Translation Of English Chinese Idioms From Cultural Perspectives

Language is a mirror, expressing culture, reflecting culture and all the way creating culture. Idiom is the treasure of language, glittering with luster of wisdom; idiom is the deposit of culture, loaded with massive history. Recently, the circle has been arguing incessantly about the criteria of translation, whether naturalization or dissimilation, whether employing literal translation or liberal translation, these are unquestionably sensible work, however, they are actually working their way to the same goal: by racking their brains to elaborately polish their drafts, so the original spirit should be faithfully expounded and clearly conveyed. Seeking the common sense and preserving the differences, two cultures can be friendly woven and integrated while respectively preserved and tasted.Idioms can make languages vivid and lovely. And they are beautiful gems of a language as well as kernels of national culture. Yet, nonnative speakers of one language can reach a point in their knowledge of the language where they feel comfortable with standard literary speech but are liable to find themselves in hot water when confronted with idiomatic expressions. There are often rather hard to understand from the meaning of individual words since the true meaning of the idiom generally cannot be determined by the knowledge of its component parts. Chinese and English both abound with idioms, whose succinct forms and profound meanings make themselves condensed and expressive. Many idioms bear proper figures and have strong cultural flavors. If they are translated appropriately, the original spirit be faithfully conveyed, clearly understood and universally accepted by the TL readers. Therefore, it is a significant problem to deal with "loyalty" in idiom translation. Due to potential disparity in cultural background and in psychological association, the literal meaning of idioms has a far cry from its actual meaning. Many cultural factors are implicitly, not explicitly, loaded in idioms. Cultural factors embedded in idioms are hard nuts to crack in idiom translation.The present essay will focus on the close relationship between culture and idioms, the definition and range of idioms, the translation methods, from which the issue of idiom translation will be explored from a cultural perspective.The whole thesis consists of four chapters:Chapter one defines the term of idiom, either in English and Chinese, and classifies the English idiom into set phases, colloquialism and proverbs; the Chinese idiom into set phrases, common sayings, proverbs and two-part allegorical sayings.Chapter two expounds the cultural differences in English and Chinese idioms. The differences may be attributed to the following elements: differences rooted in geographical conditions, differences rooted in social customs, differences rooted in religious beliefs, differences rooted in historical and literary allusions.Chapter three mainly elaborate the relationship between idiom translation and culture, thus express the importance of culture in idiom translation. Strongly-cultural flavor in idiom translation constitute special difficulties in translation, therefore the purpose of the thesis has been reaffirmed in this chapter.Chapter four provides six strategic translation methods for idiom translation.