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,translation

I. Introduction

Language, 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 a

nation, 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 Culture

Many 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.