论文化因素在习语翻译中的重要性

论文化因素在习语翻译中的重要性

王琳

TheImportanceoftheCulturalElements

intheTranslationofIdioms

天津对外经济贸易职业学院王琳

摘要:习语是语言的精华，是一个民族文化的重要组成部分。随着经济全球化的发展和国与国之间文化交流的频繁进行，习语翻译越来越引起了翻译界的重视。因此，研究清楚习语翻译中所包含的文化因素是很好地进行习语翻译的前提。本文以功能对等理论为指导,来讨论习语翻译中文化因素的重要性。

关键词：习语;文化;翻译；功能对等理论

中图分类号：C633文献标识码：A文章编号：1672-691x（2010）05

Abstract:Idioms,widelyrecognizedastheessenceoflanguage,areanimportantpartofanation’sculture.Withthedevelopmentofthegloblizationandthemoreandmorefrequentcultureexchangebetweendifferentcountries,thetranslationofidiomsarousesthegreatattentioninthetranslationcircle.So,tomakecleartheculturalelementsinidiomsistheprerequisiteofidiom-translation.TheauthorusestheFunctionalEquivalenceTheoryastheguidetotalkabouttheimportanceoftheculturalelementsinthetranslationofidioms.

Keywords:idioms;culture;translation;theFunctionalEquivalenceTheory

Withthedevelopmentofglobalization,peoplearelookingforwardtoknowingdifferentculturesofdifferentnations.Translation,asatoolofforeignexchange,playsanimportantroleinthisprocess.Idiomscarryprofoundculturalelementsandreflectthenaturalenvironment,livinghabits,customs,religiousbeliefsaswellashistoricalbackgroundofpeople.Inmanycases,translationofidiomswillgonowherewithoutconsideringtheculturalelements.

1.Theoreticalframework

1.1Nida’sviewonFunctionalEquivalence

ThefunctionalequivalencetheoryderivesfromdynamicequivalencetheoryandgotitsnameinFromOneLanguagetoAnotherin1986(Tan239).

Whatisfunctionalequivalence?NidadefinesitinLanguageandCultureasfollows:

Itsminimal,realisticdefinitionis“thereadersofatranslatedtextshouldbeabletocomprehendittothepointthattheycanconceiveofhowtheoriginalreadersofthetextmusthaveunderstoodandappreciatedit”;Anditsmaximal,idealdefinitionis“thereaderofatranslatedtextshouldbeabletounderstandandappreciateitinessentiallythesamemannerastheoriginalreaderdid”(87).

Itisessentialthatfunctionalequivalencebestatedprimarilyintermsofacomparisonofthewayinwhichtheoriginalreceptorsunderstoodandappreciatedthetextandthewayinwhichreceptorsofthetranslatedtextunderstandandappreciatethetranslatedtext(Nida,Language,CultureandTranslating116).

Ingeneral,itisbesttospeakof“functionalequivalence”intermsofarangeofadequacy,sincenotranslationiscompletelyequivalent.Anumberofdifferenttranslationscaninfactrepresentvaryingdegreeofequivalence.Thismeansthat“equivalence”cannotbeunderstoodinitsmathematicalmeaningofidentity,butonlyintermsofproximity,i.e.onthebasisofdegreesofclosenesstofunctionalidentity(Nida,Language,CultureandTranslating117).

1.2Relevancetothestudy

Thefunctionalequivalencetheoryplaysanimportantroleintranslation.Idiomsarethespecialpartsoflanguage,andmostidiomshavetwomeanings,theliteralmeaningandmetaphoricmeaning.Theessenceofidiomsmostlydependsonthecombinationofthesetwomeanings.Thisisveryusefulinthetranslationofidioms,becausethisprinciplewillnotdamagetheidioms’symmetryduringthetranslationbetweenthelanguages.

2.Thetranslationofidioms

2.1BriefIntroductionofIdioms

2.1.1Classificationofidioms

Inabroadsense,idiomscoverallofthefollowingforms:proverbs,setphrases,slangs,commonsaying,colloquialism,allusion,andxiehouyu,etc.Letmeselectthreeimportantformsofidiomstoexplain.

2.1.1.1Proverbs

Proverbsarethemostimportantpartinidioms.Proverbsarethewisdomofpeople,anditisthecommonpeoplewhohavecreatedalargenumberofvividproverbsthroughtheirpracticalwork.

Forexample:

(a)Likefather,likeson.有其父必有其子。

(b)Thewaterthatbearstheboatisthesamethatswallowsitup.水能载舟，亦能覆舟。

2.1.1.2Slang

Slangistheveryinformalwordsorphrases,etccommonlyusedinspeech,especiallybetweenpeoplefromthesamesocialgrouporwhoworktogether,notconsideredsuitableforformalcontextsandoftennotinuseforlong(Hornby1421).

Forexample:

(a)Togotosleep长眠

(b)Oh,hell!Ihavemissedthelasttrain.真该死！我没赶上末班车。

2.1.1.3TheChinesetwo-partallegoricalsayings(xiehouyu)

InChinese,thetwo-partallegoricalsayingsbelongtocolloquialism,somethinglikeriddles.Comparedwithothertypesofidioms,theyarenotelegantorimplicit,stilltheyarelovedbythecommonpeoplefortheirpeculiarformsandstronglocalflavor.

Forexample:

(a)Youshouldmakestillfurtherprogress.你应百尺竿头，更进一步。

(b)Tobefrankwithyou,Idon’tagree.打开天窗说亮话吧，我不同意。

2.1.2Thecultureelementsinidioms

Sincedifferentnationssharedifferentopinions,ChinaandEnglish-speakingcountrieshavealotofdifferencesincustoms.Letustaketheanimalforexample.“Dog”istheverygoodanimalintheEnglishmen’smind,theyregardthedogasthecompanionandfriend.Manyidiomsconveyingthefortunateideaarereferringto“dog.”Forexample:luckydog(幸运儿),lovemelovemydog(爱屋及乌).While,inChineseculture,dogisadisgustinganimal,someidiomsconveyingthedevaluatesensearereferringtodog.Forexample,狗急跳墙(Acorneredbeastwilldosomethingdesperate),狗腿子(lackey).Inthissense,thetranslationofidiomsisnotonlythetransferbetweentwolanguagesbutalsothetransplantationbetweentwocultures.

2.2Thetranslationmethodsofidioms

2.2.1Correspondingidiomsanditstranslation

Correspondingidiomsarethosethatbelongtotwolanguagesbutshownodifferenceineachelementoftheirmeaning.SinceChinaandU.K.arebothcountrieswithalonghistory,andbothwithanancientcivilizationandaprosperousculture,theysurelysharealotintheirrespectivecultures.Itisthesesimilaritiesthatresultthecorrespondingidiomsanditstranslation.Comparedwiththesemi-correspondingidiomsandnon-correspondingidioms,thiskindofidiomsareeasytotranslateandeasytoaccomplishthe“equivalence”.Sincethefunctionalequivalenceisbasedonthereader’spsychologicalreactions,whichmeansthatreadersoftranslationworksshouldhavethesamepsychologicalreactionsasreadersoftheoriginalworks(Ye9),relativelyspeaking,thepsychologicalreactioniseasytoaccomplishincorrespondingidioms.

Forinstance,theChineseidiom“破釜沉舟”，whichhasthecorrespondingtranslationinEnglishidiom“burnone’sboat”.Thesetwoidiomsbothbelongtoproverbs,andbothareproducedamongthepeopleafterthepracticalexperiencewhentheygetsometroubleduringthesailing.

2.2.2Semi-correspondingidiomsanditstranslation

Semi-correspondingidiomsrefertothoseidiomswhichonlypartlycorrespondtoeachother,eitherindenotativemeaningorinconnotativemeaninginusage.Sincethefunctionalequivalencetheoryalsoemphasizesonthereader’sresponse,whentranslatingthiskindofsemi-correspondingidioms,moreattentionshouldbepaidtothereader’sreaction.Forexample,Chineseusuallyuse“mouse”todescribesomeonewhoisnotbrave,suchas“胆小如鼠”.However,iftranslatedthisidiomword-to-word,itbecomes“astimidasmice”whichismeaninglesstoEnglishaudience,becausetheEnglishpeopleuse“hare”todescribeacoward.Insemi-correspondingidiomstranslation,thedifferentcustomsofdifferentnationsshouldbeconsideredandthesamereactionshouldbeexertedtoachievefromtheaudience.

2.2.3Non-correspondingidiomsanditstranslation

Theso-callednon-correspondingidiomsrefertothosethathavelittleornosimilarityinmeaningorinusage.Forexample:“Child’splay”cannotbeinterpretedastheChineseexpression“儿戏”,althoughthesetwoaresimilarinthemeaningandword-choice.“Child’splay”referstothetaskwhichiseasytobecarriedout,orunimportantthinginEnglishlanguagewhilethelatterreflectsanirresponsibleattitudetowardanimportanttask.Sometimesitmayhappenthat,thetranslatorshouldfixtheirattentiononthespiritoftheoriginalversion,butnotonthelanguagestructureandformstructure.

3.Conclusion

3.1Providinganevaluation

Asidiomsholdanimportantpositioninlanguageuse,anadequatetranslationofidiomsisnotonlyhelpfulbutalsoessentialininterculturalcommunication.Forsuccessfultranslation,cultureisadecisiveelement.Sincewordsonlyhavetheirmeaningsintermsofcultureinwhichtheyfunction(Nida,LanguageandCulture82).

3.2Lookingintothefuture

Tosumup,thetranslationofidiomsisatoughbutaninterestingjob.TherearesomeculturaldifferencesbetweenthewesterncountriesandChina.Whendoingthetranslationofidioms,necessaryadjustmentshouldbemadeaccordingtotheprinciplesofthefunctionalequivalenceandtheactualsituation.Onlyinthiswaycanthetranslationofidiomsbesuccessful.

References

Bassnett,Susan.TranslationStudies.Shanghai:ShanghaiForeignLanguageEducationPress,2004.

Hornby,AS.OxfordAdvancedLearner’sEnglish-ChinesDictionary.Beijing:TheCommercialPressandOxfordUniversityPress,2002.

Nida,Eugene.A..LanguageandCulture.Shanghai:ShanghaiForeignLanguageEducationPress,2001.

---,Language,Culture,andTranslating.Shanghai:ShanghaiForeignLanguageEducationPress,2004.

Spair,E..Language:AnIntroductiontothestudyofspeech.NewYork：HarcourtBrace＆Company,1921.

谭载喜.西方翻译简史.北京:商务印书馆,2004.

叶子南.高级英汉翻译理论与实践.北京:清华大学出版社,2004.

赵桂华.翻译理论与技巧.哈尔滨:哈尔滨工业大学出版社,2002.

作者简介

王琳，女，讲师，（1977.），天津对外经济贸易职业学院商务管理系，现任党总支书记。主要教学及研究方向：英语语言学。

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