Literature review on the Translation of English Colour Words 毕业论文.doc

Literature Review on the Translation of English Colour Words Language is a kind of tool for people to communicate with each other and is also a very important part of the culture. Different languages are restricted by various national culture, reflecting their own cultural content. Colour is closely related to our daily life with abundant culture connotation, which is a crucial object for language, culture and translation. “Colour word” indicates the word which is used to stand for a kind of colour. This definition is well known throughout the word, but “colour words do not necessarily mean the same thing as colourful terms. Colourful English may appear as idioms or in figurative expressions, while colour words are words which simply show different colours. Like the onomatopoeic word, a colour word 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. Color words are used frequently in the translation of English and Chinese. We use some basic words to convey the meaning of the color words. Because of the differences of customs, culture, history, geography, etc, the personality becomes obvious. Color is a objective phenomena, so peoples awareness on color has something in common. People from different culture have their own way to communicate, to think and to behave. The words to express the colors are allocated different features and cultural connotation, which show great cultural differences. My thesis will focus on the practice of the translation of English color words. 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 improv