Cultural-factors-in-translation-for-students

Cultural factors in translation

Culture and Language

Culture: the beliefs, way of life, art, and customs that are shared and accepted by people in a particular society.

Uniqueness of culture:

— What ese are you? Japanese, Vietnamese or Chinese？ — What key are you? Donkey, monkey or Yankee? I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice-cream.

Shared culture:

constant dropping wears the stone to kill two birds with one stone Walls have ears.

When the cat is away, the mice will play. Beautiful is in the eye of the beholder. Mutual influence of cultures:

( E-C) Amitabha; sour grapes; logic; humor

(C-E) wok; Yin and Yang; Chaofan; Taoism; lose face; chop suey New phenomena of culture:

卡拉OK; KTV包房; iphone 手机; CD光盘; X光; CT扫描; “今年的GDP增长”

“加入WTO的利与弊。”

Alienation（异化，洋化）: The feeling of not being part of society or a group ,( in translation) source language culture oriented, or SL culture-oriented.

from log house to White House

a drawn rat; Monkey King; armed to the teeth; Gone with the Wind; Red Star over China Adaptation （归化）: The process of changing something to make it suitable for a new situation，( in translation) target language culture oriented, or TL culture-oriented).

at a stone’s throw; cry wine and sell vinegar;

Z-shaped; T-square; V-neck; Mao Zedong – Man, Not God Translation Practice:

The Baffling Question from Fatherhood by Bill Cosby

So you've decided to have a child. You've decided to give up quiet evenings with good books and lazy weekends with good music, intimate meals during which you finish whole sentences, sweet private times when you've savored the thought that just the two of you and your love are all you will ever need. You've decided to turn your sofas into trampolines, and to abandon the joys of leisurely contemplating reproductions of great art for the joys of frantically coping with reproductions of yourselves.

Why?

Poets have said the reason to have children is to give yourself immortality; and I must admit I did ask God to give me a son because I wanted someone to carry on the family name. Well, God did just that and I now confess that there have been times when I've told my son not to reveal who he is.

\"You make up a name,\" I've said. \"Just don't tell anybody who you are.\"

Immortality? Now that I have had five children, my only hope is that they all are out of the house before I die.

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