A Comparative Study Of Cultural Meaning Between English And Chinese Animal Words

Language is the carrier of culture. Its rich cultural connotation transmits endless cultural information. Language is the crystallization of a national culture. It can comprehensively reflect a nation's living styles, production ways, thinking, customs, religious beliefs, the institution of marriage, as well as unique national spirit. In the various branches of language system, the meanings of vocabulary seem fragmented, weak systemic and random, but have the closest social and cultural relations. Semantic analysis is more initiative than phonetic and grammatical analysis. Therefore, during the analysis of the relationship between meaning and culture, it is more likely to have the phenomenon of random explaination and translation. In different languages, there are many stories and idioms associated with the animal words.Like the other words, animal words not only reflect the different socio-cultures, but also reflect the common points between different ethnic communities. Animals in all languages not only have great richness, but with the influence of various factors they also have more surface and deep cultural connotations. By comparing the history and current situations of Chinese and English animal words, we have found that animal vocabulary reflects different cultures and countries, and is closely related to their language and cultural values. In a sense, it is the carrier and image of culture, acting as the delivery, dissemination tool in the cultural development. The various animal vocabulary can mirror the projectors reflected in social psychology, social life, customs and other aspects. Without understanding the connotation of animal words, we will not be able to explain the relevance between animal words and cultural values and can not explain the social significance in cross-cultural communication. Through the research to animal vocabulary and their cultural values, we can not only avoid the pragmatic mistakes, but also get major values for foreign language teaching in China, the leading and comparing to different cultures and promoting Chinese cultures.