论文总字数：29870字

摘 要

中英文化之间的相互理解与包容对两国之间的关系意义非凡。而在中英两国人民日常生活中以及文学作品中，动物词汇扮演十分重要的角色。因此，动物词汇十分值得研究。本文首先陈述了文化与语言之间的关系，然后分析了导致中英动物词汇具有不同文化内涵的四个原因，即历史、地区、习俗以及审美价值取向和社会心理。例如，英语中的“dragon”一词同汉语中的“龙”是对应词汇，对于中国人而言，龙是神圣的，拥有无穷的力量，他们认为龙是自己的象征，这也就是为什么中国人自称是龙的传人。但对英语国家的人民来说，“dragon”却象征着邪恶。接下来本文分析了中英动物词汇内涵相似的两个原因，并给出一些例子。本文同时也指出了该研究的对于英语学习、翻译以及促进两国关系的重要性。

关键词：动物词汇；异同；文化

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. Culture and Language 2

4. Animal Words in Chinese and English 5

4.1 Differences in Cultural Connotations 5

4.1.1 History 5

4.1.2 Region 6

4.1.3 Conventions 7

4.1.4 Aesthetic Value-orientation and Social Mentality 8

4.2 Similarities in Cultural Connotations 10

4.2.1 Living Environment 10

4.2.2 Animals’ Features 11

5. Conclusion 12

Works Cited 13

1. Introduction

A well-known English saying goes like that no context, no text. It lays great emphasis on the importance of the context when one tries to understand the text. Likewise, we can also say that no knowledge of the culture of the target language, no understanding of the text. Text is generated in certain language environments which are the production of culture conventions, ways of thinking, anything that is closely related to culture. Communications in daily life, a meeting with foreign people and translation for educators are all indispensable to a better understanding of related cultures. Little knowledge of culture tradition of the target language will easily cause embarrassments between people from different culture backgrounds or confusion even misunderstanding of another culture, which may lead to serious conflicts between nations or ethics. To a successful English learner, being familiar with two cultures is more important than mastering the two languages, because words have not only the literal meanings but also the figurative meanings due to different culture backgrounds.

Language is an indispensable part in people’s daily life and if we pay more attention to it, we will easily find that people incline to use idioms or slang involving animal words to express their feelings more effectively and more accurately. Since animals are closely related to our life and most people are fond of them, the author thinks research of animal words between Chinese and English can intrigue people’s interest. An animal word with the same literal meaning in English and Chinese may have only one figurative meaning while it can also has two totally different figurative meanings. There might be factors that lead to these differences and similarities. The analysis of these factors helps to inspire the interest of English learners, thus can enhance their learning efficiency. In addition, it can also help translators to pay more attention to accurate expression which on the one hand can vividly express writers’ emotion and on the other hand can help readers understand and appreciate another culture better. Last but not least, it might be helpful to promote the relationship between English and Chinese people through relevant researching.

2. Literature Review

Many people have researched animal words in English and Chinese for different purposes. Wang Li has written an essay about the animal words and their translations. Ji Yunqi has researched the use of metaphor in Chinese and English animal words. Li Yan has compared animal words between Chinese and English. Liao Guangrong has listed a number of animal words and classified them into a few categories. He also analyzes the factors and gives some examples of how to make a contrast and comparison of these animal words. And there are also many professors who make many similar researches. The thesis tries to focus on the relationship between culture and language and takes the connotations of animal words as examples to analyze the factors that cause differences and similarities in Chinese and English from cultural perspective to make readers understand easily and deeply.

3. Culture and Language

Language is the carrier of culture. Specific languages reflect and also are influenced and restricted by specific cultures. Vocabulary is the most obvious information carrier of culture. Each language has a lot of animal words. In daily life, people tend to associate some specific emotions and qualities with animals to express certain reactions or emotions. Dating back to ancient times, people from different cultural backgrounds inclined to use animals to describe people or things in order to express their feelings more vividly and effectively. Culture is a complicated system of knowledge, moral principles, beliefs, arts, law and customs, etc. Language is a part of culture and mirrors the rich and varied cultural information. For example, in greeting, Chinese people tend to greet people by saying “你吃过了吗? or 上哪儿去啊?”, while English people tend to greet each other by saying “Good morning / afternoon”. When praised by others, Chinese people will respond by saying “哪里哪里” or “过奖过奖” to show their humbleness which is regarded as one of the Chinese traditional virtues, but this reaction may be considered dishonest by the English-speaking people. When complimented by others the English-speaking people would like to say “Thank you”, because they are direct and open-minded. But it may be regarded arrogant by the Chinese. This phenomenon vividly shows the huge difference of attitudes towards compliment between the Chinese and the English and it has something to do with culture, so it is of great necessity for people to have basic knowledge about different cultures. This essay focuses on animal words in Chinese and English to show not only the differences but also the similarities of animal words in Chinese and English in order to give readers a better understanding in this regard. Due to different emotions endowed by people from different cultural backgrounds, the connotative meanings sometimes may be the same or similar, but sometimes they are totally different. The cultural traditions of a nation, especially the cultural mentality, have a great inspiring and guiding function on the production and development of associations of animal words. On the one hand, owing to cultural differences among nations, people endow meanings of animal words with strong national cultural characteristics and profound social and historical origins. Although animal words in different languages may have the same or similar conceptual meanings, they may have totally different connotative meanings. The different meanings of the same animal words in Chinese and English reflect the differences of the cultural backgrounds between them. However, people may also express the same meaning with different animals. For example, black sheep in English means exactly the same as “害群之马” in Chinese, while“马”is “horse” in English. “You chicken” is used to refer to those who are timid, not brave. While in Chinese, people tend to use “胆小如鼠(鼠 means mouse)” to express a similar meaning.

On the other hand, animal words in Chinese and English also have the same or similar connotations, since people’s living environments are similar. There are changes of the seasons, and nature phenomena like wind, rain, thunder, which lead people to have the same or similar feelings about natural things around them. Thus, no matter in Chinese or English, people may use similar animal words to express similar feelings and ideas. Just like other words, the animal words reflect not only different cultural information but also reflect common grounds among different nations. These words may have something to do with animals themselves or may have nothing to do with them, but they are essentially close to the cultures of the corresponding countries.

In a sense, language is the carrier of culture, delivering and transmitting culture during its development. People can learn about social mentality, social life and customs in a certain culture. When people don’t have a good understanding of connotations of animal words, they can not get the associations between animal words and cultures, let alone explain the social significance of animal words in cross-culture communication. Animals have remarkable characteristics, so people naturally have positive or negative feelings about them. Researching animal words in Chinese and English may not only help avoid pragmatic failures in communication but also make great contributions to English teaching. The comparison and learning of different cultures may also have great influence on their spreading. In a word, the cultural connotations of animal words have distinct national characteristics owing to different national cultures and each language contains different cultural connotations of animal words due to differences of psychological associations which are largely influenced by national culture. Therefore, the research and the excavation of the abundance in cultural connotations of animal words have profound significance both theoretically and practically in terms of reduction of misunderstanding and conflicts in cross-culture and translation activities.

Chinese and English are two languages with a large amount of vocabulary among which there are a lot of words and expressions related to animals or containing animals. These words can not only show some certain qualities and characteristics but also describe some certain incidents or convey some certain emotions in a more sententious way. In daily life, animal words are frequently used by people to express their feelings and ideas for their effective force. They are generally accepted and widely used and have become an indispensable part of all languages. They are all closely related to culture and the author tries to explore the factors leading to the differences and similarities in animal words.

4. Animal Words in Chinese and English

In Chinese and English, what is easy to notice and is worthwhile to be studied is that an animal word has the same literal meaning in Chinese and English, but it may have different cultural connotations. Owing to the different cultural backgrounds of the two nations, people may produce different associations for one word. But it doesn’t mean that the research of similarities of connotations of animal words is of no significance, because we all know the value of “seeking common ground while reserving differences”. Differences make people distinctive while common grounds make it easier for people to communicate. This essay discusses the differences and similarities in connotations of animal words in Chinese and English.

4.1 Differences in Cultural Connotations

4.1.1 History

Dragon is a totem in Chinese history and is also the symbol of emperors. According to Chinese legends, dragon is a magic animal that can control the forces of nature. It has the features of those that snakes, birds, horses, deer, fishes and eagles have，so it can do what the eight animals can do. It can fly in to the sky and drill into the earth; it can walk on the land and swim in the water. The Chinese view dragon as a symbol of good luck and happiness and are proud of being called the descendants of the dragon.

In China’s several thousand years’ history, dragon has supreme status, symbolizing the federal autocratic power. It is full of valor and vigor which is highly cherished by the Chinese nation. Thus, there are plenty of idioms about dragon. For example, 龙腾虎跃; 生龙活虎; 画龙点睛; 龙飞凤舞; 藏龙卧虎; 龙凤呈祥; 望子成龙.

According to western myths and legends, dragon is just a huge lizard with a long ophiurid. It has wings and scale on its body. It can spurt fire from its mouth and symbolizes the evil. Dragon is seemed as a fierce and cruel monster and it should be wiped out. In the Bible, Satan, setting itself against the God, is called the great dragon. People never relate it to emperors. In modern English, the dragon usually has a derogatory sense and is related to something evil. In the English epic The Story of Beowulf which represents the highest achievement of the old English, there is a plot that hero Beowulf fights against the dragon. In Greek Myths, the golden fleece, sacrificed for Zeus, is guarded by a dragon. If a woman is called dragon in English, she is viewed as a vixen and is hated by others. For example, That woman is a real dragon.

In addition, “虎”(it means tiger in English) in Chinese is the king of animals and it symbolizes braveness and power. For example 虎视眈眈; 卧虎藏龙; 虎踞龙盘; 虎狼之势. These idioms are about braveness and ferocity. Maybe this phenomenon is because of the Chinese character “王” (it means “the king ” in English) on the forehead of a tiger. “虎节; 虎符” are related to power. Chinese people also use expressions containing tiger to describe places that are dangerous ,such as “虎口，虎穴”. While in English, tiger doesn’t have exactly the same meaning as “虎” does in Chinese. It is lion in English that symbolizes exactly the same as “虎” in Chinese, such as “as bold as a lion”. “拦路虎” in Chinese is corresponding to “a lion in the path ” in English. Additionally, there was once a very famous cartoon named “The Lion King”. It can also show the status of tigers among animals.

4.1.2 Region

The Chinese people and the English people live in totally different natural environments. The two nations belong to different civilization systems. The Chinese belong to loess civilization and the English belong to marine civilization, thus they’ve formed different regional cultures. They each endow animals with different cultural connotations and implied meanings due to their own cultural backgrounds. For example, China has been an agricultural country since ancient times, and cows were the main tool for cultivating. Thus, cows have always been popular because they are strong and hard-working. Most idioms about cows are commendatory, such as 汗牛充栋; 老牛舐犊; 老黄牛; 孺子牛; 壮实如牛.While people in English-speaking countries consider cows as “dishes on the menu” not as “treasure of the peasant family” as Chinese people do. They see cows with faults, such as “a bull in a china shop”; “like a bull at a gate”; “throw the bull” and so on. John Bull is the nickname of the English people. It appeared the first time in the works of Arbuthnot in which it was a name of an English man who was frank and out-spoken, crude and restless. Cultural connotations of calf, cow, and buffalo are derogatory. For example, calf means idiotic man; cow means fat and ugly man and “to buffalo somebody” means to coax sb. In contrast with cows in Chinese, horses play an important role in English, it means somebody strong and hard-working. For example, work like a horse; as strong as a horse; talk horse; a horse of another color; willing horse. In Chinese, “牛脾气” is used to describe people as bad-tempered, while in English, “hold one’s horse ” means to restrain one’s anger.

Fishing in English is advanced and English people endow fish with abundant cultural meaning, such as a big fish (大人物)；a cold fish (冷漠的人); to drink like a fish (牛饮). In Chinese, 鱼(it means fish in English)sounds the same as “余” which means remaining, so people like to use “年年有鱼（余）” to symbolize their wishes to be well-fed and well-clothed.

4.1.3 Conventions

People raise dogs in both China and English-speaking countries (and dog means “狗” exactly in Chinese.), but they have different attitudes towards dogs. People in English-speaking countries raise dogs not only for hunting and guarding but also as company. Some people regard dogs as their children when they have none. So dogs can get a lot of special treatment and privileges. They have food and cloths. They even have musicians to compose music for them. When dogs are sick, their masters ask dentists or even psychologists to look after them. Dogs can live in advanced dog-hotels with air-conditions when their masters are out for a holiday. But in Chinese nation, never will these phenomena happen. Thus, it won’t be difficult for people to understand commendatory phrases and sentences with “dog” in English. For example, “love me, love my dog”; “a lucky dog”; “every dog has its day”; “a good dog deserves a good bone”; “Help a lame dog over a stile”. All of these expressions show that English-speaking people are very friendly to dogs. In comparison, Chinese people love to have their own kids and they lay great love on their children. Although they raise dogs, dogs are mainly for guarding. Therefore, the status of dogs in China is comparatively much lower than that of dogs in western countries. In most cases, expressions about dogs are derogatory. For example, 狗腿子; 走狗; 狗血喷头; 狗仗人势; 狗急跳墙; 狗胆包天; 狼心狗肺; 鸡鸣狗盗; 狗头军师; 狗急跳墙; 狗嘴里吐不出象牙; 鼠窃狗偷. People’s feelings about cats are also different in Chinese and English. The Chinese people like cats. They think cats are meek and lovely and can accompany them. Cats can also catch mice, so they are of great value. For example, “不管黑猫白猫，能捉耗子的都是好猫”. While to western people, they resent cats, especially black ones. In their minds, even though cats can catch mice, they can also make trouble. The following expressions vividly explain the images of cats in their eyes: no room to swing a cat; the cat shuts its eyes when stealing cream; the cat out of the bags, etc. When people say “she is a cat”, they mean to describe an evil woman.

4.1.4 Aesthetic Value-orientation and Social Mentality

The differences of aesthetic value-orientation and social mentality cause one animal word to have positive and negative meanings in Chinese and English. The cultural connotations are closely related to likes and dislikes of people from the two different cultural backgrounds. When people like or appreciate one animal, the relative animal word will have positive connotation, but when they dislike or hate one animal, a negative connotation will be related to this animal word. It often happens that one animal word has totally opposite meanings in Chinese and English. Take owl as an example. In Greek and Roman mythology, owls often shelter beside the goddess of wisdom, Athena, so they are birds of wisdom. They will judge the conflicts among birds and beasts. The expression “as wisdom as an owl” is a good example. When people describe someone as an “owlish man”, they mean that he is intelligent and solemn. While in Chinese, the images of owls are totally different from those in English. The owls look like cats with wings, and fly at night, and Chinese people call them “夜猫子( ye mao zi，in English “ye” means at night and “mao zi ”means cat). As owls sleep during daytime and act during night, circling round graveyard and crying mournfully, the superstitious Chinese people at that time regarded them as unlucky birds. It’s said that when an owl falls in a tree in one’s yard, or when someone hears the cry of owls, one person may die in his family. The Chinese saying “夜猫子进宅，无事不来” means when an owl fly into the house, something bad will happen. The sentence “夜猫子抖抖翅, 大小有点事” expresses the same meaning. Thus owls are symbols of bad luck, and people avoid them as they are plague.

Bat, in western folklore, is an evil animal. Bats are related to sin and darkness in western folklore. When bats are mentioned, vampires may come into people’s mind. It’s said that vampires leave graves to suck blood of sleepers, so they make people feel frightened and disgusted. The following expressions are the vivid descriptions of people’s bad associations with bats: “as blind as a bat” as well as “as crazy as a bat”. While bat, in Chinese, its pronunciation is “bian fu” in which “fu” sounds the same as “福” . In Chinese “福” means good luck, thus bat is a symbol of good luck, happiness and health. When the Spring Festival is coming, the Chinese people will put New Year pictures on the wall. There are bats in those pictures to indicate good luck to the families in a new year.

That one animal word has two different cultural connotations reflects the huge differences of the two cultures and the differences show the characteristics of the two nations. The analysis of the factors can help readers understand why there are differences of cultural connotations and the knowledge of these differences makes readers aware of the importance of understanding and toleration of other different cultures. What’s more, translators should lay great emphasis on these differences of animal words in the articles they will translate and try their best to use the correct and accurate corresponding animal words in their translations so that they can deliver the information or the emotions of the authors more vividly and can make readers understand easily.

4.2 Similarities in Cultural Connotations

4.2.1 Living Environment

As is known to us all, language reflects culture. All languages in the world have common points which are decided by the generalities of different cultures. All nations live on one Earth and people experience the challenges of nature. There are changes of the seasons, and nature phenomena like wind, rain, thunder, as well as natural disasters which lead them to have the same or similar feelings about natural things around them. In addition, nations may have similar history, for example people may defeat cruel rulers. Thus, it’s normal for animal words in Chinese and English to have similar connotations. As what has been mentioned above, people use animal words to express feelings about men or things. For example, foxes, both in Chinese and English are tricky and suspicious. In Chinese, “狐狸精”（hu li jing）means coquette or a seductive woman; “狐朋狗党” (hu peng gou dang) means a pack of rogues, and there are also many other expressions showing the negative attitudes of Chinese people towards fox. For example, 狐狸尾巴; 狐媚; 狐假虎威. In English, foxes have the same connotation. In Aesop’s Fables, there’s a story about a fox and a goat. It is about a sly fox coaxing the goat into jumping down the well and seizing the chance to jump out of the well by stepping on the back of the goat. The story shows the selfishness of the fox. There are other expressions about fox, for example, “the guy is crazy like a fox”; “a fox is not easily snared”.

Both Chinese and English people like to describe their wives as “hen”. In Chinese, people say “牝鸡司晨家不兴” due to King Zhou of Shang and his wife Da Ji. King Zhou was a tyrant and he did what his wife Da ji told him to. Eventually, the Shang dynasty was destroyed. Likewise, English-speaking people tend to use “hen-pecked” to refer to a man who is scared of his wife, and in Chinese such man is called “妻管严”.

4.2.2 Animals’ Features

People incline to endow animal words with connotations through animals’ appearances and their features. For example, wolves seem to be fierce; parrots like to imitate; snakes are evil and lambs are gentle, etc. The essay gives more details to these animal words in the following part.

Wolves represent ferocity and cruelty in both Chinese and English. In Chinese, “狼心狗肺” means as cruel as a wolf;“狼子野心”means wild ambition(the bad side); “狼狈为奸” means acting in collusion with each other, etc. All these Chinese idioms reflect such features of wolves and coincide with these English expressions: “as greedy as a wolf”; “wolf in sheep’s clothing”; “set the wolf to keep the sheep”. In addition, wolf is used to refer to shameless people who dally with women .In Chinese, people like to say “色狼” to describe such people.

Parrots symbolize “人云亦云” (it means say what others say)in Chinese, and there are many idioms, such as “鹦鹉学舌”, “鹦鹉前头不敢言”. In English, there is also such expression: He always parrots what others say.

Snakes mean evil in Chinese, like “心如蛇蝎”, “佛口蛇心”, “强龙压不住地头蛇”, “人心不足蛇吞象” and so on. While in the west, Satan in the Bible lures human to eat the forbidden fruits and is called serpent. There are also many expressions about snakes in English, like “a snake in the grass (it means a potential danger)” and “a snake in somebody” and so on.

Besides, animal words with the same or similar connotations in Chinese and English are lambs, swans, bees and donkeys, etc. For example, the English expression “as gentle as a lamb” means that lambs are meek and it coincides with the Chinese expression “温顺的羊羔”; “a snake in someone’s bosom” is used to describe an evil man, and in Chinese, people say “心如蛇蝎”. Swan looks graceful and people may say “as graceful as a swan”. There are also expressions like “as busy as a bee”, “as stubborn as a donkey”, etc.

The analysis of similarities of connotations in animal words in Chinese and English is of great value. Readers can find it interesting and may pay attention to the animal words they use in daily life or they meet in articles and they may even try to use the animal words to make life easy and funny. In addition, these similarities make people have resonance. As we know that common points make people feel close to each other and it may be beneficial to promote the relationship between each other.

5. Conclusion

In this essay, the author begins with the analysis of animal words with different figurative meanings in Chinese and English in four aspects. They are historical culture, regional culture, conventions and aesthetic value-orientation and social mentality. In the second part of the presentation, the author suggests the similarities of connotations of animal words with several examples. The essay analyzes these differences and similarities from cultural perspective and gives several examples of animal words in Chinese and English in order to be more concrete and to give people a better understanding. As Zhao Xianzhou says that what makes cross-culture communication possible is information shared by people and what makes it difficult is information not shared by each other. Therefore, learning about the differences and the similarities of animal words in Chinese and English is of great necessity. It might benefit the relationship between Chinese and English and might help to reduce cultural conflicts. The author should recognize and admit that the essay is not all-sided and people can have a further research about animal words in idioms and slang. In addition, the author thinks the translation of expressions about animals in Chinese and English may be very meaningful and valuable.

Works Cited

[1] Huang Jing.《Culture Connotation of Animal Words in English and Chinese》, Journal of Lanzhou University,5(2003).

[2] Liao Guangrong.《Contrast between English and Chinese Culturally-loaded Animal words》. Journal of Foreign Languages, 5 (2000).

[3] Qin Dongmei.《culturally-loaded Animal Words in Chinese and English》新课程教育学术版, 12（2009）.

[4] Shi Yunbo.《A Semantic study of Animal Words in Chinese and English》，Teaching and Research on Chinese as a Foreign Language, 2（2007）.

[5] 季云起. 《中外动物词汇中比较构词之比较》齐鲁学刊，4（2003）

[6] 李燕.《英汉动物词汇的象征意义比较》运城学院学报，2（2009）.

[7] 谭颖.《中英动物语汇及其文化价值之关联与比较》武汉大学学报，12 (2002).

[8] 王丽.《英汉动物词汇文化内涵的不对等及翻译策略》考试周刊，35（2008）.

[9] 张继红.《从词汇的内涵意义看英汉文化差异》外语艺术教育研究，2（2007）

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