Studies In Chinese Proverbs Translated Into English-A Cultural Comparison

Proverbs, as the crystallization of human wisdom accumulating national practice and experience, are the glittering gems of the cultural treasure house in the world, being an important part of language. On the whole, they are deep in meaning and rich in rhyme. Moreover, they are not only the carriers of intelligence and wisdom of the people but also the reflections of the languages and the arts. From the perspective of their content, proverbs are all the collective wisdom of peoples, distilled from centuries of experience of dealing with the problems and difficulties of life. On the other hand, their popularity has also been enhanced by the use of such devices as rhyme, assonance, alliteration and antithesis, which have made them easier to be memorized. In short, proverbs have long been justifiably entitled a highly condensed encyclopedia, which is deep in meaning, pithy in form and pleasant in sound. The exchange and communication between languages are in nature the exchanges between cultures. Proverbs are strongly culturally-loaded and may give rise to difficulties in communication. The loss and distorting of culture in translation often lead in improper treatment of those related cultural factors. Thus it is no doubt important for us to study and translate proverbs so that we may communicate more conveniently with each other, grasp more nations'cultures and customs, and use more languages better. Nonetheless, the good translation of proverbs is not an easy job to fulfill since different nations always have different cultures, histories and languages, which have together formed the diverse bases or deep meanings of proverbs and therefore have undoubtedly blocked the good grasp of such proverbs. Up to now, many linguists such as Chomsky, Fernando, Schleiermacher, Nida have done researches on proverbs from linguistic or psychological aspects. In the broad horizon of intercultural communication, the translation study takes a shift from the mere linguistic translating to cultural transfer. Since 1990s, scholars have attached much more attention to cultural elements in proverbs on the basis of the present research. The thesis attempts to adopt comparative studies on cultural perspectives in Chinese and English proverbs, searching for proper translation strategies. Though domestication and foreignization have evoked heated disputes. This thesis sets out to study these two strategies on culture translation to clarify their relations and scientific choice in translation between cultures.. Focusing on translations between Chinese and English proverbs, this thesis collects many authentic translated versions to analyze the properties of the two approaches. The thesis is roughly divided into seven chapters.The opening chapter is a brief introduction commenting on current studies on proverbs concerning with the aim and outline of the present paper. In Chapter Two, the writer mainly defines proverbs first of all, and then classifies Chinese proverbs and expounds the importance of translating proverbs. Chapter Three focuses on the factors influencing the translation of proverbs. These factors are mainly analyzed from the point of view of their cultures, linguistics, and so on. Cultural factors decide national characteristics including different geographical conditions, religious beliefs, historical backgrounds, cultural heritages, psychology and systems of value. Linguistic ones are phonetic, syntactic and stylistic.In Chapter Four, a brief account about definitions of language, culture, translation as well as their relations and translatability and untranslatability of culture are given. The fifth chapter involves the highly controversial two translation strategies: domestication and foreignization.In Chapter Six, the author suggests seven approaches to Chinese proverbs translated into English such as word-for-word translation, literal translation, adaptation, and so on.The final chapter is a conclusion, winding up the whole thesis and hoping to rouse the translators'awareness in playing an important role in introducing and making foreigners understand the unique culture of China and making contributions to the multi-cultural world.