《Translation of Chinese Idioms》.doc

On the Translation of Chinese Idioms I. Cultural Differences and Similarities between Chinese Idioms and English Idioms i. Cultural Differences The following are some of these cultural differences: i. They have different geographical conditions and different images. “雨后春笋”, “to spring up like mushroom”. like the quick growth of bamboo root in spring, ii. They reflect different states of mind of the two peoples. “Love me, love my dog”, “Every dog has its day” “狗血喷头”. iii. They have different economic conditions. “plain sailing”, “in deep water” and “to sink or swim” iv. They are influenced by different religions. “躲得和尚躲不得庙” “As poor as a church mouse”, “not to know a man from Adam”. v. They involve events or characters from the treasure house of Chinese literature and English literature. “much ado about nothing”, “Achilles’ heel” “班门弄斧”, “卧薪尝胆”, “三顾茅庐”，“八仙过海，各显神通” Because of the uniqueness of a culture, 龙凤之表：a typical Chinese imaginary image about the appearance of Chinese emperors not “the appearance of dragon and phoenix”. ii. Cultural Similarities there are some cultural similarities between them. Human experiences and observations of the world are similar in many respects. So, the cultural similarities exist not only between different people but also between different times. The following idioms illustrate the similarities in meaning between the two languages, though they use different cultural images: 菩萨保佑 God bless you 老虎头上打苍蝇 To beard the lion in his den 打开天窗说亮话 To put all cards on the table 赔了夫人又折兵 To throw the helve after the hatchet 有钱能使鬼推磨 Money makes the mare to go. 一朝被蛇咬，三年怕井绳 The burnt child dreads the fire. II. Translation of Different Kinds of Idioms from Chinese to English 1 Chinese Set Phrases (成语) The reason why Chinese Set Phrases are in so large numbers may be closely related with the rule and tradition of Chinese word formation, rhythm and Chinese poetic forms. Embedded with t