The Influrences Of Cultural Background On Translation

It is agreed that language is a component of the culture and in turn reflects the culture. Language is the product and carrier of the culture. They are closely related with each other. Translation is not only the exchange between two languages but also the communication between two cultures. With the extensive international communication and culture exchange, the task of translation becomes more and more important. Each nation has its own cultural background. So, different cultural background definitely has influences on translation. Adapting Peter Newmark, cultural background knowledge can be classified into five categories. They are respectively the culture of ecology including animals, plants, geography, mountains, plains, etc; material culture including food, clothes, housing, transport, etc; social culture including people's manner of work and leisure and their attitudes toward them; the culture of organizations, customs and ideas including political, legal, religious,artistic aspects; and the culture of gestures and habits. (Peter Newmark, 2001:95)Since the"culture turn"in 1990s in translation studies,the common sense towards translation has changed greatly:translating activity is a complex human activity. It is not only an activity of linguistic transference,but also the communication of the culture. Translation never takes place in a vacuum but is restricted by all kinds of cultural factors.In this thesis,the author explores the inter-relation of language,culture and translation.How five kinds of cultural background knowledge influence the translation is mainly discussed. Several examples are given in order to give readers a much clearer understanding of the influences of cultural background on translation. These all prove that culture and translation are closely related with each other. Translators should pay more attention to this point. No translator is free from certain cultural background. The translator should have broad knowledge of cultural background and avoid mistranslation. Therefore, a general knowledge and a systematic study of the cultural factors that influence the process of translation is significant for bringing to light the regularities of translation process as well as for the enrichment of translation studies. The essay is a tentative attempt on this aspect from the viewpoint of cultural translation. The translators are able to learn many translating skills through examples and then make their translation more satisfactory.