins of English Idioms, if we want to have a good and correct understanding of English Idioms.3.1 From common peopleA great number of idioms come from the daily life of common people. They reflect every aspects of life from all walks of life. We can find a lot of idioms somewhat connected with sailors, farmers, fisherman, teachers and even beggars. These idioms are concise, colloquial, and vivid and charged with life, and consequently acquire a wide application to analogous situation in our daily life. By and by, after a long-time test of usage, most of them, especially the most expressive and vivid ones, make their way from the popular speech into the standard language and finally come to be generally accepted, even by governmental officials. On the one hand, they can reflect the social background of society, the economy and culture at that time. On the other hand, some of them are even the reflection of people’s simple life and thought patterns. Here are some examples of English that from people’s daily life:To get the root of something: To find out the real cause of something.To be in the some boat: In exactly the same situation.Make hay while the sun shines: Profit from or take the advantage of something while one has the chance.The top dog: A person, group, country enjoying superiority and advantages over others, or the person who has control power.A stitch in time saves nine: Damage will quickly worsen if it is not repaired immediately; immediate action taken as soon as something goes wrong saves a lot of wok later.3.2 From myths, legends and talesEnglish idioms may also come from the second source ancient myths, legends or fables. Greek and Roman civilization contributes much to the formation of English idioms. It can never be overestimated that knowledge of western culture plays a very important role in our understanding of English idioms. These three sources have made a great contribution and play an important role to enrich culture and vocabularies of English in simultaneity, such as the following examples:Trojans horse: Which is design to undermine or destroy from within.Pandora’s Box: A source of extensive but unforeseen troubles or problems.A Pyrrhic victory: A victory at to a great cost; an unprofitable victoryor success over another force, person where loses are greater than is justified by gained.Round-table conference: The table around which king Arthur and his knights sat political or other conference attended by representatives of various interests to have matters discussed. (Note: Around the table it is hard to know who the charger of the meeting is, and its implied meaning is that they are equally important.)Kill the goose to get the eggs: Destroy the chief cause of one’s profit or success. This is a Greece fable that there is a countryman who has a goose that can lay golden eggs. He is very happy and finally he kills the goose and in order to get more golden eggs quickly, consequently, his destroyed the rules of nature and he get nothing from the goose. This idiom has its implied meaning that people should not only be shortsighted, this is an advice for later generations.Rain cats and dogs: This idiom is commonly used nowadays, while few people know its source. Here are some explanations of it. First, it comes from North European, which cats have a great influence on weather, and the image of the witch looks like a cat, while dog is the signal of wind. So if they say rain cats and dogs, it really means that it rain heavily outside, or there is a storm.Lion’s share: The biggest part.3.3 From Literary WorksLiterary works are unexhausted language storehouses from which numerous idioms are created. Shakespeare is one of the most famous English writers. Some of his popular expressions have been widely accepted as established idioms. And there are many other famous writers who have made a great contribution in making idioms. Another important source is Bible, which also plays a very important role in the formation of English idioms. A great number of English Idioms have come from it. Look at the following:Wash one’s hands of a thing: To refuse to have anything more to do with or to accept any responsibility for something or somebody. The phrase is about the description in the Bible of Pontius Pilate’s washing his hands at the trial of Jesus.As poor as a church mouse: Extremely poor. From the phrase we may have some knowledge about poor priests in a church in which even a mouse can not find anything to eat.All that glisters is not gold: A person or thing may not be as good, valuable as he or it first appears.There are many other writers who have made a great contribution of creation English Idioms. For example:There is always room at the top: There are always too few people who are really outstanding in a profession art.A little learning is a dangerous thing: A small amount of knowledgpEvery cloud has a silver lining: every trouble has something hopeful that you can see in it.Language is created by human beings during their working and living. English idioms, as a most significant component of English language, have much to do with common people. Among them are many famous writers, who also make a great contribution in forming of English idioms, Such as Shakespeare and other writers. Bible is one of the sources, thus some idioms have religion color. In addition, we should not neglect the tales, Greece myth and legends, which started the new time of civilization of human beings.Ⅳ. Features of English IdiomsAs a particular part of language, idioms enjoy their own specific characteristics. Idioms are abundant in rhetorical devices. The meanings of idioms are often established by usage and implied in the images and figures they contain. Normally no component word in an idiom can bechanged. But on the other hand, idioms also possess common characteristics, namely the similar qualities shared by the vocabulary of a language. By common characteristics we mean idioms have emotional coloring. For example, they may be commendatory or derogatory. What is more, synonyms and antonyms also exist in idioms. The following paragraphs will be devoted to these features contained in English idioms.4.1 Features of English idioms in general1. Commonly used for a long historyEnglish idioms have been used for a long period and they have long-lasting and vigorous life. According to the estimation of some linguists, there are approximately 50,000 entries exiting in English language, while 20 percent of them are commonly in use now (Wang 372). English idioms, as a part of language, are widely used in many fields, both in oral English and in writing English. Although some English idioms are hackneyed and stereotyped expressions and they have lost the cultural environment, they have formed their special connotations and they are commonly used nowadays. Here are some English idioms that have a long history but are still used frequently nowadays:The apple of one’s eye: A person, usually a child, who somebody loves very much.Rack one’s brain: Think hard about something, especially try and work out the answer to a difficult problem.Lion’s share: The biggest or best part.Heart and soul: eager love, strong feeling, great enthusiasm.Tighten one’s belt: live on a less money than usual, use less food and other things.On thin ice: in a dangerous or difficulty position.Out of tune: not having the exact position or correct shape or balance.A dark horse: a race horse, competitor about whom little is known or who unexpectedly win.Just like the other components of language, there are a lot of new idioms coming, and at the same time, some of them have been getting of out. This shows that language, like other things in the world, is changeable, and they are continually renovating. This is one feature of English idiom. However, there are still some other features that cause the difficulty in understanding of English idioms.2. Semantic integrationSemantic integration can be also called “Meaning Unity” or “Semantic Unity”, which means that we should regard idiom as integrity. In other words, it means that we cannot understand the meaning simply from words of the idiom. So this is one of the difficulties that make people from different culture to have a better and thorough understanding of the idioms. Look at these examples:It is raining cats and dogs: The implied meaning of this is that it’s rain heavily. But if we just understand it facial meaning, there would be a great confusion.I’m under the weather: The corre ct understanding may be “I’m unhappy” or “I’m in bad mood or healthy.”Send in one’s jacket: It means you quit your job, which has nothing to do with the real object “jacket”.Bite one’s nail: Put or press your fingers to your mouth because you feel very excited, nervous or afraid. The real meaning of it is that you have difficulties in doing something. This is far away from your nails in reality.3. Structural StabilityIn the text book A Survey of English lexicology, Structural Stabilityis also named as “syntactic frozenness” (Wang Jiangrong 374). We can analysis this from two aspects, on the one hand, it is clear that we cannot change the words of an idiom, even if they are absolute synonymy; On the other hand, the word order of an idiom cannot be changed. If we do obey the rules above, we certainly make the idiom meaningless. For instance:As happy as king:It means extremely happy. However we cannot expressed as “as happy as queen”.At sixes and sevens: The meaning of it is something is in mess. But we s hould not use it like “at seven or sixes”.4.2 Features of English Idioms in figures of speechFigurativeness makes language beautiful. However it adds the difficulties for people from different culture to understand the true meaning of English Idioms. There are many kinds of figurative speech used in English, such as simile, metaphor, Metonymy, hyperbole, irony, alliteration and etc. Most of English idioms are figurative, because they may read smoothly and sound more pleasing and easy to understand and remember. For example, as busy as a bee, as still as a stone, hot and heavy, part and parcel, money makes the mare go, high and dry, wear and fear. Besides, repetition is a figure of speech in which the same wordappears repeatedly so as to give a strong statement. For instance, step by step, measure for measure, neck and neck. Still antithesis is another important figurative speech, which is using a conjunction to put two parts with different meanings together such as brawn and brain, fair and foul, weal or woe, now or never, through thick and thin, like father, like son, out of sight, out of mind, Penny wise, pound foolish, where there’s a will, there is a way.Although some of figurativeness in English idioms is universal, it is in some degree, unique and different from other counties. This is another factor that may cause misunderstanding of English Idioms for people from different cultures.Ⅴ. Difficulties and Their Solutions in Understanding ofEnglish Idioms5.1 Difficulties in understanding English idiomsBriefly speaking, difficulties in understanding lie in the cultural gap caused by the differences between two cultures in geography and natural environment, history, customs, and religious beliefs. As some famous linguistics have mentioned that two basic difficulties of translation are firstly to know the meaning of the source language and secondly to translate the style just as the source language does (Deng 1).1. Figurative and violation of grammarMost of English idioms are figurative and they do not only have the facial meaning, but also the intended meaning. For example, in English “from hand to mouth” does not really refer to the distance from hand to mouth. The actual meaning is barely able to feed oneself. Another example is “a stone’s throw”, which does not necessarily mean “the throw of a stone”, but rather a short distance (Pan 16).Furthermore some of the English idioms are formed against the grammatical rules, and this will make people confused. When encountering such difficulties, they may be trapped or may doubt whether they are right or wrong. For example:Diamond cut diamond: dispute or struggle between two well-matched opponents. Here it should be “cuts”, however, it is accepted.2. Lack of the background informationAlmost every idiom has its facial meaning and its associative meaning at the same time. Thus people may take the idiom too literally, whereas in most conditions, their implied meaning is very different from their facial meaning. Let try to understand these idioms thoroughly:Break a leg: the literal meaning is “the leg is broken”, however the real meaning of it is good luck to someone.Face the music: the associative meaning of it is to be blamed because of the mistake. If we translated it into “listen to music” it is far from the original meaning and it is meaningless.Have a long nose: the real meaning of it is the people who tell lies that his or her nose will become longer than ever, but not the one who really have a long nose.3. Culture differences and translation difficultiesCulture differences are one of the most important factors and also it is the greatest difficulty for translator to overstep. Nida has stated that if the translators want to translate perfectly, it is far from enough for them to have only a bilingual dictionary or an encyclopedia and the ability to speak or write two languages (Nida 10). Since translation is an inter-cultured activity, translators should have the ability to sense the connotative meaning from the direct or indirect expression. As some famous translators have summed up, translating can be an easier job, when really understanding the cultural background information. For example:The heel of Achilles: it comes from Greece myth, who is a so strongdeity that no one can defeat him. However, when his enemies find his fatal weakness is his heel, and then he is killed by arrow on his heel.Trojans horse: some people hidden in a wooden house, and defeat their enemies.In language learning, we may not avoid such idioms, which are unique to their culture. Without knowing the culture, we can hardly understand them correctly.5.2 Correct ways to understanding confusing English idiomsEnglish idioms are the essence of English language and they are elite of English language. However they are also the most difficult part for people from different culture to have a better understanding. On the one hand, since English idioms are firm in their form and their meanings are not the simply combination of their individual, they are expressions that can not be understood from their literal meanings of the individual element. On the other hand, most of English idioms are figurative, so if we want to understand them correctly, we need avoid taking their literal meanings. As has been mentioned above, language is closely related to culture, which often finds expression in idioms and contributes much towards the enrichment of language expressiveness. Rich and colorful as it may be, culture can also result in puzzle and confusion, especially inthe understanding of some idioms. Penetration into the custom and culture is required when such problems arise as have been mentioned above.Ⅵ. Correct Ways of Translating English IdiomsDryden has put forward three types of translation: metaphases, paraphrase and imitation. Metaphase means translating literally, but imitation is that the translator is apart from the text when doing translation and translator can interpret in a more easy way (Yan 369). Comparing the two methods, we can find that paraphrase is in the middle of them. Pope supports Dryden on these three theories. However Matthew Arnold is against freedom and insisting on preserving the fumet of the original text even the spirit of them happen to the same (Yan 369). While for this paper, it emphasizes on translating in a logical way. To this point, it is extremely hard to decide which methodology is right or wrong. The best way is to combine these ways together. How to achieve the desired effect in doing such translation depends on a large amount of knowledge that translators have. However, different scholars have different ideas about what is the best strategy for the success of translation.As translation is inevitably influenced by the source language culture and the target language culture, the competence of a translator, Nida assumes that the most important ability for a competent translator isnot only bilingual, but also bicultural in order to read between lines. He or she can sense the implied meaning and express them thoroughly (Yan 338).6.1 Literal translationLiteral translation means translating word by word in order to preserve the style of the original text. Generally speaking, literal translating sometimes can fully express the meaning and composing technique of the text. People can achieve this because the communication between countries became more and more frequent, and language is on the way of interaction and adsorption. On the other hand, all the human beings live on the same planet and during the practice to create the world people have a lot of common cognition. So although the background information may different, we can translate literally, which can still understand by most of Chinese people. Such as the following: Add fuel to the fire: make an already difficulty situation worse by one’s actions or words.Strike while the iron is hot: make immediate use of an opportunity; do something when condition is favorable.Fish in trouble water: take advantage of trouble or uncertain for personal profit.As firm as a rock: firm, reliable or loyal.As light as a feather: very light in weight and gentle in movement.Smooth tongue: flattering or insincere encouragement.Generally speaking, there are some similarities between two languages and cultures. Because all the people possess the same globe and resources and have the same experience in developing procedures, translating literally is understandable and reasonable because they have certain similarities. By literal translation, many English and Chinese idioms are translated directly without adding explanation or notes. They are easy to be understood and become popular.6.2 Free translationGenerally speaking, English and Chinese have a lot in common. However, there are still some diversities existing. “Traditionally, the adequacy of translations has been judged on the correspondence in lexicon and grammar between the source and target language. So “functional equivalence” (Nida 314) is not always applicable, or will arouse confusion and misunderstanding to readers. Free translation does not mean translators can translate according to their will. Rather, it means when doing translating, translators try to get rid of the abstract metaphysic usage in English, and find a good expression that isintuitionistic for people to understand.What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander: what is thought suitable for a woman should be suitable for a man.Eat one’s word: fail to keep one’s word. Probably it means that someone didn’t keep his or her promise.When literal translation method can not be employed and no Chinese substitute is suitable, we have to use free translation. Consequently, translation may be only concern about the meaning and the style of the text without the sentence patterns or figures of speech. Free translation does not mean we can delete or add content to the original text.6.3 Literal translation with notesSome idioms have their national characteristics. Since different countries have their own unique cultural and linguistic features, which are in fact not familiar to the readers in other countries. To avoid this disadvantage of literal translation, many scholars assume that the method of literal translation with notes can help people have a better understanding.An Englishman’s house is his castle: an English man’s home cannot be entered by anyone else without his permission and nobody can tell him to behave there.Meet one’s Waterloo: suffer defeat or failure; be faced with, especially after precious success, a final defeat.)In the arms of Morphesus: have a living sleep. (Note: Morphesus is the god of sleeping.)Literal translation can reserve national characteristics of original idioms, but it may also cause confusion in understanding since every idiom has its own particular culture and features. This method requires the translator to render source texts literally as well as add some explanation or notes to explain unfamiliar allusions or connotations of source idioms.6.4 Loan translationLoan translation is a method in which the translator borrows a target idiom of similar meaning to replace the idiom of English. People can achieve this mainly because languages have their characteristics of universal. There are several advantages of loan translation: on the one hand, it keeps the original context and forms of English idioms. On the other hand, it can help us to have a more intuitionistic understanding and a feeling of affability.。