Culture Differences and Translation 文化差异与翻译.docVIP

Culture Differences and Translation Abstract Interlingual communication is actually intercultural communication, Language is part of the culture of a people and the chief way by which the members of a society communicate。 Basing on these points, this article gives examples to show the facts that there exists in translation semantic correspondence and semantic zero between different languages and different cultures. When we do translating we should try to make up semantic zero caused by the culture. 1. What is A Good Translation Translation is, in fact, a converting process. Theoretically, a good translation should give its reader the same conception as what a native reader gets from the original. Nida[1] remarked that how to determine a good translation is the response of the receptor to the translated message, and this message must then be compared with the way in which the original receptors presumably reacted to the message when it was given in its original setting. Jakobson[2] held the view that translation does not just mean the change of symbols into another language, but it is a process of information substitution. The task of a translator is to translate the information he receives into symbols which he will send out. Catford[3] explained that in translation there is no meaning equivalence, but just the signifier equivalence. Because of the differences between the original language and the target language, there exists the translation equivalence[4] limitedness. This limitedness is not only manifested in the meaning of words, grammatical features, but also manifested in cultural differences more seriously. 2. Culture and Language Perhaps culture is one of the most difficult terms to define. Different people in accordance with their different specialties have given different definitions. Eshleman says “The term ‘culture’ means different things to different people.” In the minds of many people, it is associated with such activities as attending the opera,