Culture and Translation
文化与翻译
1. What is culture?
Culture is whatever people do monkeys don’t.
One of the oldest and most quoted definitions of culture was formulated by the English anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor in 1871:
“Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”
文化的经典定义，是 1871 年由英国人类学家泰勒(Edward Tylor)在《原始文 化》一书中提出的，文化是包括知识、信仰、艺术、道德、法律、习俗以及包括 作为社会成员的个人获得的其他任何能力、习惯在内的一种综合体。
Componets of Culture:

Ideas
Customs
Values
Attitudes
Goals
...
Practices
Traditions
Beliefs
Morals
Laws
...

现代文化人类学认为文化具有如下的四个本质特征 :
(1)文化是经由社会习得的，而非遗传获得的;
(2)文化是一个社团所共有的，而非某一个人所 独有的;
(3)文化具有象征性，语言是文化中最重要的象征系统;
(4)文化是一个统一的整体。
文化中的每一方面都和其他方面相互关联。
2. Language and Culture
A language does reflect in certain aspects reacttomotion翻译the culture of a society, but primarily in its optional features, i.e. in certain of its hierarchies of vocabulary and in the priorities given to various discourse patterns. (Nida, Language, Culture and Translating p.304)
一种语言在某些方面的确反映了一个社会的文化，但主要表现在语言的可选 择性特征方面， 即某些词汇等级体系的选择和给予不同语篇类型使用时的优先地 位。
语言是文化的载体，语言文化相互依存。原因是：
Every language belongs to a certain culture.
1) It is difficult to separate language and cultural identity.

2) How different peoples express what they see is determined by how they perceive and interpret and react to reality.
3) The main premise of translation is to grasp the sense of a cultural message, taking into c
onsideration its uniqueness and its relation to the environment.
翻译从形式上是翻译语言，从实质上是交流文化。
In China, when people meet…
甲：“吃了吗？ ”
乙：“吃啦！ ”
How to translate“吃了吗”?
如果直译为：  “Have you had your meal?”
西方人的反应可能是： “Do you mean to invite me to dinner?”
In western countries…
A:“Lovely weather, isn’t it?”
B:“Yes, isn’t it?”
Shakespeare: King John
“To gild refined gold, to paint the lily…is wasteful and ridiculous excess. ”
people in the West: nature itself is beauty.
gild: to do sth. artificial  → not beautiful
“add unnecessary decoration or exaggeration”
3.  东西文化差异
许渊冲先生总结为:
暴与和
性与情
刚与柔
4. Culture and translation
翻译之所以不像许多人想象的那么容易，乃是因为语言反映文化，并受着文 化的制约。 在不同的文化里， 相同的词语可以有不同的文化涵义， 而不同的词语 也可以有相同的含义。
文化差异、词语空缺是翻译中非常棘手的问题。
《红楼梦》书名的英译：
David Hawkes：The Story of the Stone
Yangs (杨宪益夫妇) : A Dream of the Red Mansions
美国人 David Hawkes 对《红楼梦》中“红”字的翻译：

版权声明：本站内容均来自互联网，仅供演示用，请勿用于商业和其他非法用途。如果侵犯了您的权益请与我们联系QQ:729038198，我们将在24小时内删除。