论英汉基本颜色词的对比与翻译—英语毕业论文.doc

.毕 业 论 文中文题目：论英汉基本颜色词的对比与翻译英文题目：On the Contrast and Translation of English and Chinese Basic Color Words On the Contrast and Translation of English and ChineseBasic Color WordsAbstract English color words are the treasures of English vocabulary, and they are the connection between colors but also reflecting English peculiarities. Because of different cultural tradition and cultural psychology, the cultural connotations of the English and Chinese color words differ extremely. As a result of these particular culture connotation meanings are cast under different environments by different nationalities. There are a lot of similarities and differences on the meaning between English and Chinese color words. This paper mainly focuses on the translation of color words. Firstly, it presents cultural differences of color words. Secondly, it analyzes the comparison of color words between Chinese and English and the translation of these words. Finally, several translation methods of color words are summarized with illustration of typical examples. Key Words: color words; comparison; translation; cultural factors 附六：中文摘要关键词页论英汉基本颜色词的对比与翻译内容摘要英汉颜色词是英汉词汇中的一笔财富，它们是色彩与英语语言的结合，既反映了人类对色彩的感知，又体现了英语的独特性。由于文化传统和文化心理的差异，很多英汉颜色词的文化内涵差异较大，这些特定的文化内涵意义是不同民族在不同的环境下铸就而成的，英汉颜色词在两种语言中的意义就有相同和相似之处，也存在很多差异。这篇文章主要研究了颜色词的翻译。文章首先陈述了颜色词翻译的文化差异，然后分析了英汉颜色词翻译的对比，最后论文论述了颜色词翻译的一些方法。关键词：颜色词；对比；翻译；文化因素On the Contrast and Translation of English and ChineseBasic Color WordsContents1 Introduction.12 The Common Translation Methods of Color Words.22.1 Literal Translation.22.2 Free Translation.32.3 Substitution.4 2.4 Adding Other Words.43 Basic Color Words.53.1 White.53.2 Black.53.3 Red.63.4 Green.73.5 Yellow.83.6 Blue.93.7 Purple.103.8 Pink.104 Conclusion.11Notes.12Works Cited .13Acknowledgements.14Declaration of Thesis Originality.15西昌学院毕业论文正文 论英汉基本颜色词的对比与翻译On the Contrast and Translation of English and Chinese Basic Color Words1 Introduction Among English words terms of color make up a group of words that are particularly rich in cultural associations. This means that they can be used either literally to refer to different colors or metaphorically to convey their associative meanings in different languages and cultures. The conceptual meanings conveyed by the terms of color are roughly the same in English and their equivalents in Chinese. But the same terms of color in these two languages may have different cultural association. It is natural that English terms of color may have cultural association that is not transparent to Chinese learners of English as a foreign language. Color words are frequently used both in Chinese and English. A lot of color words are produced under special historical and geographical background. If we do not understand these color words, their social custom and cultural background, it would be hard for us to communicate with each other. It is very important for us to grasp the difference between the literal meaning and associative meaning. 2 The Common Translation Methods of Color Words The task of translation is to turn the cultural content in one language into another. Nida and Tabers definition of translation is “translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.”1. Generally, the meaning of color words can be divided into the basic meaning and cultural extended meaning. It is important for translators to comprehend the meaning of color words accurately, then to translate color words correctly. I think there are mainly four methods for translation, they are literary translation, free translation, substitution and addition of other words.2.1 Literal Translation The so-called literal translation is the basic translation method to convey the original meaning. It requires translators to make the expression form and sentence structure consistent with the original. Literary translation is mainly used the translation circumstances which have the cultural similarities between the original language and the target language, and make people have the same association. Like “White House”(白宫), “White flag” (白旗), “brown-eye beauty”(褐眼美女), “golden autumn”(金秋). This translation method owns the advantages such as to express the meaning of original language directly, clearly, and retain the original format and contents in a faithful way. Because the similarities in English and Chinese, the corresponding terms can be found in the target language when people translate color words, or the two languages have the similar extended cultural meaning, particularly when people want to express the visual features of the objective things. In this case, the translator can use literal translation. 2.2 Free TranslationAccording to different needs or compensate for the limitation of literal translation, people will use free translation. The so-called free translation is the method to break the surface structure of the original, and reorganize the deep meaning through the original understanding and digestion, then, transform it into the natural flow of the surface structure. The process of translation involves not only two languages, but also two cultures. It makes people communicate with each other through the conversion of linguistic mechanisms or connecting the bridge of the target culture and source culture. For the differences between English and Chinese, what should be noticed is not only the function of color words, but also the cultural background. If color items are of different connotations, free translation can be used. It can be easily seen from the following examples: As the literary tradition of “black dog” mentioned before, it symbolizes a metaphor for melancholy, despondency or depression, and has a great impact on sense of sight. So, this sentence could not be translated into “一只黑狗正在吉姆那儿”. And “white elephant” also comes from the literary tradition about a king who always shows his wealth and luxury through owning the rare items such as white elephant. It is clear that there will be a mistranslation if translators have no knowledge about that. This is also a color term with deeper meaning. When translators convey the information into the target language, they need to consider the symbolic meaning about the color word “blue”, and it is true of “a blue moon”(一个千载难逢的机会). Here are other examples given to show the importance of knowing the different symbolic meanings of the color terms in free translation. pink slip: 解雇职工通知单 black leg: 骗子 black smith: 铁匠 yellow dog: 忘恩负义之徒 In addition, when the translator wants to beautify the target language, four-character expressions can be used in Chinese. Though literary translation is very faithful to the form of the source text, it is very rigid, and influent. 2.3 Substitution Substitution refers to a method of using the expression of the target text to replace the correspondent part in the source text. Some color words have different functions in the two languages, and as each language has its own habit of expression, and its own understanding in culture, some color words in the translation should be changed into another one that are well known by the users of target language, and the translations should be more in line with the habit of the target language. For instance: green-eyed: 眼红 blue video tape: 黄色录像 In English, “green” can be used to express the psychological statejealousy, while in Chinese usually used“红”. Likewise, “blue” is the very word in English to mean “obscene”, “pornography”, and“黄”(yellow) has the pejorative meanings of being “filthy, obscene, vulgar,” in modern Chinese, which cannot be directly.2.4 Adding Other WordsWe usually add adjective in the translation of off color. Some color terms are in the same color system, so they just have a little difference. So we use “light”, “pale” and “dark” to express colors shade; “bright”, “rich”, and “vivid” to mean colors clear-cut. And “dull”, “pale”, “dirty”, “murky”, “darkling” and so on to represent colors shadowiness and turbid. For example, “pale green” means “水绿”; “bright reds and vivid greens” means “花红柳绿”. Sometimes, we use the phrase “the color of”. 3 Basic Color WordsIn all languages, colors words have a very rich meaning. Color Words in English and Chinese is not only rich in meaning, and very wide range of applications. Although the color is a natural phenomenon, but thousands of years, different ethnic groups due to the natural environment, cultural traditions, customs, and the impact of national aesthetic psychology and cognitive emotional understanding of the color is different, sometimes the same color will produce different association, so that the same color words in different ethnic groups to form a different symbolic meaning, the idea of the meaning and cultural significance. I will select a large number of color words red, white, black, blue, yellow, green, pink, brown eight basic color words for comparison.3.1 White(白色)In Chinese culture, “white “is contrary to red. It is adopted to describe ones poor complexion. For instance, we say “他脸色苍白”, “白”in“白发”and “花白”often used indicate the hair color of old man. White” a basic color taboo, which shows the Chinese material and spirit disgust. In the traditional Chinese perspective, “white” makes people tend to think of solemn mourning, originating from ancient times for color of superstition. White color in China is symbol of death, lifeless performance and bad omen. So when the people pass away, the relatives always wear the white clothes and hit the white long narrow flag to the funeral to mourn him or her. “白喜事”(mourning) is used to mean “funeral affairs”. It is because, in the funeral, the dead one will wear white underclothes; his close relatives wear white hats, white mourning apparels and white shoes, with a white rope tied in the waists; the flag used is a narrow piece of white clothe bound with a bamboo stick.In ancient times, if the parents were still alive, their children were not allowed to wear white clothes. Secondly, “白”has some other connotations due to some political and historical reasons specific to China. In ancient China, no matter how low an official ranked, his robe was colored. But “white” had never been the color of official robes because it was the color of mourning dress. It was the color for the populace who were called “白衣”and later turned into “布衣”. Those who got no scholarly honor or official rank were called “白丁”, and their residence was “白屋”. “白衣举人”is a successful candidate from a poor family in the imperial examinations at the provincial level in the Ming and Qing dynasties. When a government official was degraded in exile, he was compelled to “白衣从事”and “白衣从征”. At the same time, the psychological function of “white” is influenced by its political function. It implies reaction, failure, foolish and vain action. In other cases, “白”has nothing to do with color at all as in “白搭”, “白干”, “白拿”, “交白卷”, “白字”and “白操心”, all conveying the meaning of bearing no results. Thirdly, “white” in China also has the commendatory meaning. It is associated with light, purity, innocence, goodness, and virginity, which is considered to be the color of perfection as in “洁白无瑕”(purity) and “清白无辜”(innocence). Nurses are called “白衣天使”for their white uniform, looking like angels who bring life and brightness to patients. 3.2 Black（黑色）Black is not a good word both in Chinese and in English-speaking countries. It is often used to express ones anger or some evil things. When black is plus with a noun, it often means bad things and something without any hope, as in black market(黑市), a black heart(黑 心), black money(黑钱), black guard(恶棍), a black sheep(害群之马), and black eye(丢脸),etc. All these new phrases can be directly translated into Chinese.Most people in Western believe Christianity. And in the Bible, black is evil, suffering and misfortune, and it is the sign of Satan, so when people want to express something evil or something not very good, they prefer to choose the word “black”, for instance: black box: a proof to analyze the causes of the disaster black Friday: the Friday that Jesus suffered from tribulation before the Easter day black tiding: it means doom or something unsatisfied4.3.3 Red(红色)Red is not always associated with something joyful. In English the red light district refers to a district within a town or city where there are brothels, as in she spent the past 30 years helping the prostitutes in the red light district-and the elderly. Furthermore, in English-speaking countries red can stands for something special. It is seldom used in our daily life. It can stand for violence and some special terrorist groups, as in the following two sentences5: (1) This is a union organized by Reds; (2) Her husband was killed in a red battle. In China, we cannot find these kinds of usage of red. To Chinese people, red is a lucky color. So, the extended usage of red is always full of commendatory senses. Red symbolizes happiness, pleasure, blessedness and blessing both in China and the English-speaking countries. So there are lots of similarities in using it. It often connects with success and importance. The phrase “give somebody a red carpet of reception” means make a warm welcome to some important person. When the Spring Festival is coming, Chinese often put the red couplets on doors and windows. Red also means that someone is healthy and sanguine both in China and the English-speaking countries. 3.4 Green(绿色) Both green light in English and “绿灯”in Chinese are associated with authoritative permission to go ahead with some project. Apparently, they are derived form traffic regulations.In the Chinese traditional culture,“green”ranks the first in the five colors, signifying everything grows. And also, Chinese people often use it to indicate“life, vitality and hope”in“绿色希望”, “绿色生命”and “绿洲”. “Green”is also a symbol of passing. “绿灯”is a traffic light that shows ca