Differences between Chinese and English Culture an

DifferencesbetweenChineseandEnglishCultureandtheRelevantTranslationStrategiesbyJaneyAThesisPresentedtoForeignLanguageDepartmentXi’antechnologyUniversityinPartialFulfillmentoftheRequirementsfortheBachelorofArtsDegreeJune15,2010Class:2007-0701Supervisor:Alice摘要随着全球经济发展和文化交流，跨文化交流研究成为一种趋势。越来越多的学者认为翻译是一种跨文化活动。翻译在促进不同文化交流和相互理解中起着十分重要的作用。然而，不同民族有不同文化。英汉两种语言在宗教、观念、历史背景、思维方式、地理条件和自然环境等方面存在巨大差异，这些差异给翻译带来很大困难。即使译者能够很好的理解原文意思，但译文中信息流失还是不可避免的。因此，如何解决翻译中的文化差异问题成为翻译研究的关键。在翻译界，归化和异化两种策略得到关注。归化以目的语文化为归宿，而异化以源语文化为归宿。本论文首先介绍语言、文化和翻译之间的辩证关系。然后分析造成英汉文化差异的主要因素：宗教信仰、思维方式、民情风俗、地理和历史等等。最后，论述两种主要翻译策略：归化和异化，并提出一些翻译方法以达到跨文化交流的目的。关键词：文化差异翻译策略归化异化AbstractInrecentyears,withthedevelopmentofeconomyandculturalexchangeintheworld,thereisatrendtowardscross-culturalstudies.Moreandmorescholarsconsidertranslationascross-culturalactivity.Translationhasplayedaveryimportantroleinpromotingthecommunicationandmutualunderstandingbetweendifferentcultures.However，differentnationshavedifferentcultures.AsfarasChineseandEnglishisconcerned,Therearegreatdifferencesintermsofreligion,value,historicalbackground,thinkingpatterns,geographicalandnaturalenvironment,etc.Thesedifferenceshaveresultedingreatdifficultyfortranslation.Evenifthetranslatorunderstandsthesourcetextverywell,meaninglostisinevitable.Therefore,howtodealwithculturaldifferencesintranslationbecomesanimportantissueoftranslationresearch.Domesticationandforeignizationaretwotranslationstrategieswhichhavearousedgreatconcernintranslationfield.Domesticationistargetculture-oriented,whileforeignizationissourceculture-oriented.Thisthesisbeginswiththedialecticalrelationshipsbetweenlanguage,cultureandtranslation.Thenthisthesisgoestoanalyzeculturaldifferencesintheaspectsofdifferentreligiousbeliefs,differentthinkingpattern,differentcustomsandhabits,anddifferentgeographyandhistory.Finally,thisthesisdiscussestwomaintranslationstrategiesandoutforwardsomeapproachestotranslationsoastoachievethepurposeofcross-culturecommunication.KeyWords:CulturalDifferencesTranslationStrategiesDomesticationForeignizationTableofContentsI.Introduction…………………………………………………………………………1II.Language,CultureandTranslation……………………………………………………22.1DefinitionofLanguage……………………………………………………………22.2DefinitionofCulture………………………………………………………………22.3LanguageandCulture……………………………………………………………32.4DefinitionofTranslation……………………………………………………………42.5CultureandTranslation……………………………………………………………5III.CulturalSimilaritiesandDifferencesinTranslation………………………………………63.1CulturalSimilarities………………………………………………………………63.2CulturalDifferences……………………………………………………………73.2.1DifferentHistoryandGeography………………………………………………73.2.2DifferentReligiousBeliefs……………………………………………………83.2.3DifferentCustomsandHabits…………………………………………………83.2.4.Differentwaysofthinking……………………………………………………8IV.TranslationStrategiesandApproachestoTranslation…………………………………94.1.TranslationStrategies:DomesticationandForeignization………………………………94.1.1Domestication……………………………………………………………104.1.2Foreignization………………………………………………………………104.2ApproachestoTranslation…………………………………………………………114.2.1LiteralTranslation……………………………………………………114.2..2LiteralTranslationandNotes……………………………………………114..2..3FreeTranslation……………………………………………………………124.2.4TranslationbyOmission………………………………………………………124.2.5Transliteration…………………………………………………………13V.Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………13I.IntroductionWiththedevelopmentofscienceandtechnologyaswellastheglobalizationoftheworldeconomy,culturalexchangesbetweennationshaveenteredanewstage.Thereisanincreasingdemandformutualunderstandingamongpeopleallovertheworld.Asanimportantmediumforculturalexchangebetweenpeopleusingdifferentlanguages,translationhasbecomemoreimportantthanever.Nowadays,translationisregardedasacross-culturecommunicationactivity,whichconcernsnotonlythetransferbetweenlanguages,butalsothetransferbetweenthecultures.Asaprimarytoolforhumancommunication,languagesurelyplaysavitalroleintheculturalcommunication.Atthesametime,itisalsoinfluencedandshapedbyculture.Languageisthecarrierofculture,andtranslationisaculturalinformationexchangingprocessinwhichtheconnotationofonelanguageisexpressedintheotherone,namely,translationisnotonlytheprocessoflanguageexchangingbutalsotheprocessofcultureexchanging.Whiletoagreatextent,thetransformationofculturalinformationissometimesrestrictedbysomeculturalfactors.Therefore,inordertopreservetheoriginalflavornaturallyandproperlyduringtheprocessoftranslation,onemustthinkhighlyofculturalfactors'influenceontranslationactivities.Howtodealwiththeseculturaldifferencesisalwaysthetopicforresearchintranslationstudy.Inregardtothistopic,therearemanyhotdebatesamongthescholars.Inthefieldoftranslation,thetwomajorapproachesaredomesticationandforeignization,whichhavebeenthefocusofthedebatesincetheirexistence.Domesticatingtranslationandforeignizingtranslationaretwodifferenttranslationstrategies.Theformerisatargetlanguageculture-orientedtranslationstrategyandaimstodomesticateculturalfeaturesinthesourcetext,sothatthetranslatedtextcouldbemorenaturalandreadlikeaworkwrittenintargetlanguagebytheoriginalwriter.The