The Equivalence And Cultural Comparison Between English Idioms And Chinese Idioms

Idioms are short, vivid and popular phrases or sentences created by common people during their life experience. They are crystallizations of human wisdom with rich ethnic characteristics. As an irreplaceable form of language expressions, idioms play an important role in spreading a nation's culture and thoughts. Idioms can showcase the genius, wit and spirit of a nation.There are a large amount of idioms both in English and Chinese. Among these idioms, we may find some of them are quite similar in meaning, even in expression forms although they belong to different cultures. This paper tries to classify the relations between English idioms and Chinese idioms into three categories according to their level of equivalence, which include: basically equivalent relation, partly equivalent relation and no equivalent relation. Meanwhile, this paper will also try to explore the cultural roots behind such equivalent phenomenon. By the study of idioms from different cultures, we can further understand Chinese culture and English culture as well as their great influences on languages.This thesis mainly consists of six parts. In introduction, there will be a brief account on the reason of selecting idioms as the cut-in point to unwrap the discussion, and the purpose of writing this thesis. The second part is concerned with the relationship between language and culture, which provides a theoretical basis for the paper. The third part mainly focuses on the discussion on the definition of idioms. The relationships between idioms and culture, idioms and inter-cultural communication are also included. Then comes the main body of this thesis, in which, a detailed discussion about the cultural similarities and differences reflected in equivalent English idioms and Chinese idioms are carried out. Next comes the fifth part, stating the practical significance and function of this study. The last part is a conclusion of the thesis.