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1、A Study on the Translation of Proverb from Chinese to English I Introduction Proverb, a short well-known saying that states a general truth or gives advice, is an indispensable part of a countrys culture. In particular, Chinese Proverb is characterized by conciseness and principle. Its most brief la
2、nguage and form express most vivid and richest idea. Therefore more and more translators are engaged in the translation of Chinese Proverb. However, the profound philosophical background and cultural tradition of Chinese and English result in the difference in the mode of thought which lead to many
3、obstacles in the process of translating. In order to improve the accuracy of translation of Chinese Proverb, this paper tries to gasp the internal regulations and relations between Chinese and English and get rid of the influence caused by way of thinking as well as custom, which is on the basis of
4、different philosophical background and cultural tradition this paper mainly includes two parts: the first part shows the differences between Chinese and English in cultural background; the second part tells the different ways of thinking between Chinese and English. Finally it concludes that we shou
5、ld be clear about the difference in the translation of Chinese Proverb.II The Difference between Chinese and English1.The Difference Between Chinese and English in Cultural Background A. Chinese in lunar calendar; English in solar calendar The long history of China has gone with extensive and profou
6、nd culture. In Chinese-English translation, if you want to use proverbs, it is necessary to let the foreigners know the real Chinese customs and something which they did not know, so translators must keep the Chinese traditions and features: There are fifty-six nations in China; the diversity of say
7、ings of course cant be counted. Some Chinese who are in different areas even do not know the meaning of other peoples, let alone foreigners know it well, the purpose of a good translator is to make his works known to all. But it is unwise to lose the real style of the composition, and the connotatio
8、n, background, customs must be concluded in it. China is an agriculture country, there is no doubt that most of them live on agriculture, and plan and do every thing according to the different seasons in lunar calendar, such as vernal equinox, autumnal equinox, grain full. Definitely the people livi
9、ng on agriculture prefer to lunar calendar, their faiths belong to what lunar calendar refers to, so most important things including festivals are arranged on lunar calendar: Qingming festival (3rd March), Duanwu festival (5th May),Zhongqiu festival (15th August) and so on, and people pay more atten
10、tion their own traditional festivals. For example, they are ceremonious on Spring festival Eve which comes on the last day of a lunar year. Usually the whole family should unite and gather at home. It is said that a beggar must have a den on New Year, The day (lunar calendar) on 13 July is called Yu
11、e Ban, t is Ghosts Day. They must send money made by special paper to the people who have been dead, expecting their forefathers to bless senders happily and safely. In addition, different peoples have different festivals, such as Miao peoples lu sheng Festival, Yi peoples porch festival, Dai people
12、s water-pouring festival, and Shui peoples water-pouring festival is more ceremonious than the other festival. And compared with the festivals in the foreign countries, Valentines Day, Easter, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and other foreign festivals, in China there are also some traditional festi
13、vals similar to those abroad. For example, it is Chinese Valentines Day on July (lunar calendar),that must be distinguished from Valentines Day abroad (happy love between young men) and the romantic but sorrowing love story from Niunang and Zhinu should be added in your translation to make the reade
14、rs know what you state. The explanation is also necessary to attract the readers. B. The National heros in China; The Respected Icons in England The different background and the different customs need the translators to abide in translation. The Chinese sayings sometimes have the profound philosophi
15、cal background and cultural tradition, It almost comes from Chinese objects and allusion which are familiar and well- known. YUHUANGDADI is deeply believed as the highest rank among joss in Chinese. It must be connected with English GOD while translating. Several examples are proved below. 三个臭皮匠，顶个诸
16、葛亮，the wisdom of the masses exceeds that of the wisest individual. There is on need to change the wisest individual into ZHUGELIANG, because foreigners do not who ZHUGELIANG is, he actually is a wise man. So we translate ZHUGELIANG as the wisdom of individual”. 不到黄河心不死，Until all is over ambition nev
17、er dies ,there is no yellow river abroad. 情人眼里出西施，Love is blind. XISHI is a perfect beauty in ancient Zhongguo in China, but she is unknown by foreigners. Chinese culture is always profund and copious. It is the same as the water in the sea. As a Chinese translator must make foreigners adore and the
18、n follow it, which is to make a translator successful.C. Complex, Splendid in Chinese; Simple, Clear in English. From the further ancient to present, a long history of China has passed centuries after centuries, as a real civilized country, some words used by Chinese are marvelous and pithy. It need
19、s some transformation, because it is difficult to explain. his former style must be kept in the works and mentioned about the same as the English salience. Some examples are as follows. 秀才不出门，全知天下事Without stepping outside Iris gate, the scholar knows all the wide worlds affairs. Reckon is rigorous.秀
20、才is not as the same grade as the scholar to make foreigners know what is 秀才，only can a translator do is to choose a simple, clear word-scholar instead of 秀才 爱屋及乌love me, love my dog. 对牛弹琴to cast pearls to the swine.“黄梁美梦”, Some foreigners don t know what “黄粱美梦” is, while a translator know what “黄粱美梦
21、” mean in Chinese. The translator may express the meaning of “黄粱美梦” with simple English words when translating-Fools paradise. 醉翁之意many kiss a baby for the nurses sake, there is no need for us to introduce what 醉翁refers to. This is a pretty way to avoid some unnecessary difficulties.D. Chinese Has t
22、he Dictums, English Has the Aphorisms Some folk Chinese expressions can not arrive at the hall because it is vulgar. But it is widely used almost everywhere. 狗改不了吃屎 is a pure and simple expression in Chinese which is neutral, and it is rude to say it in public. It must be turned to 江山易改，本性难移You can
23、scare a dog away from a greasy hide. 杀鸡取卵Kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, that is figurative and such foolish behavior can not be seen at all. No one did the superfluous affairs. Plenty of folk languages are definitely very complicated and need copping with. Look at following the examples.
24、It is very difficult to translate 龙生龙，凤生凤，耗子的娃儿打地洞into English, and we can use like father, like son instead of it. 人有失手，马有失蹄 means no one can avoid making mistakes, we can turn it like this A horse stumbles that has four legs. 雷声大，雨点小Great cry and little wool. 又要马儿好，又要马儿不吃草You can not eat your cake
25、 and have it. 一分耕耘，一分收获No pains, no gains. From the example above, it is not difficult to see that translating a sentence must attach importance to its implicated meaning so as to get the effect of promoting the translation.II. The Different Ways of Thinking Between Chinese and English Different way
26、s of thinking are another obstacle in translation as follows: a. Chinese emphasizes image thinking; English highlights abstract thanking Chinese attaches importance to thinking in images, and are apt to use the concrete things to express abstract concepts, which gives us a kind of obviously vivid an
27、d direct feeling while English does well in applying abstract concepts to express concrete things that give us a kind of fabricate, extensive. indirect and conceal impression. Therefore it is absolutely to master the characteristics and organizing laws and see clearly the different styles of thought
28、 implicated in the structures of the two languages when translating. It is essential to carry on some necessary structure transformation and enhance the comprehension and harmony with the philosophical background in the thinking systems between Chinese and English, in order to improve the translator
29、s ability of thinking in images. There are several examples, as follows. 种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆why not 种树得树？So we can translate it by saying As you sow, you will reap to fit the appetite for the dishes. 不吃黄连苦，怎知蜂蜜甜Who has never tasted bitter knows not what is sweet. 同行是冤家Two of trade did never agree. 不做亏心事，不怕鬼敲门
30、 good conscience is a soft pillow. One may steal a horse, while another may not look over the hedge. 新官上任三把火New brooms sweep clean. From those instances, we are able to detect that Chinese tend to use imagery things or concrete examples to uncover a truth. While English lay stress on the direct expr
31、ession of a abstract truth. We have to make the concrete words abstract in order to conform to the thinking character of English. Usually speaking, we use abundant nouns and preparation to make the translated texts accord with the English expressive habits in the way of words transferring adding and
32、 replacing. b. Chinese in curvilinear Thinking; English in rectilinear Thinking. Generally speaking, the Chinese culture has got suspense while the key points are directly and obviously at the beginning of the sentence. In the English culture, the topic sentence is put firstly and then the idea are
33、developed the idea step by step. So we must obey the English culture when translating For example, if we want to express a person who is very brave, we would better present the persons miracles: otherwise, the sentence will never be trusted. However, Chinese people usually do not directly state the
34、persons drive well. But proving it through the events and more details and let the readers know it at last while English the idea at idea at first and prove it step by step. The translators ought to stick to when they are translating. c. Chinese culture always bases on the origin of people; English
35、regards the nature as the target to research and to comprehend. Looking at the examples below. 磨刀不误砍柴工It is necessary to have the full preparations before do 做一天和尚撞一天钟o long as the green mountains are there, one should not worry about five wood. Another way is :Where there is life, there is hope. 外行
36、看热闹，内行看门送To know the ropes. A translator must know English salience that it attaches importance to the objects the folk Chinese culture fends the proverbial logic but on the contrary English culture aims at modal logic, Chinese culture takes consensus as the most important point, the entity must be
37、unified by the significance, the sentences are connected by significance. There are no any conjunctions between sentences. However, the significance must follow the entity in English expressions. There are obvious conjunctions amongst sentence by sentence. A translator should do some adjustment whil
38、e translating. Thought is the foundation of translation. The differences in thinking take the great influence to the definition of translation.III.Conclusion All in all, all above lay stress on the Chinese-English translation of folk sayings. This paper has discussed the differences between Chinese
39、and English in cultural background and the different ways of thinking between Chinese and English. The paper has argued some skills of the translation of Chinese Proverb: different cultural background and different ways of thinking between Chinese and English. It is impossible to cover all the aspec
40、ts about this topic in this short paper. The examples of translated version come from the proverbial folk culture in order to let more scholars pay attention to the folk culture. -and differences of thinking, which illustrates that translator should not only improve the ability of their mother langu
41、age, but also reinforce the comparative research of linguistic structure, semantic system, philosophy, and historic background of Chinese and English, in order to improve the level of accuracy and perfection of translation. Chinese proverb possesses profundity, and ways of Chinese Proverb translatio
42、n need to be constantly explored and improved, so we still have a long way. Notes 1,2,3,4,5 李晓琳 英汉文化价值观念和思维模式差异与英语学习 (湖南教育出版社,2002) p13References Eugene A Nide, 1982, The Theory and Practice of Translation, Longman press, Eugene a Nide, 1982, The Theory and Practice of Translation, Shanghai Foreign
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