7.7 Translation Problems--Lack of Vocabulary Equivalence数字时代的商务英语写作.pdf

Intercultural CommunicationBarriers Intercultural CommunicationBarriers In this part, we’ll cover another kind of problems raised in translationbetween two languages.Again,WangXin’s casewill giveusa clear understanding of the problems of this kind.After one month’s stay in China,Jerry had to goback to the U.S.Learning about this,Wang Xin decided to call Jerry and intended to resolve their misunderstanding. He suggested having a dinner together.And of course they made a deal on splitting the bill. During this dinner, Wang Xin extended his willingness to make friends with Jerry. But when he wanted to express his feeling with Chineseidiom “不打不相识”, hecouldnot comeup with any English equivalence. Have you had such an experience? You rack your brains to search for a particular word or expression in another language, but all your efforts turned out to be in vain, and you get very frustrated. Actually, linguistic symbols are nearly arbitrary. They are conventions by which certain sounds are attached to certain objects and events, which signifies the social aspectsoflanguage. 刘凤霞编著 跨文化交际教程( . [M]. 北京大学出版社. 2005: 15.) Therefore, we say language to a certain degree reflects unique aspects of its culture. In another word, culture is conveyed in language. Since every culture has its unique characteristics, a certain word or concept may not have an exact counterpart in another language. In this sense, language can be a barrier to intercultural communication. People from different cultural backgrounds encounter translation problems generally in the following 5 aspects.They are the lack of equivalences in vocabulary,idioms,grammar andsyntax,experiencesandconcepts. 7.7TranslationProblems--LackofVocabularyEquivalence Let’s first discuss lack of vocabulary equivalence. As the famous example shows,theArcticpeoplehaveagreatvariety ofwordsfor “snow” dueto the geographical environment there which isnot sharedwith other areas. In t