A Contrastive Study Of English And Chinese Idioms From The Cultural Aspects And The Approach Of Translation

Idioms, as the crystallization of human wisdom, are regarded as the essence of national language. English and Chinese are abundant in idioms, which mirror the well-established, broad and profound culture of the East and the West. Nowadays, with the prospering of international communication, the activity of idiom translation has become more and more frequent and important. The cultural information transferred by idioms is so different that it may cause difficulties in idiom translation. If the translator cannot deal with the different cultural elements appropriately, the misunderstanding and loss of culture in translation is inevitable.As a new science evolving from semiotics, sociosemiotics studies the relationship among sign systems and society and human. It is a discipline which deals with all the systems of signs and codes used by human societies, and especially with language as the most comprehensive and complex of all the systems of signs which humans employ. It goes out of the range of pure linguistic level, and casts attention to other factors such as culture, context and register which influence translation.The sociosemiotic approach to translation advocated by Nida, the famous translation theorist, emphasizes that translation is translating meaning; and at the same time, it also emphasizes that language, as a unique system of signs with a social function, should be interpreted in the sociocultural context. Therefore, analyzing and exploring English and Chinese idiom translation from the perspective of sociosemiotic approach can combine translation with the social culture tightly. This approach can provide a profound enlightenment for understanding different cultures in translation and can also help to reproduce the main meanings and functions in idiom translation maximally.The present thesis intends to carry out a contrastive study on cultural aspects in English and Chinese idioms and then, the author adopts sociosemiotic approach put forward by Nida as a foundation, regards the semiotic approach to meaning as a core and considers language as social semiotic presented by Halliday as a basis to guide English and Chinese idiom translation in the hope of establishing a framework which might provide some theoretical guidance for the activity of idiom translation.This thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter One introduces the scholars' researches so far and offers a general survey of the thesis.Chapter Two makes a contrastive study between English and Chinese idioms, highlighting the cultural aspects. After exploring the close relationship between language and culture, the author offers the definitions of English idioms and Chinese idioms, gives a brief description of the common features and similar cultures in them. Then, the author illustrates the cultural differences between English and Chinese idioms. At the same time, the author points out that due to the differences between English and Chinese language and culture, the cultural messages conveyed in idioms are the difficult points in translation.Chapter Three establishes the theoretical background for idiom translation. The development of sociosemiotic approach and the criterion of sociosemiotic approach to translation are discussed and the advantages of sociosemiotic approach to idiom translation are also explored.Chapter Four deals with the translation practice of English and Chinese idioms under the guidance of sociosemiotic approach. After analyzing the difficulties in idiom translation, the author explores several translation strategies and points out that what strategy the translator employs depends on the context in which the idioms occur.Chapter Five is the conclusion of this thesis. It is pointed out that a contrastive study on cultural background of English and Chinese idioms is the prerequisite for proper translation. Sociosemiotic approach provides a practical guidance and new perspective for idiom translation. At last, the author discusses the limitations of the present study and presents suggestions for future research.