汉译英语谚语在理解和表达方面的问题研究

A Research into the Comprehension and Expression in the Translation of English Proverbs

翻译难,谚语翻译更难。同其它一切翻译一样,谚语的翻译是由理解和表达两个环节构成的。本文以美国著名语言学家H.P.Grice的会话含意(Conversational implication)理论为基础,以笔者手头的几本英汉对照谚语集中出现的大量误译为实例,运用语用学理论,阐述了翻译英语谚语既要考虑其生动形象、喻义深刻、富于哲理的语言特征,也要重视其承载的丰富多彩的民族文化特色和文化信息,指出了对谚语的理解应该包括其字面意义、形象意义和隐含意义三个方面,同时也要考虑谚语的义域范围,包括谚语的基本意义、附加意义、褒义和贬义等;对谚语的表达应重视译出谚语用语的雅俗、谚语的民族色彩以及谚语特有的艺术表现形式等问题。

General translation is difficult, yet the translation of English proverbs is more difficult. Like other translations, the translation of English proverbs is composed of comprehension and expression. Based on American famous linguist H. P. Grice's conversational implication, pragmatics theory and a collection of mistakenly-translated instances from Chinese-English proverb books at hand, this paper expounds that both vivid language features and rich culturally-loaded characteristics should be taken into account in the translation of English proverbs. Proverbs' surface meaning, image meaning and implied meaning, together with their sense fields including their basic sense, added sense, commendatory sense and derogatory sense must be considered in the comprehension of English proverbs. Meanwhile, proverbs' elegance and vulgarity, nationality cultural differences and peculiar artistic expression ways must be emphasized in the translation of English proverbs.