Effects Of Culture On Lexical Meaning And Translation

This thesis discusses the effects of culture on lexical meaning and translation. By contrasting and analyzing the divergence of conceptual meanings, connotative meanings and associative meanings of words in different cultures, and problems caused by the divergence in translating these words, this thesis points out the importance of paying attention to this divergence, and also proposes some solutions. Language is an important communication tool and component of culture. The languages of different nations are not only restricted by the nation's social culture, but also reflect the specific culture of their own. If people do not understand the cultural elements of a certain nation, then it is impossible for them to communicate effectively and successfully. Therefore, "Only when the language knowledge and cultural knowledge are combined together can the communication be carried on successfully."(Hu Wenzhong, 1995)Among all the elements of a language, vocabulary is the most basic one. It is the pillar of a language system. English and Chinese belong to different family, and each possesses a great large vocabulary. Besides, languages are the reflection of culture, and the differences of languages reflect culture gap. Therefore, when words are translated from Chinese into English or vice versa, semantic gap may occur in translation. The term semantic gap is used in the sense that there are semantic blanks in one language as compared with another, which is to say that, some meanings or lexical items in Chinese may be essentially excluded in English, and vice versa. Semantic gaps are mainly caused by the differences between Chinese and English living environments, experiences, customs, religious beliefs and different worldview. So in different cultures, the lexical meanings vary which is manifested strikingly in the connotative meanings, associative meanings of words. Consequently, various problems arise in cross-cultural translation. So understanding the cultural background of words and their deep-level connotations in different languages is very helpful for us to grasp and translate the lexical meanings accurately and subtly, avoiding unnecessary culture shock and making communication more effective and more successful.The cultural connotations of words have brought many experts and scholars' attention home and abroad long ago. They have published many books and articles studying and analyzing the connotative divergence of words. In Deng Yanchang's opinion, "The connotation of a word is different from its denotation --- its explicit meaning." (Deng Yanchang, 1989, 20). Connotation is the implicit or additional meaning of a word. The so-called implicit meaning of a word refers to the suggestive meaning of a word apart from its basic meaning. This kind of meaning is the result of association made by native speakers to the word. It is a kind of cultural-additional meaning. According to Leech's classification of words, lexical meaning refers to conceptual meaning, thematic meaning and associative meaning. The associative meaning of a word includes connotative meaning, stylistic meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning and collocative meaning. In fact, the associative meaning Leech mentioned here is the implicit or cultural-additional meaning of a word mentioned above. I think any nation's language contains some words that have profound cultural connotations, reflecting the nation's unique culture, showing the nation's traditional and social cultural features. The meanings reflected by words and apart from its original meanings can be called cultural connotation. Because the cultural connotation of a word is attached to the lexical meaning, and it is what the native speaker associates naturally, then the semantic gap may occur in translating the words with cultural connotations from one language into another. Semantic gap refers to a word in one language that does not have an equivalent in another language; words or terms in both languages that appear to refer to the same object or...