The Colour Terms’ Translation in English and Chinese.doc

颜色词的中英对比翻译The Colour Terms Translation in English and ChineseAbstractIn todays multi-cultural society, translation, as an important device in the cross-cultural communication, is a mode of cultural transfer. Colour terms are closely connected with culture. As a part of language, colour terms are endowed with abundant cultural connotations. Moreover, colour terms lexical meaning and symbolic meaning reflect various cultures and cultural backgrounds. In order to promote the development of the multi-cultural society and cross-cultural communication, it is significant to understand and grasp colour terms and their functions in the cultural transfer. This thesis, targeting at improving translation proficiency and promoting cross-cultural communication, makes a careful analysis of colour terms, including the definition, the history in English and Chinese, the translation difficulties and the translation techniques.Key WordsColour terms; translation difficulties; translation techniques 摘要在文化多元化的今天，翻译作为跨文化交流的一种重要手段，是文化转换的一种模式。颜色词与文化有着极为密切的关系。作为语言的一部分，颜色词被赋予了丰富的文化内涵，其词汇意义和象征意义都反映了不同的文化及文化背景。为了促进多元文化社会的发展和加强跨文化交流，了解和掌握颜色词及其在文化转换中的作用具有极为重要的价值和意义。论文从探讨颜色词的概念及其在中英两种语言中的历史比较出发，仔细研究了颜色词在翻译中存在的困难，并在此基础上总结和论证了颜色词翻译的主要技巧，包括同化和异化两种翻译技巧。论文旨在认真分析颜色词及其翻译的基础上增强人们的翻译实践能力和跨文化交际能力。关键词颜色词；翻译困难；翻译技巧 IntroductionPeople can not live without colour. Language will be more vivid with colour terms.Colour terms are a part of language, and colour terms translation is important in todays society. Lots of classic works are rich with colour terms. Correct and accurate colour terms translation helps to transmit the meaning of the source text.Colour terms are endowed with various emotions of different nations. It is necessary to learn the cultural connotations of colour terms before learning the nations language. The thesis, centering on the colour terms translation, is divided into three parts.Chapter One makes an analysis of colour terms definition and its history in Chinese and English.Chapter Two illustrates the difficulties in translating basic colour terms and object colour terms. Chapter Three makes a study of the two main translation techniques for colour terms, that is, domestication and foreignization. A Brief Introduction to Colour TermsA. The Definition of Colour Terms “Colour term” indicates the word which is used to stand for a kind of colour. This definition is well known throughout the word, but “colour terms do not necessarily mean the same thing as colourful terms. Colourful English may appear as idioms or in figurative expressions, while colour terms are words which simply show different colours. Like the onomatopoeic word, a colour term has little merit in itself. Only when it suggests the image of the original, or fortifies the sense in the version, it has value in translation.”. (Xiao Junshi, P173, 1982) Obviously, as a part of words, colour terms are used in writing to transmit information. In physics, it stands for the colour reflected by objects.1. Classification of Colour TermsThere are two main kinds of colour terms: basic colour terms and object colour terms.Basic colour terms mean “words used to describe the colour of objects when they appear”. (Lu Hongmei, P135, 2006) Basic colour terms come from the language of Anglo-Saxon, including seven kinds of colours. In Chinese, they are “赤、橙、黄、绿、青、蓝、紫”. In English, they are “red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet”. Although basic colour terms contain only a few words, they can be used with other words to indicate more colours. They are very active.Object colour terms mean “terms used to indicate colours which are the names of objects”. (Lu Hongmei, P135, 2006) Lots of these kinds of words exist in any kinds of languages, such as “gold, silver, orange” in English, and “金黄色、米色、银色” in Chinese.2. Function of Colour TermsGenerally speaking, colour terms have all the functions which words have. In source language, the author always uses the colour terms to express the image of the text. This is the first function of colour terms, that is, informative function. For example, the colour terms used in the follow text form the landscape of an autumn evening.“The ground was a carpet of deep reddish brown in the glow of an autumn evening sun, tempered by the trees. Yong birches sprang up, caught light on one side, and were sparkling green there; the shadowy sides of the stems were warm, deep black-green. Behind the saplings, behind the brownish red soil was a very delicate sky, bluish grey, warm, hardly blue, all a glow. Against it were a hazy border of green and a net work of little stems and yellowish leaves. A few figures of wood gathers were wandering around like dark masses of mysterious shadow.” (Irving stone: Lust of life, Book Three)The second function of colour terms is emotive function. It is accepted that different colours give people different feelings. Experiences show that colour terms are the best way to describe ones emotion. An example is quoted below.“Then the morning clouds in the east turned deep red and sky above showed blue, the red clouds were pierced by golden rays, interweaving to spin a majestic, glittering web in the southeastern sky with the clouds as weft, the rays as warp. Fields, trees and wild grass changed their colors from dark green to bright emerald”. (Bao Huinan, P124, 2003)This paragraph was translated from The Rickshaw Boy written by Lao She. The colour terms describe Xiang Zis feeling specifically after he had escaped from danger. Obviously, without colour terms, the original images can hardly be reproduced in the version.The third function of colour terms is performative function, which is first used in Linguistic Study written by Austin and Searle. Colour terms in different languages have different social connotation. Two examples are given as follows. 1.The government has given the green light to Sunday trading.政府已经允许星期日贸易。（Hua Xianfa, P266, 2000）2.There was no question of the republicans throwing in the towel or showing the white flag.共和党人不会认输，这是毫无疑问的。(Hua Xianfa, P270, 2000)In the first example, the English term “green” in the phrase “give somebody the green light” means “allowing and admitting something”. In the second example, the phrase “shows the white flag” means “accepting defeat”. Rendering the English term “green” and “white” simply by the Chinese equivalents of “绿” and “白” would result into a significant loss of the metaphor. B. Colour Terms History in EnglishIn west countries, colour terms are popular in fields like philosophy, physics, psychology, art and so on.The oldest theory in colour terms history is Aristotles Black and White Theory, in which colour is made up of hue, luminosity and saturation. At that period, all colors were thought as different degrees of mix of white and black. Black and White Theory was ended by Newton who saw seven colors of the sunlight through prism.Other theories appeared at the same time, such as Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and Cognitive Linguistics. In spite of the relationship between these theories, they all admitted colour terms important position in English. Lots of English authors are familiar with colour-scheme. For example:O wild west Wind, thou breath of Autumns being,Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves deadAre driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,Who chariotest to their dark wintry bedThe winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,Each like a corpse within its grave, untilThine azure sister of the Spring shall blowHer clarion oer the dreaming earth, and fill(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)With living hues and odours plain and hill:Wild spirit, which art moving everywhere;Destroyer and preserver; hear, O, hear! (Ode to the west Wind, first chapter)In view of the complexity of context, it is not always easy to choose the right expression of some meanings. In the instance above, without the few colour terms, it is impossible to imagine the governments turbidity and the authors feeling of the revolution.C. Colour Terms History in Chinese Through the forming of colour terms in China, colour terms originate from peoples daily lives. A lot of plants names are used as colour terms, especially after the improving of painting, dying and ceramics. “Blue comes from a kind of plant called blue, and red comes from the plant called madder”. (Luo geng, P8, 2004) Many Chinese colour terms come from the name of plants or minerals. Although there is no theory about the forming of colour terms in Chinese history, it is possible to learn a lot of historical things which have relationships with colours. Countless colour terms can be found in Chinese poems, essays and novels. The following instances are some typical examples.1.他觉得他的头颅仿佛在颈脖上旋转；他眼前是红的，黄的，绿的，黑的，发光的，立体的，圆锥形的混杂的一团，在那里跳，在那里转He felt as if his head were spinning and his eyes swam before a kale endoscope of red, yellow, green, black, shiny, square, cylindrical, leaping, dancing shapes (Zhang Peiji, P64, 1979)2.这是梅花，有红梅，白梅，绿梅，还有朱砂梅，一树一树的，每一树都是一树诗。白玉兰花略微有点残，娇黄的迎春却正当时，那片春色啊，比起滇池的水来不知道要深多少倍。It came from the variegated plum flowers, red, white, green, and vermilion. Standing there, ach tree was individually veiled in poetic inspiration. The white magnolias were beginning to turn yellowish although the winter jasmines were just showing a lovely yellow. The spring beauty there was immeasurable! Who knew how many times deeper than depth of Dianchi Lake nearby. (Lu Hongmei, P135, 2006)In the first instance, due to colour terms emotive function of showing the feeling, colour terms can not be replaced by the other kinds of words. In the second instance, plum is the popular flower in China with countless kinds of colours. Above all, colour terms play a very important role in Chinese and English cultures. Meanwhile, it is also true that a translators role in translating colour terms is not an easy one. He is, in a sense, a kind of middleman, one who belongs to two language-culture contexts. He must serve as a receptor of one message while being a producer of message in another language. It is important for a translator to know colour terms definition and histories well. . The Difficulties in Translating Colour TermsFor some persons, the barriers to effective translation are so enormous as to make the task of translation seem almost impossible. Diversities of cultures and languages appear to be insurmountable, while differences of orthography present untold complications for transcribing. It is a fact that no two colour terms in any two language ever seem to have precisely the same meaning, which makes the translation of colour terms more difficult. In this chapter, the difficulties in translating colour terms are studied. A. The Difficulties in Translating Basic Colour Terms In the first chapter, it is said that basic colour terms are very active. A colour term may have one set of meanings when it is used as a noun, but quite a different set of meanings when used as a verb. The usages and cultural connotation of basic colour terms are the main difficulties in translating colour terms.1. The Usages and Features of Basic Colour TermsEither in English or Chinese, basic colour terms can be used as nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in the context. For example: 1.上身穿一件补丁摞补丁的坎肩，那上面，补着各种颜色各种式样的补丁，有红布，灰布，青布和格子布。He was wearing a vest which had been patched and re-patched with rags of every colour and shapered, gray, black and checkeredtill you could hardly tell what the original vest was made of.(Zhang Peiji, P64, 1979)2.这是一个高大身材，长头发，眼球白多黑少的人The speaker was a tall, burly fellow with long hair and more white than black to his eyes (Selected Works of Lu Hsun, Volume One, P189, 1998) 3.姑太太说到这里一顿，轻轻吁了一口气，眼圈儿也像有点红了。Mrs. Tu paused and sighed slightly, her eyes reddening at the edges.（Zhang Peiji, P66,1979）4.灰黑的云突然遁去，西天边烧起一片彩霞。 The grey-black clouds had suddenly departed and an expanse of coloured clouds had blazed up at the western edge of the sky.(Zhang Peiji, P66, 1979)Obviously, basic colour terms are translated in different forms according to the context. In the first example, “红、灰、青” is turned into “red, gray, black”, and these colour terms are used as adjectives. In the second example, “白多黑少” is rendered into “more white than black”, which sounds more smoothly. In the third example, “红” is put into “reddening” instead of “turning red”. In the fourth example, with rendering the English term “grey-black” into Chinese colour term “灰黑”, the style and the meaning become similar in two languages. Basic colour terms can also be put together with other words to indicate the state of colour. 1.我们的船向前走，两岸的青山在黄昏中，都装成了深黛颜色，连着退向梢去。As we set off, the green mountains on the two banks became deep blue in the dusk, receding toward the stern of the boat. (Selected Works of Lu Hsun, Volume One, P45, 1998) 2.粉红色的吴少奶奶，苹果绿色的一位女郎，淡黄色的又一女郎，都在那里疯狂地跳、跳！Mrs. Wu Sunfu in pink, a girl in apple-green, another in light-yellow were frantically leaping and whirling around him.（Zhang Peiji, P68, 1979）3.忽然像是揭去了一层幔，眼前一亮，淡黄色的太阳光变做金黄了。Suddenly, as if a curtain had been lifted, the view cleared and the dull yellow sunlight brightened into gold. (Zhang Peiji, P68, 1979) From the translation versions above, basic colour terms are used in three different kinds of forms, showing the different kinds of source language. In certain instances, the selection of an appropriate colour term to fit the context involves a number of subtle factors. Basic colour term, which is added with the suffix “-ish” or another basic colour term, show a new kind of colour.For example:1.近来这荷花瘦的多了，皮色是白里泛青She had become much thinner lately and her with skin had taken on a bluish tinge. (Zhang Peiji, P70, 1979)2.他的脸作紫褐色，额角，颊腮，眼眶，耳朵，都叫人感觉异常饱满His face was a purplish brown; his temple, his cheeks, his eye-sockets, his ears-all gave the impression of being unusually full (Zhang Peiji, P71, 1979)From the examples above, it is known that colour terms usages and features are various in different cultures and that various usages and features of colour terms require different kinds of translation.2. Basic Colour Terms Cultural Connotation in Chinese and English “Different nations have different cultures and take the different colours as special”. (Lu Hogmei, P 134, 2006) A well-known legend, Wang An-shi, a great poet scholar of the Song Dynasty (A.D.960-1269), was once traveling in a remote part of china and he saw a poem written by a young author. Wang An-shi understood one couple of the poem which reads:A moon is singing in the sky,And a yellow dog lies in the flower.He assumed that there must be a mistake in the poem, so he quickly took out his writing brus