中西颜色词的文化差异及翻译

中西颜色词的文化差异及翻译

Cultural Differences of Chinese and English Color Words and Their Translation

Abstract:The relationship between language and culture are closely linked. Language is the base of culture and is the constituent of culture. Language as a mirror reflects the culture of a nation, and like a window shows all the contents of the culture. On the other hand, the culture is not only the basis of the language’s existence, but also the lifespring of language’s metabolism. So understanding of a culture requires the understanding of the corresponding language and vice versa. In fact, language is an abstract concept. So by what way can we observe the connotation of different culture through language? This thesis analyzes this from a set of special words----color terms. Because of different customs, environments, religious beliefs, ethnic psychology, politics and economics, the understanding and the feelings of color words are different. The same color often has different meanings in various cultures and it reflects the cultural differences. Through comparing the difference of culture between Chinese and English, we can understand different translation methods so that we can improve our English ability. Furthermore, it can promote the communication between China and western countries.

This thesis consists of four chapters. The first part mainly tells about the significance, literature review and purposes of research on the cultural connotations of color terms between English and Chinese. The second part expounds the reasons of cultural differences between English and Chinese. The third part mainly talks about the ways of translating color words. At last a conclusion of the thesis is made naturally.

Key Words: Color words; Cultural differences; Translation

摘要:语言与文化之间的关系密不可分。语言是文化的基础，是文化的组成部分。它像一面镜子反映着一个民族的全部文化，又像一个窗口揭示着该文化的一切内容。另一方面文化又是语言赖以生存的基础，是语言新陈代谢的生命源泉。所以文化的理解是需要对相应语言的理解，反之亦然。实际上，语言是一种抽象的概念，那我们怎样通过它来了解不同文化之间的差异呢？我们可以从一组特殊的词汇群体---颜色词来分析。由于不同文化之间的习俗，地理环境，宗教信仰，民族心理，政治经济的不同，所以对颜色词的理解和感受也不相同。通过比较中西方的文化差异，我们可以掌握不同的翻译方法，提高我们的英文水平,进而促进中西方的文化交流。

本文共分为四章。第一章是对汉语和英语基本颜色词汇的研究意义，研究现状及研究目的做了阐述。第二章是分析了产生汉语和英语基本颜色词文化内涵相同点和不同点的原因。第三章是对汉英颜色词的翻译方法做了简介。第四章总结全文。

关键词:颜色词；文化差异；翻译方法

Table of Contents Acknowledgments (i)

Abstract in English (ii)

Abstract in Chinese (iii)

1. Introduction (1)

1.1Significance of the research (1)

1.2 Literature review of the research (1)

1.3 Purposes of the research (2)

2. Cultural Differences of Chinese and English Color words (2)

2.1Different Cultural Connotations (3)

2.1.1 the color of red (3)

2.1.2 the color of white (6)

2.1.3 the color of yellow (8)

2.2 Causes of Cultural differences (10)

2.2.1 the historical causes (10)

2.2.2 religious beliefs (11)

2.2.3 ways of thinking (12)

2.2.4 geographical environment (12)

3. Translation of Chinese and English Color words (13)

3.1 Literal Translation (13)

3.2 Free Translation (14)

3.3 Conversion Translation (15)

3.4 Cultural Equivalence Translation (15)

4. Conclusion (16)

Bibliography (17)