Unit 4 Language and Culture

Unit 4 Language and Culture

 Warm Up

 Read the following humorous dialogues and try to translate them into Chinese.

 Can they be rendered in Chinese as humorous as the original?

 1. In a physics class

 Professor: What is matter?

 Student: Never mind.

 Then what is mind?

 It doesn’t matter.

 2.

 A: Why couldn’t Cinderella be a good soccer player?

 B: She lost her shoe, she ran away from the ball, and her coach was a pumpkin.

 More examples

 1. ---Why time flies?

 ----Because somebody wants to kill it.

 2. 7 days, without 7-Up, makes one weak (week).

 3. Patient: Well, doctor, my nose runs and my feet smell.

 Doctor: Hummm, that’s awkward. You’ve built upside-down.

 More examples

 5. English Learner: I’m sorry.

 Foreigner: I’m sorry, too.

 E Learner: I’m sorry three.

 Foreigner: But what are you sorry for?

 E Learner: I’m sorry five.

6. Policeman: Your dog keeps chasing a man on a bicycle.

Man: Nonsense, Officer. My dog can’t ride a bicycle.

 More examples

 What is the smallest bridge in the world?

 What sentence is the longest in the world?

 Which part of the clock is always old?

 Why is Adam’s first day the longest?

 What We Say Influences What

We Think, What We Feel

and What We Believe

 1.Relationship Between L&C

When we learn a new word we tend to look for its meaning in the word itself. Yet in addition to its dictionary meanings, the same word may stir up different associations in people. Take the word dog for example.

From the above, we can infer that language not only expresses facts, ideas, or events which represent similar world knowledge by its people, but also

reflects the people’s attitudes, beliefs, world outlooks, etc. in a word,

language expresses cultural reality.

 Language is a part of culture. It is one of the features that distinguish man from animals. It is the key stone of culture.文化的冠石

 Language is not a matter of neutral codes and grammatical rules. Each time we select words, form sentences, and send a message, either oral or written, we also make cultural choices. (see examples on p119)

 Cultural Impacts

 First, as a mirror of culture, language is strongly influenced and shaped by culture; it reflects the environment in which we live and cultural values.

 For examples:

 Language reflects the environments.

1) The Eskimos have countless words for snow to distinguish among different types of snow. However, in Amazon area snow is not part of the environment, therefore, people in that region do not have a word for snow.

2) Most Americans’ snow vocabulary---snow, powder snow, sleet, slush, blizzard, and ice. p.120

3) Germany---north part (beer), south part (wine) p.120

4) There are more than four hundred words for camel in Arabic.

5) Japanese ---fish

6) Distinction between dew, fog and snow in English is not found in Koyas of India, one of the leading communities of Lakshadweep.

A Koya distinguishes 7 different kinds of bamboo

 Language reflects cultural values.

1) Greek borrowing were mostly literary, technical and scientific words: drama, comedy, physics, lexicon, physics, criterion etc.

2)The myth of “God” in Ancient Greek and Rome forms the important part of European culture (esp. in literature): Zeus, Apollo, Muse, Venus, Jupiter etc.

3) Chinese：皇后、皇贵妃、妃、嫔、贵人等

4) English：公爵（duke) 、伯爵(earl) 、子 爵(viscount) 、男爵(baron)等。

5) Navajo/Navaho do not have a word for late p.120

6) The difficulties over the word manana p.120 -121

 7) Different cultures use identical words that have rather different meanings. p.121

 Second, language also exerts its influence on culture. Each language can be used to express whatever its speaker wants to express.

 But in certain languages certain concepts can be expressed more easily, such as the kinship terms in Chinese. They help to reinforce the concept of kinship which is important to the Chinese people.

 Kinship terms: (p. 125)

Translate: (p. 126)

a. 林黛玉的母亲是贾宝玉的姑母，贾宝玉的母亲是林黛玉的舅母，又是薛宝钗的姨母。

b. Three cousins of the French Presidents were also to receive diamonds.

 To sum up, the relationship of L to C is that of part to whole, for L is part of C.

 Since the knowledge and beliefs that constitute a people’s culture are habitually encoded and transmitted in L, it is extremely difficult to separate the two. They influence and shape each other.

 Humans learn their culture through language. Culture is transmitted through language.

 Language is the carrier and container of cultural information. Without language, culture would be impossible.

 On the one hand, language as an integral part of human being, permeates his thinking and way of viewing the world. Language both expresses and embodies cultural reality.

 On the other hand, language, as a product of culture, helps perpetuate the culture, and the changes in language uses reflect the cultural changes in return. (more examples---p.122-123)

 Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf, proclaimed that the structure of the language people habitually use influences the ways they think and behave, i.e. different languages offer people different ways of expressing the world around, they think and speak differently, this is also known as linguistic relativity.

 Sapir and Whorf believe that language filters people’s perception and the way they categorize experiences. This interdependence of language and thought is now known as Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis.

 Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

 Linguistic determinism: L may determine our thinking patterns. (strong version)

 Linguistic relativity: different languages offer people different ways of expressing the world around. (weak version)

 Sapir – Wharf Hypothesis

Oracle Bone Script Pictographic

Presentations

 English: horseshoe

 French: fer à cheval — iron for horse

 German: hufeisen—— hoof iron

 天生有福

 English：“生来嘴里就含着一把银勺”（born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth）

 Russian：“穿着衬衣生下来的”

 German：“梳好了头才出世的”

 “一箭双雕”或 “一举两得”

 English：“一石打死二鸟”（to kill two birds with one stone)

 French：“一块石头打两处”

 Russian ：“一打死两只免子”

 German：“一个拍子打两只苍蝇”

 Chinese: 不入虎穴，焉得虎子

 Japanese:

 KOKETSU NI IRAZUMBA KOJI EZU “without entering the tiger’s

den, you cannot capture the tiger’s pup”

 English:

 Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 French:

 Qui ne risque rien n'a rien.

 Chicken ---in English means a coward, a person without courage, but in

Chinese means a prostitute

 Japanese: “怪我”，“油断”，“油断一秒，怪我一生”

 怪我：

 意思是“让我 受伤害、使我伤残”。古代日本人跑到中国学汉语，看到两个人走路撞到一起了，纷纷道歉说“怪我、怪我”，日本人以为是在说“我受伤了、你伤着我了”呢，所以“怪我”这个词在日语中就成了“伤我”的意思。

 油断一秒，怪我一生：

 这事还有个笑话，说有中国人去日本企业考察，看到人家车间里有一个标语，觉得特别好，写的是“油断一秒，怪我一生”，回国后就给自己员工开大会，说我们要学习日本人严谨的时间观念和责任心——车间里油断一秒，就怪我一辈子。

 其实人家这句话的意思是提示员工注意安全，“油断”在日语中是“疏忽大意”的意思，“油断一秒，怪我一生”就是“一时疏忽，终生伤残”/“疏忽一時，受傷一世” .

 这句话在日本也常用来提醒大家注意交通安全，据说有中国人在日本高速路上开车，看到这个奇怪的标语，以为是在提示前方路上加油站很少，于是赶紧停车加油——油千万不能断，否则怪我一生啊。

 The vocabulary and morphology of different languages differ in the way that they represent the world.

 (Linguistic Evidence of Cultural Differences )

 Terms of address

 Greetings

 Thanks and compliments

 Privacy and taboos

 Color words

 Words and cultural-specific connotations

 The use of direct and indirect language

 Terms of address

In English

Mr. Mrs. Miss. Ms Sir Madam

In Chinese:

Tongzhi Shifu

Mr. Miss

Uncle, aunt, grandpa, granny (Uncle Zhang, Granny Li)

Chairman Hu, Premier Wen, Director Ma

In English:

Hello.

Hi.

How are you?

How do you do?

How are you getting on?

How’s everything going?

How’s everything with you?

A nice day, isn’t it?

 Thanks and Compliments

 Privacy and Taboos

How old are you?

What are your wages?

How much do you earn?

You make a lot of money, don’t you?

How much did that pair of shoes cost you?

We should be careful to avoid expressions related to sexual intercourse, some organ of human, swear words, age, four-letter words, personal matters, political view and racism.

 Color Words

 What does green with envy mean?

 Do people turn green when they have feelings of envy?

 If Paul was in a blue mood, what kind of mood was he in? Was he joyful, excited, sad, or what?

 What is a red letter day?

 blue Monday?

 green-eyed?

 brown eyes?

 Mr. Brown is a very white man. He was looking rather green the other day. He has been feeling blue lately. When I saw him, he was in a brown study. I hope he’ll soon be in the pink again.

 布朗先生是一位忠实可靠的人。那天他脸色不好，近来感到闷闷不乐。我见到他时，他显得心事重重。我希望他早点振作起来。

 Different meanings of the following color words p.124-125

 Red

 Green

 Yellow

 Blue

 White

 Black

 Cultural Association of Colors More---refer to p.124-125

 Red (1)

 红旗 red flag

 红糖 brown sugar

 红茶 black tea

 红榜 honor roll

 红豆 love pea

 红运 good luck

 红利 dividend

 红事 wedding

 red wine 红葡萄酒

 red ruin 火灾

 red battle 血战

 red sky 彩霞

 red-carpet隆重的/上宾待遇的

 red-pencil修改, 检查, 删除

 red ball（俚） 货运快车/铁路特快货车

 red cent （口）一分钱/毫厘

 red gold（古）真金/金钱

 Red (2)

 贾宝玉神游太虚境，警幻仙曲演红楼梦。

 Jiao Baoyu visits the Land of Illusion;

 And the fairy Disenchantment performs the Dream of Golden Days.

 贾宝玉品茶栊翠庵，刘姥姥醉窝怡红院。

 Jia Baoyu tastes some superior tea at Green Bower Hermitage;

 And Grannie Liu samples the sleeping accommodation at Green Delights.

 Green (1)

 “嫉妒、眼红”

 green eye 眼红

 green with envy羡慕极了

 green with jealousy十分嫉妒

 green-eyed monster 嫉妒/妒忌

 in a green rage 怒气冲天

 Green (2)

 “钱财、钞票、有经济实力”

 In American political elections the candidates that win are usually the ones who have green power backing them.

 在美国政治竞选中获胜的候选人通常都是些有财团支持的人物。

 Green (3)

 “没有经验、缺乏训练、知识浅薄”；“（伤口）新的/未愈合的”

 The new typist is green at her job.

 刚来的打字员是个生手。

 You cannot expect Mary to do business with such people. She is only eighteen and as green as grass.

 你不能指望玛丽同这样的人做生意，她只有十八岁，还毫无经验。

 a green wound 新伤口

 Yellow (1)

 “胆小、卑怯、卑鄙”

 a yellow dog 可鄙的人，卑鄙的人

 a yellow livered 胆小鬼

 yellow-belly胆小鬼/懦夫

 He is too yellow to stand up and fight.

 他太软弱，不敢起来斗争。

 Yellow (2)

 特定颜色

 Yellow Pages 黄页 （电话号码簿，用黄纸印刷）

 Yellow Book 黄皮书 （法国等国家的报告，用黄封面装帧）

 yellow boy （俗）金币

 Yellow (3)

 象征低级趣味、色情庸俗、下流猥亵

 pornographic（色情的）

 vulgar（庸俗下流的）

 obscene（猥亵的）

 blue jokes（下流的玩笑）

 blue films（黄色电影）

 yellow journalism(以低级趣味的文字或耸人听闻的报道吸引读者的）黄色办报作风；耸人听闻的关于丑闻的新闻报道/哗众取宠的新闻）

 Blue (1)

 “情绪低落”、“心情沮丧”、“忧愁苦闷”

 They felt rather blue after the failure in the football match.

 球赛踢输了，他们感到有些沮丧。

 ——She looks blue today. What’s the matter with her?

 ——She is in holiday blue.

 她今天显得闷闷不乐，出了什么事情？

 她得了假期忧郁症。

 Blue (2)

 “黄色的”、“下流的”

 blue talk 下流的言论

 blue video 黄色录像

 blue jokes（下流的玩笑）

 blue films/movies（黄色电影）

 Blue (3)

 社会地位高、出身名门的意义，如blue blood（贵族血统）

 other meanings:

 out of blue 意想不到

 once in a blue 千载难逢

 drink till all’s blue 一醉方休

 blue book/Blue Book蓝皮书（英国或议会发表的封皮为蓝色的官方报告；封皮为蓝色的官方出版物

 blue button”蓝徽“（指伦敦证券交易所职员）

 White (1)

 英语中的white有时表达的含义，与汉语中的“白色”没有什么关系

 a white lie 善意的谎言

 the white coffee 牛奶咖啡

 white man 善良的人，有教养的人

 white-livered 怯懦的

 white elephant 昂贵又无用之物

 White (2)

 汉语中有些与“白”字搭配的词组，实际上与英语white所表示的颜色也没有什么联系，而是表达另外的含义

 白开水 plain boiled water

 白菜 Chinese cabbage

 白字 wrongly written or mispronounced character

 白搭 no use

 白费事 all in vain

 Black (1)

 象征气愤和恼怒

 black in the face

 脸色铁青

 to look black at someone

 怒目而视

 Black (2)

 “阴险”、“”

 黑心 evil mind

 backstage manipulator黑幕

 inside story黑线

 black sheep 害群之马

 black day 凶日

 black future 暗淡的前途

 Others (1)

 历史方面：

 to raise to the purple升为红衣主教

 to be born in the purple 生于帝王之家

 to marry into the purple 与皇室或贵族联姻

 Others (2)

 社会方面：

 blue-collar workers 蓝领阶层，指普通体力劳动者

 grey-collar workers 灰领阶层，指服务行业的职员

 white-collar workers 白领阶层，指接受过专门技术教育的脑力劳动者

 pink-collar workers 粉领阶层，指职业妇女群体

 golden-collar personnel 金领阶层，指既有专业技能又懂管理和营销的人才

 Others (3)

 经济方面：

 red ink 赤字

 in the black 盈利

 white goods 白色货物，指冰箱、洗衣机等外壳为白色的家电产品

 brown goods 棕色货物，指电视、录音机、音响等外壳为棕色的电子产品

 More refer to p.124-125

 Words and cultural-specific connotations p.126-127

 Language Relativity

 Connotations p.126-127

 What is connotation?

 --- “the implication of a word, apart from its primary meaning” (Longman Modern English Dictionary) “一个词的基本意义之外的含义”

---“the suggesting of a meaning by a word apart from the thing it explicitly names or describes.” (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary)“一个词明确指称或描写的事物之外的暗示的意义”

---the additional meanings that a word or phrase has beyond its central meaning. p127

e.g. 松， pine

坚贞、坚忍不拔、傲霜斗雪、傲骨峥嵘，青春常在

大雪压青松，

青松挺又直。

要知松高节，

待到雪化时。

（陈毅）

 梅, plum

宝剑锋从磨励出,

梅花香自苦寒来。

高洁、坚强、不屈不挠，自强不息。愈是寒冷，愈是风欺雪压，花开得愈精神，愈秀气。迎雪吐艳，凌寒飘香，铁骨冰心，坚贞气节。

 竹， bamboo

 竹子挺拔秀丽，岁寒不凋，象征谦虚、坚强、正直 、刚直不阿、有节气、有骨气，有清香、绿，是君子形象。

“玉可碎而不改其白，

竹可焚而不毁其节”

（关羽）

 The use of direct & indirect language

 Americans say yes and no as a means of expressing their individual views.

 Being a collective culture, the Chinese usually use yes or no to express respect for the feelings of others. “In other words,” says Ma, “to say yes for no or no for yes is largely a reflection of the indirect approach to communication, through which undesirable interpersonal communication can be avoided.”

 Indirect use of language

 The indirect use of language is evident in ways other than the use of yes and no.

 For example, an American host or hostess, when complimented on his

or her cooking, is likely to respond, “Oh, I’m so glad you liked it. I cooked it especially for you.”

 In contrast, the Chinese host or hostess will “instead apologize profusely for giving you nothing even slightly edible and for not showing you enough honor by providing proper dishes.”

 Another example of the Chinese use of indirect language is evident in their practice of politely refusing an offer three times before they accept.

 It is easy to imagine how this practice would affect the business or health care environment, but it has also left many Chinese hungry at an American table.

 An American hostess commented on this situation:

 Once you’ve learned the signals and how to respond, life becomes infinitely easier. When Chinese guests come, I know I should immediately ask if they’d like a cup of tea. They will respond, “ Please don’t bother,” which is my signal to fetch tea.

 How to Say “ Yes” and “No”

 Japanese “Hai” = “Yes” p.133

 “yes” = “ no” ---Vietnam immigrant p.133

 “no” = “maybe” ---a sex-biased joke p.133-134

 Other ways of expressing “no” p.134-136

 How would you put the following into Chinese?

 1) ---Do you like the new school?---Yes, I do.

 ---是,

 2)—Please don’t say that.---Yes, I will.

 ---不,

 3) ---I know what he wants.---Yes?

 ---什么?(怎么啦/是吗?)

 ---Money!

 4) ---Waiter! ---Yes, sir.

 ---来啦.

 5) Yes? ---I’d like two tickets, please.

 =What can I do for you?

 6)—Everything will be all right soon, yes?

 ---是不是/对不对？

 Try to explain why people in countries like Japan and China often refuse to say “no” directly? p.137

 Ans: Both Japanese and Chinese people tend to convey messages implicitly. The most conspicuous case is the way they say “no”. The reasons are many.

 Firstly, Japan and China are humble cultures which teach their people to be modest and mild. They always avoid expressing strong emotions against other party, instead, they prefer to show disapproval tactfully through implication.

 Secondly, “face” is highly valued in communication. People tend to protect their own face and meanwhile feel obliged not to threaten the other party’s face.

 Still, harmony is very important in Japanese and Chinese cultures. People are expected to keep a harmonious relationship with each other. They try to avoid being aggressive which may result in direct conflict.

 汉语中的“面子”

 面子在中国人的社会生活尤其是社会交往中的重要性是其他文化无与伦比的。面子在很大程度上调节和支配中国人的社会行为。因此,汉语“脸、面”在向社会关系域映射的过程中能产性要比英语高。

 汉语中见面的方式有多种表达法,如“见面、谋面、碰面、会面、晤面”等,与不同身份的人见面用不同的词语。而英语中一般用meet一词来表达。

 同时,在社会交往的过程中,失去面子在汉语中可用“丢脸、抛脸、抢脸、抹脸、丢面子”等很多词语来表达,而在英语中就用lose face一词来囊括。

 “保全面子”在英语中是save face,在汉语中保全面子是相互的,在交往中不仅要保全自己的面子,还要顾及别人的面子,其对应的汉语表达就涉及到交际的双方,自己要“顾面子、爱面子、要面子、讲面子”,对别人要“留面子、买面子、给脸、给面子”等。

 林语堂眼中的“中国人的脸”

 林语堂先生在《脸与法制》一文中所言:“中国人的脸,不但可以洗,可以刮,并且可以丢,可以赏,可以争,可以留。”这里可丢、可赏、可争、可留之脸就是中国的“面子、情面”。由此,汉语中就有“变脸、抹脸、翻脸、破脸、撕脸、赏脸、给脸、争面子、争脸”等说法。

 “面子问题是中国特有的国粹。这个词儿,外国文没法翻译。”中西文化中面子观念的差异使得我们很难找到上面所列词的对等的英文表达。这些都是中国人强烈的面子观念在语言中的动态表征。

 翻译不仅涉及语言问题，也涉及文化问题。

 译者不仅要了解外国的文化，还要深入了解自己民族的文化。

 不仅如此，还要不断地把两种文化加以比较，因为真正的对等应该是在各自文化中的含义、作用、范围、感情色彩、影响等等都是相当的。

 翻译者必须是一个真正意义的文化人。人们会说：他必须掌握两种语言；确实如此，但是不了解语言当中的社会文化，谁也无法真正掌握语言（王佐良19 )

 3.Problems found in translating across cultures p.138-140

 Language translation is not only difficult ; it can be inept and have extreme consequences. e.g. the word mokusatsu Japan’s premier used in responding the surrender ultimatum (refer to case 13 p.142)

 Problems often arise in translation when we hope to achieve

equivalence between languages.

 Case analysis

 Case 13 p.141-142

 Questions:

 What can we learn from this case?

 Do you know any other examples of misunderstanding caused by translation?

 Case analysis

 This case vividly illustrates that failure in intercultural translation my lead to serious consequence, or even disasters to human beings. Definitely, translation is not such a simple process as rending a word, a sentence or text literally, but rather a far more complex one than most people assume.

 For example, once a Chinese cosmetic manufacturer wanted to promote their products into the international market. The slogan of the advertisement was: “sweet as Jade”, as in

 Chinese “jade” was always used to compliment a woman’s beauty; but unfortunately, it was not an appropriate word to describe the beauty of a lady in Western cultures. In English, “jade” when referring to a woman has the connotations of being vulgar, rude, or immoral. Undoubtedly, the sales were not satisfying.

 The seeming equivalences between languages may have very different connotations in different cultures, thus the translator should be cautious in the process of translation so as to avoid misunderstanding.

 Types of Equivalence p138-140

 Lexical/Vocabulary Equivalence

 Finding a word in the target language that has same meaning as

source language

 Idiomatic Equivalence

 used

Expressions with meaning contrary to literal meaning of words

 Grammatical-Syntactical Equivalence

 another

Transferring grammatical rule system from one language to

 Types of Equivalence

 Experiential Equivalence

 Words that have meaning in one culture but not in another-no

experience with concept being described

 Conceptual Equivalence

 How different cultures define reality

 1) Lexical equivalence p. 139

 snow in Eskimo and English

 blue in Russian and English

 carry (扛、挑、抬、担、背、提、驮、挎)

 日 ≠ Sun

 service station ≠ 服务站

 lover ≠爱人

 你有笔吗？

 Have you got a pen?

 Have you got pens

 Have you got any pens?

 Have got the pen?

 Have you got the pens?

 不吃饭了； 肌肉练大了；周末

 一老外苦学汉语十年，满怀信心到中国参加汉语考试。

 试题如下： 请解释下文中每个“意思”的意思：

 小王给领导送红包，两人的对话很有意思。

 领导：“你这是什么意思？” 小王：“没什么意思，意思意思。” 领导：“你这就不够意思了。” 小王：“小意思，小意思。” 领导：“你这人真有意思。” 小王：“其实也没有别的意思。” 领导：“那我就不好意思了。” 小王：“一点小意思，是我不好意思。”领导：“这次意思就算了，下次不要再小意思了。”小王：“明白您的意思，下次不会小意思了。” 老外搞不懂究竟是啥意思，不会意思交了白卷，懊丧地回国钻研这些意思 。

Enid: I have an appointment with Ms. Smith.

Elsa: She’s expecting.

Enid: She’s expecting? When?

Elsa: At 3:00.

Enid: It’s 3:05. Did she already have her baby?

Elsa: Baby? She’s in her office.

Enid: She had a baby in her office!

 What’s wrong?

How to translate the Chinese term “ 请”?

 When offering or urging another person to be first in going through a door or getting in a car, the expression is generally

 ---Please.

 ---After you.

 ---You go first.

 At the meal table, when urging someone to start eating, or to take more of the food?

 --- Help yourself.

 How to translate辛苦了?

when used as a greeting to a person who has just completed a long trip.

 ---You must have had a tiring journey.

---You must be tired from a long trip?

--- Did you have a good trip?

 You’ve had a hard time.

You’ve gone through a lot of hardships.

 when commending people who have finished a difficult task or are still working on it.

 ---Well done! That was a hard job. You’ve got a hard job.

 wife=夫人，太太，妻子，爱人，老婆，老伴，內人，贱內，婆娘，孩子他妈，我那口子，孩子他娘，黃脸婆

 husband=郎君 ，官人 ，相公，丈夫，爱人，老公，我那口子，孩子他爹，我家先生 ，当家的 ，掌柜的 ，我家男人 ，老伴 ，老头子

 How to translate the language of respect and humility

Chinese English

您，您老人家 you

本人/校，敝人/校 I, me/ This (our) school

令尊/ 令堂/ 二老 your father/ mother/ parents

令兄/ 令郎/ 令爱 your brother/ your son/ daughter

家严/ 家慈 my father/ my mother

舍亲/ 舍侄 my relative/ my nephew

我那个小子/丫头 my son/ my daughter

府上 your home, the place you’re from

贵校 /厂/国 your school/ factory/ country

Chinese English

您贵姓？ Your name, please?/ Could I have your name?

您有什么高见？ What’s your opinion?/ What do you think?

请提宝贵意见。 Please give us your comments./ Could you

give us your comments or suggestions?

我有一些很不成熟的意见。 As I see it …/ My opinion is …

能请教您一下吗？ Could you give me some help/ advice?

敬请光临… You are invited to …

久仰/ 久闻大名 I have heard about you. / You’re well

known to us.

拜读了您的大作 I have read your book/ article.

…惠存 To (for) …(name of the receiver of gift)

 The translation of 不敢当

 If it is the answer to a polite comment or request such as请您指教 Kindly give us/me your advice.

 --- I’ll be glad to or Thank you or I’m honored, but I’m not sure I’m the right person.

 in an answer to praise such as You’re one of the top scholars (authorities) in the filed.

 --- Not really or It’s such a small field.

 as a reply to a comment like That was a magnificent speech. I found it

very stimulating.

 ---That’s very kind of you to say so or Thank you.

 小弟，卑职，愚见，掘作等are words showing the modesty of Chinese, yet in communicating with English-speaking people, it is better not to use them which easily lead to misunderstanding.

 Case:

 Chinese: 请对鄙人乏味的演讲发表你的高见。(Could you please give me your great opinion of my boring speeches?)

Westerner:为什么说它乏味呢？

(Why do you call them boring? )

An invitation:

In Chinese:

“请您赏光于星期天晚上莅临寒舍吃一餐便饭。”

In English:

“Would you honor me by coming to my humble home for a simple meal on

Sunday evening?

“I’d like to have you come over for dinner Sunday evening.”

 2). Idiomatic equivalence: p. 139

 eat one’s word ≠食言

 Eat one’s word= take back one’s words（被迫）收回前言；承认错误

 食言：go back to ones’ word, i.e. to break one’s promise

 break a leg ≠打断一条腿

 =祝你好运/大获成功（用作对演员的祝愿语）

 eat/tear one’s heart out ≠ 把心吃了

 =深感忧伤/万分悲伤/痛不欲生

 pull one’s leg ≠ 拉后腿（hinder)

 =开某人玩笑

 child’s play ≠ 儿戏（treat as a trifle)

 =非常容易做的事

 kick the bucket ≠ 踢水桶

 钓大鱼≠to fish a big fish

 (to wait for a bigger return)

 下海≠go to sea/go fishing on the sea

 (to engage in doing business)

 An Achilles’ heel --- the weak or vulnerable point of a person致命弱点

 Case Study

One night a Chinese student majoring in English sat on the steps of the Foreign students’ residence and talked with two young male foreign students, one German and one American. They did not speak a word to her on their own initiative, but she asked many questions to get a conversation started. Every time they answered her with only one or two words. But she was determined to practice her English so she tried to keep the conversation going. “How do you spend your weekend?” she asked. The German boy answered immediately, “Fishing,” and the two boys looked at each other meaningfully.

“Fishing?” She was really confused. “But where do you fish?” she asked.

On listening to this the two boys burst out laughing.

Questions: Why the two boys looked at each other meaningfully when the

German boy said the word—fishing, and then they burst out laughing?

The Key to the Question:

 Fishing has two meanings here:

 One is the literal meaning.

 The other is just sitting here or walking on the street and waiting for some girls to come up to you.

 3). Grammatical-syntactical equivalence: p. 139

 There are no equivalents in Chinese for the grammatical or syntactical features like relative pronouns such as “which”, “whom”, etc. and the definite article “the” in English. And there are no equivalents in English for the auxiliary words performing the grammatical function of mood such as “也”，“乎”，“哉”…in Classical Chinese.

 e.g. 夏练三伏；冬练三九

 In summer keep exercising during the hottest days; in winter do the same thing during the coldest weather

 English: third person singular, definite article, tense, plurality of nouns;

words can be nouns, verbs or adjectives depending on their position in a sentence, e.g. ‘book a place’ and ‘place a book’.

 Chinese: 量词：一把，一架，一份，一块，一条，一 片，一头，一匹，一只 等等

 Pilipino: no equivalent of the English verb “to be”

 Korean: no relative pronouns are comparable to the English “who,” “which”, “that”, or “what”

 Japanese: no distinctive modifiers of countable or uncountable ns, e.g. much shoes, many patience

Translate the following:

1) 我原先打算七月一日飞，后来不得不取消, 这使我很扫兴。

It was keen disappointment that I had to cancel the visit I had intended to fly to on July 1st.

I intended to fly to on July 1st, but had to cancel it later, which made me feel quite disappointed.

2)我因病没参加这次英语考试。

 My illness prevented me from the English exam.

 I was unable to take part in the English exam.

3)我记不起他的名字。

 His name escaped me.

 I can't remember his name.

 4)Experiential equivalence p. 139-140

 color of snow to a blind

 东风 vs. west wind (“Ode to the West Wind”)

 e.g. 古道西风瘦马

 e.g. biting east winds (刺骨东风 Samuel Butler)

 Milton)

e.g. And west-winds with musky wind(带有芳香翅膀的西风John

 e.g. It’s a warm wind, the west wind, full of birds’ cries. (John

Masefield)

 夏日 vs. summer’s day

 夏日炎炎似火烧

 Shall I compare thee (you) to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate. (Shakespeare)

 英民族“尚右忌左”

--get up on the wrong side of the bed (一起床就心绪不佳）

--right-hand man (得力助手)

--right man (正直的人）

--have two left feet (极笨、非常笨拙）

--婚礼上，新娘仍然必须站在新郎的左边，以表明妻子相对于丈夫处于从属的次要地位。

--穿衣时，西方人多会刻意地先穿右袖，因为先穿左袖的话是不吉利的。

--若你脸上的痣长在右边，那么恭喜你，这是吉痣，而左颊长痣则是凶痣；

--很多西方人至今还保持着向左肩后吐三次唾沫以消灾的习俗……

 汉民族“崇左忌右”

-- “吉事尚左,凶事尚右……君子居则贵左,用兵则贵右.兵者不祥之器，非君子之器。”（《老子》31章）只有见血不祥的事,才贵右 。左是生位阳位,右则是阴位死位;左主吉,右主凶。

--道教的烧香决认为,拈香时宜左手在外,右手在内。因为左手为净手,而右手操持百事,容易受秽,是以善包恶也。

--唐宋时期都是左官高于右官，那时的左右仆射、左右丞相、左右丞，皆以左官为上。

--从50年代的反“右倾”斗争到六七十年代的极左思潮，形成了“左”代表、代表进步，“右”代表保守、代表落后。

--右派

 5). Conceptual equivalence p.140

 freedom in American and 自由 in Chinese

 to love in Spanish

 kinship terms

 livestock classification

 Corruption in Singapore is an anti-law behavior while in Thailand it is only morally wrong which led to the corruption of the whole society, from the president to the common taxi-driver.

 bird in English and 鸟 in Chinese

 wear in English and 穿 in Chinese

 female: 女; 母

 male: 男; 公

 Translate:

 He wears long hair.

 He is wearing a smile.

 He wears a watch.

 He wears his head high

 他的头昂得高高的.

 His patience is wearing thin.

 他的耐心正慢慢失去.

 Case analysis

 Case 14 p.142

 Questions:

 Do you know the meaning of “杨”“柳”here? What do they refer to? How should they be translated in English?

 What do you think of the two English versions? Could you offer a better one?

 Case analysis

 Case 14 p.142

 Answers:

 Case analysis

 Version 1 appears to be faithful to the original but may easily confuse readers in the target language.

 Version 2 employs the liberal translation strategy with an attempt to

convey the original meaning as precisely as possible. However, the original flavor is lost because the rhetoric device---pun ---is not reproduced.

 Case analysis

 Case 15 p.143

 Questions:

 Is the translation faithful to the original? Is it appropriate for foreign readers?

 Case 16 p.144-145

 Questions：

 What are the differences between the two English versions? Which one is better?

 Below are the contrasts the writer has noticed between Chinese and Western writing in English and her advice for translating Chinese verbal pictures into English verbal pictures

 (Adapted from Linell Davis, Doing Culture :Cross-Cultural Communication in Action（《中西文化之鉴》, Chapter 15)

 Contrasts between Chinese and Western writing in English

 Her advice for translating Chinese verbal pictures into English ones

Assignment

 Do the Fill-in Task on p.124 and translate them into Chinese.---to be handed in next week.

 Read: Language-and-Culture, Two Sides of the Same Coin (p128-132) & Language, Thought, and Culture (p150-153)