汉译英中的宗教文化原型碰撞——基于对“塔”与“tower”的认知分析

The Collision of Different Religious and Cultural Prototypes in Chinese-English Translation,Based on Cognitive Analysis of “Ta” and “Tower”

汉语中有相当数量的词汇来源于佛教,在翻译过程中需要仔细推敲,以免丢失其内在的、隐性的文化内涵。认知语言学的原型和等级范畴理论对翻译中的跨文化差异分析很有用。以英文报纸《中国日报》为例,刊载文章中有关"塔"的英文不规范之处为数不少,很多佛塔被译成tower,而实际上"塔"和"tower"分别代表了不同的宗教文化认知原型范畴。对中国文化词汇的汉译英而言,分析其原型和基本范畴、剖析出隐性文化后面的内涵,对于中国文化输出和提高国家软实力具有重要意义。

A number of Chinese words come from Buddhism. Prototype and category theories of cognitive linguistics is enlight- ening in cross-cultural translation. Those words should he translated canffully lest their implicit meanings be deleted. China Daily is taken as an example to find that Ta（塔） is translated as tower many times. In fact, Ta and tower has different cognitive prototypes in terms of religion and culture. As for Chinese cultural vocabulary in English-Chinese Translation, it is important to analyze the proto- types and basic categories in order to uncover the implicit Chinese cultural connotation and strengthen China＇ s soft power.