颜色东西方差异(中英文)
注：下划线斜字体不在ppt上展示！
Part 1:
“You look blue today. What’s wrong with you?”
“你今天看起来闷闷不乐，你怎么了”
Means “你今天看起来闷闷不乐，你怎么了”。blue表面上是蓝色的意思，但这里却作“忧郁的”解。
“The smoke made him cough. He coughed harshly, his face lit like a .” “烟使他呛起来。他难受地咳着，脸胀得像番茄一样红”
Which means“烟使他呛起来。他难受地咳着，脸胀得像番茄一样红” 如果按字面翻译的话，最后一句的意思应为“他的脸像番茄一样”，但是要使翻译达到信达雅的效果的话，应该译为“脸胀得像番茄一样红”。在英文表达中这个颜色词”可见，颜色词在中英文中的含义用法有诸多的不同，而这正是我们今天presentation的主题：
Part2:
The Cultural Differences of Color Words in Chinese and English(单独作一页PPT，也可以在这里加上小组成员，分工等)
From the scientific definition, color is a visual phenomenon launched, reflected or caused through certain light wave by the object; it is one kind of visual essential features of human eye.While on the basic color words, there is not so much
difference in English and in Chinese, in Chinese, there are 赤(chi)、橙(cheng)、黄(huang)、绿(lv)、青(qing)、蓝(lan)、紫(zi)、黑、白，and in English there are
red,orange, yellow, green,cyan,blue and purple, black and white, color words in each nation’s language differ from one anther in the world.可见在对视觉上对颜色的描述，中英文是不存在什么差异的
But now the color words not only express the color, but also imply the cultural factors of each country, different cultures can reflect one country’s history, aesthetic taste and national psychology. It is the bright and colorful nature which provides the place for life and the foundation for developing. Therefore, it is of great importance
to study color words to find out how they reflect cultural differences in both the original and target language and why they can influence our daily life. 差异对于我们学习英语来说是非常有必要的
In specific.The main colors of English and Chinese are same or similar，but some color words in one language can refer to more one color in other language． So the English and Chinese color words are not always corresponding word. Take the colors of red, black, white, yellow, green and blue for examples as showed below.
RED
Both in China and English speaking countries, red always be connected with joyous and celebrate events. For example, “red-letter days” in English means memorial day, often refers to Christmas Day. ”to paint the town red” means binge, quaff, or even monkey business（狂欢痛饮胡闹）“roll out the red carpet for sb.”（铺展红地毯隆重地欢迎某人）.
red also used to express some sorts of emotion. For instance, “become red-faced” or “sb’s face turned red” has the same meaning with “脸红” in Chinese. And “to see red ” along with “wave a red flag” equals to “为难、发怒” in Chinese.
In Chinese particularly, the word “hong” represents luck, happiness, success, celebration and festival. In traditional Chinese weddings, not only the decorations are full of red color, including red candle, red quilts, red words “喜”and so on, but also the clothing of the bride and groom, as well as the red veil of the bride（新娘的红盖头）, thus bringing a wedding atmosphere and implying the prosperous future of the newlyweds. Furthermore, the word “红火”represents exuberant and lively. The word “红利” , describes the enterprise division of profits to shareholders or bonuses to staff. The word “红颜” refers to a young and beautiful woman.
But in English, the word “ red ” represents danger, violence and debauchery（放荡；沉湎酒色） with strong derogatory（贬义的） meaning. When talking about the word red, people always imagine the fire and blood. For instance, “ red-faced ” represents embarrassed or angry; “ red alert ” is a warning that something very
dangerous is likely to happen; “ the red rules of tooth and claws ”（残杀和暴力统治）means tyranny or a cruel, harsh, and unfair control over other people. With the cultural exchange, the word “ red ” in English comes to have some complimentary sense, such as “ red carpet ” used to welcome very important visitors as the special treatment when they arrive. However, in English “ red ” has different meanings in economy, such as “ in the red ” “ get into the red ” both mean somebody is in debt. So “ red ” is really the word making people happy at some time, but upset at other time.
No matter in China or western countries, as a darker color, “ 黑 ” or “ black ” often has something to do with dirtiness, illegality, death, mourning, sadness, despair, anger and justice. “Vicious”“bad”are common meanings of black in both Chinese and English.
In China, “乌黑的手” is what we call dirty hands. “黑市” implies the listed commodities trading allowed without government's approval, “黑车” means the illegal taxi with a higher charge. In the funeral, Chinese will tie a black band around one arm to show the sad feeling. If people get angry, we see the expression “他黑着个脸”. Sometimes “黑” symbolizes the justice, because in ancient China, we had a famous righteous officer called “包拯”, who had black complexion. In western country, “ a black sweet ”“ black water ” mean dirty. “ Black money ” indicates the income earned in an illegal way. Black is also a color for mourning dress (丧服)in Western countries. “ A black dog ” and “ black mood ” both refer to the low spirit of people. When people get angry, they look “ black-browed ” or “ black in the face ” or “ as black as thunder ”, and they also have “ black passion ”.
White
Similarities:
The color white gives both Chinese and English the similar imagination to some extent. Take “pure” and ”innocent” for example , which means “纯洁，清白无辜的”. In Chinese, the word “白” is the symbol of death, depression and failure. In the funerals, traditional Chinese people always wear white mourning dress to express condolences to the dead. The funeral can also be called “白事” in Chinese. Also, the word “白” has the meaning of the civilian, such as “白丁” represents the illiterate people or the uneducated common people. In traditional drama, the implications of the word “白” is treachery. That is why the famous ancient politician,曹操, was described as “白脸奸臣”.
On the contrary, the word “ white ” refers to the chastity, hope, happiness, joy and naivety in English. “ A white lie ” means a lie that you tell someone in order to protect them or avoid hurting their feelings. If someone is said to be “ white-handed ”, it means he or she is honest or innocent. In the Bible, the Angels are always with a pair of white wings and a silver-white halo overhead. White is the incarnation（具象化） of being smart, kind and beautiful. the bride always dresses in a white wedding dress as a symbol of pure and beautiful.
In ancient China, the word “黄 ” is a kind of noble color because it signifies the color of the skin of the Chinese people. When it came to “黄”, the majority of
Chinese people will be reminded of the yellow clothes which the emperor wore. So, there are a lot of words with “黄”, such as “黄道吉日” with the meaning of the lucky day suitable to do things and “黄袍加身” with the meaning of acclaiming emperor. Nowadays, this word is associated with sex in Chinese. The word “扫黄” is the symbol of the elimination of the pornography and prostitution(淫秽制品以及卖淫嫖娼).
As the color of gold and the sun, “ yellow ” is the symbol of wealth, honor and power in English. It’s a holy color in Christianity. The Father wears golden crucifix（十字架）, and the holy cup used by Jesus in his last supper is also yellow. In
English, there is a phrase “ a yellow ribbon ”, used as a symbol of welcome for those people who will return home. So “ to hang yellow ribbons for somebody ” is to give a warm welcome for one’s return. “ Yellow ” sometimes implies warning. “ A yellow card ” is a card held up by a football referee to show that a player has done something wrong. Later it is used generally throughout the world as a symbol of warning.
Green
Green is a sort of color full of vigor and energy underlying life, youth, hope, peace and energy both in Chinese and English.
In Chinese, there is another saying of “绿”, that is “青”, so there exists such phrases as “青春年华”, “常青树”. At present, the color “绿” also means environmental protection, such as in the phrase: “ the Green Party ”, “ Green Revolution ”, “ green food ”, “ green consumerism ” and so forth.
But comparatively speaking, green has more associative indications in English such as “ green hands ” and “ be in the green ”, which mean being inexperienced. What’s more, the implications of green can also be envious and jealous, such as “ green with envy ”, “ green as jealousy ” and “ green-eyed monster ”. In Britain as well as in the United States, the color green is one of the favorite colors, and there are many places decorated with green color and even US dollars are green. Thus the color term “ green ” is often used to refer to money or fortune.
Blue
In Chinese, the word “ 蓝 ” represents the color of the sky and water, symbolizing calm, reflection, modesty and the intellect. In fact, the implications of Chinese word
“ 蓝 ” is less. To Chinese people, blue is the color of the dress worn by Confucian scholars in ancient times, and “蓝衫”was once used to refer to “秀才”, who passed the imperial examination at the county level in Ming and Qing dynasties. In English, the word “ blue ” commonly is a metaphor of depression, frustration, sorrow and anguish. If somebody is “ in a blue mood ”, he or she may feel sad, gloomy and depressed. Similar in meaning is “ a blue Monday ”, indicating the first day of work or school after a pleasant, happy weekend. Moreover, blue denotes high social position or being aristocratic（贵族的）. For instance, “ blue-blooded ” describes someone who have been born into a family which belongs to a royal or noble family or the highest social class. In contrast, another meaning of “ blue ” in English is connected with sex. “ Blue movie ” means a movie showing a lot of sexual activity, and “ blue talk ” means a talk which is coarse（粗俗的）.
Part3:
The Reasons for Different Culture Connotation between English and Chinese Color Words
1、Natural Environments
We know the weather of England is always warm and the wool spinning industry has developed rapidly in England from early time．Thereby，English people often use sheep or wool as analogue. For example，there is wool so white but a dyer call make it black(羊毛虽白，染之则黑)
As rice is the main food in china, Chinese is accustomed to using “米黄色” to describe the yellow just like the color of rice, while in western countries, butter and cream is the daily food, so “cream ” or “ butter- yellow” is often used in English. But in English yellow also has meanings of vulgar and despicable which has nothing to do with pornographic as yellow means in Chinese. This kind of usage began in 1895．New York world published picture story caricature yellow kids that was
printed in yellow．Yellow journalisms and yellow covered literatures are just some vulgar publications．
2、Historical Backgrounds
In Chinese, “绿帽子” (lv maozi) is a metaphor, which means to be a cuckold. This kind of usage appropriately began in Tang dynasty. At that time, the male in brothel should wear a green hat to represent their identity. Chinese ancients viewed green as an impure color and represents low class. Therefore, the one whose wife has a paramour is called “戴绿帽子”. While western countries have no similar historic background, they don’t understand the meaning inside. In translation, it can not be simply translated into “He wears a green hat”, but “a cuckold husband”。
个形容词就此产生了。
3、Religious Beliefs
There is a phrase “black Friday” in English. “Friday” in religion refers to the Friday before the Easter, in which day Jesus was in crucifixion. According to the national and cultural background and traditions, the English-speaking countries use the “black Friday” to refer to a catastrophic disaster, dangerous, ominous day, which is unique in the English culture.
Colors have been used to stand for political groups or social status from ancient times．Taoism（道教）is one of the major religions of China. Chinese ancients, deeply affected by the Taoist, often corresponds the position and four seasons to color. Therefore, there is a saying that blue, red, yellow, white and black are the five directions. The color yellow, located in the center of the Five Colors, is a symbol of emperor for its nobility. Yellow is the color of the dignitaries, representatives of noble and solemn, and the supreme, sacred and inviolable. So far, yellow is still the symbol of old China. For instance, “黄袍” is the emperor’s dress, “黄榜” is the
proclamation published by him and “黄道吉日” means an auspicious day. However, in Western countries, this color is unpleasant and nasty. In the Bible, Judas, who betrayed Jesus, was wearing a yellow dress. Therefore, yellow was given a timid, shameless and despicable meaning, such as "yellow belly" (胆小鬼), "yellow dog" (卑鄙的人), " yellow looks "(阴沉多疑的性格).
PART4 conclusion
The above discussion leads to the conclusion that under the influences of natural environments, historical backgrounds, literatures, arts, political backgrounds and
religious beliefs of eastern and western world，English and Chinese color words have their cultural connotations respectively．As the carrier of cultures, language absorbs different cultures of different nations. Color words, as an important part of language, express special characteristics and customs. Therefore, color words have symbolic significances which are important for us to comprehend and grasp in English and Chinese culture. The colors bring us a wonderful and splendid world, and color words make it easier to express our thought, make our expression more apt and vivid. Therefore, correctly understanding colors and their deeper symbolic meaning will be a great help for people in different cultures to communicate. While using and translating, Handling color words appropriately according to cultural differences is of great importance．