中英颜色词的文化内涵及翻译
-
OUTLINE
Abstract
Key
Words
I.
Introduction
1.1 Definition
of Basic Color Terms and Cultural Connotations
1.2 Background of Research on Color
Terms
1.2.1 Research
on Basic Color Terms in Foreign Countries
1.2.2 Research on Basic
Color Terms in China
II.
Basic Color Terms
2.1 Chinese Basic
Color Terms
2.2. English Basic Color
Term
III. Cultural Connotations of
Basic Color Terms in English and Chinese
3.1
Black
3.2
White
3.3
Red
3.4
Yellow
3.5
Green
3.6
Blue
3.7
Purple
3.8
Gray
IV
. The
Translation of Color Terms
4.1
Translation
and Culture
4.2
Literal Translation
4.3
Annotation
and Contextual Amplification
4.4
Free
Translation
4.5
Zero Translation
V
. Conclusion
Bibliography
中文标题、摘要、关键词
1
The Cultural Connotations
and the Translation of Color Terms
in
Chinese and English
Author
：
Number
：
Tutor
：
Abstract:
We
live in a colorful world. There are many color
words in the world. Color words have rich
cultural
connotations.
Resulting
from
different
social
cultures,
historical
processes
and
geographic
conditions,
English and Chinese color terms reflect the
difference in the cultural aspects such as social
values,
customs,
color
preference
etc.
Therefore,
it
is
of
significance
to
have
a
study
on
the
cultural
connotations
of
basic
color
terms
between
English
and
Chinese.
The
thesis
deals
with
cultural
connotations of
basic color words in English and Chinese and
introduces several translation methods by
several examples. By the contrastive
study of cultural connotations of basic color
terms between English
and Chinese, we
can know more about what is going on in people's
mind, in their language and culture.
Therefore,
in
translation
practice,
what
is
important
is
to
break
the
cultural
barriers
and
convey
the
source
cultural faithfully and effectively.
Keywords:
color terms;
cultural connotations; translation
I.
Introduction
1.1
Definition of Basic Color Terms and Cultural
Connotations
We
live
in
a
colorful
world.
To
satisfy
our
daily
necessities,
people
use
a
great
number of color terms
to represent colors. For instance, it is seemed
that there are over
three
thousand
color
words
in
English.
Moreover,
our
eyes
can
be
able
to
distinguish
seven million
colors, for most of which we do not have any
expressions available at all.
Generally speaking, the color words in
English can be divided into two categories:
basic color terms and object color
terms. There are so many color terms in English
and
Chinese that we cannot discuss all
of them, thus in this thesis, the discussion will
focus
on the field of basic color
terms.
However, it’
s
difficult to give a accurate definition to basic
color terms. There are
many
versions
of
definition
to
basic
color
terms,
among
which
the
most
acceptable
is
given by Berlin and Kay. In
their
Basic Color Terms: Their
Universality and Evolution
,
Berlin and Kay lay out four basic
criteria to judge whether a color word is basic or
not.
2
In the case of basic color terms, we
often take it for granted that the color terms are
originally used to refer to the
physical features of color categories, but we
should keep in
mind that the color
system is partially determined by the cultural
needs instead of being
solely based
upon their physical features.
1.2
Background of Research on Color Terms
Color terms are common linguistic
phenomenon in all cultures. The study of color
terms
has
caused
great
interest
for
many
scholars
abroad
or
at
home,
and
they
have
studied the phenomenon
of color terns from different perspectives. This
section aims to
summarize and briefly
comment on the previous research.
1.2.1Research on Basic Color Terms in
Foreign Countries
Plato
holds
that
the
process
of
perceiving
colors
of
human
beings
should
satisfy
three basic conditions: 1) a light
source; 2) a reflector or an object which can
reflect light;
and 3) a functional eye
that can receive the reflected light. (Sloane,
1991: 54).
Aristotle pays much attention to the
typology of color ingredients. According to him,
simple-colors are related to some basic
elements in the physical world and are mixtures
of “black” and “white”
.
Brent Berlin and Paul Kay wrote a book
Basic Color Terms:
Their Universality and
Evolution
, the basic
color terms
are the
prototypes
in
the different
color categories for
they
best show the color of their own category.
1.2.2 Research on Basic Color Terms in
China
Color
terms
appear
in
ancient
China.
In
mordent
times,
more
and
more
Chinese
scholars study on color terms.
English
Words
of
Color
Arid
Sound
and
Their
Translation
by
Zhang
Peiji
was
published in 1964. He
makes a detailed description of the usages of
almost all the color
terms in
English.
Since the 1980s,
the study on
color terms
goes further.
Liu
Yunquan
published
his
The
Beauty
of
Language
in
Colors,
in
which
he
gave
a
systematic
introduction of the categories and
functions of the Chinese color terms.
In the recent 18 years, more works
focusing on basic color terms between English
and
Chinese
have
appeared.
Wu
Dongping
pointed
out
a
cultural
semantic
field
hypothesis, aiming at seeking the
cultural vacancy, equivalence, difference and
similarity
from the perspective of
cultural semantic field
(
吴东平
, 2000:12).
3
II.
Basic Color Terms
In my
opinion, color terms of different languages also
have a lot of traits in common.
The two
world-famous linguists Brent Berlin and Paul Kay,
after a thorough and careful
study,
drew the conclusion that in our world there are
eleven color categories, which are
known as
“Basic Color
Terms”
.
2.1 Chinese
Basic Color Terms
Nowadays
Chinese
basic
colors
include
white,
black,
red,
greed,
yellow,
blue,
brown, purple and gray. It seems that
Chinese color terms are fewer than English ones,
but as a matter of fact, Chinese is one
of the richest and most colorful languages in the
world.
2.2
English Basic Color Terms
As
Brent Berlin and Paul Kay pointed out, different
nations have different numbers of
color
terms.
English
has
the
eleven
basic
color
terms,
that
is,
white,
black,
red,
green,
yellow, blue, brown, purple, pink,
orange and gray.
III.
Cultural Connotations of Basic Color Terms in
English and Chinese
3.1 Black
Black is the color of night and
therefore is associated with darkness. In Chinese,
we
have
“
黑暗
”,“
黑漆漆
”
and
so
on.
While
in
English
such
expressions
as
“blackout”
and
“
black
fu
ture”
are
also
connected
with
“darkness”.
“Blackout”
refers
to
a
period
of
darkness caused by a
failure of the electricity supply.
And
“Black future”
refers to the slim
hope in the future.
In
the
Western
countries,
black
is
the
color
of
mourning
dress,
so
to
wear
it
at
a
festival is ill mannered
and unlucky. In additio
n, Western
people believe that “black”
has
some connection with the evil spirit.
Black is often connected with anger. We
have such Chinese expressions as
“
气得脸铁
青
(
意
指
黑
)”,
and
in
English
there
is
a
similar
expression
“turn
black
with
rage”.
“
black-
browed”
is
a
kind
of
facia
l
expression
showing
anger
and
“to
look
at
someone
black”
is to look at someone
angrily.
Black
also
implies
misfortune and
disaste
r. “Black Friday”
refers to
an
unlucky day
because to Christians this is the day
of Crucifixion. Th
ere is a computer
virus called “Black
4
Friday”
, which will flare up
on Friday, deleting all data in computers. This is
an unlucky
day
to
the
users
of
comput
ers.
“Black”
and
“
黑
”also
indicate
“secret”
and
“illegality”.
“black
market”
refers
to
the
illici
t
buying
and
selling
of
goods.
“Black
economy”
is
the
business
activity
that
takes
place
unofficially
without
observing
legal
requirements,
especially
in
order
to
evade
tax.
The
counterparts
of
the
expressions
above
in
Chinese
are“
黑钱
”,“
< br>黑市
”,“
黑市经营
”
respectively.
Moreover,
“
黑
”
in
“
黑道
”,“
黑店
”,“
黑车
”,“
黑<
/p>
户
”
also express the
connotati
ons of “secret” and
“illegality”
.
Sometimes
black
also
has
good
meanings
both
in
English
and
Chinese.
People
use
black
in
a
positive
sense
to
mean
dignity
and
justice.
Black
suit
and
black
dress
are
traditional
clothes
mostly
upheld
by
westerners.
In
business
English,
“in
the
black”
and
“
bla
ck
figure”
has a good meaning of running a
business profitably.
3.2
White
White is the opposite of black. In
western culture, white is the symbol of
brightness,
which represents beauty,
hope, and merry.
Westerners think
“white”
is pure and elegant, so
they adore white, e.g. “a white
soul”
. In western countries, babies are
dressed in white for
their
christening.
Brides
wear
white
in
traditional
church
weddings
because
white
represents purity and
virginit
y. In the fairy tales the girl
“Snow White”
is the embodiment
of
wisdom,
kindness
and
beauty.
In
Chinese,
the
connotation
of
purity
can
be
shown
in
some
expressions,
such as“
洁白
”,and“
白璧无瑕
” People
often mention “the White House”
and
“Whitehall”
on
TV
.
The
White
House
is
the
official
residence
of
the
US
president,
which
is
the
symbol
of
power.
“Whitehall”
is
a
street
in
London
where
there
are
many
government offices, and
sometimes it refers to the British government.
In a word, “white” in
English mostly has positive asso
ciative
meanings. In
addition
，
“white”
and“
白
”also have derogatory
sense. White is the color of death in the West and
the
color of vampires.
“
白
” in Chinese has
also
some association with death, the
birth and death
of a person are like
the sunrise and sunset. Thus, white as the symbol
of west also becomes
a sign of death.
And Chinese expression“
白事
”is
used to mean “funeral affairs”. In Chinese
funeral,
people
wear
white
hats,
white
mourning
apparels
and
white
shoes,
with
a
white
rope tied
in the waists. “White”
and“
白
” also means “failure”.
In a war, the yielding party
will
hang“
白旗
”or a “white flag” as
a sign of accepting its failure.
3.3
Red
5
In
English
“red”
is
fire,
and
t
his
is
supported
by
the
existence
of
set
phrases
like
“red
-
hot” and
“fiery
red”, and by the
association of “red” with
danger.
“red”
and“
红
”are
connected with “violence” and
“shyness”. For example, “Red battle” refers to the
battle in
which blood is shed. “Red
activities” means violent activities. “Red rules
of tooth” is the
law of the jungle, in
which the strong lives on the weak. Red in both
English and Chinese
has the connotation
of “ardor”. “Red” and“
红
”are
also associated with physical
state.“
满面
红光
”shows
t
hat the person is enjoying good
health.
“Red”
is
usually
associated
with
celebrations
and
joyful
occasions.
This
is
true
in
English-
speaking countries
as well as in China. In Chinese “red” is the
favorite color, for
example,
“red
-
letter
days”—
holidays such as Christmas and
other special days. Such days
are
printed in red on calendars, rather than in black
for ordinary days.
While in
western culture “red” seems to be not liked as
Chinese, because in Christian
tales,
the devil Satan appears in red. “Red”
i
s associated with blood, war, horror,
anger and
danger in English. “Red” in
English has more derogatory meanings, while in
Chinese it has
more positive meanings.
3.4
Yellow
For
“yellow”,
in
Chinese,
it
was
the
color
of
the
land
on
which
the
Chinese
people
have being living
generation
after
generation.
In
addition,
yellow is
also
the color of the
precious
metal
and
gold. People call the
most precious
time as“
黄金口
”,“
黄金周
”,“
黄金
月
”,“
黄金季节
” and the youth of one’ s
life“
黄金时代
”, as it is the
most valuable period in
one's life. In
English culture “yellow” is associated with the
yellow clothes of Judas, who
betrayed
Jesus,
so
“yellow”
often
represents
derogatory
meaning,
such
as
“treachery,
unfaithful”.
Besides yellow also has the meanings of
melancholy, sick and disgusting, By
contrast,
“yellow”
in
Chinese
was
chosen
thousands
of
years
ago
as
the
royal
color
for
imperial households.
However, “yellow” and
“
黄
” are both used
negatively on some occasions. They can
be
used to imply warning. “A yellow
card” or“
黄牌
” is a card used
generally as a symbol of
warning. “A
yellow line” is a line of yellow paint along the
edge of a street in Britain which
means
one can only park the car f
or a short
time or in particular time; while “double yellow
lines” are two lines of yellow paint
that mean one cannot park there. No matter how
holy a
color“
黄
”was in
ancient China, it is in modern times often used to
mean “pornographic”,
6
“obscene”, “filthy” or “vulgar” as in“<
/p>
黄色书籍
”,“
黄色电影
”,“
黄色录像
”,“
扫黄<
/p>
”, etc.“
黄
”
in
Chinese
is
sometimes
also
associated
with
“things
visional
or
out
of
date”.
For
example,“
昨口黄花
”
,“
陈年黄历
”and“
< br>黄粱美梦
”
are
used
to
mean
things
in
the
past,
out-of-date dogmas and unrealistic
imagination res
pectively. In colloquial
Chinese, “
黄
”can
also be used to indicate
“failure”.“
我和他黄了
”means that
“we have failed to maintain our
relationship”, and we have similar
expressions such as“
买卖黄了
”,“<
/p>
这宗生意黄了
”,etc.
3.5 Green
Both English and
Chinese believe that the color green is not only a
symbol of life
and
vigor,
but
also
a
sign
of
peace
and
hope.
The
olive
branch,
which
is
symbolic
of
world
peace,
is
green.
“green”
and“
绿
”are
connected
with
the
environment.
green
peace(
绿
色
和
平
组
织
):an
international
organization
with
the
aim
of
protecting
environment.
green
consumerism(
绿
色
消
费
)
:the
consumerism
harmless
to
the
environment.
The green color
is also a symbol of passing, “green light”
and“
绿灯
”which
means a
traffic light
allowing vehicles and pedestrians to go forward.
“Give somebod
y the green
light”
or“
开绿灯
”means giving official
permission
for something to
be started. “Green
card”
or“
绿卡
” is a document that a
foreigner must have in order to work or live
legally
in
America.
“Green”
still
has
the
meanings
of
flourishing,
full
of
vigor
a
nd
fresh.
In
English, “green” is often
used to indicate lacking in experience, training
or knowledge,
Interestingly, in the old
days, the Chinese
expression“
戴绿帽子
”meant to be
a cuckold,
while green in English has
no such meaning.
3.6 Blue
The
color
blue
both
in
English
and
Chinese
is
the
color
of
sky
and
sea,
and
often
arouses
the
feelings
of
distance,
calmness
and
justice.
In
Chinese,
the
blue
sky
and
sea
often stir people's longing and
imagination for the future, thus
“
蓝
” is also called “the
color
of inspi
ration”. In
some cases, the color
term“
蓝
”can be replaced
by“
青
”.Thus the blue sky
is often
called“
青天
”and
“
青云
”in Chinese. Because of
the brightness and clearness caused
by
the
cloudless
blue
sky,”
青天
”in
Chinese
often
refers
to
a
just
judge
or
an
upright
magistrate.
Meanwhile,
blue
sky
is
usually
high
and
extensive,
far
beyond
the
reach
of
ordinary people,
thus“
青云
”is extended to mean
a high official position as in
“
步青云
”in
English,
blue
is
often
used
to
indicate
“unhappiness”,
“sadness”
or
“low
spirit”.
If
7