Chinese Translation Of English Idioms In The Cultural Perspective

Idioms, as crystallization of a culture, condense the culture of a nation and reflect its geography, history, religion, ideology, customs and practice in life and work. The thesis studies the Chinese translation of English idioms, especially ideational ones, in the cultural perspective. It probes into their translation principles and strategies. It also points out some problems worthy of one's attention in the process of translation.Based on the theory of metaphor by Lakoff and Johnson, it elaborates the metaphoricity of idioms and points out that conceptual metaphors underlying idioms are culture-bound. And then it draws the conclusion that being metaphorical and culture-bound, idioms correlate with the culture where they are rooted. Then it puts forth the principles on idiom translation: first, idiom translation should take culture as translation unit and highlight the cultural function of the idiom; second, it should reproduce the idiom's cultural function and promote intercultural communication. After that, it discusses four fundamental strategies on Chinese translation of English idioms. Finally, it emphasizes that idiom translation is more a process that happens between two different cultures than one that happens between two languages. As a translator, he must have cultural awareness as well as linguistic awareness. It is a translator's responsibility to promote inter-culture communication by translation practice, which is also the ultimate purpose of translation.