浅谈文化与翻译的关系

On the Relation between Culture and Translation Abstract: Each language has a close relationship with its culture. Language reflects culture and at the same time language is restricated by culture. In different culture the same words or expressions have different meanings. On the other hand, different words and expression can have the same meaning. In technique of expression, idioms have intense cultural characteristics. They can be regarded as nucleus and cream of language when translating idioms, we must correctly handle contradictions between language and culture .Handing the cultural differences is becoming the key point of the succeeding in the translation of idioms. There are six ways of translating idioms.Keywords: culture; translation; idiom浅谈文化与翻译的关系内容摘要：每一种语言与文化都有着及其密切的联系。

语言反映文化同时语言也受到文化的制约。

在不同的文化中，相同的词语可有不同的文化涵义，而另一方面，不同的词语也可能拥有相同的意义。

此论文以习语的翻译为例来说明文化与翻译的密切关系。

习语具有强烈的文化特征，是语言的核心与精华。

翻译习语的时候要同时处理好语言与文化的两对矛盾。

可以说，处理文化差异是习语翻译成功与否的关键。

关键词：文化；翻译；习语The translation activities of human being has a long history. With the development of language and communication, the translation activities being to work. There are so many languages in the words, and there are so many dialect in one language that it is not an easy thing for people to exchange their culture frequently. They need a medium to solve this problem. This medium is translation. So translation plays an important role in cultural transmission.In this easy, we are going to take the translation of idioms as an example to discuss the relation between Culture and Translation.Sometimes people think translation is an easy task, but in fact, translation is not that easy. Because language reflects culture and at the same time language is restricted by culture.In different culture, the same words or expressions have different meanings. For example, the concepts of dragon exist both in English language and Chinese language, but the connotation of dragon are very different in these two different culture. In English culture, "dragon" is a common reptile. Sometimes people think of "dragon" as a "monster" or a sign of evil. But in Chinese Culture, the meanings of" dragon" are completely different. In ancient times, "dragon" represents the emperor-the strongest governer of China. As a result, people consider" dragon" as a symbol of noble quality. At the same time, these commendetory terms such as "Long Yan"(龙颜），"Long Pao"(龙袍),"Long Ting"(龙庭),"Wang Zi Cheng Long"(望子成龙) come into being in Chinese. In a sence, "dragon" is a special local product of Chinese culture. It is also a specific character of culture.On the other hand, different words and expressions can have the same meaning. For example: There are two different idioms-"Kill two birds with one stone" in English and" Yi Jian Shuang Diao"(一箭双雕）in Chinese. Outwardly these two idioms were expressed in different ways, but inwardly these two idioms have the same meaning .That is to say these two idioms both means holding two positive results at the same time.In technique of expression, idioms have intense cultural characteristics. They can be regarded as nucleus and cream of language .When translating idioms ,we must correctly handle contradictions between language and culture .Handing the cultural differences is becoming the key point of the succeeding in the translation of idioms. There are some ways of translating idioms:1.Avoid literal translation to skirt round difficulties.Translating a language into author language corresponding exactly to the original is a way of translation. We call it literal translation is to make the materials which has been translated into another language keeps the original cultural character. So the readers can get a good understanding when they need these materials. We are going to have a look at the following example.“这两件事都是实的，倘若审断起来，体面上不好看。

…三十六计，走为上计‟。

卷卷行李，一溜烟急走到省城去了。

”（吴敬梓《儒林外史》第五回）"Both complaints are true, and if I have to appear in court I shall lose face. Better make myself scarce. He bundled some things together and fled to the provincial capital."(Translated by the Yangs.)In this paragraph, the difficult point which the translator skirts round is "San Shi Liu Ji, Zou Wei Shang Ji"(三十六计，走为上计),but the main meaning is not omitted. So the reader can understand without knowing" San Shi Liu Ji, Zou Wei Shang Ji"(三十六计，走为上计).In fact, it is not a difficult thing for the translator to translate" San Shi Liu Ji, Zou Wei Shang Ji"(三十六计，走为上计)into English according to the translator's ability. In order to keep the original author's meaning and transmit the culture which is related to the original matorials, we had better adopt word-for-word translation which is followed by footnote. That is to say "San Shi Liu Ji,Zou Wei Shang Ji"(三十六计，走为上计)can be translated into "of the thirty-six stratagems, the best is to quit. "This way of translating this sentence can be accepted by all the foreign readers who know English well. According to the context, they will have a full understanding of this sentence.e another culture instead of original culture.In the course of translating one language into another language, we may use another culture instead of the original culture. For example, "Ban Men Long Fu"(班门弄斧)is a very famous idiom which is known by all Chinese people. Someone translates this idiom into such an English sentence "Teach one's grandmother to such eggs "From this we can see that the translator use another western culture to replace the original Chinese culture in the translation .But in Chinese-English dictionary ,we can find such a translation of "Ban Men Long Fu"(班门弄斧):"Show off one's proficientcy with the axe before Lu Ban the master carpenter. It can be considered as a good reference. It is a good translation because it is properly increase-decrease and very practical. The insignificant word "Men"(门)is omitted, and the appositive" the master carpenter is used properly. This way of translating is also word-for-word translation. In fact, in a special context, the translator can deal with his or her translation in a more flexible way.e literal translation with explanatory note to describe the character.Please look at the following example:“难道这也是个痴丫头，又象颦儿来葬花不成？”因又自笑道：“若真是葬花，可谓东施效颦了；不但不为新奇，而是更是可厌。