Cultural Barriers In The Translation Of Idioms

Communications between different countries have become more and more frequent in the world we are living. Consequently, people will encounter different cultures and inevitably meet with cultural shocks. Eastern culture and Western culture are different in many aspects. They have their own distinctive characteristics. But they are not incompatible to each other. They constantly interact and promote with each other during the long-time communication. Some factors of a culture have come into another culture and even become part of it. Language belongs to culture and affects culture in its own way. The study and research of language should not be restricted to the language itself, the culture that language carries should draw more attention. The famous linguists such as Newmark, Larson, Katan and Nida all gave their own discussions on the relationship between cultures and idioms. Idioms come into language through many different channels and it has greatly enriched the expressiveness and creativity of language. Different geographical and climate features, different historical and cultural backgrounds, different customs and values and different religious beliefs lead to the outcome of numerous idioms. Idioms which are heavily loaded with culture also serve to carry and spread culture during its use by the common people. People like to use idioms in their conversation or writings to create vividness and expressiveness. In this thesis, culture and idiom are put in the highlight for discussion. The thesis tries to make clear their relationship and interaction with each other. Culture offers all kinds of backgrounds for the idioms to come into being and grow up. Of course, idiom is part of a language, so the relations of language and culture and their interactions should first be worked out. The appearance of language is a milestone of the development of culture and accelerated the spread of culture, vice versa, culture has greatly promoted and enriched the language. Translation has long been a medium to spread foreign cultures or to bridge different cultures. Without translation, cross-cultural communication is difficult even impossible to continue. In translation, the most important and most complicated part is to translate culture. Translation is not only the transfer of language but also the transfer of culture. Language ability is very important for a translator, but culture awareness of source language is more important. Culture is the most intricate characteristics of a nation. To convey it in another totally different language needs wisdom, especially in the translation of idioms. Idiom translation is not just to match it with another idiom or work out its meaning. Translators should handle it according to its specific features , taking cultural factors into consideration. According to the basic requirements of translation, and in view of the different characteristics of idioms and the Chinese and Western culture, different strategies should be adopted in the translation of idioms. The thesis try to exemplify how idioms as a cultural phenomenon affect people's communications, how to translate idioms and make the cross-cultural communications go more smoothly.