Cultural Comparison between English and Chinese Animal Idioms英汉动物习语文化比较

Cultural Comparison between English and Chinese

Animal Idioms

Abstract：Language is the main carrier of culture. Idioms are conventionalized phrases and sentences. English and Chinese idioms carry the different national cultural characteristics and cultural information. Among these idioms, a large number of them employ the animal images because of the significance of animals in people’s life. In order to understand these idioms clearly, this paper will analyze cultural differences from four aspects of geography, customs, historical allusion and religion, and then put forward the reasons why they have the cultrual similarities.

Key words：English and Chinese idioms; animals; cultural comparison; difference; similarity

I. Introduction

Idiom is a fixed group of words or a single word, or even a sentence with a special meaning that cannot be guessed from the literal meaning of its components.“Language is the carrier container of culture, and is strongly influenced and shaped by culture.” So in order to l earn English idioms, one cannot ignore the importance of the cultural meanings they contain.

As the essence of languages,idioms have two features: semantic unity and structural stability. On its broad sense, idioms including set phrases, proverbs, sayings, colloquialisms, allusions and so on are an important part of the language and culture.

Human’s li feis closely related to animals, and there are an increasing number of English and Chinese idioms about animals which are concise, readable and vivid. Many animals have become a kind of symbolism in people’s thinking, and this symbolism is reflected in the language. However, because of different history and culture, the connotations of animal words in one language do not parallel with those in another. Due to the cultural differences of geography, customs, historical allusion, religion and so on, such idioms embody the distinctive characteristics of national culture. And with the development of economy and science, globalization is a more and more obvious phenomenon. The relationship between countries is becoming closer and closer. In order to understand these idioms more clearly and make the international communication more effectively, it is useful and necessary to compare such idioms. The paper will make a comparative study of animals employed in English and Chinese idioms.

Ⅱ. The definition and features of idioms

Idioms and idiomatic, while closely related, are not identical. The basis of both is the habitual and, therefore, predictable co-occurrence of specific words, but with idioms signifying a narrower range of word combinations than idiomatic. Idioms are characterized by semantic unity and structural stability. They are a set expression made up of two or more words. The sense of the combination cannot be explained in terms of its constituent parts. In other words, the idiom functions as a unit of meaning which cannot be predicted from the literal meaning of its member words. In most cases no reason can now be given as to how or why a particular idiomatic phrase has assumed its present form. Most idioms can be said to be demotivated linguistic units.The combination of two or more words into an idiom is conventional and arbitrary.

2.1 The definition of idioms

Idiom is an expression which functions as a single unit and whose meaning cannot be worked out from its separate parts.

Chirac Fernando defined English idioms like this: Idioms, or conventionalized multiword expression, often but not always non-literal are hardly marginal in English, though they have been relatively neglected in lexical studies of the language.

So people consider that idioms are phrases and sentences which people extract from language after having used them for a long time, and are language forms which have characteristics of national culture. They are also the essence of languages, including set phrases, proverbs, sayings, colloquialisms, allusions, slangs, enigmatic folk similes.

2.2 Semantic unity

Being phrases or sentences, idioms each is a semantic unity. Though the various words which make up the idiom have their respective literal meaning, In the idiom they have their individual identity. That’s to say, their meanings are not often recognizable in the meaning of the whole idiom. Likewise, the part of speech of each element is no longer important. Quite often the idiom functions as one word. So the important thing is the whole idiom. There is no connection or association to be found between the meaning of an idiom as a whole and the lexical meaning of its components. People must con sider the idiom as an unit, otherwise they wouldn’t get the meaning of idiom.

For example:“show the white feather”, if understood from its literal meaning. it means “显示白色的羽毛”, but as an idiom, it means “show one’s cowardice”. “do sb. brown” means “使人上当”. “do up brown” means “把某物彻底搞好”. So when studying idioms, people should pay attention to the feature of semantic unity, and don’t translate them literally.

2.3 Structural stability

Unlike free phrases, the structure of an idiom is to a large extent unchangeable. For instance, “do sb. well” means “provide food comforts, etc. for” , as in “They do you very well at the hotel”. Structurally analysed, the form of an idiom is set and only a limited number of idioms can be said or written in any other way without destroying in the meaning of the idiom. In other words, an idiom functions as a unit of meaning which cannot be predicted from the literal meaning of its member words.

Firstly, the constituents of idioms can not be replaced. Take “in a brown study” for example. Used as a phrase, we can say in a brown (red, green,white) study or in a brown study (room, hall). However, as an idiom to mean “deep in thought”. Another examples: bury the hatchet can’t be changed as “bury the ax”. “a stitch in time saves nine” can’t be changed as “one stitch in time saves nine”. “千载难逢” can’t be changed as “千载难见”. “唇亡齿寒” can’t be changed as “唇亡齿冷”. Secondly, the word order can not be inverted or changed. Take “kick the bucket” for example, if this idiom is passivized, it will appear in an unacceptable form such as “the bucket was kicked by John”, which no longer means that John died. Rather it means that John struck a pail with his foot. Another examples: “by twos and threes” can’t be changed as “by threes and twos”. “the lion’s share” can’t be changed as “the share of the lion”. Thirdly, the constituents of an idiom can not be deleted or added to, not even an article. Compare “a red tape” with “red tape”, for example. The former is a free phrase referring to “a red strip of ma terial used for tying up parcels, etc.”, and the latter is an idiomatic phrase meaning “excessive official formality”.

The above-mentioned examples, free phrases, using their synonyms to replace their elements wouldn’t change their meanings, while as fixed phrases, idioms can’t be changed, because their structures are common law. That’s to say, the structural of idioms can’t be changed. Any word of idioms can’t be replaced by their synonyms. The order of words can rarely be changed. Any change of words or the collocation of words will make the idioms meaningless or not be idioms.

As Chitra Fernando said: Idioms are indivisible units whose components cannot be varied or varied only within definable limits. In other words, the structure of an idiom is also an unit.In an idiom, every element is fixed, so it can’t be separated or replaced.

Ⅲ. Comparison of connotations of animal words in English and Chinese idioms

3.1 Similarities of connotstions

All humankind lives on the same planet. They have similar environment, psychology, and cognitive ability; therefore, both Chinese and English people nearly have the same knowledge of animals. As a result, they have the same or similar association and give the same cultural connotation to animal words. The examples are following：

(1)as sly as a fox像狐狸一样狡猾

(2)as fat as a pig 肥得像猪

(3)as cruel as a wolf 像狼一样残忍

(4)as slow as snail像蜗牛一样缓慢

Both Chinese and English think the fox stands for cunning, so when English people say “He is a fox”, Chinese people can understand the meaning of the sentence at the same time. To the native English speaker and Chinese people, the first characteristic of pig is fat. It also stands for laziness and stupidity. A “wolf” is one kind of fierce wild animal. Avariciousness and fierceness are its natural instincts. So we often hear some of the same expressions in English and in Chinese, such as “a wolf in a sheep’s clothing” or “cry wolf”. In addition, when “wolf” is used to refer to a person, it means “a man who always ready to make sexual advances to a woman”. Therefore, in English, there is an idiom “a wolf whistle”(调情口哨). In Chinese, there is also such an ex pression “色狼”. These idioms are given the same cultural meaning from their characteristics, so that both English and Chinese can understand each other directly and easily in cross-cultural communication. At the same time, with more and more communication, lots of foreign words come into both languages. We can find some idioms with even the same images and the same intonations, such as:

(5)fish in troubled water浑水摸鱼

(6)a dark horse 黑马

(7)a wolf in sheep’s clothing 披着羊皮的狼

3.2 Differences of connotations

The majority of animal words carry different connotations, because of their different natural environment, customs, and society systems. Besides, English history is influenced more by Egypt and Roman, while Chinese history is much more independent.

3.2.1 The same animal words withdifferent meanings

In west, people say “as happy/merry as a cricket”. “Cricket” in English is the symbol of happiness, as it is written in Shakespeare’s famous work “Henry IV”. But in China, it often gives people imagination of sadness and loneness, for it is used as a reflection of poor life of ancient peasants in “book of poetry”.The different associations of cricket reflect the distinguished cognition and aesthetic standards of both nations.

Whale is very big in size, and full of fat. Westerners pay their attention to its merits and profits. So whale for them implies great benefit. “A whale of chance” means a very good chance, “a whale on skating”, “a whale at tennis” means a person that is good at skating of tennis. However, what whale impresses Chinese is its great amount of eating that is hard to feed. It implies great difficulties, as “蚕食鲸吞”in Chinese has derogatory meaning.

“Petrel” in Chinese culture is a bird that always struggles with storms bravely and fortitudinously. So mo st Chinese respect it. However, in western culture, it is not so welcome, for “as stormy as petrel” depicts a person whose presence seems to attract trouble.

“Magpie” in Chinese is a welcome bird, and it is named “喜鹊” that means happy bird. It is a messenger of good news. When it calls out, something good are going to happen. The bird will bring good luck to you. So there are expressions such as “晴色先从喜鹊知”, “今朝闻鹊喜，家信必有归”, “喜鹊报喜”，etc. On the contrary, westerners pay more attention to the physiological characteristics of this black and white bird that is, noises it makes. They used it to describe a

person who chatters a lot.

The “peacock” is a large male bird with long blue and green tail feathers, which can spread out like a fan, but because of different aesthetic angles in English and Chinese, it represents different images and has a totally different cultural connotation. English speaking people think it is proud and vain when it is walking, so it gives them the impression of vanity and arrogance. We can fin d some phrases like “as proud as a peacock”, “play the peacock”, “as vain as a peacock”, etc. However, in Chinese traditional culture, the peacock is the symbol of auspiciousness, especially for the Dai ethnic minority. They use “peacock-dance” to express their glorious desire.

Let’s take the dog for example. The “dog” has a very close relation with people in both cultures. This is reflected in the saying “love me, love my dog.” in English and “打狗看主人” in Chinese. Most of Chinese idioms about dogs are deprecated, as is reflected in sayings like “act like a snob(狗眼看人低)”, “mistake a good man for a bad one(狗咬吕洞宾，不识好人心)”, “a filthy mouth can not utter decent language.(狗嘴吐不出象牙) ”,etc. Even though most Chinese now think the dog is man’s faithful friend. In most cases, the word “dog” is neutral in its connotation in English language. It is all right to refer to certain people as big dog, top dog, lucky dog, etc. in English. “To help a lame dog over the stile” means “to help someone in difficulty”. “To let sleep dog lie” means “to make no trouble” or “not to disturb people”. “Every dog has its day” means “every person will some day succeed or become fortunate”. Such usage does not contain derogatory connotation. That is why the English proverb “you can’t teach ol d dog new tricks” should not be translated as 你教不会老狗新把戏，as no Chinese will like to be called a “狗”,nor is it proper to translate “watch dog” into 看家狗. But in some cases, the word “dog” may have different sense in English, as is shown in the following sentences

(8) the dog returns to his vomit狗改不了吃屎

(9) dog eat dog 自相残杀

(10) yellow dog卑鄙的家伙，胆小鬼

(11) a black dog on one’s shoulder 脾气暴躁

3.2.2 Different images with the same connotation

Diversities of environment and cultural background cause another phenomenon in the two languages.

(12) as mute as fish 噤若寒蝉(cricket)

(13) like a cat on hot bricks 像热锅上的蚂蚁(ant)

(14) talk horse吹牛(cattle)

(15) wet as a drowned rat 落汤鸡(chick)

(16) a rat in a hole 瓮中之鳖(turtle)

(17) goose flesh鸡皮疙瘩(chicken)

According to the meanings they carry, one image in one language can find the corresponding one in another language.

Ⅳ. Reasons causing cultural connotation differences

Culture is an extremely complex concept and an enormous subject. Culture consists of all the shared products of human society. This means not only material things such as cities, organizations and schools, but also non-material things such as ideas, customs, family patterns, languages. Putting it simply, culture refers to the entire way of a society, or the way of people.

4.1 Different geography

The emergence of idioms is associated with the labor and life of people. English people and Chinese people live in quite different environments. The UK is located in the Western Hemisphere. Its seafaring and animal husbandry are well-developed. China is located in Eastern Asia, the west coast of Pacific Ocean. Its agriculture is well-developed. On account of these

distinct differences, people in two countries have different attitudes to the same animal. For example, Chinese culture originated from agriculture. Ancient Chinese people depended on the ox for survival, so there were many idioms about “ox”, e.g. “孺子牛”, “力大如牛”, “强的像头牛”, “牛劲”. In our traditional culture, ox was a symbol of hard work. The y always compared industrious people and those who bore hardship without complaint to ox. In history, past and present, many celebrities liken themselves to ox. Take Lu Xun for example. He had a famous sentence called “俯首甘为孺子牛”.

But in English it’s hard to find corresponding vehicles. English culture originated from nomadic herding. In the eyes of English people, the horse was a strong and assiduous friend. Therefore, there were a considerable number of idioms about “horse”, e.g. “a willing horse”, “flog a dead horse”, “work like a horse”, “be on the high horse”. Horse was a symbol of hard-working. Owing to these, people sometimes used two different aniamls to express the same meaning. For example:

(18)talk horse 吹牛

(19)as strong as a horse 力大如牛

(20)drink like a horse 牛饮

(21)work like a horse 像牛一样勤劳

(22)You may take a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink. 牛不喝水强按头

Besides, there are also some idioms about sheep. For example:

(23)like sheep 盲从地

(24)the black sheep 败家子

(25)a wolf in sheep’s clot hing 披着羊皮的狼

In addition, because the UK is an island surrounded by sea, fish also play an important role in people’s daily life. In consequence, there are a great number of idioms about fish. Sometimes it is used to describe

people or things that are not good enough.For example:

(26)a poor fish 愚蠢易欺的人

(27)loose fish 放荡的人

(28)Never offer to teach fish to swim. 不要班门弄斧

(29)The best fish smell when they are three days old. 在一起相处得太久，再好的朋友都会生厌

(30)It is a silly fish that is caught twice with the same bait. 聪明人不会两次上当

(31)Fish begins to stink at the head. 上梁不正下梁歪

But in China, “鱼” and “余” are homophonic words. It means surplus.

4.2 Different customs

Custom is a social phenomenon, which involves various aspects of social life. Custom is not an individual product but a product of the society. Everyone, from cradle to grave, his feeling, behavior, and experience are affected by customs. Idioms as a special part of the language, are greatly influenced and restricted by customs. One of the most typical differences between English and Chinese idioms is the difference between “animal culture”.

Human beings and animals coexist on the earth. Some of the animals have close ties with human. When the productivity was still at a pretty low level, some of them devoted a lot to fighting against the nature and the attack from other beasts. Some may not. In China there are many dog-related idioms and the word “dog” in most phrases is associated with some derogatory connotation. Such as: “狐朋狗友”, “狗急跳墙”, “狗头”.Although in Engl ish, “dog” contains derogatory connotation, such as: “go to the dogs”, “die like a dog”, “lead a dog’s life”, “a sly dog”, “blush like a black dog”, “put on the dog”. But it is always considered as the most faithful human friend. The vast majority of such idioms in English are complimentary. For example:

(32)You are a lucky dog. 你是幸运儿

(33)An old dog barks not in vain. 老年人做事有经验

(34)as faithful as a dog. 像狗一般的忠诚

(35)A good dog deserves a good bone. 有功者受赏

(36)Love me, love my dog. 爱屋及乌

(37)clever dog. 聪明的小孩

(38)Every dog has his day. 凡人皆有得意日

Additionally, “dragon” is a divine totem in the Chinese culture, and is greatly admired by the Chinese people and they consider themselves as the descendants of the dragon. Dragon is the symbol of all auspicious animals. For example: “望子成龙”, “龙腾虎跃”, “卧虎藏龙”, “龙盘虎踞”. In English the word “dragon” symbolizes evil. Such as: “the old dragon”, “dragon’s teeth”. Chinese people take “owl” as a symbol of bad luck. But in the UK, there is “as wise as an owl”. “owl” in English stands for wisdom. In China, “magpie” is a bird that tells people good news. In the UK, magpie is a noisy bird. As the poet Johnclare said: “Magpie that chatted, no omen so black.”

4.3 Influence of historical allusion

Historical allusion is rich in historical and cultural information, which has a strong ethnic color and distinctive cultural identity. It is the best to reflect the characteristics of different historical cultures. There are a large number of idioms about animals formed by historical allusion in English and Chinese language. They are simple but far-reaching. They can not be understood just from the literal meaning. In China, such idioms mainly come from a broad array of ancient books, myths, fables and legends.

For example: “守株待兔”, “叶公好龙”, “画蛇添足”.

Most English idioms about animals come from the Geek and Roman mythology. The Geek and Roman mythology is an important part of the Greek and Roman culture and a priceless cultural heritage of the whole humanity. Take The Fables of Aesop for example. Many English idioms about animals derive from it. For example: “cry wolf”, “dog in the manger”, “a fly on the wheel”, “lion’s share”, “kill the goose that lays the golden eggs”, “don’t count one’s chickens before they are hatched”.

Phoenix is a symbol of immortality in English, which is an immortal bird in the desert in Egyptian mythology. But in Chinese myths , it is one of the four spiritual creatures. In a Chinese book, there is a sentence called: “凤，神鸟也，天老曰凤之象也”. Phoenix stands for auspiciousness, happiness and nobility.

4.4 Influence of religion

Religion means a belief in God whom in the eyes of the believer is an authority of perfection, a commander of obligation, and a judge of reward and punishment. Religion is a kind of spiritual phenomenon and an important composing part of culture. In the UK, The Bible is not only the classics of Christianity but also the important prop of English culture. Many animal idioms derive from The Bible, e.g. “As poor as a church mouse”. That’s because there is no oblation in the church. At the same time, in Chinese temples, a great deal of food serves as oblation. Mouse here should be very fat. “The dove of peace” originates from the story of Noah’s Ark. God wanted to destroy human beings, but he left Noah, his family, and animals, including doves. Forty days later, Noah let a dove fly out to see whether the flood had subsided. The dove came back with an olive branch, indicating that peace was coming. From then on, dove and olive branch stand for peace. Other examples:

(39)“pharaoh’s fat cow” foreshows auspiciousness.

(40)“a lion on the way” stands for terrible difficulties.

(41)“the daughter of horse-leech” means the greedy.

(42)“cast pearls before swine” means “do not bite the hand that feeds you”.

More examples to appreciate:

(43)separate the sheep from the goats 分清良莠

(44)Can the leopard change its spots. 本性难移

(45)worship the golden calf 崇拜金钱

(46)the scapegoat 替罪羊

In China, such idioms about animals are few.

Ⅴ. The reasons why different animal words have the similar cultural meaning

More readers know that there are differences between English and Chinese idioms about animals. But fewer ones know why some idioms have the same cultural meaning. In order to give readers a better and clear understanding of these idioms. It is useful and necessary to put forward reasons.

5.1 Cultural exchanges

With the advent of information age and the process of globalization speeding up, cultural cooperation and exchange between countries are uninterrupted increasing. The culture of different countries has common features and individual features. Idioms are not only the precipitation of human history, but also change with social development. As a result, some idioms about animals have the same meaning. Take “paper tiger” for example. In China, tiger is considered as the king of the beasts. They use tiger to describe people who are brave, fierce and majestic. Such as: “虎视眈眈”, “放虎归山”, “如虎添翼”, “谈虎色变”. In the UK, lion is considered as the king of the beasts. There are a large number of idioms about lion.For example:

(47)come in like a lion and go out like a lamb 虎头蛇尾

(48)play oneself in the lion’s mouth 置身虎穴

(49)lion lies down with the lamb 言归于好

(50)lion in the way 拦路虎

(51)lion’s provider 为虎作伥

(52)lion’s skin 狐假虎威

(53)in the li on’s den 身处困境中

However, now this phrase has been used both in China and the UK. It means “貌似强大实质虚弱的敌人”.

5.2Attitude toward the same animal

Animals are human beings’ good friends. They have different instincts and life habits. There are abundant English and Chinese idioms about animals. On account of the similar ecological environments, people in the UK and China have a common sense on life experience and thought. They appreciate animals from the same angle of basic attributes. Hence, such idioms have the same cultural meaning.For instance:

They compare “parrot” to “imitate”.

They compare “bee” to “busy”.

They compare “lamb” to “innocent”.

They compare “wolf” to “cruel”.

They compare “ass” to “foolish”.

They compare “pig” to “greedy” and “dirty”.

They compare “peacock” to “proud”.

They compare “bird” to “free”.

More phrases to appreciate. For example:

(54)as cunning as a fox 如狐狸般狡猾的

(55)as gruff as a bear 像熊一样粗暴

(56)social butterfly 交际花

(57)have ants in one’s pants 焦躁不安

(58)as timid as a mouse 胆小如鼠

(59)as strong as an ox 如牛般强壮的

VI. Conclusion

Idioms are the essence of the national language and the part of language, and the richest in national cultural characteristics. With the development of the animal culture, more and more animal words are employed in English and Chinese idioms. They read smooth and sound pleasant to the ear, and they are widespread and popularized. This paper compared such animals from four aspects: geography, customs, historical allusion, and religion. The purpose of the comparative study is to make readers understand such idioms more clearly. As cultural exchange developed, such idioms will certainly exchange with each other, which will help to enrich the idioms. Readers in modern societies which develop at a rapid rate must pay more attention to such idioms.

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英汉动物习语文化比较

摘要:语言是文化的载体，习语是习俗化的短语和句子。英汉习语承载着不同的民族文化特色和文化信息。由于动物在人类生活中的重要性，这些习语中有很多采用了动物形象。为了更清澈的理解这类习语，本文将从地域文化、习俗文化、历史典故、宗教文化四方面来分析存在的差异性并提出导致文化相似性的原因。

关键词:英汉习语；动物；文化比较；差异性；相似性