傅艳敏学士毕业论文---英语习语的翻译

河 北 建 筑 工 程 学 院

本科毕业论文

学 科 专 业 英语 班 级

姓 名 傅艳敏 学 号 指 导 教 师 指导教师职称 讲师 论文提交日期

论文答辩日期 2015年06月25日

答辩委员会主席签字：

Idioms Translation and Cultural Differences

By

Fu Yanmin

Class: 112

Supervisor: Duanjing

A Thesis Presented to the Foreign Language Department of

Hebei Institute of Architecture and Civil Engineering

As Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

Bachelor of Arts

June 3 rd , 2015

Acknowledgements

This thesis owes thanks to many of my teachers and friends who have given me intellectual and personal support and advises during the period when I was producing it.

First of all, I would like to thank my tutor Duan Jing, who put forward some constructive suggestions for me. I believe that without her help and encourage with heart and soul, this thesis would have been impassible. Mrs. Duan showed great interest in English idioms when I told her that I want to write something on Idioms Translation and Cultural Differences, which is the title of this thesis.

I have benefited greatly from discussions with my friends and classmates in English School in Hebei Institute of Architecture and Engineering. I want to show my special thanks to my roommates who have helped me to collect materials I am also grateful to my friend Zhanglin’s encouragements, critical comments and suggestions when she patiently read my draft of this thesis. My classmates’ kindness and fraternal love have been a great resource of encouragement and inspiration for me. Without anyone who have show their generosity and friendship for me, I could not complete this thesis on time. To them, I owe a special gratitude.

At the end of this acknowledgement, I want to thank my practice company Shinnyway Education. The Human Resource there showed olive branch when I was deeply troubled in finding writing resources and producing my final homework in college, namely this thesis.

Abstract

Idioms are special types of phase that produced and accomplished by language users in the long history of human development. Idioms have the feature of short and simple. Therefore they are used extensively in our daily life, and it is in dispensable to have a good ability to understand their meanings and even to use them properly.

Any kind of advanced language in the world has a large number of idioms exist, and this makes a curtain language’s the most cultural vocabulary. As one of the most popular language, English has more than 20000 idioms, among which there are 4000 are commonly used. Idioms in English show the cultural atmosphere of West World to anyone who meets them.

Just like the old saying goes:“A handy tool makes a handy man” . To learners, idioms will help them acquire and use English more frequently. However the differences of culture and thinking habits between the East and the West make this a insurmountable gap. I will give two examples to show these differences: we are familiar with the old Chinese saying”太阳打西边出来了” which makes no sense for Chinese beginners. That is the first example. And the second one is a joke about the idiom of “look out’’. One people on upstairs said “Look out” when he wants to slash water though the window, while the other people on downstairs just stretch out his head without any hesitation because he has no idea of what “Look out” really means in this situation. With the attitude of learning, this paper is focused on the comparison of the English translation of Chinese idioms and the Chinese translation of English idioms. Due to the weakness of word-for-word translation this paper will analyze English idioms and Chinese idioms from different angles.

This thesis will be divided into 5 mainly parts: introduction, chapter 1 for the definition and function of idioms, chapter 2 for the translation of idioms, chapter 3 for different cultures between china and America or British, and the final part is conclusion. At the end of this thesis, a bibliography was appended to show my great thanks to those authors.

Key words : idioms; translation; culture; differences

摘要

习语是是人类语言发展的精华，是语言使用者经过长期的实践和积累总结出的定型词组或短句。它的特点是文字简练而言简意赅，遣词隽永而意义深远，句式整齐而音韵和谐，内容精辟且具有强烈的感染力。正因如此，习语便成了人们日常交流中最喜闻乐见的一种表达形式。

世界上任何一种发达的语言都有大量的习语存在，这也就构成了某种特定语言中最具文化特点的庞大词汇系统。英语是世界上最发达和使用最广泛的语言之一，其习语的数量多达20000余条，其中被人们广泛使用的就高达4000余条。纷繁浩瀚的英语习语犹如一幅色彩斑斓的历史画卷，向世人展示着浓郁的西方文化气息。

工欲善其事，必先利其器，对于英语语言学习者而言，掌握住大量的英语习语对增强自己的语言能力无异于是锦上添花。然而东西方文化的差异和思维习惯的不同则是横亘在我国英语语言学习者面前的一条难以逾越的鸿沟。例如，“太阳打西边出来了”是我们耳熟能详的一句汉语习语，但是对于认识这八个字但对中华文化知之甚少的外国人来说却是摸不着头脑（与之对应的英语习语我们可以说‘Pigs Might Fly ’）。又如一则笑话里写到：楼上有个人想向下泼水，顺口说了句“Look out （‘小心’之意，而非‘向外看’）”, 结果楼下的人下意识的把头探出窗外。。。。。。本文本着学习的态度，着力于比较汉语习语的英译和英语习语的汉译，力求在翻译过程中捋顺汉语使用者及英语使用者的文化差异，思维习惯。同时，习语不同于其它文字类翻译，照本宣科，死译硬译有时是不可取的。所以本文从不同的角度对英汉习语所反映的文化差异进行剖析，从而达到抛砖引玉的作用。

本文在行文上共分为六部分，分别是：引言﹑习语的定义和作用﹑习语的翻译﹑中西文化差异﹑结语和参考目录。

关键字：习语；翻译；文化；不同

Contents

Introduction . .......................................................................................................1 Chapter One The Definition, Characteristics and Functions of Idioms

1.1 The Definition of Idioms .............................................................................3

1.2 The Characteristics of Idioms ......................................................................4

1.2.1 The Unity of Idioms . ...............................................................................4

1.2.2 The Establishment of Idioms by Usage ..............................……………4

1.2.3 The Stationarity of Idioms ......................................................................5

1.2.4 The Metaphorical Nature of Idioms . .......................................................5

1.3 The Functions of Idioms ..............................................................................5

1.3.1 Ideational Function .................................................................................5

1.3.1.1 Use Individual to Refer the Overall .....................................................6

1.3.1.2 Use One Detail Thing to Refer Another Thing ..................................6

1.3.2 Interpersonal Function ............................................................................6

1.3.2.1 Politeness .............................................................................................6

1.3.2.2 Phatic Function ....................................................................................7

1.3.2.3 Cultural Function .................................................................................7

1.3.2.4 Pragmatic Function ..............................................................................7

Chapter Two Different Cultures between China and America or British

2.1 Different Histories Make Different Cultures and Idioms ............................9

2.2 Different Geographical Locations Make Different Cultures and Idioms ..10 Chapter Three the Translation of Idioms

3.1 Literal Translation . .....................................................................................12

3.2 Free Translation .........................................................................................13

3.3 Corresponding Translation . ........................................................................15

Conclusion ……………… .............................................................................18

Bibliography .....................................................................................................19

Chinese Translation .........................................................................................20