The Influence of Cultural Differences on Translation of Metaphor in Idioms.docVIP

The Influence of Cultural Differences on Translation of Metaphor in Idioms 　　【Abstract】Idioms are culturally loaded expressions with distinctive cultural features and connotations， and they have different metaphoric meanings in different languages because of cultural differences. The essay attempts to study the influence of cultural differences on translation of metaphor in idioms to help people understand idioms better. 　　【Key words】Idioms； Cultural Differences； Influence 　　Although there are possibilities of translating metaphoric idioms of the two cultures， the difficulties in translation of metaphors in idioms also exist， since idioms are closely related to the cultural differences which include the historical， economic conditions， geographical surroundings， social conventions and beliefs. 　　1. The Influence of Regional Difference 　　As the far distance between east and west， Chinese and English people live in very different natural environments. Chinese people have lived on the Asian Continent one generation after another and they cannot live without their land， which lays the foundation of typical agricultural culture in ancient China. In that time， cattle helped people plow in the field for agricultural production. That is the reason why Chinese people often use “牛” as the vehicle in some metaphoric idioms， such as “牛气冲天”， “气吞牛斗”， “执牛耳”， and “牛不喝水强按头”. As the most important farm tools in ancient China， cattle enjoy a great and special place in Chinese people’s mind. On the contrary， in ancient time， in England， the living condition was completely opposite. Britain is an island country and a classical maritime state. It was once the global leader in the area of fisheries and navigation. So， it seems that the position of cattle in Britain was not so important. They just raised cows for meat and milk. Nevertheless， the importance of horses in England is like that of cattle in China. For the requirement of transportation and travel， British people use hor