Cultural differences of the color red between English and Chinese

By Fan Shen

In partial fulfillment of the requirement

For the B. A. degree

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

May 2016

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I want to give my sincere appreciation and gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Gu Qiuping who has given me untiring and patient guidance and support ever since I became a student of his business translation course. Owing to his constructive suggestions, I managed to overcome all the obstacles in writing this paper.

Finally, I am particularly thankful to my beloved parents who have been the powerful source of encouragement to enable me to do better.

Contents

Abstract 1

1. Introduction 3

2. The same symbolic meaning of "red" in Chinese and English culture 3

2.1The reason of the same symbolic meaning of "red" 3

2.2 "Red" symbolizes revolution 4

2.3 "Red" symbolizes joy and happiness, prosperity and development 5

2.4"Red" is a symbol of danger and warning 5

3. The symbolic meaning of "red" is unequal in Chinese and English culture 6

3.1Language has class nature 6

3.2"Red" popularity are different in China and western countries. 6

3.3 The different of red’s symbolic meanings 7

4.The translation method of "red" 8

4.1 literal - translating method 9

4.2 Meaning - translation method 10

4.2.1 Translation by cultural connotation and meaning of color words. 10

4.2.2 Translation by the emotional color 11

4.3 Flexible translation method 11

5. Conclusion 12

References： 13

Cultural differences of the color red between English and Chinese

Fan Shen

Department of English

School of Language and Culture

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

Abstract：Look around the world, we were surprised to find that there are so many human languages in human history. Color words also play an important role in these languages. Color words can be seen everywhere in human language. These various vocabulary makes human language much richer. A large number of color words not only expand the connotation of language, it also promotes the prosperity and progress of the culture. Different culture can be reflected by the history, customs, ethnic characteristics and national character of the country. With the prosperity of social economy, Language has been greatly developed. In some cases, the meaning of red in Chinese and English can be same. In addition, the color words in Chinese and English also have different symbolic meanings, we need to understand the difference of translation in different culture, and color words in cross culture play an important role. In this paper, we can improve people`s understanding of color word translation, which can reduce misunderstanding and doubt in intercultural communication and Improve our English and Chinese Translation.

Key words: color words, cultural differences, development，red

摘要：放眼世界，我们惊讶的发现，人类的语言如此众多，而在这些语言中，颜色词是其中的重要一部分，这些多样的词汇使得人类的语言五彩缤纷。颜色词不仅拓展了语言的内涵，而且还对每个国家的文化起到促进作用。文化的不同表现可以通过反映国家的历史、习俗、民族特色和民族性格等表现出来。随着社会经济的繁荣，人与人之间的交流日益密切，语言也获得了长足的进步。在特定的条件下，红色在中英文中的含义可能是相等的。此外，在中英文中，颜色词也具有不同的意义，在翻译中我们要理解不同文化对翻译的影响，以及颜色词在跨文化中重要作用。从本文中，我们可以加深对颜色词的认识，从而减少跨文化交际中的误解与疑惑，从而提高自己的中英文翻译水平。

关键词：颜色词，不同的文化，发展，红色

1. Introduction

Color words are closely related to human life, without color worlds, human life will become monotonous. We can't imagine that our life is short of color words. In order to distinguish different colors, the color words have appeared in succession. Color words not only have their natural attributes, but also contains rich cultural connotation and symbolic significance. Although the color word is only a small part of the language, but the use of color words, especially symbolic significance of the color word can greatly enhance the rhetorical effect of the article. The article is vividly to use these color word in language. In English and Chinese culture, the perception ability of the color word "red" and the symbolic meaning of the color word "red" have some common sense, and sometimes it can be partial equivalence. For any color in the semantic and cultural equivalence between the two languages is extremely rare. Also because even the same color can also stimulate the different feelings of the people of different races, so in Chinese and English the color words of red can reflect different language and culture connotation, and has different symbolic significance.

What is the symbolic meaning of the color words? I think to understand this definition; we must first understand characteristics of the color word. Generally speaking, the color words have two distinct characteristics. That is the color of the association and the color of the emotion. In the long life practice, human's life experience and knowledge gradually increase. When people look at the color, they often think of things which is related with color in the past. This phenomenon is called the association of color. For example, when people see the red color, they might think of the sun, fire, blood, red or red images also may produce a warm, excited or pleasant of feeling. Once the color association is fixed to a social relationship, it forms the symbolic meaning of the color. It is generally believed that the symbolic meaning of color words is produced by the color association of objective things. It is often said that people see a certain color will produce a certain association.

2. The same symbolic meaning of "red" in Chinese and English culture

2.1The reason of the same symbolic meaning of "red"

Generally speaking, the color word color has two distinct characteristics: the color of the association and the color of the emotion. When our eyes see a kind of color, it often occurs a kind of association. Introduce us to the common phenomenon of changes in temperature. Therefore, in the psychological we will produce the feeling of cold and warm. Red is a warm, it can stimulate people's nerves, make a person excited, and it can make people feel happy. At the sight of the red, we will be happy and excited. Red is a powerful color, it is the color of blood, red can make muscle function and blood circulation to strengthen. Red is a warm, impulsive color, the banner of revolution usually uses red to arouse people's revolutionary spirit and enthusiasm. Red is a strong and bright color, the color of fire, easy to stimulate people's heart strong feelings. A psychologist research and analysis, said people in the face of red, easily excited. So, red can stimulate a person's joy and positive emotions and also hidden violence. When people are excited and angry, the eyes of these people tend to be bloodshot.

2.2 "Red" symbolizes revolution

Red is a symbol of fire and blood. It is easy to make people think of blood. Therefore, red is also closely related to politics. In our country, we can find a large number of "red" color words which are relate to the political vocabulary. For example, in Han Dynasty, the peasant uprising army is called the “赤眉军”. In modern times, the red army, red detachment, red political power, the red guards are household revolution vocabulary. Now it is not difficult to find that there are still a lot of "red" related to political meaning in our country. For example, Chinese flag is red, Chinese national emblem is red. In short, in our country "red" representing the revolutionary struggle of the Chinese people's indomitable spirit and a strong national spirit.

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