英汉习语翻译中文化差异论文

浅析英汉习语翻译中的文化差异
摘要：语言是文化的载体，也是文化交际的最主要工具。

习语作为语言的精华，是一种语言在使用过程中形成的独特的固定的表达方式,英汉习语承载着不同的民族文化特色和文化信息。

因此，在习语翻译过程中要注意其文化差异，理解习语所包含的文化内涵，从而达到准确运用习语的目的。

关键词：英汉习语；翻译；文化差异
language is the carrier of culture, and also is an instrument for communication. each language is linked with its culture. english and chinese are two completely different languages. the coverage of culture is extremely widespread, and language, as a part of culture, reflects the nation’s colorful cultural phenomena. idioms form an essential part of the vocabulary of a language, which carry a large number of cultural information and reflect the cultural differences between english and chinese. in order to understand the others and express ourselves rightly in real language communication, we should not only have bilingual ability, but also must have
a double cultural knowledge.
1 definition
an idiom is an expression whose meaning dose not seem to follow logically from the combination of its parts and the
“rules of language”. the word idiom comes from greek and means own or peculiar. (王颖,2007:15) so an idiom is a mode of expression peculiar to a language which cannot be explained grammatically.
2.the main manifestations of cultural differences
“culture is a complex whole that includes knowledge, belief, art, law, moral, customs and the ability and habit from which a social member would acquire.”--the classical definition of culture, is difinited in 1817 by edward tylor,
a british anthropologist in his book primitive culture.
2.1 differences in living environments and geographical differences
britain lays on an island. navigation is the top in the long history, so a large number of english idioms are originated from navigation industry.
2.2differences in customs and habits
many idioms comes from our daily life. food is the first necessity of the people. different nations have different foods in their daily life. english people plant wheat in england and feed on bread, milk, butter and cheese. in england, bread and butter means livelihood. bread and circuses means food and entertainments. when someone says he want to break
bread with you, it means that he want to have dinner with you.
2.3 differences in religious beliefs
religious belief is a very important cultural component，and a large number of idioms about religion also appeared. religion reflects different attitudes towards admiration and taboo of each nation. religious belief create a lot of idioms. buddhism has been transmitted to china for more than one thousand years, which occupies the leading position in chinese traditional religions.
3 translation of english and chinese idioms
“why translation is difficult? the main cause is that two cultures is different. there are something in a culture, while do not exist in the other kind of cultural.
3.1 literal translation
there are some similar or same idioms in chinese and english. the cultural information which carried by these idioms are same. when translating these idioms, we can choose literal translation method. for example, the idiom of easy come, easy go we can find the idiom in chinese which have the same meaning.
3.2 literal translation plus explanation
in order to keep the image and ethnic characteristics of idioms, some chinese idioms which include allusion often translate into english directly, but we often add some explanation behind it.
3.3 free translation
some images of english idioms cannot find the same words in chinese because of different culture. according to the semantic equivalent principles, the effect of translation of the target language for readers should be equivalent to the effect of original language.
4.conclusion
in a word, we should not only study language but also the culture. as the most important component of language, idioms, the essence of a language, are not a separate part of the language and have strong national colors and distinctive cultural connotations. english and chinese belong to different language systems, and they are affected by deferent culture. translation is not merely from one language to another, but also to introduce the cultural backgrounds. idioms are rich in strong national and local colors. therefore, it is not easy to translate chinese and english idioms. by studying the differences of idioms between english and
chinese, you can understand the culture better. we should try our best to do the translation more vividly and more expressively.
参考文献：
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