从文化差异的角度浅谈英汉翻译中的不可译现象

论文总字数：28248字

摘 要

翻译是一项语言交际活动，它是一种跨文化的转换。它致力于在不同文化的语境中寻求源语言和目标语言之间的平衡。不可译性是指在相对较小程度上能把一种语言对等地翻译成另一种语言。众所周知，正是文化差异造成了不可译性这一问题。因此，文化差异是翻译过程中我们必须考虑的一个重要的因素。如果译者翻译过程中缺乏文化意识，对一个充满文化信息的源文本来说，他/她几乎不可能创作出地道的译文。本文主要从文化差异的角度分析英汉翻译中出现的不可译现象，说明不可译性是英汉翻译过程中无法回避的问题，此外，本文最后提出解决不可译性这一问题的一些翻译对策。

关键词：文化差异；不可译性；英汉翻译；补偿策略

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

2.1 The Definition of Culture 2

2.2 The Definition of Cultural Translation 2

2.3 The Definition of Untranslatability 2

2.4 The Definition of the Functional Equivalence 3

3. The Causes of Culture Difference 3

3.1 Culture Difference Caused by Different Regions 3

3.2 Culture Difference Caused by Different Customs 4

3.3 Culture Difference Caused by Different Religions 5

3.4 Culture Difference Caused by Different History 5

3.5 Culture Difference Caused by Different Modes of Thinking 6

4. Untranslatability caused by Culture Difference in Chinese-English Translation 6

4.1 Untranslatability in Chinese Dish 7

4.2 Untranslatability in Poems 7

4.3 Untranslatability in Historical Allusions 8

5. Several strategies for handling the issue of untranslatability 8

5.1 Dynamic Equivalence 8

5.2 Transliteration 9

5.3 Paraphrase 9

5.4 Adaptation 10

5.5 Footnote 10

6. Conclusion 11

Works Cited 12

1. Introduction

With the increasing development of the cultural communication between China and the western world，translation is no more the simple conversion between the two languages．It has been playing an important role in culture communication．Both Chinese and English are blessed with very deep-rooted cultures. Therefore，the successful communication can only be achieved through mutual understanding of the two different cultures. However, untranslatability is unavoidable in Chinese-English translation because of the cultural vacancy and incomprehension of the TL culture. We should take the culture difference into consideration to figure out the untranslatability in Chinese-English translation.

When untranslatability is encountered by the translator, the issue of translatability of the text comes into being. Catford distinguishes two types of untranslatability, which he terms as linguistic and cultural. At the linguistic level, untranslatability occurs when there is no lexical or syntactical substitute in the TL for an SL item. Linguistic untranslatability, he argued, is due to differences between the SL and the TL, whereas cultural untranslatability is due to the absence in the TL culture of a relevant feature for the SL text. (Bassnett, 2010: 37) This paper will focus on the culture difference which leads to the untranslatability between SL and TL in Chinese-English translation. Many cases are cited to prove the causes of untranslatability from the perspective of culture difference. In addition, some compensation strategies are proposed as well.

The thesis is composed of six parts. Part one is the introduction. Part two is the literature review about cultural translation and untranslatability. Part three introduces some factors leading to culture difference, including different regions, different customs, different religion, different history and different modes of thinking. And in the second part from bottom, some compensation strategies like dynamic equivalence, transliteration, paraphrase, adaptation and the use of footnote will be proposed for the purpose of tackling the issue of untranslatability. Lastly，Part six is the conclusion of the thesis.

2. Literature Review

Eugene A. Nida, a pioneer figure in translation and linguistics, argued that “Translation is a conversion of two cultures. It is more important to be familiar with two kinds of cultures than be good at two different languages. Words become meaningful only under its effective cultural background." Yan Fu put forwards his ‘faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance’ translation theory in order to find reliable basis for his translation and make his translation more acceptable.

2.1 The Definition of Culture

Culture referred exclusively to the humanist ideal of what was considered ‘civilized’ in a developed society until the birth of anthropology. The conception of culture was firstly defined in 1871 by E.B. Taylor and he provided the first deeper understanding of the feature of culture. A culture is a combination of beliefs, habits and behaviors which are held in common by people who live in a particular environment. In a word, culture includes both material things which can be seen as literary works and spiritual ones like beliefs and values.

In translation studies, most theorists and practitioners would tacitly accept that there is a form of ‘cultural filter’ involved in the translation process. (Baker, 2010: 70)

2.2 The Definition of Cultural Translation

The term ‘cultural translation’ is used in many different contexts. In some way, it is a metaphor that radically questions translation’s traditional parameters, but a narrower use of the term refers to the practices of literary translation that mediate cultural difference, try to convey extensive cultural background, and represent another culture via translation. Cultural translation raises complex technical issues: how to deal with features like dialect and heteroglossia, literary allusions, culturally specific items such as food or architecture, or other culture differences in the assumed context. (Baker, 2010: 67)

2.3 The Definition of Untranslatability

What’s the definition of untranslatability? Untranslatability refers to the fact that the content and the form of a source text can not be simultaneously and adequately conveyed in any translation. Untranslatability is not unconditioned, eternal and static, but conditioned, variable and dynamic. Untranslatability can be transformed into translatability with various effective translation strategies. Experience tells us that it is easy to express the main meaning of the origin and it is most difficult to reproduce the original style and form. J.C. Catford, an English translation theorist, said, “Broadly speaking, the issue of untranslatability can be explored from linguistic and cultural angles.”

2.4 The Definition of the Functional Equivalence

Eugene A. Nida, an American translation theorist, put forward the functional equivalence theory in the 1960s. His theory has a great impact on the translation studies in the western countries. The functional equivalence stresses the equivalence of meaning between SL text and TL text. The application of the functional equivalence proves that the untranslatable phenomenon can become translatable under certain circumstances.

3. The Causes of Culture Difference

Culture difference refers to different responses or expressions made by people who belong to two or more geographical areas when it comes to the similar things or the same object. As the typical countries of eastern culture and western culture, China and Britain both have their own unique cultures. Culture differences in customs, habits, beliefs and ideology appear when people from two different countries communicate with each other. We can learn detailed culture differences in brief from different aspects.

3.1 Culture Difference Caused by Different Regions

The culture of region is caused by the geographic surroundings. With different locations, different nations are molded by their own cultures. Let me take the UK and China as an example. Britain is an island country and ancient British people love sea. As a result, there are many English words about water. While China lies on the east of the Asian Continent, there are many Chinese words about lands. It is very difficult for Chinese people to understand some ways of expressions in English. For example, when describing ‘spending money wastefully’, Chinese prefer to say “挥金如土” rather than ‘spend money like water’ which is the common expression among the westerners. In addition, British and Chinese have different understanding of “East wind” and “west wind”. To Chinese, east wind refers to the wind of spring, which brings people warmth and helps everything grow. It represents hope as well as power, so it is loved by every Chinese. West wind is the wind between autumn and winter, which means the coming coldness and lonely bleakness. Naturally, it is hated by people in China. However, east wind in British which blows from the north of the European Continent brings people the feeling of coldness and depression. As a result, east wind is usually hated and west wind which brings them spring is the loved one. From the above, we can see the same “west wind” is entirely different in two cultures due to the different living areas. Thus a successful translator must pay attention to different regional cultures in translation.

3.2 Culture Difference Caused by Different Customs

Custom is the reflection and expression of cultural consciousness which is formed in the long history. Cultural custom is produced by the traditions and habits throughout the communication in daily life. Different customs are displayed in such aspects like greetings, addressing, thanks, apologies, farewells, and calls. Detailed classification can be seen in the relationships of the Chinese relatives. For example, there are some appellations like“姨妈”，“舅妈”，“姑妈”,“伯母” in Chinese，while there is only a corresponding word “aunt” in English. As is known to all, “Have you eaten your dinner?” is the most common greeting for each Chinese. British is used to asking about the weather instead of the greeting “Have you eaten your dinner?”. Another typical example is about the dragon. The Chinese people consider themselves as successors of the dragon which signifies sacredness, auspiciousness and the national spirits. This can be seen from lots of Chinese idioms with the character “龙”, such as “ 望子成龙”.On the contrary, in the westerners’ eyes, the dragon is a huge lizard, with flames puffed from the mouth. According to the Bible, the dragon is the devil incarnate and the symbol of the evil, so it often has derogatory meaning. We can learn that “dragon” has different images, affective and associative meanings in China and western countries. During the process of translation, only when we attach more importance to the culture difference caused by different customs can we improve the effectiveness and reliability of translation.

3.3 Culture Difference Caused by Different Religions

The culture of religion, consisting of religious beliefs, customs and habits, plays an important role in culture inheritance. Christianity is the core of the western religious culture. The Bible and missionaries’ sermonizing in western countries have made people’s life connected with the God. There are lots of expressions related to “God”, such as “God bless you!”, “My God!”, “God knows.’’ and “For God’s sake!”. Things are quite different in China. Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism are the main religions, making a great effect on the Chinese people. There is the saying “Man proposes, God disposes.”, but the “God’’ here is not the same one in the western culture. “God” represents the highest dominator in Chinese religion. In addition, it’s hard to translate the words like “阴阳”, “来世”, “转世”, “报应” which are from Taoism and Buddhism.

When it comes to the culture difference caused by different religions, the translation of the target text should follow the rules of the TL culture, which can help the TL readers understand the translation without obstacles.

3.4 Culture Difference Caused by Different History

The culture of history refers to the culture formed by the historical development and social heritage. Since different countries develop differently in the course of history, their cultures are also abundant in unique historical information. For example, a variety of historical allusions, have been accumulated under the different historical backgrounds. The historical allusions have long-historical cultural origins. Specifically, if we translate “三个臭皮匠，赛过诸葛亮” into “three cobblers together have more wit than Zhu Geliang" literally, westerners must be confused with the word “Zhu Geliang”. We can make it easier to be understood if we translate it into “two heads are better than one.” What’s more, We cannot translate “塞翁” into “Old Sai” in the Chinese metaphor “塞翁失马，焉知非福。”. This sentence means that “A loss may turn out to be a gain” in English. There are more examples in Chinese idioms having counterpart in English, such as “对牛弹琴” and “cast pearls before swine”, “挖肉补疮” and “rob Peter to pay Paul”. These idioms show the unique culture of different countries. The historical allusions and idioms are deeply rooted in the historical and cultural backgrounds of the two languages. If we are familiar with different cultural backgrounds, we can solve the barriers in translation.

3.5 Culture Difference Caused by Different Modes of Thinking

The mode of thinking is influenced by one’s cultural background, working and living environment, and personal experience. It reflects a psychological tendency of the certain language. The differences on the cognition pattern often lead to the differences in modes of thinking. Generally speaking, the westerners are good at analyzing and logical reasoning, so their mode of thinking is like the straight line. Oppositely, the easterners are full of imagination and depend more on intuition, so their mode of thinking is like the circular arc. Real numbers are frequently used in the language of English, while the actual condition should be judged according to the context in Chinese. A vivid example is like this: “As the saying goes，a girl changes eighteen times before reaching womanhood.” Chinese people all know that it’s a sentence to describe how greatly girls will change as they grow up. However, if it is read by the westerners, it will be so confusing that many questions will be raised. Why does the girl have to change eighteen times? What are the exact phases? Is there any scientific evidence? Obviously，the translation ignores the difference between the modes of thinking between Chinese and westerners．

4. Untranslatability caused by Culture Difference in Chinese-English Translation

Classical Chinese is characterized by (a) its high density, often compared to the style of telegrams, (b) its grammatical versatility, whereby the same character can function as a noun, verb, adjective or adverb, (c) its sparing use of tense and number, and (d) its tonality, a feature which is particularly relevant in literary composition and hence in literary translation. These characteristics have traditionally led to wide differences in interpretation, particularly evident in the case of translation.(Baker, M. and Saldanha, G. 2010：67)

4.1 Untranslatability in Chinese Dish

Compared with western food, Chinese dish has a longer history in traditional culture. There are various Chinese cuisines which are well-known for their colors, smell, shapes, flavors and tastes. The verbs used to describe the way of cooking are so many, like “煎”、“炒”、“炸”、“爆”、“熘”、“炖”、“煮”and other Chinese verbs. They all show the slight differences in the consumption of fuel, water, seasoning and other dosages. The words which describe Chinese dish are very precise and detailed. However, there is just the word “fry” in English when translating the above Chinese verbs about cooking. It’s difficult for us to find other equivalent English verbs. Thus, it leads to untranslatability in Chinese dish.

4.2 Untranslatability in Poems

The phenomenon of untranslatability usually occurs in the translation of poems. Shelly, an England poet, said “translating poems from one language into another language is just like throwing a bunch of violets into the cauldron. It’s not wise for us to enjoy the original colors and aroma of the violets.” The American poet Frost believed that something will be lost when translating poetry. Some Chinese scholars also have a similar viewpoint. Mr. Jin Yuelin once said in a kindest way, “poetry, strictly speaking, cannot be translated, especially classical poetry. If translated, it will lose the original taste of the poetry.” And Zhou Zuoren insisted that “poetry is not translatable.” Cited above are some ideas about the untranslatability of poems. Now we’ll discuss and analyze some examples. There is a sentence“寻寻觅觅，冷冷清清，凄凄惨惨戚戚。”in Li Qingzhao’s poetry. Mr. Xu Yuanchong translated it into “I look for what I miss; I know not what it is. I feel so sad, so dear, so lonely without cheer. ”The translation of Xu is so vivid that it shows the desolate scene of Li’s poetry. However, the reduplicating of Chinese cannot be displayed in Xu’s translation. Maybe it’s the magic charm of Chinese. Pun, a form of word play that suggests two or more meanings, is often used in Chinese classical poems. One example is Liu Yuxi’s “Zhuzhici”(《竹枝词》). It was written that “道是无晴却有晴。” Here “晴” is a pun which originally means “sunny” and it also refers to “情” that means “love”. “晴” and “情” are homophones. It is difficult for translators to interpret in the target language. Translators cannot convey the meaning of the pun completely.

4.3 Untranslatability in Historical Allusions

Historical allusions often have their own cultural origins and unique national characteristics, thus there is no corresponding word in the target language. Nevertheless, its implication or allegorical image often failed to be translated or even sacrificed. Historical allusions are often hard to be understood. It’s difficult for TL readers to understand the allusions without SL culture backgrounds. In which condition, the allusions are of no value. If one has never read Lu Xun’s The True Story of Ah Q（《阿Q正传》), he will be at a loss to understand the remark about Ah Q. Merely knowing the plot of Dream of Red Mansions （Dream of Red Chamber《红楼梦》）is hardly enough to appreciate the reference to the heroine 林黛玉 of the story. Hence, when we translate history allusions, the character’s identity, status and achievements should be supplemented. It’s almost impossible to find a proper counterpart of the history allusions in another culture. However, some similar items can be applied to explain the SL items. For instance, “梁山伯与祝英台”: Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, Chinese “Romeo and Juliet”. Accordingly, not understanding the allusions may cause the limitation of translation. It is difficult to keep the surface meaning and the deep meaning of allusions all reserved in target language, especially the historical characteristics of the culture.

5. Several strategies for handling the issue of untranslatability

5.1 Dynamic Equivalence

Dynamic equivalence theory, also called “functional equivalence” theory, is introduced by the famous translator Nida. The notion of the dynamic equivalence is that the TL readers’ responses to the TL text should be the same with those of the SL readers to the SL text. The theory indicates that when the basic meaning of the SL cannot be expressed simultaneously and adequately, the function or purpose will go first. In order to satisfy the criteria of dynamic equivalence, contextual analysis proves to be an effective method. The theorist holds the viewpoint that the equivalence in reader’s responses covers the fields such as language form, meaning, style, etc. For example, a kind of drink which is popular around the world is called “Coca-Cola”. ‘Coca’ and ‘Cola’ are two kinds of plants, which represents the drink is very nature and reliable. In Chinese, we can find the equivalence “可口可乐”, “可口” means the taste of the drink and “可乐” means the happy mood when people are drinking. Reduplicating is also used in Chinese which impresses consumers.

5.2 Transliteration

Transliteration is a translation method that converts the source language to target language according to the pronunciation of the source language. This method is often used in translating the original names, place names, and some words that express the new concepts, because there are few proper counterparts in the target language. The translation from Coca-Cola to “可口可乐” is a good example. When we are translating the name, we should use the method of transliteration to represent the pronunciation of the word so as to preserve the exotic taste. Giving a name that sounds the same as the original term---for example:

English into Chinese: hamburger(汉堡包)，chocolate(巧克力)，salad(色拉)，radar(雷达)，punk(朋克)，coffee(咖啡)

Chinese into English：气功(qigong)，孔子(Confucius)，荔枝(litchi)，饺子(jiaozi)，麻将(mahjong)，磕头(Kowtow)，大字报(dazibao)

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