Lecture FourteenLecture Fourteen

Culture in Idioms and Translation

习语文化与翻译

Language, culture and translationLanguage, culture and translation

• Language is the major carrier or medium of culture.

• Idioms are the living fossils of culture.

• Translation is an important tool for intercultural exchange, dealing with both language and culture.

Chracteristics of English idiomsChracteristics of English idioms

1) English idioms can be very short or rather long

e.g.: forty winks, to cut one’s coat according to one’s cloth

2) English idioms take different structures

Three kinds of structures:

a) Irregular structure and clear meaninge.g.: I am good friends with him. Diamond cut diamond. (as) sure as eggs is eggs 确实 / 无疑 The devil take the hindmost. 落后者遭殃。b) Regular structure and unclear meaninge.g.: to have a bee in one’s bonnet (or head) an Indian summerc) irregular structure and unclear meaninge.g.: through thick and thin 不论祸福 / 不避

艰险 / 赴汤蹈火

3) The idioms which cannot be changed at all are called fixed idioms.

e.g.: A stitch in time saves nine. (a≠one, nine≠eight)

The lion’s share (≠the share of lion0

tit for tat (≠tat for tit)

out of question 毫无疑问 (≠out of the question 不可能 )

4 ） An English idiom has a special meaning.

e.g.; to rain cats and dogs, a brown study

5) English idioms are not only used as colloquial expressions; they can also be found in formal situations, in poetry or fiction, or in slang.

e.g.: to go over(any situation), prior to (formal), to butter up(slang, “to flatter’)

6) Some idioms consist of obsolete wordse.g.: kith and kin, learn by rote, many a littl

e makes a mickel.7) English idioms represent a semantic unit,

though they contain a group words.e.g.: to make up one’s mind = to decide, to

bring up = to educate

8) English idioms are usu. made of commonly used word. They are vivid in image, brief in structure and profound in meaning.

e.g.: to fly high = to be ambitious

9) English idioms are often created on the basis of alliteration, rhyme, euphony, and repetition.

e.g.: first and foremost, with might and main,, black and blue[alliteration], wear and tear, dine and wine, rough and tough[rhyme], by and by 不久以后 , again and again, through and through 反复 /完全 / 彻底 [repetition]

Similarities & differences between ChiSimilarities & differences between Chi

nese and English idiomsnese and English idioms

• Some Chinese idioms translated from English or vice versa

武装到牙齿 armed to the teeth 牵着鼻子走 led by the nose 夹着尾巴逃走了 run away with one’s tai

l between one ‘s legs 火中取栗 to pull the chestnuts out of the

fire 强权政治 power politics

镀金时代 golden age

王牌 trump card

蓝图 blue print

顽固派 die-hards

流鳄鱼眼泪 to shed crocodile tears

眼中钉，肉中刺 a thorn in the flesh

谁笑到最后，谁笑得最好 He who laughs last, laughs best

像沙丁鱼罐头一样（挤得紧紧地） like sardines

丢脸 to lose face

SimilaritiesSimilarities

1) Similar in form & meaning

e.g.: to fish in muddy /troubled water 混 /浑水摸鱼

a bolt from the blue 晴天霹雳 to strike while the iron is hot 趁热打

铁 to ride the tiger 骑虎难下 to go with the tide /stream 随波逐流

DifferencesDifferences

1) Similar in meaning but partially different in form

e.g.: to burn one’s boat 破釜沉舟 to drink like a fish 牛饮 as timid as a rabbit 胆小如鼠 in the same boat 同舟共济 to laugh off one’s head 笑掉大牙

2) Similar in meaning but totally different in form

e.g.: when one’s ship comes home/in 当发迹的时候，衣锦还乡

to talk of the devil ,and he will appear .说曹操，曹操到

to cast pearls before swine 对牛弹琴，明珠暗投

rats desert a sinking ship 树倒猢狲散 six of one and half a dozen of the other

半斤八两 any Tom,Dick or Harry 张三，李四，

王五

3) Different in both form and meaning

e.g.: apple of one’s eye 掌上明珠 to kill two birds with one stone 一箭

双雕4)similar in form , but different in

meaning e.g.: to have a bone in one throat 骨鲠在

喉 an excuse for keeping silence (the real

meaning of the English idiom)

Translation methodsTranslation methods

• Literal translation Literal translation 直译直译A rolling stone gathers no moss. 滚石不生苔to laugh off one’s head 笑掉脑袋to look for a needle in a haystack 大海捞针；草堆

觅针目不识丁 One doesn’t know ABC./One does not re

cognize “ 丁” (one of the simplest Chinese chara

cters).

• Literal translation +annotationLiteral translation +annotation 直译直译++ 加注加注

e.g. : as poor as Job 穷得像约伯①注 : Job ① 约伯，《圣经》中的人物以善

忍著称Achilles’ heel 阿基里斯的脚肿

姜太公钓鱼，愿者上钩 Jiang Taigong fishes to capture those wh

o want to be caught [fish like Jiang Taigong, who cast a hookless and baitless line for the fish that wants to be caught—ask for willing victim or collaborator]

Note: Chang Shang, also named jiang Taigong, of the 11th century B.C., was said to fish by the Weishi River (present Sgensi), holding a line with no hook or bait, three feet above the water and saying at the same time, “Whoever is ordained, come and take the bait.”

东施笑颦 Dong Shi, knitting her eyebrows in imitat

ion of Xi Shi, the famous beauty

愚公移山 The Foolish Old Man removed the mount

ains

Literal translation +explanationLiteral translation +explanation

e.g.: to carry coals to Newcastle 把煤运到纽卡斯尔——多此一举

a skeleton in the cupboard 橱柜里的骷髅—见不得人的丑事（家丑，隐情）

Pandora’s box 潘多拉的盒子 ----- 祸患之源

To embrace Buddha’s feet in one’s hour of need ----to seek help at the last moment 临时抱佛脚。

月下老人 the Old Man of the Moon ----the god who unites persons in marriage

• AmplificationAmplification

e.g.: Robin Hood 好汉罗宾 flesh and blood 血肉之躯 笔剑唇枪 the pen is as sharp as the swor

d and the tongue as the spear.

• ImitationImitation

e.g.: 说曹操，曹操到 Talk of Caocao ,and he is sure to appear.

树倒猢狲散 Rats desert a sinking ship .

鱼米之乡 land of fish and rice

落水狗 wet as a drowned dog

• Semantic/free translationSemantic/free translation

e.g.: 喜糖 wedding sugar

花烛 wedding candle

泰山 a man’s father –in –law

Combination of literal translation + frCombination of literal translation + free translationee translation

瞎子点灯 -----白费蜡 as useless as a blind man lighting a candle

事后诸葛亮 to be wise after the event

不到黄河不死心 until all is over ambition never dies.

…….“我说两三百两银子，你说二三千两！戴着斗笠亲嘴，差着一顶帽子。”

When I say two or three hundred taels, you say twenty or thirty !It’s like kissing in straw helmets ---the lips are far apart.!

( 《儒林外史》 ----The Scholar)

Omission Omission 省略法省略法

“这断子绝孙的阿 Q ！”远远听得小尼姑带哭的声音。

“Ah Q, may you die sonless!” sounded the little nun’s voice tearfully in the distance.

– Finding the original (Back translatioFinding the original (Back translation)n)

e.g.: sour grapes 酸葡萄 shuttle diplomacy 穿梭外交 hot line 热线 cold war 冷战 iron curtain 铁幕

– Replacement /substitutionReplacement /substitution

e.g.: 事实胜于雄辩Facts speak louder than words.贪多嚼不烂 to bite off more than one can

chew皇天不负有心人 God helps those who help

themselves.多吃饭少开口 to save your breath to cool

your porridge 谋事在人，成事在天 Man proposes ,God d

ispose Heaven .

煽风点火 to fan the flames

火上加油 to add fluel to the flames

物以类聚，人以群分birds of a feather flock together

不入虎穴，焉得虎子 Nothing venture ,nothing will/

又要马儿跑得好，又要马儿不吃草 You can’t eat your cake and have it

找草惊蛇 to wake a sleeping dog

竭泽而渔 to kill the goose that lays the golden egg

胸有成竹 to have a card up one’s sleeves

水底捞月 to fish in the air

脱胎换骨 to turn over a new belief

无风不起浪 There’s no smoke without fire

眼中钉，肉中针 a thorn in the flesh

一个巴掌拍不响 It takes two to make a quarrel

打开天窗说亮话 to put all cards on the table

新官上任三把火 new brooms sweep clean

瓮中之鳖 like a rat in a hole

AssigmentAssigment

• Do some translation exercises inside and outside the textbook (p. 123).