The Culture Differences of English and Chinese Idioms 英语专业毕业论文.doc

The Culture Differences of English and Chinese Idioms Abstract: ?Idiom is a phrase or sentence which must be learnt as a whole unit not as an individual word. Idiom includes colloquialism, proverb, slang, maxim, allegorical saying etc. Both English and Chinese languages have long history, so there are a large number of idioms. English and Chinese idioms embody different national cultural features and different cultural information which result from the various geography positions, histories, customs, religious beliefs and literature tradition. In order to make the idiomatic translation brief, vivid and interesting, we should take the culture inside when translating. This paper mainly investigates the factors which lead to the difference between Chinese and English idioms through numerous examples. Meanwhile, it proposes four methods for translation idioms: literal translation, free translation, equivalent translation and combination of literal translation and free translation. Key words: idioms; culture; difference; translation Introduction?? tIdiom is a kind of phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must be learnt as a whole unit. Semantic unity and structural stability are the two characteristics of idioms.? Different languages reflect different cultures; different cultures entail different language expressions. Idioms, the essence of a language, label especially cultural differences in different languages. In a board sense, idioms include common sayings, proverbs, allusions, maxims and the allegorical sayings. And in this paper the term idiom is used in its broad sense. Because of the differences in geography, history, religion and beliefs, customs, living environment, social conventions and literature tradition etc, English and Chinese idioms are closely connected with cultures and traditions, and they reflect different national characteristics and are loaded with rich cultural information. And it