英语毕业论文之在中西方文化背景中对龙的不同阐释.doc

在中西方文化背景中对龙
的不同阐释

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The Different Translations of Loong under the Background of Chinese and Western Cultures

Contents

Abstract I
Key Words I
摘 要 II
关键词 II
Introduction 1
Ⅰ.The Differences between Chinese Word Long and English Word Dragon 2
A. Long in China 2
B. Dragon in Western Countries 3
C. Comparison between Long and Dragon 5
Ⅱ.Some Problems in Translation 5
A. Illustration of the Wrong Translation of Long 6
B．Misunderstandings Caused by the Wrong Translation 7
Ⅲ.The Right Way of English Translation of Long 9
A. Some Theories in Translation 9
B. One Way of Translating into long 9
C. Another Way of Translating into Loong 10
Conclusion 12
Acknowledgements 14
Bibliography 15

Abstract

Chinese people are proud of Chinese word long from ancient times till now, which is the symbol of auspiciousness and authority. But in Western people’s eyes, the English word dragon is the symbol of devil and bugbear. So long and dragon are quite different. But in English-Chinese or Chinese-English translations, the two words are often translated into each other. The translations ignore the differences between Chinese and Western culture, and cause cultural misunderstanding. So how to translate Chinese word long into English becomes a serious problem. It is a good way to translate them from the differences between long and dragon, from the relation between characteristics of Chinese language and English language.

Key Words

Cultural differences; dragon; long; Loong; translation

摘　要

从古至今，中国人都对汉字龙感到自豪，因为龙是吉祥和权威的象征。而在西方人的眼中，英语单词dragon意味着罪恶和怪物，是邪恶的象征。因此龙和dragon在很大的程度上是不同的。但是在英译汉或汉译英中，我们会经常把这两个词互译。这种翻译忽视了中西方文化的差异，从而造成了严重的文化误解。显而易见，这种翻译是有问题的。因此如何把汉字龙翻译成英语就成为一个很严肃的问题。从龙和dragon的差异、汉语和英语这两种语言特点的差异来确定龙的英译不失为一种好的方法.

关键词

文化差异；dragon; 龙；Loong；翻译

Introduction

It is well-known that there are many differences between Chinese and Western culture. Nowadays cultural communication between different countries is very frequent, so accurate translation becomes in great need as occasions require. But great differences exist in different languages. People in every nation always understand other nations’ culture with their own views without considering whether they are right or wrong in origin, as is a very common phenomenon. Hence the misunderstandings between different nations come into being. It is more and more important that cultural understanding serves as the communicational way between different nations. And people also have begun to notice the misunderstandings caused by translations. Especially culture-loaded words, which stand for every nation’s culture and spirit, are translated carelessly. Then misunderstandings spread and expand. Taking Chinese word long for example, long is a traditional culture-loaded word. Long is always translated into English word dragon in many translations. But the English word dragon is a kind of bugbear, which can breathe out fire according to western legend. Because of the translation from long to dragon, great misunderstanding exists between Chinese people’s and western people’s minds.

Ⅰ.The Differences between Chinese Word Long and English Word Dragon

There are many differences between Chinese culture and western culture. Therefore, there are many differences between Chinese word long and English word dragon.

A. Long in China
In ancient china, there are many origins about long, such as lizard, crocodile and dinosaur and so on. Long is regarded as totem in ancient times. Chinese people in ancient times admired long though it is just an imaginary animal in the legend.
In China, long is attached to a plenty of commendatory cultural meanings. Since the ancient times, long has been regarded by Chinese people as the incarnation of their ancestor. Consequently they like to think themselves as the offspring of long. Hence long has been regarded as the symbol of China and Chinese people, and China is called dong fang ju long---a huge oriental country. In China, the traditional symbols of royalty are long and feng. The word long stands for the Chinese king or emperor and feng for the queen. Therefore many things which are connected with the king or royalty contain the word long, such as long yan which means the appearance of the emperor, long ti which means the body of the emperor and long pao which means the robe for the emperor. Besides, long is supposed to bring good luck as an auspicious creature. In the phrase wang zi cheng long，long means a successful person with pretige.
In Modern Chinese Dictionary，the original meaning of long is a kind of a supernatural animal, which carries horns and whiskers and only has one head. It can make rain as wanted in legend. The second meaning is the head of animals, which can be black or bright, can be slender or coarse, can be short or long, flying to the sky in spring, and diving in the sea in autumn. In the other words, long is the head of changeable water animals, which is helpful for everything. So people awe and admire it as totem. In lunar calendar, Feb. 2nd is a traditional festival of long. On this day, people pray for spring rain and good harvest.
In Modern Chinese Dictionary, it also refers to the emperor in the feudal society of china. It is recorded before Jie Zitui , who is a Chinese historical person, left Jin Dynasty, he wrote a poem,“有龙于飞，周遍天下……龙返其乡，得其处所。”Long in this poem represents emperor.
Long can be regarded as imagery of heroes and wise persons. There is a record in the old text The Stories of Three Countries，which says that 徐庶见先主，先主器之，诸先生曰：‘诸葛孔明者，卧龙也，先主岂愿见乎？’” Here, Xu Shu regarded Zhuge Liang as latent long，which means that Zhuge Liang ’s wisdom and talent were buried. Besides, there is another phrase long pan feng yi in ancient records to demonstrate wise persons who are not known by most people. Long in the ancient times also meant noble steed.
In modern Chinese, long in some phrases has lost its original meaning, and got meanings of trope. Such as, the phrase shui long tou, which looks like long. The phrase yi tiao long is not a real long, but series of good methods or ways. Besides, long juan feng and che shui ma long all mean trope.

B. Dragon in Western Countries
The dragon is often a symbol of devil to westerners. They regard the dragon as a fierce monster that can destroy some other things. Therefore, in their opinion, it can make many disasters. There are several stories of saints or heroes dealing with the struggles against such monsters, which in most cases are killed in the end. The most notable story perhaps is the story of Beowulf. An Anglo-Saxon epic around the year of 700A.D, tells how the hero Beowulf defeats a monster called Grandel, but he is eventually mortally wounded during the process of slaying a dragon.（Li Zuowen, page 85,2005）
Dragon is the symbol of devil, which can be seen in many western films. For example, in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, there is a cruel character—dragon. Most people know that Harry Potter is a righteous boy. In this movie, he fights against the dragon to stop it from destroying the world. In another cartoon film Shrek the Third, whose end is very different from other similar films, there is a very cruel dragon named Boss. In the film Boss always hurts others. There is another film about dragon---Region of Fire. In this movie, after the dragon was waked by others, he begins to destroy the world for a long time. Many people are killed by him. In the film Dragon Heart, because the figure has a half of heat from dragon, he becomes a very rude person. At last, he gets his nemesis. From these films, dragon is well known to appear with a cruel image. Western films can reflect western cultures. Of course, the characters in their films can reflect directors’ opinions. The image of dragon in the films is the reflection of dragon in western legend.
In Bible, Satan, a devil, is called the great dragon. Revelation in the Books of The New testament of Bible describes dragon like this: A great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his head. And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there is no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, then ancient serpent, which is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (John, page10, 1998) In Microsoft Encyclopedia, dragon is described as a legendary reptilian monster similar in form to a crocodile and usually represented as having wings, huge claws, and a fiery breath. Above it is about the appearance of dragon. From the description, dragon is very ugly, and its figure is very huge.
When the dragon is used to refer to a person, especially a woman, it is always in pejorative sense. As in Collins Cobuild Language Dictionary, it is said, “If you call a woman a dragon, you mean that she is fierce and unpleasant.” For example, she is a bit of dragon around this place. In Europe, there is a famous dragon named Hydra, which is very cruel and rude. Hydra has nine heads and has long life. It is very different from long in China. And European people hate Hydra very much.
So dragon in western countries mainly means cruel and bad things. For example, “we call her a dragon” means she is very rude. “The Old Dragon” refers to the Satan in Bible, and in the phrase “chase the dragon”, dragon means drug, which can make people crazy and go to death.

C. Comparison between Long and Dragon
According to the analysis above, long and dragon can be compared as follows. Dragon: (1) having many heads; (2) ugly in appearance; (3) cruel person; (4) evil force; (5) Satan; (6) drug. Long: (1) having one head; (2) emperor; (3) wise people; (4) something that like the appearance of long; (5) noble steed; (6) constellation; (7) a surname of Chinese people.(Yang Zijian, page 27, 2006)
There are many differences between them. They originate from different cultures. The first meaning of dragon comes from Europe. In Western Europe, dragon has many heads. The third meaning of dragon in English originated from Greek legend. In the legend, the dragon always plays the role of keeper, keeping golden apple garden, spring and so on. In Revelation, Satan is named dragon. In Poems, it is said that you will trample the dragon under the feet. So dragon is regarded as devil, especially standing for gent in middle age.
In Chinese legend, Emperor Huang laid the foundation of Chinese civilization, and he was admired by his offspring. Later he flied to the sky on the long，which was sent by the God to welcome him. Therefore, the emperors in China after him name themselves real long.
Chinese word long has much more meanings than dragon. And meanings of long are fine, while dragon mostly means bad things.

Ⅱ.Some Problems in Translation

There are many problems in Chinese-English and English-Chinese translations between long and dragon, which cause many misunderstandings between different nations.

A. Illustration of the Wrong Translation of Long
There are many Chinese phrases with the word long. When they are translated into English, their meanings change a lot. For example, Chinese phrase long zhou are translated into English phrase as dragon boat. Every Chinese person knows that rowing long boat is an activity in honor of Qu Yuan, who was a famous Chinese poet.. Because the shape of boat looks like long, we call it long boat. Boat Festival is a happy day in China; so long boat has the propitious and happy meaning. In the phrase dragon boat, dragon is a kind of bugbear. As a result, dragon boat is very ugly and strange in westerners’ eyes. They may wonder why Chinese people like dragon boat. And they cannot figure out the happy atmosphere when Chinese people row the boat. Such translation cannot make westerners understand Chinese traditional culture, so those two sides of communication cannot go on well.
Long feng cheng xiang is translated into English phrase as dragon and phoenix bringing in prosperity. This translation makes westerners confused. They may think dragon is a bugbear and evil, and why devil can bring in prosperity. Long de chuan ren, this Chinese phrase is the name that Chinese people regard them as. But when it is translated into English, it becomes offspring of the dragon. Do Chinese people become offspring of devil? How absurd misunderstanding! Is Chinese person’s image like this?
In different kinds of English-Chinese or Chinese-English dictionaries, there are also many mistakes about the explanation of long and dragon. There are some examples as follows:
In Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English with Chinese Translation, it is explained like this, dragon: n. fabulous creature like a crocodile or snake, often with wings and claws, able to breathe out fire, often guarding a treasure; (Colloq) fierce.
In A New English-Chinese Dictionary it is explained like this, dragon: n. ①long; ②xiong bao de ren, yan li de ren.
In Longman English-Chinese Dictionary of Contemporary English, it is explained as follows: dragon: n.1.an imaginary fire-breathing animal in children’s stories long；2．a fierce older woman esp. one who allows too little freedom to ayoung girl in her charge.
In A Modern Chinese-English Dictionary, it is explained as follows. Long：① a kind of animal in the legend……
In English–Chinese translations, dragon is all explained long, and in Chinese –English translations, long is translated into dragon. It is not difficult to find that the improper translations have gone deep into everyone’s mind. The misunderstanding caused by it is very obvious. In Chinese dictionaries, long is a kind of supernatural animal, which has antennae and whiskers. It can make it rain as people wish. But in Dictionary of English with Chinese Translation, dragon is an imaginary fire-breathing animal; however, it is explained by Chinese word long. This is very contradictive.

B．Misunderstandings Caused by the Wrong Translation
The improper translation exists in different parts of life. The wrong translation make Chinese people face a lot of difficulties. Some Chinese students who study in European countries are laughed by westerners, when they introduce their nation is a country of dragon. Though it is just a word, it has hurt the feelings between Chinese and western people. Words are also languages in some extents. What is a language? It refers to the culture of one country, and can embody personality of one country. So languages in different countries are different, though they have something in common. If using Chinese dragon for long, western people maybe give the differences between dragon and Chinese dragon, but