Cultural Connotations of the Idiomatic Phrases and Their Translation中英习语的文化内涵与翻译

Inspired by the article of “Let's talk about Idioms - Cross culture challenge by @itchyfeetdonica” written by my respected @livinguktaiwan, I would like to talk about the differences between Chinese and English idiomatic phrases.

English idiomatic phrases include set phrases, proverbs, sayings, colloquialisms, allusions, and slang, which are an important part of the English language and English culture. When we read some idiomatic phrases in English and Chinese, we can find a surprising coincidence between them that some of them are similar, and even identical in meaning and form. This shows us the fact that human beings are living on the same earth, have experienced similar developmental procedures in history, and have shared the material and resource so that they have some similarities in their language as well. For example:

To strike while the iron is hot 趁热打铁

To be on the thin ice 如履薄冰

To fish in the troubled waters 浑水摸鱼

As light as a feather 轻如鸿毛

Though they are identical in meaning and form, the majortity of idiomatic phrases cannot translated literally. Let us compare the following.

High school 中学（不是高等学校）

Lover 情人（不是爱人）

Dutch wife 藤制睡椅（不是荷兰老婆）

Wester 西风（不是西方人）

To make a blue joke 讲黄段子、开下流玩笑

To pull somebody’s leg 开某人的玩笑

Swan song 绝唱

An Uncle Tom 逆来顺受的人

Cast pearls before swine 对牛弹琴

As translators we are not just dealing with words written in a certain time, space and socialpolitical situation; most importantly we should take into account the cultural aspect of the text.

受前辈@livinguktaiwan 那篇文章的启发（Let's talk about Idioms - Cross culture challenge by @itchyfeetdonica），在此特谈一谈中英习语文化翻译的不同。

英语的习语包括成语、谚语、格言、俗语、典故及俚语等，是英语语言和文化重要的组成部分。尽管中英两种语言在习语方面存在着部分惊人的一致，无论在意义还是形式上，但大部分还是有着天壤之别。

部分习语能够一致，说明我们生活在同一个地球，经历了相似的历史发展过程，共享自然赐予人类的物质和资源。但由于大多数习语是与其文化紧密相连的，所以就产生了不同。

因此，在两种语言的翻译中，我们不能仅仅局限于语言的转换，更应注重于文化的置换。

To strike while the iron is hot 趁热打铁

To be on the thin ice 如履薄冰

To fish in the troubled waters 浑水摸鱼

As light as a feather 轻如鸿毛

这些无论在意义还是形式上，都是一致的。但是由于两种文化的不同，大多数还是不能望文生义。例如：

High school 中学（不是高等学校）

Lover 情人（不是爱人）

Dutch wife 藤制睡椅（不是荷兰老婆）

Wester 西风（不是西方人）

To make a blue joke 讲黄段子、开下流玩笑

To pull somebody’s leg 开某人的玩笑

Swan song 绝唱

An Uncle Tom 逆来顺受的人

Cast pearls before swine 对牛弹琴

所以，翻译不仅仅是处理一些按照某一时空、社会政治状况而书写的词语，重要的是，我们必须考虑其文化因素。