从文化角度看习语翻译

从文化角度看习语翻译

【摘要】习语是语言文化的结晶，缺少了习语，语言将会变得索然无味。习语在语言中的应用比比皆是，在写作或演说中适当地使用习语将会使篇章增色，加强语言的力量使语言更形象。奈达曾说过，习语是比任何非习语更具冲击力的表达，它带有一种语言和文化的识别特征。习语被广泛应用于各类写作和演说中，如在文学作品中，在科学著作中，在政治演说中，甚至在美国,习语都成为辩论中唇枪舌战的武器。美国第16届总统亚伯拉罕·林肯在他一篇著名演说中引用了圣经里的一句话：“互相分裂的房子无法站立。”来号召美国人民团结一致反对黑奴制度，停止战。美国人对圣经的容都很熟悉，他们为此深受感动。林肯废奴运动也取得了很好的结果。既然习语在语言运用中有如此重要地位，那么恰到好处地翻译习语将有助于跨文化交流。中英不同的文化使得英汉习语在表达上有很大差异，也使得翻译中容易产生误译,因此加强对英汉习语文化涵差异的了解有着重要意义。本文在探讨英汉习语文化涵差异的基础上提出了四种翻译方法:直译法、意译法、意象转移法、增删法。

【关键词】习语；文化；习语翻译

【Abstract】 Idioms, having universal appeal, are widely recognized as the essence or the crystallization of language. Without idioms language would become dull and dry, whereas an appropriate use of them in speech and writing will add much to variety strength and vividness of the language. Idioms usually carry more impact than none-idiomatic expressions because of their close identification with a particular language and culture. Idioms are widely used in almost all kinds of speeches and writings: they can be found in literary works, in scientific and political articles; even debates in the United Nations are often interspersed with idioms which become verbal weapons that are difficult to argue against. The 16th US President Abraham Lincoln once quoted an idiom derived from the Bible: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” in one of his famous speech, calling o n people to fight against slavery and Civil War. American people, who were familiar with the Bible, were greatly impressed and Lincoln’s antislavery campaign at last yielded fruitful result. Thus idioms hold an important position in language use, an adequate translation of idioms is not only helpful but also essential in intercultural communication.

This paper attempts to make a brief comparative study of the cultures embodied in Chinese and English idioms and explores the role of the culture in understanding and rendering of both English and Chinese idioms.

【Key Words】 Idioms; culture; the translation of idioms

1. Introduction

Cultural studies have currently been prevailing in the west. And talking about cultural studies has also become a fashion in the circle of present Chinese culture and academia, especially in the field of literary theory and criticism. Accordingly,

in the wide sphere of translation studies, there are some scholars both at home and abroad who have tried to replace translation with cultural translation studies and interpretation. Translation is considered to be a cross-cultural communication, which concerns not only the transfer between languages, but also the transfer between cultures. However, the ways of thinking, beliefs, attitudes and values of different cultures not only give rise to failures or misunderstandings in cross-cultural communication but also pose headaches to translation theorists and translators. An idiom is a beautiful gem of a language as well as crystallization of national culture. Yet it is also one of the most difficult things to learn and use in a foreign language. They are often rather hard to understand from the meaning of individual words. Chinese and English both abound with idioms, whose succinct forms and profound meanings make themselves more condensed and expressive. Many idioms bear figures and strong cultural flavors. If they are translated appropriately, not only can the original spirit and meanings be faithfully conveyed, clearly understood and accepted by the target language readers, but also the Chinese and English vocabularies can be enriched to provide a broader cultural vision. The issues of rendering idioms of one language into another are always complicated, if the two languages involved are so unlike in backgrounds and cultures with each other. This paper expounds the close relationship between idioms and culture translation, and the issue of idiom translation is explored from a cultural perspective.

2. Definitions and forms of idiom

2.1 The definitions of idiom

The word “idiom” possesses several meanings. It may be defined as “the language of a people or a country”, as in “the Chinese idiom”; or “a dialect” as in “Cantonese idiom”. It may also be defined, according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s E nglish-Chinese Dictionary, as “phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must be learnt as a whole unit”[1] p734. The second definition most suits the purpose of this paper. The Chinese “equivalent” for“ idiom” is“习语”, it also refers to a kind of a set phrase or sentence fixed by long usage. From the above definitions we can extract two basic criteria on which to decide whether or not an expression is an idiom(or:习语):

Firstly, established and refined by long practical use, an idiom has a relatively high degree of stability of the lexical components. An idiom allows little or no variation in form under normal circumstances. In general, any change in the components will result in absurdities or even render the idioms meaningless. A speaker or writer cannot normally do any of the following with an idiom unless he or she is consciously making a joke or attempting play on words:

a. Change the order of the words in it (e.g.* “at sevens and sixes” instead of “at sixes and sevens”);

b. Delete a word from it (e.g.* “a kettle of fish” instead of “a nice kettle of