A Perspective of culture into the Translation of Chinese and English Idioms 英语毕业论文.doc

A Perspective of culture into the Translation of Chinese and English Idioms 1.1 The definition of idiom: an idiom is an element of a language that possesses a unique way of expression based on its time-honored use. (Li Funing, 1979: 4) In other words, an idiom is a fixed group of words or a single word, or even a sentence, with a special meaning that cannot be guessed from its structure. That is to say, the meaning of an idiom must be leant as a whole. A simple definition of the idiom would be the use of common words in a special sense. “To spill the beans”, for instance, is not at all connected with beans; it means “to tell something that is secret”. In English Idioms and How to Use Them, J. Seidle et al point out that idioms “are not a separate part of the language which one can choose either to use or omit, but they form an essential part of the general vocabulary of the language.”(Seidle et al, 1978) Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition), published in 2003, gives four definitions of the term idiom. The first sense of the word idiom is “the language peculiar to a people or to a district, community, or class: DIALECT.” The second sense is “the syntactical, grammatical, or structural form peculiar to a language.” The third sense is “an expression in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either grammatically (as no, it wasn’t me) or having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements (as Monday week for “the Monday a week after next Monday”).” The fourth sense is “a style or form of artistic expression that is characteristic of an individual, a period of movement, or a medium or instrument the modern jazz idiom; broadly: MANNER, STYLEa new culinary idiom.” (Lin Liu, 2005) 1.1.1 Definitions of English Idioms According to Warren, the word “idiom” in English is used to describe special phrases that are an essential part of a language. These phrases need not follow normal grammar rules in the language