英汉谚语的不对等现象及其翻译策略

A Study on Non-equivalence of Chinese and English Proverbs and Their Translation Strategies

By Jiang Jing

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

June 2017

Acknowledgements

First of all, I do fully appreciate my mentor Mr. Liu Jiehai for his loving care and guidance. His insistence on scientific rigor and rigorous scholarship, deeply infect and inspire me. From the beginning to the final paper, Mr. Liu always gives me meticulous guidance and unremitting support.

I would also show my great gratitude to other teachers and professors who gave me useful suggestions at mid sampling of paper and all my respected teachers who spread knowledge and shared their spiritual wealth at the same time. Here give my special thanks to my roommates who always give me help and support. Finally, I am indebted to parents who are always my strong backing, giving me power and warm.

Thank all of you! It is your selfless help and unconditional support, I can finish this paper and have cheerful university days before graduation.

Contents

1. Introduction 2

1.1 The characteristics of proverb 2

1.2 Definition of equivalence and non-equivalence 2

2. Non-equivalences of Chinese and English Proverbs 3

2.1 Non-equivalences of grammar 3

2.1.1 Non-equivalence of part of speech 3

2.1.2 Non-equivalence of word order 4

2.1.3 Non-equivalence of voice 5

2.2 Non-equivalences of word meaning 5

2.2.1 Non-equivalence of connotation 6

2.2.2 Non-equivalence of cultural meaning 6

3. Reasons of Non-equivalences of Chinese and English Proverbs 7

3.1 Different historical cultures 7

3.2 Different regional cultures 8

3.3 Different ways of thinking 8

3.3.1 Different human nature orientations 9

3.3.2 Different value orientations 9

3.3.3 Different concepts of time 10

4. Translation Rationale and Strategies 11

4.1 Rationale for translation strategies 11

4.2 Translation strategies 12

4.2.1 Borrowing translation 12

4.2.2 Literal translation 12

4.2.3 Liberal translation 13

4.2.4 Literal translation with notes 14

5. Conclusion 14

References 16

A Study on Non-equivalence of Chinese and English Proverbs and their Translation Strategies

Jiang Jing

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

Abstract: Proverbs are the barrier of culture and Chinese and English proverbs reflect two different cultures. This paper analyses the non-equivalence of English and Chinese proverbs and expounds the definition of non-equivalence, focusing on the specific factors of non-equivalence in the translation of English and Chinese proverbs and the different reasons for non-equivalence. According to Nida’s functional equivalence theory, this paper gives translation strategies for translating the English and Chinese proverbs to avoid the appearance of unreasonable errors for proverbs' translation and promote cultural exchange.

Key words: proverb, non-equivalence, translation strategy, contrastive analysis

摘 要：谚语是文化的载体，英汉谚语折射了两种不同的文化。本文对英汉谚语翻译中不对等现象进行了分析。首先阐述不对等的概念及英汉谚语翻译的特点及作用；其次分析英汉谚语翻译中不对等的具体表现；再次分析英汉谚语翻译不对等现象产生的原因；最后针对出现的不对等现象，以“功能对等理论”为指导提出英汉谚语的翻译策略，以此避免出现英汉谚语翻译不合情理的错误，促进沟通的顺畅和跨文化的交际。

关键词：谚语；不对等；翻译策略；英汉对比

1. Introduction

1.1 The characteristics of proverb

Proverb is one of the most ancient and valuable language expressions in all nationalities' culture, becoming gems of national culture. The production of proverbs is a process of summarizing life, society, and experience in the long-term life, and proverbs reflect human beings' knowledge to nature society, human life, social phenomenon, history, geography and express human beings' psychology and ideology in that time. In other words, proverbs embody human beings' thoughts under the specific historical occasion during a particular period. With concise sentence pattern, vivid metaphor, incisive moral and strong national characters, proverbs possess ideological content, artistry, popularity, and enjoyment. Thus proverbs suit both refined and popular tastes, and they can withstand the baptism of history and get a present value through time, and they just like key which enlightens our ideas and opens our souls, making us know the change of social history, ideology, and traditional customs and comprehend precious life philosophy from our ancestor.

However, due to the different politics, economic, culture and geography, proverbs from different countries have their own cultural contents. Thus, for language learners, learning and understanding proverbs contributes to appreciating the different cultural interest and enhancing our own knowledge reserves and enthusiasm for study at the same time. What's more, it does help to reduce cultural differences and spread out our national culture by studying and analyzing western civilization. Transferring English proverbs to Chinese version means to use Chinese culture to replace English culture. During the process of transferring, what we need to do is to solve the differences between two languages and replace source text smoothly in our language from which it makes the language learners study and avoid unreasonable mistakes.

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