浅谈文化与翻译的关系

On the Relation between Culture and Translation Abstract: Each language has a close relationship with its culture. Language reflects culture and at the same time language is restricated by culture. In different culture the same words or expressions have different meanings. On the other hand, different words and expression can have the same meaning. In technique of expression, idioms have intense cultural characteristics. They can be regarded as nucleus and cream of language when translating idioms, we must correctly handle contradictions between language and culture .Handing the cultural differences is becoming the key point of the succeeding in the translation of idioms. There are six ways of translating idioms.

Keywords: culture; translation; idiom

浅谈文化与翻译的关系

内容摘要：每一种语言与文化都有着及其密切的联系。语言反映文化同时语言也受到文化的制约。在不同的文化中，相同的词语可有不同的文化涵义，而另一方面，不同的词语也可能拥有相同的意义。此论文以习语的翻译为例来说明文化与翻译的密切关系。习语具有强烈的文化特征，是语言的核心与精华。翻译习语的时候要同时处理好语言与文化的两对矛盾。可以说，处理文化差异是习语翻译成功与否的关键。

关键词：文化；翻译；习语

The translation activities of human being has a long history. With the development of language and communication, the translation activities being to work. There are so many languages in the words, and there are so many dialect in one language that it is not an easy thing for people to exchange their culture frequently. They need a medium to solve this problem. This medium is translation. So translation plays an important role in cultural transmission.

In this easy, we are going to take the translation of idioms as an example to discuss the relation between Culture and Translation.

Sometimes people think translation is an easy task, but in fact, translation is not that easy. Because language reflects culture and at the same time language is restricted by culture.

In different culture, the same words or expressions have different meanings. For example, the concepts of dragon exist both in English language and Chinese language, but the connotation of dragon are very different in these two different culture. In English culture, "dragon" is a common reptile. Sometimes people think of "dragon" as a "monster" or a sign of evil. But in Chinese Culture, the meanings of" dragon" are completely different. In ancient times, "dragon" represents the emperor-the strongest governer of China. As a result, people consider" dragon" as a symbol of noble quality. At the same time, these commendetory terms such as "Long Yan"(龙颜），"Long Pao"(龙袍),"Long Ting"(龙庭),"Wang Zi Cheng Long"(望子成龙) come into being in Chinese. In a sence, "dragon" is a special local product of Chinese culture. It is also a specific character of culture.

On the other hand, different words and expressions can have the same meaning. For example: There are two different idioms-"Kill two birds with one stone" in English and" Yi Jian Shuang Diao"(一箭双雕）in Chinese. Outwardly these two idioms were expressed in different ways, but inwardly these two idioms have the same meaning .That is to say these two idioms both means holding two positive results at the same time.

In technique of expression, idioms have intense cultural characteristics. They can be regarded as nucleus and cream of language .When translating idioms ,we must correctly handle contradictions between language and culture .Handing the cultural differences is becoming the key point of the succeeding in the translation of idioms. There are some ways of translating idioms:

1.Avoid literal translation to skirt round difficulties.

Translating a language into author language corresponding exactly to the original is a way of translation. We call it literal translation is to make the materials which has been translated into another language keeps the original cultural character. So the readers can get a good understanding when they need these materials. We are going to have a look at the following example.

“这两件事都是实的，倘若审断起来，体面上不好看。…三十六计，走为上计?。卷卷行李，一溜烟急走到省城去了。”（吴敬梓《儒林外史》第五回）"Both complaints are true, and if I have to appear in court I shall lose face. Better make myself scarce. He bundled some things together and fled to the provincial capital."(Translated by the Yangs.)

In this paragraph, the difficult point which the translator skirts round is "San Shi Liu Ji, Zou Wei Shang Ji"(三十六计，走为上计),but the main meaning is not omitted. So the reader can understand without knowing" San Shi Liu Ji, Zou Wei Shang Ji"(三十六计，走为上计).In fact, it is not a difficult thing for the translator to translate" San Shi Liu Ji, Zou Wei Shang Ji"(三十六计，走为上计)into English according to the translator's ability. In order to keep the original author's meaning and transmit the culture which is related to the original matorials, we had better adopt word-for-word translation which is followed by footnote. That is to say "San Shi Liu Ji,Zou Wei Shang Ji"(三十六计，走为上计)can be translated into "of the thirty-six stratagems, the best is to quit. "This way of translating this sentence can be accepted by all the foreign readers who know English well. According to the context, they will have a full understanding of this sentence.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/9213308818.html,e another culture instead of original culture.

In the course of translating one language into another language, we may use another culture instead of the original culture. For example, "Ban Men Long Fu"(班门弄斧)is a very famous idiom which is known by all Chinese people. Someone translates this idiom into such an English sentence "Teach one's grandmother to such eggs "From this we can see that the translator use another western culture to replace the original Chinese culture in the translation .But in Chinese-English dictionary ,we can find such a translation of "Ban Men Long Fu"(班门弄斧):"Show off one's proficientcy with the axe before Lu Ban the master carpenter. It can be considered as a good reference. It is a good translation because it is properly increase-decrease and very practical. The insignificant word "Men"(门)is omitted, and the appositive" the master carpenter is used properly. This way of translating is also word-for-word translation. In fact, in a special context, the translator can deal with his or her translation in a more flexible way.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/9213308818.html,e literal translation with explanatory note to describe the character.

Please look at the following example:

“难道这也是个痴丫头，又象颦儿来葬花不成？”因又自笑道：“若真是葬花，可谓东施效颦了；不但不为新奇，而是更是可厌。”（曹雪芹《红楼梦》第34回）"Can this be another absurd maid come to bury flowers like Tai yu"? he wondered in some amusement. "If so, she's …Tung Shih imitating Hsi Shih', which isn't original but rather tiresome(Translated by the Yangs.)

In this paragraph, the typical characters' names are translated into" Tung Shih", "Hsi Shih", "Hdi Yuh". This is a special transliteration. This bind of transliteration can reappear the style of original language and it is also a best way to transmit the culture which is related to original language. According to the standard Chinese

phonetic aliphabet, we should translate these typical characters' name into "Dongshi", "Xishi" and Daiyu". But this way of translating is obviously hackneyed.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/9213308818.html,e literal translation to keep the original meaning.

Please look at the following example:

"美国人在北平,在天津,在上海,都洒了些救济粉,看一看什么人愿意弯腰拾起来,太公钓鱼,愿者上钩.嗟来之食,吃下去肚子要痛的."(<<毛泽东选集>>第1499页)

The Americans have sprinkled some relief flour in Peiping, Tientsin and Shanghai to see who will stoop to pick it up. Like Chiang Tai Kung fishing they have cast the line for the fish who want to be caught. But he who swallows food handed out in contempt will get a belley ache.

In this paragraph, when the translator translates the place names such as "Peiping"(北平),"Tientsin"(天津),he uses the old style of spelling .According to the new spelling, these place names should be "Beijing"(北平),"Tianjin"(天津).But if changing the old spelling" Chiang Tai Kung"(姜太公)into the new spelling "Jiang Tai Gong"(姜太公)it would be better. If we given an explanation for the idiom" Tai Gong Diao Yu ,Yuan Zhe Shang Gou"(太公钓鱼,愿者上钩)with a footnote ,this paragraph will be more perfect. That is to say, if we let the foreign readers know the following story, they will get a good understanding of this paragraph:

Jiang tai gong was a very wise man. He used to fish by the wei River with a hookles and baitless line, in fact he was waiting for King Wen 's death, he helped King Wu to defeat the last King of the Shang Dynasty(about 1700-1100B.C)and established the Zhou Dynasty (about1100-771B.C).The word "fish" in the idiom alludes to a person who willingly plays into someone's hands.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/9213308818.html,e free translation in addition to literal translation.

There are two basic ways of translation: one is literal translation, the other is free translation. Sometimes the translators will use these two methods flexibly at the same time when translation materials.

We are going to have a look at the following example:

Men sent flowers, love notes, offer of fortune, and still her dream ran riot .The one hundred and fifty! The one hundred and fifty! What a door of an Aladdin's cave it seems to be (Tb. Dreiser Sister Carrie).

男人送花,送情书,送时运给她.可是她还幻梦无边.这一百五十块钱!这一百五十块钱!真像藏着神灯似的山洞为阿拉廷打开了门.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/9213308818.html,e the plot literary quotation in the main body of the paragraph.

Please look at the following example:

"难道这也是个痴丫头,又象颦儿来葬花不成?"因又自笑道:"若真是葬花,可谓东施效颦了;不但不为新奇,而是更是可厌."(曹雪芹:<<红楼梦>>第34回) "Can this be some silly maid come here to bury flowers like Frowner?" He wondered. He was reminded of Zhuangzi's story of the beautiful Xi-shi's ugly neighbour , whose end eavours to imitate the little frown that made Xi-shi captivating

produced as aspect to hideous that people ran from her in terror.(Translated by Hawkes).

In this paragraph, "to hideous" is a mistake which is made by the printing worker. So we can't blame the original translators. But this kind of translation is not real translation, in a sence, it can be called translate and edit .According to the context the sentence "He was reminded of" should be followed by these six words "the story of Dongshi imitating Xishi" .But the translator uses 31words here. From this we can see the translator pays more aitention to editting than translating. This can not be taken as authoritative.

Generally speaking, translating idioms is not an easy task. There are some special idioms. Its literal meaning and real meaning are very different, even opposite .When we translate these idioms, we should be more careful. We are going to have a look at the following example: "Zhi Zi Mo Ruo Fu"(知子莫若父)is an old proverb in Chinese; "It is a wise father that knows his child"(The Merchant of Venice)is an old proverb in English. For the first sight, these two proverbs have the same meaning ,but in fact, their meanings are opposite. "Zhi Zi Mo Ruo Fu"(知子莫若父)means "A father understands his son very well." "It is a wise father that knows his child "means "Although he is the child' father, he doesn't understand his child sometimes." If we don't pay much attention to the different made of thinking, we can not do a good join in translation.

When translating a language into another language, we should take the original materials seriously, we should pay much attention to the original author's oultural background and get a good understanding of it, and sometimes the oultural differences of different nations where people speak the same language should be taken into account. For example: An Englishman makes a long-distance telephone calling in American, the American telephone operator puts through telephone line and asks him :"Are your through?" The Englishman just says :"Yes,......"and before he says anythings else the American telephone operator cutoff the line. Why this kind of misunderstanding happen? Because "Are your through?" in American English means "Have you finished? ",but in British English, "Are your through?" means "Have you got through? "So the Englishman thinks that the American telephone operator asks him:" Have you got through?" and answers him: "yes" This joke tells us that in English-speaking countries, the same expression may have different meanings in different culture .That is to say ,people use the same language in different ways.

The above examples are all related to the translation of idioms. In fact, the common words which reflect culture differences in daily life are also not easy to translate, such as these form of address: sister ,brother, uncle, aunt ,niece, nephew and so on. For example: The way of translating to a word of the "uncle "in Mark. Twen's novel" Uncle John Quarles". Someone translates "uncle" into "Shushu"(叔叔),someone translates it into "Bobo"(伯伯),someone translates it into "Jiujiu"(舅舅)and so on. So Zhang Tingchen make a textual criticism with it, and write a special article for it. At last ,he bear out Uncle John is just only the husband of Mark Twen's

mother's sister. So "aunt" is just only Mark Twen' smaternal aunt. If the translators meet this kind of difficulties, they must go to make a through in vest igation, and they can't absolutely form a subjective judgment ,so as not to make a mistake such as "father's younger brother" and" father's sister" are becoming husband and wife.

In a word, each language has a close relationship with its culture .When translating are language into another language ,we can not keep away from culture.

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