Differences in Chinese and English language use

First of all, the cultural similarity in the use of Chinese and English lies in the uniqueness of the language. The structure of language and the content of language will affect people's thinking. We usually have the feeling that sometimes some words in foreign languages ??are difficult to translate into Chinese. This point further illustrates the importance of language and culture in shaping people's understanding of the world, because each language They all have specific words

to describe specific experiences and thoughts. These specific experiences, thoughts and vocabulary are unique to a specific culture. Sometimes we

use some poor translations that fail to achieve the meaning expressed in the original language. Due to cultural reasons, the expression of individual words is still the same

and phrases with strong cultural color cannot be ignored.

The uniqueness of culture has led to the names of various common movies and other literary works that have cultural elements to a large extent. Therefore,

When we deal with these names, we should Always be aware of the influence of culture. There are several situations when we translate and understand literary and film works

, namely complete equivalence, equivalence, and complete non-equivalence. No matter which type it is, we can see the uniqueness of culture reflected in the naming of the work and the transformation of the name.

The complete equivalence type means that the pronunciation of English and Chinese are completely equal, which can be described as a transformation of pronunciation. For example: "Hamlet", even

even when converting personal names, attention should be paid to accuracy and cultural influence. The "English Name Translation Manual" can standardize the translation

Unity and stability. Although this method is simple, some problems sometimes occur. Foreign names are often replaced with arbitrary Chinese homophones. The main thing to understand here is that when a foreign name has the same sound as a Chinese name, it is generally appropriate to use characters commonly used in foreign names to avoid confusion with Chinese names and to show the foreign cultural connotation of literary works. gender, fully embodying the characteristics of different

cultures.

The second type of equivalence is to directly convert the original name. This method is different from the literal translation of phonetics. It is a transformation of semantics.

Among them, both the original title and the translated title can summarize the content of the story. For example: "The Old Curiosity Shop" "

Old Curiosity Shop" / "Our Mutual Friend" "Our Mutual Friend" This conversion method is relatively simple, but in the process of conversion

The neat and smooth characteristics of Chinese language and cultural expression should also be fully considered.

These two kinds of name transformation are not as valued as free translation, but the differences between different languages ??and the differences between different cultures directly

show the differences in names in various cultures. . For example, the naming methods and historical origins of various ethnic groups are very different. Therefore, when converting foreign languages ??into Chinese names, we must pay attention to the name characteristics of the original language culture. Although this kind of translation is completely

identical in translation, there will be some changes in pronunciation or intonation. The communicator will not mind it too much, but the result is that the name read out does not belong to culture A or culture B, but is in a compromise state full of foreign flavor. . This kind of compromise is essentially a concrete manifestation of seeking common ground in cross-cultural communication [2]381. Therefore, great attention should be paid to this phenomenon in order to achieve the goal of being acceptable to both cultures.

Secondly, the cultural similarity in the use of Chinese and English lies in the acceptability of the language. Each culture has its own cultural connotation when expressing certain ideas, which constitutes its acceptability.

Similarly, using the names of literary and artistic works as examples, when exchanging Chinese and English words in a completely unequal manner, it is necessary to break away from the original language model and cultural characteristics and achieve another language

The effect is acceptable to the culture of the language. Translators must not only understand foreign cultures, but also understand their own national culture. Not only that, but we also need to compare the two cultures, because the real comparison should be to find correspondence based on the connotation of the respective cultures. This kind of interchange of types has no trace of the original text in the target language, but is carried out according to the content and plot of the story. There were some classic works of this kind of translation

in the early days. This kind of translation can reflect the cultural connotation of the target language to a greater extent. This kind of translation involves

when dealing with culture, it is generally divided into two methods: mainly taking the original language culture as the destination and mainly taking the target language culture as the destination. Therefore, the Chinese translation of English book titles and movie titles mostly uses the cultural origin of Chinese [2]276. While giving full consideration to cultural factors, we should also pay attention to the elegance and taste of film and television titles, and the endless aftertaste that adds color to the film. The advertising effect of film and television translations

is also an issue worth noting. Translations of more successful book titles and film and television titles are also common, for example: Translations of some classic films: "As You Like It" "Gone with the Wind" "Gone with the Wind" " Wuthering Heights" "Wuthering Hills

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village"/ "Waterloo Bridge" "Forrest Gump"/ "Forrest Gump"/ "Limelight" Stage Career" etc.

Some recent films are also examples of this kind of translation, such as: "Birth" "Rebirth" / "Wicker Park" "Love Apartment" /

"Paparazzi" "Paparazzi" Photographer" / "Cars" "Cars" / "Blow Dry" "Love Wash, Cut and Blow", etc. "Red Lingyan", "Myo

My Fair Lady", "Jade Goddess Colt", etc. are very consistent with Chinese habits and cultural cognition.

II

The cultural difference in the use of Chinese and English lies in the different structures used in the two languages. As a kind of style, advertising language has high commercial value. Advertising style, as a unique form of language, has obvious cultural characteristics. In radio, television, movies, newspapers, bus bodies, construction sites, and in the halls of units, our lives are full of various advertisements every day

Promotional language. These advertisements include advertisements for products or literary works, as well as advertisements for mobilization and agitation. The purpose of both is to widely publicize and make people remember slogans, which can be called slogans. (slogan), or advertising sentences (catch phrases), also have distinct functionality in style. As a commercial media advertisement, it can use the information function of pictures and images to make the language highly refined

and the sentences highly condensed. The condensed short sentences often have the meaning of aphorisms and aphorisms. It is a kind of use of various language techniques. Inspiring language that is full of artistic charm

It requires unique and novel words, concise and concise sentences, concise sentence structure and rich connotation, and at the same time it must be eye-catching

and have endless aftertaste after reading. . As the evaluation and promotion of literary works, it mainly uses text format and language expression to achieve the purpose of attracting attention and increasing visibility. The following is a detailed analysis of the two special language forms: general commercial advertisements and slogan slogans.

Their language characteristics and the cultural differences reflected are analyzed.

First of all, general commercial advertisements usually use a large number of adjectives. For example, a set of commercial promises in early Chinese include: beautiful shape, novel style, high quality, service thoughtful. If we translate this slogan into beautifully/

handsomely designed/fashion/up-to-date style/superfine quality/courteous service, there will be a loss of English.

It does not reflect the characteristics of English advertising language at all, and the structure does not conform to the structural characteristics of English, and seems nondescript.

In order to conform to the characteristics of English culture, we'd better translate it into: It is beautiful, and fashionable, and

excellent item; you can enjoy your buying that will be considerate and complete. This difference not only reflects

It reflects the structural characteristics of the two languages, and more importantly reflects the cultural characteristics of the two languages, that is, the Chinese emphasis on neat sentence patterns, well-arranged sentences

and clear and clear sentences. The structural characteristics of the mouth also reflect the highly condensed language characteristics of Chinese. English, on the other hand, shows an extremely neat and strict structure.

Here we can easily see that in addition to the use of a large number of adjectives and the condensation of language in advertising language, the stable structural characteristics of Chinese

are also used in advertising language. was vividly expressed. Chinese is accustomed to using formed three-character or

four-character structural expressions to increase semantics, enhance momentum, and strengthen the artistic appeal of advertising to achieve expressiveness and rhythm

Perfect. However, due to the structural differences between English and Chinese, it is difficult to achieve consistency and unification in the translation of advertising text. Must

understand and interpret according to the characteristics of each language.

At its root, the structural characteristics of Chinese are the embodiment of Chinese culture. Chinese people often recite poems and sing lyrics, and cultural accomplishment is often based on the understanding and mastery of ancient Chinese. The full expression of this culture and structure can be seen in the concise advertising slogans of many products, the slogans of corporate spirit, and the school motto that condenses the history and traditions of the school. For example: HSBC's advertising slogan in English:

"We've been on a long journey together, now we're paving the way to a better future." Corresponding

Chinese translation is: Forever united, we strive for the future. There is also an advertisement for Sony Palm in English: "It lets you take a trip

back into a past, and enjoy the memories of a life time." The Chinese language of this advertisement is also greatly displayed. It understands the structural characteristics of Chinese

"to record your life, relive old dreams, and retain happiness for you." Not only that, the school mottos of famous Chinese and foreign schools that show off their elegance also fully reflect the differences in this kind of propaganda language in different languages. Here we first take the school mottos of one hundred universities in China as an example. We

can clearly see that many of the school mottos of one hundred universities are based on four characters, or four characters, or two groups of four characters. At most

four groups of four characters.

For example, Zhejiang University’s “realistic and innovative”, Tsinghua University’s “continuous self-improvement and moral integrity”, South China Normal University’s

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“hard work, rigorous scholarship, realistic and innovative” ", be a role model for others"; the four-character school motto, such as Northwestern Polytechnical University's publicity, sincerity, courage and perseverance①. In short,

It is basically characterized by neat structure and highly expressive characters. Similar to the school mottos of famous Chinese schools, the school mottos of English-speaking countries also strive to be concise and clear, embodying the characteristics of pursuing truth and serving society. But the difference is that the language characteristics of school mottos in English-speaking countries

are not the rigorous sentence structure like Chinese school mottos, but a concise expression of a concept, such as Stanford University: Academic Freedom

Blow by the wind; Princeton University: Princeton - serve the country, serve the world; Harvard University: Let the truth be your friend;

University of Toronto: Grow like a big tree. From these incisive language expressions, we can also see the language and cultural differences between English and Chinese

.

Secondly, China’s cultural traditions cause Chinese people to prefer to use some slogans. For example, our most common ones: good

Study well, make progress every day; go to work happily, come home safely; be a law-conscious citizen, keep legal pets, etc., Chinese comparison

If you like to use this kind of slogans, you must pay attention to their national uniqueness and Chinese expressions when translating them, otherwise it will cause an incorrect translation of the original language

or it will cause very confusing confusion. Translation, therefore, a better translator must not follow the Chinese structure to form an English sentence

, nor must it follow an English sentence to translate a Chinese language that does not look like an advertisement at all. Of course, here we must also grasp

free translation and its cultural relativity, literal translation and its cultural openness, as well as non-translation and its portability of social and cultural phenomena

Meaning[3]. The aforementioned sentences are extremely typical Chinese propaganda style sentences. These sentences are deeply embedded in Chinese culture.

These sentences can only reflect their advertising effect in Chinese. If they are translated into English sentences, they will lose their profound connotation, which means they are not suitable for translation into English sentences. Even if it is translated into an English sentence, it is impossible

as clear semantics, concise structure, catchy and memorable as Chinese.

As can be seen from the above, whether it is the promotion of English works or traditional Chinese advertisements, firstly, it fully reflects the literary style of the advertisement

; secondly, it reflects the combination of English and Linguistic characteristics of the two languages, Chinese. Therefore, when translating such advertising language, try to

conform to the language characteristics of the target language. Judging from the cultural characteristics of the Chinese language, Chinese tradition regards balance and uniformity as beauty. "Wen Xin Diao Long·Li Ci

Pian" puts forward that "the shape is attached to nature, and the branches must be double; the divine principle is Use it, and things are not isolated.” This traditional aesthetic psychology has a subtle influence on the Chinese language, which is prominently reflected in the language form of the four-character grid. The four-character pattern has a uniform number of words and fixed syllables, and has distinctive features such as neat structure, harmonious phonology, conciseness and liveliness. Chinese people are very accustomed to expressing strong thoughts and feelings in neat sentence patterns. Therefore, three, four, five, six and seven characters are often used in advertising slogans. However, English lacks this kind of expression, making it difficult to translate Chinese into English. However, since some English advertisements use phonetic rhymes and word polysemy to create artistic effects, it is difficult to achieve perfect conversion of sound, form, and meaning when translated into Chinese.

The translation of English into Chinese takes into account the Chinese sentence structure as much as possible

The neat advertising language characteristics, but if the translation from Chinese to English is only based on the Chinese sentence structure, it will inevitably lead to confusion in understanding

Sometimes, it is not even possible to take into account the pronunciation, shape, and meaning at the same time. The language used in some English advertisements is vivid and unique, which can arouse readers' interest and achieve exciting results. For example: kiss your coughs goodbye, which is a humorous expression that is very in line with English cultural habits

.

Therefore, the first consideration in the use of language is cultural factors. Only in the context of culture can language have its true and

full meaning. Language learning requires not only a clear understanding of the characteristics of the language style itself, but also the mutual influence and interaction between language and culture. Language learning provides a channel for cultural learning, and cultural learning and understanding will promote language learning.

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