浅谈文化对翻译准确性的重要性

Abstract

In the field of translation studies, scholars’ understanding of translation in its traditional sense has shifted along with the popularity and prosperous development of cultural studies in the recent years. Translation is no longer regarded as merely a cross-linguistic activity but essentially cross-cultural communication. Cultural factors begin to gain more and more translators’ attention. Therefore, this thesis will focus on analyzing the influence of cultural differences between Chinese and English on the accuracy of English translation. This thesis firstly discusses embodiment of cultural differences between Chinese and English. After that, it focuses on influences of cultural differences on translation. Last but not least, this thesis also give some example to clearly indicate the culture’ influence.

Key words: culture; translation; accuracy; effects

Contents 

Abstract I

Contents I

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Research Background 1

1.2 What is Culture? 1

1.2.1 The Relation Between Language and Culture 1

1.2.2 The Relation Between Culture and Translation 2

2. The Difference of Culture in Translation 3

2.1 Different Cultural Images and Associated Meaning 3

2.2 Religious Beliefs 4

2.3 Customs 4

2.4 Geographical Environment 4

3. Different Culture Between English-Chinese Translation 5

3.1 The Influence of Chinese and Western Cultural Differences on Translation 5

3.1.1 Lexical Gap 5

3.1.2 Semantic Conflict 5

3.1.3 Multiple Referents 6

3.2 Importance of Emphasizing Cultural Differences in English - Chinese Translation 6

4. Sample 7

4.1Samples of the Obstacles in Understanding of Cultural Differences in English - Chinese Translation 7

4.2 Samples of the Misunderstood by Wrong Translation due to the Culture 7

5. Conclusion 9

References 10