Analysis of Cultural Differences by Comparing Animal Terms in Chinese and English Idioms

[Abstract] Language is a cultural carrier. Culture-loaded vocabulary plays an important role in a language. Different social backgrounds and national cultures have a great effect on the cultural connotations of vocabulary. Animals are friends of human beings. Languages of most nations contain a lot of words denoting animals, and so do Chinese and English. Along with the development and progress of human society, many animals are tamed to become domestic animals serving people, and many others have become people’s pets. So animals have become part of people’s life. Animal idioms gradually have got their established connotations in all languages. That is, people associate their feelings and emotions, even happenings and natural phenomena with various animals, which are thought to present different characters like people, or serve as symbols. Many animals have become a kind of symbol in people’s thinking and this symbol is reflected in the language. However, because of different history and culture, the connotations of animal words in one language do not necessarily coincide with those in another because of different outlook of life and concept of beauty in different cultures.
This dissertation attempts to compare the similarities and differences of animal idioms, the causes for differences and the translation metho无忧论文 【http://www.uklunwen.com】ds of dealing with cultural differences. Therefore, we can not only better master and use the animal idioms accurately, but also understand the eastern and western cultures, promoting the cross-cultural communication and translation practice.
Chapter one is the introduction dealing with the relationship between the language and culture.
Chapter two makes a comparison of similarities and differences in animal words’ meanings of idioms. Owning to the different social backgrounds, customs and religions, differences are bound to appear in animal idioms in both languages. When talking about the differences, I compare the animal terms in Chinese and English idioms according to the connotative meaning, affective meaning and reflected meaning. I also talk about the meaning gap in Chinese and in English.
Chapter three focuses on the analysis of the causes for the differences from the following aspects: influence of region, influence of convention, influence of religion, influence of history, influence of fables and mythologies and influence of borrowed language and foreign language.
Chapter four deals primarily with the methods of dealing with cultural differences from five translation methods: literal translation, free translation, image-shift translation, literal translation plus annotation and literal plus free translation.
[Key Words] animal idioms; cultural difference; causes for differences；translation methods
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