A Comparative Study Of English And Chinese Idioms From The Perspective Of Society And Culture

Idioms, as the essence of languages, are unique and fixed expressions with particular meanings. Idioms are a product of humans’wisdom and play an important role in one’s daily life and everyday communication. Idioms are reflected in all languages, especially in English and Chinese. People are inclined to use idioms because they have concise meanings and vivid images which reflect the different features of culture in living environments, religion, literature, histories and customs.Idioms, as a significant part of a language, are the essence of culture in every country.We often come across some idioms with distinctive cultural characteristics in communication, therefore it is a very necessary and difficult thing for us to understand and use such idioms appropriately. When different people from different backgrounds try to communicate with each other they may encounter different understandings of the same sentences due to their different society and culture. The reason may be that they may not know a lot about the target language or cultures. While the ultimate aim of English learning as a second language is to master ability to use English appropriately, correctly and fluently in cross-cultural communication. Such a comparative study is especially beneficial to the development of Comparative Linguistics study and to help people from all over the world to gain a better understanding between languages leading to a smooth translation and interpretation in future communication.This thesis is a comparative study of English and Chinese idioms from a social and cultural perspective, with the guidance of Comparative Linguistics Theory. First of all is to give an overall view of the comparative study of English and Chinese idioms, then from a more comprehensive view, we will find out the differences between English and Chinese idioms. This thesis shows its significance not only in theory but in practice. In theory, it will help the development of Comparative Linguistics; in practice, this thesis will offer theoretical guidance for better idiomatic understanding between different societies and cultures and perhaps to a degree produce a better interpretation and translation. Throughout this comparative study, it clearly shows that there are both similarities and differences between English and Chinese idioms, which can be found in the aspects as follow: classification of idioms, the sources of idioms and cultural implications of idioms and so on.There are mainly three methods of study applied in this thesis:analytically inductive method, comparative method, and the method of seeking for similarities as well as differences. The method of seeking for similarities and differences as the main methodology of Comparative Linguistics is used throughout this entire thesis. Through the comparative study of English and Chinese idioms from a social and cultural point of view, it can be seen that two-part allegorical sayings are uniquely Chinese. No counterparts can be found in any other languages in the whole world. Even though there are both similarities and differences between English and Chinese idioms, or between English and Chinese cultures. It also shows that there are intercommunication and translations between languages, after all we all leave on this single earth, on this same land. So having similarities is not surprising nor differences given the different cultural and society backgrounds. This comparative study of English and Chinese idioms will benefit us a lot, which may lead to a successful intercultural communication. What’s more, it may bring about a further understanding of English-speaking countries’cultures.The purpose of this thesis can be divided into the following three aspects. (1) To give an overview of the comparative linguistic study on the English and Chinese idioms from the society and culture point of view. This study sorts out the definition, classification, sources and cultural implication of English and Chinese idioms, which is a clear description. (2) To explore the English and Chinese idioms from a different point of view. (3) To study the Comparative Linguistics especially the English and Chinese idioms from a different point of view. Previous studies on the English and Chinese idioms are mainly focused on the definition, history, theories, principles, and development of Comparative Linguistics. While this thesis focuses on the comparative study of idioms in English and Chinese, which is a new orientation in the development of comparative study.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one is the introduction. Chapter Two is concerned with the literature review. First, it defines the term "idiom" both in English and Chinese, and classifies English and Chinese idioms. Then is the description of previous studies. Chapter Three is the comparative study of English and Chinese idioms in their sources. There are similarities as well as differences in sources. Living on the single earth, English and Chinese have similar experience and thinking to some degree. Hence there are similarities in sources of idioms. However, because of the differences in geographical location, social custom and cultural connotation, some sources are also different. Chapter Four is a comparison of English and Chinese idioms in the aspect of culture. The similar aspects in different cultures are reflected in idioms. Nevertheless, differences of cultures are attributed to the differences of various aspects. Chapter Five is the conclusion. This thesis not only makes a comparison of the classification::and cultural connotation between English and Chinese idioms, but also compares the idiomatic sources in details. It’s an innovation point.As we all know, different languages have intercommunication, and translation For example, people from distinctive nations can often communicate very well with each other even though there are differences in many various aspects such as society, customs, cultures and so on. Therefore, doing such comparative study of English and Chinese idioms is very important and necessary to the development of Comparative Linguistics study and the progress of idiomatic translation. We do hope that future research on idiomatic studies will benefit from such comparative studies. There are deficiencies and limitations in this thesis. First of all, the study on Comparative Linguistics is not deep enough. Theories in the thesis are not so comprehensive. The theoretical guidance-Comparative Linguistics has not been applied well enough. Also lots of classic idiomatic examples are not listed in the thesis. So some theoretical points are not persuasive enough with just a few examples. In comparison with the flourishing development of Comparative Linguistics, development of comparative study of English and Chinese idioms has lagged behind. However, with more attention paid to this field, the prospects can be predicted. As far as the thesis is concerned, the comparative study of English and Chinese idioms has developed in various aspects, such as definition, classification, sources and cultural implications. In fact, there is still much room for a further research, including bilingual idioms concerned with animals, colors, numbers and idiomatic translation and so forth. Problems do exist to some extent. It is suggested that scholars deepen the previous studies, and research it from some new perspectives. Other suggestions are that new fields of idioms should be tried in order to provide more and better materials for learners who are interested in idioms.