CuluralDifferencesandTranslaion--ASudyBasedon_开题报告

Culture is a combination of the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people. Those characteristics are defined by everything from language, traditions and customs to religion, music and art. (Alec, 1978, P. 96). As we all known, vocabulary plays an important role in language. It can directly reflect the cultural developments. In a sense, vocabulary is the epitome of the culture, so is the color words.

The research of translating Chinese and English color words is a significant work in cultural differences studies. Regarding this point, a number of researchers have done a lot of work and have made deep research on the cultural differences and the translation of color words, and generally form their own theories which have been accepted by the translation field. These research includes the research on the basic color words, color concepts and the differences between Chinese and English color words, the translation and pragmatic meaning of color words, the social and cultural connotation of color words, etc. These books or articles have given very detailed explanation on the color words. It is also mentioned in many books about translation. However, from all these books, a majority of scholars emphasize on the way, principle and strategy of translating them.

Color, as a sensory perception, which has obvious similarities in human cognition. The basic meaning of color words in each language should be the same, however, because of eastern and western geographical environment, historical tradition, religious beliefs, values, cultural customs, logical thinking and aesthetic interest. People always describe the color of things according to their own thinking way and measure of value, and endow vocabulary with the cultural connotation of the local nation and with a remarkable cultural mark. People in different countries gave different meanings with different colors, so they have different perceptions and preferences for different colors.

Above all, we learnt that there are various kinds of color words in our life and there are different connotations for different color words. Due to the culture varies from place to place, we will need to attach importance to the influence of culture on translation of color words. As we all known, color plays an integral role in our lives -- it influences how we think, how we describe, how we feel, and how we make choices. There are a large number of color words in both Chinese and English culture, we should not only understand their basic meanings, but also pay more attention to understanding their symbolic implications or connotations. The connotations of color words have different embodiments and characteristics in different cultures. Therefore, it’s imperative for us to consider and understand how culture influences people’s perceptions of color. 

Through several weeks’ efforts in searching, collecting and reading an abundance of scholars and professors’ literature concerning the translation of color words, the author made a detail analysis of the literature and create the following essay. In this thesis, the author will compare and analyze the different understandings of symbolic meanings of color words in both Chinese and English cultures. Meanwhile, the author will also summons up a few of translation methods of color words.

Outline

Introduction

1、Relationship between cultural differences and color words in Chinese and English

1.1 Cultural differences 

1.2 Influences of traditional customs in color words

1.3 Historical factors

1.4 Religious influences

2、Specific contrasts of several color words in Chinese and English

2.1 Red in Chinese and English

2.2 Black in Chinese and English

2.3 White in Chinese and English

2.4 Blue and Green in Chinese and English

3、Translation methods of Chinese and English color words

3.1 Literal Translation

3.2 Free Translation

3.3 Conversion Translation

3.4 Cultural Equivalence Translation

4、Color words in cross-cultural communication

5、Conclusion

References

[1] Berlin. B.and Kay.D. Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1969.

[2] Eugene A. Nida: Language, Culture, and Translating, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1993.

[3] Philip H. The Color of Words: An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Ethnic Bias in the United States [M]. Intercultural Press, 1997.

[4] Basil. Hatim. Communication Across Cultures: Translation Theory and Contrastive Text Linguistics. University of Exeter Press，1996.

[5] Wierzbicka, Anna. Understanding Cultures Through Their Key Words [M]. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997: 65-72.

[6]陈永烨.“英汉颜色词所表现的中西文化差异” [J].《辽宁工程技术大学学报》, 2005.

[7]包惠南.文化语境与语言翻译.上海：中国对外翻译出版公司, 2003.

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[9] 陈永烨.英汉颜色词所表现的中西文化差异.辽宁工程技术大学学报,2005,(7).

[10]蒋栋元.“论颜色及颜色词的文化差异” [J].《四川外语学院学报》,2002,(3)

[11]唐振华.“英汉颜色词的翻译” [J].《中国科技翻译》,1997,(2).

[12]陈定刚.《多维视角下英语翻译探索》[M]. 上海：中国纺织出版社, 2018.

[13]胡文仲.跨文化交际学概论.北京: 外语教学与研究出版社, 1999.