中西方文化中动物象征意义的差异

A same word in two languages expresses a same meaning
To both Chinese and western people, some animals contain similar connotations,
“parrot” (鹦鹉),the animal which can simulate human voice, refers to a man who repeats the words of others without his own opinions in both the languages;
In the long course of human history, animals keep a close relationship with our human being and have a deep effect on human living and growth. This relationship brings people all kinds of complicated emotion such as love, sympathy, disgust and fear. Moreover, people also often repose their mood on animals to express their feeling. Owing to the differences of geographical environments and customs, these words and phrases, whose denotations are similar in the two languages, have different cultural backgrounds in English and Chinese languages, consequently their cultural connotations will be different from each other. This PPT will mainly contrast the divergences of cultural connotations for animal words to explain the cultural differences between Chinese and English.
Significance of contrast of animal words between English and Chinese
1.Learning about the cultural differences between English and Chinese appearing in animal words can help people understand the emotional meaning of language and the two cultures further and remove the barriers in intercultural communications; therefore it is of great value in practice. 2.Knowing about the connotations or associations of an animal word in one language can keep us away from heavy losses in commercial activities owing to cultural differences between the two languages such as naming a product. 3.To learn about the cultural background of a word is good for selecting a right word for expression. To an English learner, making a good understanding of both the native language and the foreign language is a good way to have a good command of the language.
“bee”(蜜蜂) in both English and Chinese stands for busy and hardworking people, for instance the phrase “as busy as a bee”(像蜜蜂一样忙碌); and “jackal”(胡狼，豺) means greedy, contemptible. Animal images of these words in English and Chinese cultures are identical on the whole.
The same cultural connotation of different animal words
That is to say, different animal words can express a same or similar meaning. Although the animal word people use in one language is different from that used in the other one, they are similar in figure of speech Just because of the common characters of human culture, people, whatever Chinese or English, have some sameness in mind to this objective reality. Therefore, people speaking different languages in different countries can exchange their mind freely to foreigners in cross-culture communication.
Wolves (狼) are all bloodthirsty and cruel, so in the two languages there are similar expressions such as
“as cruel as a wolf”(像狼一样凶残), “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”(披着羊皮的狼)
Content Else
a snake in the grass like a cat on hot bricks Lion –hearted Get sb’s goat Separate the sheep from the goats top dog cat and dog life A cat may look like a king
“as hungry as a wolf”(饿得像狼).
In English “wolf” has a slang meaning, saying that it refers to man who seduces women, and likewise in Chinese people have the word “色狼”;both of them developed from “greedy”(贪婪) which is an attendant meaning of “wolf”. English people usually describe that a person is “wolfing down his food”, and in Chinese people use wolf(狼) too. In Chinese it is said “狼 吞虎咽”.
Another similar example is the “cry wolf” and the story of “狼来 了”,both of the two means telling lies. If a foreigner comments a politician like this: “that politician cries wolf in every speech he makes”, he is surely saying that “那个政治家在他的每篇演说中都说了假话”.
The similarities
A same word expresses a same meaning
The same connotation of different animal
The correspondence of adopted words
In whatever English or Chinese, lots of words, phrases or idioms are connected to animals. They are so lively and vivid that people can have a direct impression in mind, and then connect the images to the internal connotations. Because of the culture communications between east and west and the similarity of thinking manners, an animal word would have same or similar connotations.
The vocabulary in different languages can reflect the developments of different languages. There are many expressions connected with animals in both English and Chinese because of history, customs, value and religion beliefs. This PPT analyzes the differences between the English and Chinese expressions connected with animals, vividly showing the cultural influence on vocabulary and the differences between the Chinese and English culture. And it will be helpful for English learners’ intercultural communication.