Cultural differences and English translation teaching

Cultural differences and English translation teaching

There are many differences between English culture and Chinese culture in terms of historical culture and social norms. How to analyze cultural differences and English translation teaching?

I. Introduction

American linguist Sapir pointed out in On Language:? Language cannot exist without culture, that is, it cannot be handed down without society. The overall style that determines our lives and beliefs? . Visible. Language is a part of culture and a carrier of culture. Language and culture interact. To understand language, we must understand culture, and to understand culture, we must understand language. Language reflects the connotation, value and essence of culture. Translation is the transformation of two languages in two cultures, the spread of information in cultures and a cross-language and cross-cultural communication activity. The translation must conform to the culture, way of thinking and habits of the target language country. Therefore, the cultural and thinking differences between English and Chinese have a great influence on translation expression and understanding and translation practice. In translation teaching, students should not only master the basic knowledge of language, but also strengthen the teaching of relevant cultural background knowledge, improve their sensitivity to cultural differences and flexibility in dealing with cultural differences, so as to improve their cultural accomplishment and translation ability.

Second, strengthen the understanding of cultural differences in translation teaching.

? Culture is a complex whole, which includes knowledge, belief, art, morality, laws, customs and all the abilities and habits people acquire as members of society. ? (edward burnett tylor, 187 1) Different nationalities have different cultures. This cultural difference reflects the different lifestyles and concepts of each nation, and also affects the formation and development of this nation. Language is the carrier of culture. Through the language of a nation, we can see its rich and colorful cultural forms. ? Translation is the change of language form in a specific cultural background. It involves two languages and two cultures. In order to translate a language, we must first understand the language and the cultural background knowledge that produced it, so that translation can conform to the habits of the target language. Therefore, only when cultural factors are fully considered in English-Chinese translation can mistakes be avoided.

Regional and cultural differences

Environmental culture or regional culture is a culture formed by geography, natural conditions and environment, and language reflection includes geographical knowledge of the target country and language forms related to its geographical phenomena. Traditionally, China has been founded by agriculture since ancient times, with a large agricultural population. China's traditional culture is inland farming culture, so agricultural proverbs are often used, such as? Elm is as thin as a bone, casting pearls before swine, weeding out roots? Wait a minute. The difference between this article and China lies in the indissoluble bond between western culture and the ocean from the beginning. Living environment has a profound influence on language and culture. In English and other western languages, there are many words related to navigation? From the ocean to the ocean? 、? At a loss? Drink like a fish? 、? Did you enjoy your voyage? 、? Sail against the current? 、? Still water is deep? .

Historical and cultural differences

Historical culture mainly refers to the culture that reflects the interpersonal relationship with a society, including historical traditions, customs and behavior patterns. There are many differences between English culture and Chinese culture in terms of historical culture and social norms. For example, it contains a specific

Chinese idioms with cultural significance? Ordinary? 、? Lost in Sun Shan? 、? Embattled? And then what? What's the effect? Wait a minute. Britain used to be a country with a combination of politics and religion in history. So there are kings and popes, lions and wolves (kings and popes, lion jackals)? Statement. Another example is that people in China describe marriage and funeral as? Red and white wedding? But westerners don't understand this. They can't figure out why something as sad as the loss of a loved one is called a happy event. Actually, here? Happy event? Refers to marriage, which can be translated into wedding; And then what? White wedding? It reflects the optimistic and open-minded attitude of the Han people towards death since ancient times. For the old and infirm, death is a relief and a blessing. Because westerners don't have this cultural background, they can't translate literally in translation.

(C) differences in cultural thinking

China's traditional philosophy advocates? Harmony between man and nature? 、? Everything is one with me? Linguistically, the actor can be included in the subjective expression of behavior events. Therefore, in sentence structure, Chinese does not regard the subject as a necessary component. ? As far as sentence structure is concerned, western languages are ruled by law, while China languages are ruled by men. Whether the subject of the rule of law is necessary or not, we should mechanically seek the unity of sentence forms. If the rule of man is necessary, we should use it, if it is unnecessary, we should forget it, as long as it can make people understand the speaker's meaning. ? It is precisely because of the lack of subjects in Chinese that linguists believe that Chinese is a language with prominent theme from the perspective of language typology. English-speaking countries have followed the very strict and standardized vocabulary system of the ancient Greeks. The ancient Greeks believed that the word system was consistent with the thinking system, and the expression of clear and reasonable ideas could not be separated from clear and reasonable word forms and syntax. In an unorganized sentence structure, thoughts are definitely out of order, and disorderly thoughts are meaningless. The characteristics of English hypotaxis are formed under this background. On the contrary, China people value intuition and the flow of ideas. As long as they can express their ideas, the form of words is irrelevant. The relationship between words is often self-evident, and the grammatical meaning and logical relationship are often hidden between the lines. So-called? If you quit, just reach out? (The Analects and Wei Linggong). ? Small bridge and flowing water? This poem has no predicate verbs, but the picture it depicts and the implication it contains are unforgettable.

(D) Cultural differences in language forms

As far as language forms are concerned, there are obvious differences between English and Chinese in pronunciation, grammar, text structure and rhetoric. Yan Fu, a famous translator in modern China, pointed out: in western sentences, the words of names and things are often interpreted with the increase, such as the sideline of Chinese, followed by the remote connection of the previous article, which is enough to form a sentence; English sentences? How many times can you release it? Branches spread out in a tree-like structure, and prepositions and relative pronouns are connected at the bifurcation. On the other hand, Chinese is developed layer by layer in chronological or logical order, just like bamboo? . The structural relationship and logical connection between English phrases and sentences must be clearly explained. English relative words (including prepositions, relative pronouns, relative adverbs, conjunctions, etc. ) is very rich. It is through the transition and connection of these relative words that English morphologically maintains various relationships within and between sentences. Therefore, the English sentence structure is tree-like, which usually has a trunk (the main component in a compound sentence or a simple sentence), and branches grow on the trunk: the sentence components can be modified at any time, and one component in the modifier can be modified by other components. This usually leads to long sentences. Chinese sentence structure, like bamboo, develops paragraph by paragraph (phrase or clause). Chinese sentences can be arranged in logical order under the same subject or subject language. Although clauses are separated by commas, sentences are still closely related. In this way, Chinese translation often changes from English tree to Chinese bamboo.

The boy cried as if his heart would break. When I talked to him, he said he was hungry because he hadn't eaten for two days.

Reference translation:

The boy cried his eyes out. When I asked him, he said he was hungry and hadn't eaten for two days.

As can be seen from the above examples, English attaches great importance to the integrity of sentence form and structure. The main part of the above English sentence is spoken by a boy, but there are five clauses in the structure, and many connecting elements such as who, if, when and that are used to form a spatial framework, just like? Towering trees with lush foliage? , in a tree shape. The corresponding Chinese developed one after another, concise, coherent, compact and bamboo-shaped.

Rhetorically, Chinese emphasizes symmetry and tends to repeat words, and there are many dual and parallel sentences in pronunciation, meaning, words and sentences. In English, some alliterations are not found in Chinese, for example, his gaunt figure is all over the cabin door. His tall, thin figure filled the doors of the wooden house. ) There are oxymorons in English rhetoric. For example, she looks tall and beautiful by herself. She is very tall, as if she stood out from the crowd, and she looks particularly handsome. In addition, although there are some rhetoric in Chinese, it uses the special effects of English words to make puns. For example, the wounded prisoner is a senior enemy officer lying in front of the doctor.

Without the corresponding cultural background knowledge, it is difficult to understand the profound meaning and originality between the lines of these languages. Therefore, it has become an urgent task to familiarize students with these special language and cultural knowledge in college English translation teaching.

Three. conclusion

English translation teaching is not only the teaching of language knowledge, but also the teaching of cultural knowledge. When converting and coding information between two different cultures, translators can only translate high-quality works if they are bilingual and bicultural. However, any foreign language culture learning can't be based on its own mother tongue culture, and it can't be separated from foreign language learning of mother tongue culture. Just like a tree without roots and water without sources, students should be aware of the importance of mother tongue culture. They should be aware of the mutual influence and integration between the target language culture and mother tongue culture, and learn to coordinate the differences between them, which will help to communicate and learn different cultures. The ultimate goal of English translation teaching is to cultivate students' cross-cultural communicative competence in different environments and lay the foundation for students to go out and work in the international field after graduation, which makes English translation teaching cross-cultural. Therefore, in English translation teaching, it is not only to impart language knowledge, but also to cultivate modern people's ability to use English for cross-cultural communication. turn

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