英语写作_The Connotation of Color Words in English and Chinese Culture

The Connotation of Color Words in English and Chinese Culture

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu Normal University, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Green Synthesis of Functional Material. Xuzhou, 221116, P. R. China

Abstract: All people live in the same material world, and the physical mechanism of perception is pretty much the same in all people. Due to the respective cultural background and tradition, people's feeling and expression to the color are not the same, so the symbolic meaning of color can produce great difference between Chinese and Western culture. The paper probes into both cultural similarities and differences in English and Chinese color terms. Through a proper cultural comparison, a translator should take flexible approaches in translating English and Chinese color terms and related expressions.

Key words: Color words, Cultural background, Cultural connotation

1 Introduction

In Chinese and English languages, the words and phrases of different colors are very abundant. Colors may convey different messages to people of different cultures. As we all know, color is the physical appearance. Although people are in different countries, they also have the same reflections of colors [1].

However, colors reveal their own charm in the languages of humanity. Both Chinese and English are rich in words which are used to express different kinds of color. In our daily life, people often realize the colors by optic nerves, and also express their feelings by colors [2].So we should pay much attention to these words. They not only have their own basic meanings, but also have the wide-ranging symbolic meanings. The differences of symbolic meanings are caused by different historical setting, customs, aesthetic attitudes and so on. They are a durable cultural phenomenon throughout the development of human society.

The symbolic meanings have its own characteristics, and they are not the same in different cultures. The culture of colors is very important in our life. Therefore, some colors become adorable to people. However, due to the differences of custom, geographical position, history, religion, psychology, some become taboos. As we all know, China is quite far away from most of the English-speaking countries, and there are marked differences between our country and those English-speaking countries owing to the physical boundaries of oceans and mountains, natural phenomenon, historical setting, aesthetic attitudes, social cultural backgrounds and so on. So people’s feeling of color and their ways of e xpressing them are not almost the same. Thus the symbolic meanings of color between Chinese culture and western culture will be quite different from each other. This paper pays attention to the deeper connotation of different colors .From the Chinese and w estern cultural background to the traditions and habits, to the different peoples’ life experience, all of these are related to the connotation of color.

2 The Color Terms in Chinese and Western Cultures

2.1 The similarities

Though different peoples have different languages and customs and also have different expressions of color terms, their thinking and social activities share a lot in common, which makes it possible for color terms to have similar uses in different languages.

In the early period of human history, red was the sun and fire that made life better. Therefore, in both English and Chinese, red is connected with “love”, “beauty”, “happiness”and so on. In English , “a red letter day”refers to holidays such as Christmas and other special days；“red

ribbon Bath”, it is the French glory bandage which is in red; “red-cross”, it is the national bandage of Britain. Red is often used to describe people’s favorite people or things by Westerners. A famous poem “My Love Is Red, Red Rose” written by Robert Burns —a famous English poet, known as the English poetry of fine works [3]. White is contrary to red, it shows the Chinese’s material and spirit disgust. In the opinion of the westerners, white color in China is symbol of death, lifeless performance and bad omen. So when the people pass away, the relatives always wear the white clothes and hit the white long narrow flag to the funeral to mourn him or her. And it has the derogatory connotation in Western culture. Such as: white feather, it means the fright and the timid, this meaning is traced back to the cockfight game in ancient times. At the same time, black is a taboo color, which stands for darkness in China and the West, such as Black Mass, to wear black for her mother, black words, a black letter day, Black Friday. Beside of the talked colors, the others have the similar meanings. For example, no matter in English or Chinese, this symbolic meaning of green is all identical. Green is mainly related to the color of the plants, it is the symbol of vigor and energy. Green also means fresh[4].

2.2 The differences

During the intercultural communication, there are many differences in the use of color words as well as in the understanding of the same color.

Red is the favorite color for the Chinese people. In the Chinese's mind, it signifies excitement and succeeding, lucky, loyal and flourishing[5]. As we all know, the bride is dressed in red, the bridegroom wears a red flower on his breast in Chinese traditional wedding, But the westerners always associate red with the violence and dangerous, such as red hands, red revenge, and a red battle. It also stands for radical and violent, such as red revolution, red activities, red-headed; like a red rag to a bull means likely to cause strong violence. It also stands for dangerous and tense, such as red alert, a red flag. White is the expression of exhausted and non-blooded, non-life, and stands for death and ill omen in Chinese traditional culture. But white is considered pure by Westerners. It is the traditional color for the brides at weddings, and to wear white at funerals would be offensive. As white is the color of the snow, so there is a white Christmas and a white winter. Black is considered as an esteem color as well as white in China. In West it has the connotation of sobriety and stateliness, black suit and the black dress are both the favorite traditional clothes for the Westerners.

3 Conclusion

The colors bring us a wonderful and splendid world, and color words make it easier to express our thought, make our expression more apt and vivid. A language can reflect the development of a nation’s history and culture. The cultural connotation in the color words between Chinese and English languages is very abundant. They are shaped in the long-term development of the society. If we do not understand these words and the vocabulary with which constitute the social customs and cultural backgrounds, it is difficult to understand their cultural connotations, the communication will cause ambiguity. Only by a lot of comparative studies on the similarities and differences of color terms, are we able to discover their deep and rich cultural connotations and exactly understand and faithfully express them. Correctly understanding colors and their deeper symbolic meaning will be a great help for people in different cultures to communicate.

References:

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