Non Equivalence of English and Chinese Idioms in Translation─A Contrastive Approach

Both the English and Chinese languages enjoy prolonged history and abound with idioms,which are the linguistic and intellectual essence of their people.But due to the differences in geography,history,religion,custom and other aspects of life,English and Chinese idioms serve as carriers of different cultural characteristic.As a result,cultural barriers often pose quite a difficulty for translation theory and practice.Therefore,as we understand and translate idioms of one language into another,the problems of how to retain the original image,style,flavor,characteristics,and how to overcome the misunderstandings between the two cultures constitute the most pressing issues.This paper aims to explore some reasons and strategies of non equivalence of idioms in translation.