On the Translation of Chinese Four-Character Idioms in Selected Modern Chinese Essays 1

Chinese idioms are vivid and meaningful,which are the essence of national language.However,due to the great differences between Chinese and western cultures,the translation of Chinese idioms is an extremely complex task.In view of the importance and complexity of its translation,with the translation of Chinese four-character idioms in Selected Modern Chinese Essays 1 as its theme,the paper aims to investigate the application of different translation methods in C-E translation,and adopts Yan Fu’s theory of“faithfulness,expressiveness,and elegance”to judge the translation effects.Through a summary and study of the form and translation effect of idioms,the paper finds that literal translation is often used for straightforward idioms,while free translation is often used for idioms with an extended meaning,and context should be considered when selecting translation methods.

On the Translation of Chinese Four-character Idioms Loaded with Color Words

Chinese four-character idioms loaded with color words are the typical symbol of the Chinese culture and their transition is important to Chinese-English dictionaries.The quality of the dictionary and users' understanding are affected by the correctness and appropriateness of their translation.This paper mainly focuses on the translation of four-character Chinese idioms with color words in New Century Chinese-English Dictionary.The research shows that there are three strategies for Chinese fourcharacter idioms loaded with color words in the dictionaries:literal translation,free translation and the integration of literal translation and annotative translation.

An Analysis of Value Differences in English and Chinese Idioms from the Perspective of Intercultural Communication

Idioms are the essence and gems of human wisdom and an important carrier of national culture. As a special form of language, they play an important role in intercultural communication. Due to the uniqueness of each culture, English and Chinese idioms are different in many aspects, values included. The present paper attempts to analyze the different values in English and Chinese idioms from three aspects: dependence vs independence, past-time orientation vs future-time orientation, and harmony vs competition. And the authors hope that it will be of some practical significance in people's intercultural communication.

The Differences of Cultural Connotations between English and Chinese Idioms

The paper analyses the cultural differences in English and Chinese idioms from three aspects and tries to figures out the underlying reasons of those differences.It is necessary for us to understand and learn about the cultural differences between English and Chinese idioms and a good mastery of those differences can help us get rid of the communicative barriers and understanding barriers.

Promoting the International Dissemination of Chinese Culture Through International Chinese Language Education: A Case Study of Chinese-English Idiomatic Equivalence

One major task of our improvement of China’s international communication capabilities is to tell China’s stories well and make China’s voice heard to communicate a comprehensive,multi-dimensional view of China in the international arena.International Chinese language education bears the dual responsibility of spreading the Chinese language and promoting the Chinese culture.How to shape global narratives for telling China’s stories and improve China’s international communication capabilities has become an important issue that concerns international Chinese language education.Chinese idioms,which are hidden treasures of the Chinese language,can play a unique role in this regard.It is therefore necessary to review the content and methods of including idioms in international Chinese language education.In this paper,instruction in idioms is approached by making a corpus-based comparative analysis from the theoretical perspectives of equivalence,cognitive metaphor,and second language acquisition.Qualitative and quantitative methods are combined to analyze idioms to be added to the vocabulary of international Chinese language education in three dimensions:word frequency,semantic transparency,and functional equivalence.This paper aims to explore a new approach to the dissemination of Chinese culture through instruction in idioms in international Chinese language education.

Cultural Differences between English and Chinese on Idioms Origins

Different people from different cultures may have different understandings of the same sentence because they know little about the target cultures. While the ultimate aim of English teaching as a foreign language is to cultivate students' competence to apply English correctly, fluently, and appropriately in cross-cultural communication. Idioms, a part of language, are the essence of culture in every country. Using language in such communication, we often come across some idioms with distinctive cultural characteristics, so it is a very important and complicated thing for us to understand and use these idioms correctly. Therefore, in this paper, we will discuss the idioms reflecting the differences of Chinese and Western cultures in various levels with many lively, important, and interesting examples of idioms.

On the Translation of English-Chinese Idioms

The idiomatic phrase is equal to the phrase that people use frequently language in the world that had long and splendid history all contains large quantities of idiom. They form regular phrases and short sentences through long use and refinement in the development of language. The idiomatic phrases contain varied cultural information, embody a lot of cultural feature, and cultural background. The idiomatic phrases display distinct image and figure of speech, and they also have bright national characteristic and regional (local) color. The paper includes four parts. The first chapter is to introduce the generalization of idioms and translation, and the second part is to list four different definitions of idiom according to some translational experts, next step leads in classification and sources of idiom. The third chapter introduces some common strategies of idiomatic translation such as literal translation, literal translation plus notes, free translation, and the combination of literal and free translation. At last sum up the paper.

James Legge's English Translation of the Chinese Idioms in The Four Boks

１．ＴｈｅＦｏｕｒＢｏｏｋｓ（《四书》）ａｎｄＪａｍｅｓＬｅｇｇｅ＇ｓＴｒａｎｓｌａｔｉｏｎｓ１．１ＴｈｅＦｏｕｒＢｏｏｋｓ（《四书》）ＴｈｅＦｏｕｒＢｏｏｋｓ（《四书》）ｉｓｔｈｅｍｏｓｔｒｅｐｒｅｓｅｎｔａｔｉｖｅｃｌａｓ－ｓｉｃａｌｗｏｒｋｓｏ...

Chinese Idioms and Traditional Chinese Medicine

Like traditional Chinese medicine,Cheng Yu can also be viewed as a brilliant facet of traditional Chinese culture.In the essay,the author attempts to illustrate the close link between the two through some examples.

Image-Processing in Translation of Chinese Idioms into English

This paper explores the commonly used translating methods and the frequency of their usage through the analysis of the examples of imagery idioms in Chinese-English Dictionary of Chinese Idioms.Findings include the following.First,three image-processing methods in translation of Chinese idioms into English are adopted commonly,namely,preserving the original image method,replacing the original image method and giving up the original image method.Second,changing the original image method and giving up the original image method are the major translation methods in the idiom translations surveyed.

On Translatability and Untranslatability in Translation of Chinese Idioms

Translation is a field full of paradoxes. The question of whether or not languages are translatable has been argued for many years in the history of translation. There are many opposite idea on this question, for example, to what degree languages are translatable, and all this problems relating to translatability and untranslatability have always been difficult questions for further studying. Also, idioms are major components of a language. They are experience and lessons that people learned from years of hard work and life experiences, and they reflect the wisdom of human beings. In a word, when it comes to the translatability and untranslatability of Chinese idioms, there usually exist more obvious problems. Because Chinese idioms have certain ethnic characteristics and distinguishable cultural meanings, and more importantly they are deeply rooted in national culture and society. This essay first introduced the relationship between Untranslatability and Translatability, and then discussed the features of Chinese idioms, and later this essay mainly discussed the translatability and untranslatability in a translating process from a perspective of the translation of Chinese idioms. Finally, it gives some practical ways to reduce the untranslatability of Chinese idioms.

A Study of the Translation of Chinese Idioms from Selected Works of Mao Zedong

Based on the bilingual corpus of Selected Works of Mao Zedong from Shaoxing University,this paper intended to study the English Translation of Chinese Idioms of the anthology.By comparing the translation of the idioms in different contexts,this paper analyzes the factors influencing Chinese-to-English translation,discusses the methods and strategies for translating Chinese idioms into English,and summarizes innovative conclusions.In addition to improving English proficiency,the process can enhance the learning quality of Chinese and English,translation capability,English-Chinese comparative research ability,and benefit the spreading of time-honored Chinese culture.

A Contrastive Study of Chinese and English Animal-metaphor Idioms —A Sociolinguistic Perspective

Human beings and animals have been being bound together inextricably, so it is not surprising that there is many a wordand expression about animals in languages, including Chinese and English. Idiom, as one of the important and refined componentparts of language, is also of such kind. This paper attempts to make a contrastive study of similarities and differences between Chi-nese and English animal-metaphor idioms. It also investigates into the causes for similarities and differences between Chinese andEnglish animal-metaphor idioms from a sociolinguistic perspective.

Ambiguity in Translation of English and Chinese Idioms

Language is the reaction of history. Idioms are the carrier of culture and the essence of language. English idioms are the reflection of English social and cultural situation. Because of the different cultural context, when we translate English idioms we will produce ambiguities in Chinese ways. So this paper centers on the differences between English and Chinese. Then, I will point to some ambiguity errors. I want to draw some conclusion by analyzing several typical examples.

On Chinese and English Idioms Including “Heart” or “心” from an Intercultural Perspective

Through a contrastive analysis of Chinese and English idioms including "heart" or"心", the thesis tries to illustrate therelationship between language and culture from an intercultural perspective. And in this thesis, the author analyze various connota-tions of "heart" and "心" in order to explain that idioms are good carriers for cultures and historical backgrounds. So it is very im-portant for second language learners to acquire some idioms and cultural knowledge in English.

The Analysis of Comparison Between English and Chinese Animal Idioms

Idioms are essence of a language and a kind of special and fixed phrases or short sentences in the long period of language use.Because animals have been considered as people’s best friends for hundreds of years,people adopt different species of animals as metaphors to express all their emotions.However,due to the different national characteristics between English and Chinese,such as geographical conditions and tradition so in most cases easterners and westerners have different attitudes and understanding towards same animals,of course,some animal idioms have the same meaning.

Chinese Idiom Modifications Processing

Relevance theory provides a standard convincing pragmatic scope for human's cognitive nature,it can well interpret the way we acquire knowledge of the familiar/unfamiliar world.This paper aims to extend the application of the relevance theory and conceptual metaphor theory to phraseological units processing by adult users in their native language.