A Contrastive Study on the Cultural Differences of

AContrastiveStudyontheCulturalDifferencesofEnglishandChineseinAnimalIdiomsSchool:CollegeofAppliedForeignLanguagesGrade:2008Major:AppliedEnglishStudentName:王天石StudentID:20083264Advisor:甄晓非HeilongjiangUniversityMay10,2012IAbstractWhenwetranslateChinesetoEnglishorEnglishtoChinese,wecannotonlytransmittheliterarymeaningintoanotherlanguagewordbyword;insteadweshouldputtheirconnotationsintoconsideration.Theculturebackgroundofalanguagedeterminesitswords’connotationmeaningalot,asdifferenthistoryandlifepeoplehaveexperienced,differentconnotativemeaningstheyendowedwords.Animalidiomisatypicalportionoflanguagethatshowsthisdifference.Thisessaygivesananalysisofanimalidiomsabouttheirconnotation’scharacteristicsinEnglishandChinesebygivingsomeexamples,itfocusesonacontrastivestudyontheculturalconnotationfromtheassociativemeaning,thesimilarityanddifferenceofzoomorphism,andtheimageandtheassociativemeaningofEnglishandChineseinanimalidioms.Thisessayalsodiscussedtheinfluenceofdifferentassociativemeaningofanimalidiomsincross-culturecommunicationaswellasthemethodstosolvethisproblem.AnimalidiomsofbothEnglishandChinesecanbecomparedinthefollowingthreeaspects:(1)Samereferent，samemetaphoricalmeaning；(2)Samereferent，differentmetaphoricalmeaning；(3)Differentreferent，samemetaphoricalmeaning．Idiomsareloadedwithrichculturalinformationofanation．TocollectandstudythemwilldomuchgoodtotheEnglishlearnersinChina．Keywordsanimalidioms;culturaldifferences;metaphoricalmeaning;cross-culturecommunicationII摘要英汉互译时不能只是将单词按字面意思逐字逐句的翻译成另一种语言，而是要考虑词汇在特定背景下的涵义。因为不同语言的使用者经历了不同的历史发展，有着不同的生活经历，所以他们也赋予词汇不同的涵义。文化背景在很大程度上影响着词汇的涵义，因此要做好英汉互译我们就要了解文化对语言的影响。要研究这种影响，动物谚语正好是语言中典型的部分。文章以文化维度差异为出发点，通过实例分析，对比研究英汉动物谚语联想意义的特点。从文化与语言的关系，动物谚语在词汇中的比重，英汉习语中动物形象的异同等角度，讨论英汉动物习语文化内涵方面的特点。以及动物谚语含义差别对跨文化沟通的影响和解决方案。英汉动物习语可以从三个方面比较：（1）喻体相同，比喻意义相同；（2）喻体不同，比喻意义相；（3）喻体不同，比喻意思相同。谚语中蕴含着关于民族文化的大量信息。所以搜集并对比研究谚语对英语学习者会有很大的帮助。关键词动物谚语；文化差异；比喻意义；跨文化交际ContentsAbstract............................................................................................................................................I摘要................................................................................................................................................II1.Abriefintroductiontotheidiom.................................................................................................11.1．TheDefinitionofIdiom.....................................................................................................11.2．TheRoleofIdiomsinLanguages......................................................................................12.ComparisonofEnglishandChineseAnimalIdioms..................................................................22.1.Definitionofassociativemeaning........................................................................................22.2.ThreeAspectsoftheEnglishandChineseAnimalIdioms..................................................22.2.1.SameReferent,SameMetaphoricalMeaning................................................................22.2.2.SameReferent,DifferentMetaphoricalMeaning..........................................................32.2.3.DifferentReferent,SameMetaphoricalMeaning..........................................................42.3.VacanciesofAssociativeMeaning.......................................................................................53.TheReasonsofDifferencesbetweenEnglishandChineseAnimalIdioms...............................63.1.HistoricalInfluence..............................................................................................................63.2.ReligiousInfluence..............................................................................................................73.3.GeographicalEnvironmentInfluence..................................................................................74.TheInfluencesinCross-cultureCommunicationandtheMethodstoSolveThem...................74.1.TheInfluenceinCross-cultureCommunication..................................................................74.2.Themethodstosolvecultureconflicts.................................................................................8Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9References.....................................................................................................................................10Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................11AcontrastivestudyontheculturaldifferenceofEnglishandChineseinanimalidioms1Animal’sworldhasacloserelationshipwithhumanbeing’sworld.Forinstance,alotofEnglishexpressionsareexpressedbymeansofanimalmetaphorssothattherearealotofanimalidioms.Smithhaspointedthat“amongalltheanimals,horsesanddogsplaythemostimportantroles.”[1]Allethnicgroupshavethesameknowledgeofanimals’outlook,however,becauseofdifferentculturalbackgroundthatwebelongto,differen