英语毕业论文A-Probe-into-Cultural-Differences-between-English-Idioms-and-Chinese-Ones.doc

中西方文化中习语差异的探究

A Probe into Cultural Differences between
English Idioms and Chinese Ones

Abstract: Idioms are an important part of the language and culture of a society. Idioms are often hard to be understood and even harder to be used correctly. The proper use of idioms in a language is often a mark of a person’s command of the language. English and Chinese idioms carved with cultural characteristics account for a great part in application. The main purpose of the thesis is to discuss the influence of the cultural differences existing in idiom application and the approaches to dealing with cultural differences in idiom application. The idiom is not only a gem of language but also the crystallization of human wisdom. It is like a mirror reflecting culture. Idiom application is both an interlinguistic process and an intercultural activity. Therefore, it is necessary to study the idiom translation from the perspective of culture. When rendering idioms a user firstly needs to contemplate their cultural discrepancies between Chinese and English, and then, uses translation methods and strategies flexibly in order to provide a good version and make effective cultural exchange.
Key words: culture; idiom; cultural difference; idiom application; intercultural communication

摘　要： 习语是一个社会的语言和文化的重要组成部分，不仅难以理解，更难以运用得当。能否正确使用成语往往是一个人的语言水平的标志。带有文化色彩的英汉成语在翻译中占有很大的一部分。本论文旨在讨论英汉成语运用中存在的文化差异现象，并就习语运用中的文化差异的处理方法提出自己的意见。习语是人类语言的精华民族智慧的结晶，它的形成与其所属的国家和民族文化紧密相联。因此它蕴含着丰富的文化内涵，像一面镜子一样很好的反映着文化。从这个意义上说，习语运用不仅是一种语际转换过程，更是一种跨文化交际活动，因此探讨习语运用策略，必须从文化角度着手才会行之有效。所以在习语运用过程中，译者应该以对源语文化和目的语文化的充分了解为根本出发点，灵活恰当的选择翻译方法和策略，方能使译文获得成功，实现有效的跨文化的交际。
关键词：文化；习语；文化差异；习语运用；跨文化交际

Contents
Ⅰ. Relationship between Language and Culture……………………1
A. Definition of language……………………………………………………….1
B. Concept of culture…………………...………………………………………1
C. Relationship between language and culture……………………………...2
1. Language as a part of culture…………………………………………..3
2. Interdependence of language and culture………………………………..4
II. Idioms and Their Cultural Features………………………………..4
A. Difficulties in use of idioms………………………………………………….4
1. Linguistic difference……………………………………………………….5
2. Modes of thinking………………………………………………………….5
3. Life experiences……………………………………………………………6
B. Cultural vacancy in idioms………………………………………………….6
1. Definition of idioms………………………………………………………..7
2. Cultural gap factors in English and Chinese idioms…………...……….8
III. Effects Caused by Cultural Differences in Idioms Application…8
A. Living environment differences…………………………………………….8
B. Geographical differences……………………………………………………9
C. Social customs differences……………………………...………………….9
D. Religious beliefs differences……………………………………………….10
Ⅳ.Conclusion…………………………………………………………..11
Works Cited…………………………………………………………….12

A Probe into Cultural Similarities and Difference between English Idioms and Chinese Ones

Ⅰ. Relationship between Language and Culture

A. Definition of language
It’s well known that the most distinguishing distinction between humans and animals is that we humans have the capacity of using language. We use language every day and we live in a world of words. Language is centurial to our nature as human beings and language is an integral part of our life. Language is the most important development in human history. Without language, the arts, laws, sciences and economic systems could not exist. However, our ability to communicate has led us from the cave all the way to the moon. Language is so much a part of human existence that we will be talking as long as we inhabit the earth.
It is not difficult to find definitions on language in linguistic. The followings are the two of them. Sapir wrote in 1921: “Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions, and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols”. In 1957, Chomsky gives a different definition like this: “From now on I will consider a language to be set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements”
Despite the differences in these definitions, much linguistics is in broad agreement about some of the important features of human language, and most of them would accept the view that language is, in essence, a system of symbols designed for the purpose of human communication. Nevertheless, language serves as a basis for communication. Language is the system of human expression by means of words.

B. Concepts of culture
Much of the complex behavior of humans can not be explained on the basis of innate tendencies, but only on the basis of culture. Culture can be most simply defined as a set of shared ideas, or the customs, beliefs, and knowledge that characterize a way of life. The concept of culture was developed by anthropologists toward the end of 19th century. The first really clear and comprehensive definition was that of the British anthropologist, Sir Edward Burnett Taylor. He defined culture as everything human beings made and taught to future generations. “Culture,” he wrote, “is that complex concept which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” in Primitive Culture in 1871.
To an anthropologist, the modern definition of culture runs as fellows: Culture is a set of rules or standards that, when acted upon by the members of society, produce behavior that falls within a range of variance the members consider proper and acceptable. Let’s see the dictionary definition of culture. In the Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, the definition of culture goes like that:
“Culture refers to the total pattern of human behavior and its product embodied in thought, speech, action, and artifacts and dependence upon men’s capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generation through the use of tools, and systems of abstract thought.”
The term of culture refers to the total pattern of abstract values, beliefs, customs, institutions, objects, and techniques that characterize the life of a human community. Culture includes all the shared products of human society. This means not only material things such as cities, organizations and schools, but also non-material things such as ideas, custom, family patterns and languages.
As the term itself suggests, material culture is substantial, concrete and observable. And non-material culture is a product of thinking activity of human beings. It is mainly represented by the values, convention, system, literature, science, philosophy, religious beliefs, mode of thinking, aesthetic standards and moral concepts, etc. In contrast with material culture, only a small part of non- material culture, the products of the mind, is tangible, and most non-material culture is hidden, abstract, implicit and indiscernible. These abstract areas of culture, which are indeed very difficult to detect, not only pose problems to foreign language learners, but also constitute translation problems in inter-cultural communication.

C. Relationship between language and culture
Only human beings have the capacity of creating and transmitting culture. Human beings are the “culture-bearing animals” because they have the capacity for symbolic communication, or language. As the eminent anthropologist A.L.Kroeber put it:
“Man is an essentially unique animal in that he possesses speech faculty and the faculty of symbolizing, abstracting, or generalizing. Through these two associated faculties he is able to communicate his acquire learning, his knowledge and accomplishments, to his fellows and his descendants. This is something that no other animals can do, at least not to any significant degree.”
In what way is language related to culture? People who are members of societies have their own distinctive cultures and ways in using languages. Let’s take the legendary creature the “dragon” between the eastern and western nations for example. The Chinese people particularly favor dragon. In the dynastic times in China, the dragon stood for the king or emperor. It is said that Chinese are descendents of the dragon. In China, the dragon is always associated with glorious things, regarded as an auspicious god and supposedly brings good luck, for it has magic power. So the dragon has given rise to some Chinese idioms such as “望子成龙” –longing to see one’s children become dragons, that is, be successful and have bright futures, and “龙腾虎跃” –dragons rising and tigers leaping, having a figurative meaning of a scene of bustling activity. However, in the western countries, especially in Europe, the dragon is often a simple of evil. It has wings and claws, and spurts out flam. Some stories of heroes or saints deal with struggles against the monsters, which in most cases are killed in the end. To Westerners, the word “dragon” often bears a derogative meaning, which implies a fierce person, especially a woman. From the above-mentioned discussion, we can see that the associated and affective meanings of the “dragon” between the Chinese and English-speaking people are sharply contrasted. This is the one example which illustrates that culture has greatly shaped language in a way and language reflects culture from some aspects, too. Next, let’s see the close relationship between language and culture in detail as follows.
1. Language as a part of culture
With the definition of “culture” both in English and Chinese, we can see that language is covered by culture and language is a part of culture. In the broadest sense, language is the symbolic representation of a people, and it consists of their historical and culture backgrounds as well as their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking. Language is a major part of culture and plays an important role in it. It is considered as the keystone of culture by some social scientists. They hold that culture would not be possible without language.
Language is a cultural phenomenon. Language can not exist without culture as its component. Language is a system for communication, in symbols, of any kind of form.
Language is greatly influenced and shaped by culture and language in turn reflects culture. Language is the product as well as the carrier of culture. The cultural differences can be reflected in languages, too.
People communicate what is meaningful or not meaningful to them in a way defined by their particular culture. As nation’s common beliefs and practices, culture has its fixed model, which can be seen in language, thought, customary beliefs, material traits, historical background, religion, politics and many other aspects. When language acts on culture, it is the container and vehicle of cultural information.

2. Interdependence of language and culture
Language and culture interact, and that understanding of one requires understanding of the other. So language and culture have a dialectical relationship. Language is the key to a culture of which it is a part and to a large extent embedded in culture or vice versa. Human culture could not exist without a means of symbolic communication. Language gives human beings access to what was thought and experienced in the past, as well as a way of passing new information to future generations. When this language link is broken, a culture is lost to us forever.
Language is also essential to human life and makes national thought possible. It enables us to reason, to draw logical conclusions from the evidence of our sense, to generalize from one event to another, and to predict, create, and understand. Language, as the expression of culture, separates us from other animals and makes us human. Since language is a part of culture, it also shapes and colors our experiences of the world around us.

II. Idioms and Their Cultural Features

In this part, the origin of cultural gap, their embodiments and the influence or the barrier they bring to the application will be discussed. As a start, it is useful to present a brief introduction to the study of the cultural gap.

A. Difficulties in use of Idioms
Culture gap is the extreme form of the heterogeneity of both language and culture of a nation. According to Liu Biqing, the heterogeneous characteristics of cultures originated primarily from the different origins of human cultures and their subsequent developments (including the rise of history, geo-configuration, the rise of culture, social development, politics and economy) (Liu Biqing, 1999:43).
We all know that language is culture-specific. What’s more, culture is nationality-specific. In other words, each nation or ethnic groups has its peculiar culture. Firstly, cultural peculiarity is the main factor leading to cultural vacancy, which is the extreme example of culture difference. Secondly, the emergence of cultural vacancy is owing to “cultural diversity” as well. Cultural diversity reflects various cultural characteristics and elements all around the world. Such as beliefs, values, attitudes, norms, customs and material aspects. This gives rise to most of the difficulties in intercultural translation, and often results in limitations of translation or cultural loss of meanings. To make a good translation of Chinese and English culturally-loaded lexemes, the user should be aware of what kinds of problems hindering the translation progress.
Now we will take a close look at the problems hindering culturally-loaded lexemes translation from the angle of linguistic difference, modes of thinking and life experience.
1. Linguistic differences
English belongs to Indo-European language family while Chinese belongs to Sino-Tibetan language family. The former is alphabetic, while the latter, pictographic. Their linguistic differences are in such features as sound, word formations and syntax, etc. Linguistic differences are often found in formal styles of writing or poems. For example, it is almost impossible to render the Chinese “对联” (antithetical couplet) into English at the same time keeping the structure, meaning and all other writing techniques required. Similarly, it is difficult to put the English sonnet into Chinese equally in structure and syllables. Since a semiotic system is integrated into the culture of that language in which it operates, we may say that linguistic gap is, to some extent, tantamount to cultural gap. Many Chinese words are very vivid with images, shapes and qualities clearly presented whereas most of their English applications only convey the meaning and function of the language without preserving the images. From above mentioned he known that linguistic meaning refers to the meaning that is carried by the inner resources of language itself.
2. Modes of thinking
Modes of thinking refer to mindsets or set patterns formulated in the mental