2019年6月ISSN1009-5039OverseasEnglish海外英语zwwh@overseaen.comOverseasEnglish海外英语http://www.overseaen.netTel:+86-551-6569081165690812CulturalBarriersbetweenChineseandEnglishTranslationWANGYu-huan(GuangxiNormalUniversity,Guilin541006,China)
Abstract:Thispaperdefinestranslationasanactofcommunicationinacross-culturalcontext,andthendiscussestheunavoidableculturalbarriersintheprocessoftranslation.Whileculturesarecomposedofalargenumberofelements,thispaperisjustmainlyrelatedtothreeelementsincludinghistoricalculturedifference,geographicaldifference,andsocialculturedifference.Throughan?alyzingtheculturalbarriersfromdifferentrespective,theauthorisaimedtoremindthereadersthatwhendotranslation,theymusthavesomecultureconsciousnessandrelativeculturaltranslationstrategiesinmind.Inthelastpartofthepaperstrategiesoftrans?lation(especiallyforthetranslationbetweenEnglishandChinese)areputforward,bymeansofwhichindividualscouldtackletheculturalbarriersintheprocessoftranslation,makingforagoodcommunicationbetweendifferentcultures.Keywords:culturalbarriers;differences;translation中图分类号：H315.9文献标识码：A文章编号：1009-5039(2019)11-0183-041IntroductionWithsocietiesincreasinglybecomingdiversified,itisdifficulttofindasocietyinwhichallthememberssharethesamevaluesandengageinessentiallythesametypesofactivities.Betweensoci?eties,nothingisofgreaterimportancethanthelanguagethroughwhichtheirbeliefsandculturesareexpressedandtransmittedandbywhichmostinteractionoftheirmemberstakeplace.Butwhenpeoplefromdifferentsocietiescommunicate,theywillfacethereal?itythatmillionsofexamplesoflackofvocabularyequivalencecouldbefoundinthetranslationbetweentwolanguages.However,amongthemainproblemstheyarefacedwithincommunication,theseriousdifficultyiscross-culturalunderstanding.SowhatIwillfocusoninthispaperis“culturalbarriers”intranslatingEnglishandChinese.Culturalbarriersinthispaperreferto“culturalin?volvementandculturalbarriers”whichinterferewiththeprocessoftranslatingandtheselectionofstrategiesoftranslation.Themod?ernfunctionaltranslationtheoryhasdefinedtranslationasanactofcommunication,themainfunctionofwhichistoestablishcommu?nicationbetweenmembersofdifferentculturesinaccordancewithaprimarilyacross-culturaltransferandcross-culturalevent.
AsthefamouslinguistEugeneA.Nidasaid,“Fortrulysuc?cessfultranslating,bio-culturalismisevenmoreimportantthanbi?lingualism,sincewordsonlyhavemeaningsintermsoftheculturesinwhichtheyfunction.”Thisviewontranslationactuallyrequirestranslatorstobebothbilingualandmulti-cultural.Butwhatiscul?ture?TheNewWorldEncyclopediadefinesitasthetotalityofthespiritual,intellectual,andartisticattitudessharedbyagroup,in?cludingitstradition,habits,socialcustoms,morals,laws,andso?cialrelations.Inthispaper,Iwouldliketodiscussthefollowingculturalaspects,whichinfluencesthetranslationbetweenEnglishandChinese.Itishopedthatthepaperwillbeofgreatsignificancetoreaders.
2BarriersinHistoricalCulture2.1AestheticpreferencedifferencesEveryonetriestopursuebeauty.However,peopleindifferentculturehavedifferentperceptionaboutwhatisbeautiful.Asfarasliteraryeffectisconcerned,whatisregardedasbeautifulinonecul?turalpreferenceinterfereswiththereadingandinterpretationpro?cess.Therefore,themeaningthatatranslatorintendedtotransferwillbeconstructeddifferentlyaccordingtothedifferentaestheticpreferences.
ThemodernChinesewrittenlanguageassignsasingledistinc?tivesymboltoeachwordofthevocabulary.Chinesecharactersarederivedfrompicturewriting.Shihuangdi,thefirstemperorofauni?fiedChina,suppressedmanyregionalscriptsandunifiedasimpli?fiedstandardizedwriting.IntheHanDynasty(206BC—AD220)thisdevelopedintotheclerical,runningdraft,andstandardscripts.Be?causeofthis,theChinesepeoplenormallyassociatebeautywithimagesratherthanthelogicoflanguage.Chinesetendstousemorerhetoricdevicesandclingtovividexpressions.Asaresult,asforatranslator,ifhewerenotawareoftheaestheticpreferenceforhim,itisdifficultforhimtoproduceagoodtranslation.What’smore,otheraestheticfeaturesofChinese,especiallyinclassicalChinese,aretherhetoricaldeviceswhicharefrequentlyused.Afamouspo?emwrittenbyafamedpoet,LiQingzhao,inTangdynastycanbeil?lustratedbytheexampleofoneoftherhetoricaldevices.“寻寻觅觅，冷冷清清，凄凄惨惨戚戚。乍暖还寒时候，最难将息。三杯两盏淡酒，怎敌他晚来风急？雁过也，正伤心，却是旧时相识。”，Inthispoem,thewriter,LiQingzhao,usedduplicationtoex?pressherdepressedfeelings.However,iftranslatedintoEnglish,wewillfindithardtoexpressthiskindoffeelingandthebeautyofrhythmwillbelost.Takeonetranslationforexample,“IhaveasenseofsomethingmissingImustseek.Everythingaboutmelooksdismalandbleak.Nothingthatgivesmepleasure,Icanfind.Even
收稿日期：2018-10-30修回日期：2018-12-08作者简介：王玉环（1983—），女，河南郸城人，广西师范大学硕士研究生，英语口译专业。本栏目责任编辑：梁书
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Cultural Barriers between Chinese and English Translation
