On-the-Translation-of-Idioms-From-a-Perspective-of

APerspectiveofcultureintotheTranslationofChineseandEnglishIdioms11.1Thedefinitionofidiom:anidiomisanelementofalanguagethatpossessesauniquewayofexpressionbasedonitstime-honoreduse.(LiFuning,1979:4)Inotherwords,anidiomisafixedgroupofwordsorasingleword,orevenasentence,withaspecialmeaningthatcannotbeguessedfromitsstructure.Thatistosay,themeaningofanidiommustbeleantasawhole.Asimpledefinitionoftheidiomwouldbetheuseofcommonwordsinaspecialsense.“Tospillthebeans”,forinstance,isnotatallconnectedwithbeans;itmeans“totellsomethingthatissecret”.InEnglishIdiomsandHowtoUseThem,J.Seidleetalpointoutthatidioms“arenotaseparatepartofthelanguagewhichonecanchooseeithertouseoromit,APerspectiveofcultureintotheTranslationofChineseandEnglishIdioms2buttheyformanessentialpartofthegeneralvocabularyofthelanguage.”(Seidleetal,1978)Merriam-Webster’sCollegiateDictionary(EleventhEdition),publishedin2003,givesfourdefinitionsofthetermidiom.Thefirstsenseofthewordidiomis“thelanguagepeculiartoapeopleortoadistrict,community,orclass:DIALECT.”Thesecondsenseis“thesyntactical,grammatical,orstructuralformpeculiartoalanguage.”Thethirdsenseis“anexpressionintheusageofalanguagethatispeculiartoitselfeithergrammatically(asno,itwasn’tme)orhavingameaningthatcannotbederivedfromtheconjoinedmeaningsofitselements(asMondayweekfor“theMondayaweekafternextMonday”).”Thefourthsenseis“astyleorformofartisticexpressionthatischaracteristicofanindividual,aperiodofmovement,oramediumorinstrumentthemodernjazzidiom;broadly:MANNER,STYLEanewculinaryidiom.”(Lin&Liu,2005)1.1.1DefinitionsofEnglishIdiomsAccordingtoWarren,theword“idiom”inEnglishisusedtodescribespecialphrasesthatareanessentialpartofalanguage.Thesephrasesneednotfollownormalgrammarrulesinthelanguageandcanhavebothidiomaticandlitermeaning.AnEnglishidiomisdefinedintheWebster’sNewWorldDictionaryoftheAmericanLanguage,2ndcollegeedition,1972as“anacceptedphrase,construction,orexpressioniscontrarytotheusualpatternsofthelanguageorhavingameaningofdifferentfromliteral”.IntheCambridgeAdvancedLearner’sDictionary,itsdefinitionis“agroupofwordsinafixedorderhavingaparticularmeaning,differentfromthemeaningofeachwordunderstoodonitsown”.1.2.2DefinitionsofChineseIdiomsInChinese,therealsoexistlinguisticconstructswhicharesimilartoEnglishAPerspectiveofcultureintotheTranslationofChineseandEnglishIdioms3idioms,so-called“成语”.SimilartoEnglishidiom,“成语”arealsolexicalorwordgroupsandphraseswhichareestablishedthroughlongtimeofuseandareacceptedthroughpractice.ThisisthedefinitionofChineseidiominanarrowsense.Inabroadsense,theChinese“equivalent”for“idiom”is“熟语”,itreferstoakindofasetphraseorsentencefixedbylongusage.AccordingtoCihai(Xia，1999),“熟语是语言中固定的词组或句子，使用时一般不能任意改变其组织，且要以其整体来理解语义，包括成语、谚语、格言、惯用语、歇后语等.”“Shuyuarefixedphrasesorsentencesofalanguage,whichcannotbemodifiedarbitrarily.Theymustbeinterpretedasasemanticunit.Theyincludesetphrases,proverbs,maxims,locutionsandtwo-partallegoricalsayings,etc.”AChineseidiomisnewlydefinedas“aChineseidiom,constitutedbywords,relativelyfixedinstructure,isanarrativelanguageunitwhichcanperformamultipleoffunctions.”(Wen,2005:17)Inabroadsense,Englishidiomscoverallofthefollowingforms:setphrases,proverbs,commonsayings,colloquialisms,allusionsandslangs.Herethreeimportantformsofidiomsareselectedforexplanation.SetphrasesOnemostimportantgroupofidiomsaresetphraseswhoseformissetandmanyofthemareratherrigidandcannotshowupinanyotherforms.ThereisaninexhaustiblestorehouseofsetphrasesthatplayanimportantroleinEnglishlanguage.Oneexamplewithculturaltracesis“tokickthebucket”.ItsorigincanbetracedbacktoareligiousceremonyofbaptisminChristianity.AsfarasaChristianisconcerned,his/herimportantthreestages,birth,marriageanddeath,arecloselyconnectedwithareligiousceremony:baptism.AChristianneedstoreceivebaptismfromanadministratorwhenhe/shewasborn,getmarriedinthechurchwithblessingsofacertainministerandbebaptizedagainwhenhe/sheisgoingtodie”.Sotheidiom“kickthebucket”isaeuphemisticexpressionconnoting“todie”referringtothedeathofaChristianintheceremonyofbeingbaptized.Anotherexamples“toshowone’steeth”suggests“totakeathreateningtoneortoshowanintentiontoinjure”,whichAPerspectiveofcultureintotheTranslationofChineseandEnglishIdioms4notonlyhasliteralmeaningofshowingone’steeth,butalsoacquiresanimplication.TherearesometypicalexamplesofEnglishsetphraseslistedbelow:tofallinlove,togoDutch,aflyonthewheel,inblackandwhite,etc.ProverbsProverbsareaspecialkindofEnglishidioms.LongmanModernEnglishDictionarydefinesproverbas“abrieffamiliarmaximoffolkwisdom,usuallycompressedinform,ofteninvolvingaboldimageandfrequentlyajinglethatcatchesthememory.”Theyarerichincontentandsuccinctinwording.Proverbisoftendefinedasthewisdomofmanyandthewitofone,statingcommonlyexperiencedorforthepurposeofgivingwiseadvicetoothers.HundredsofEnglishproverbshavegreatvitalitybecauseoftheirwidegeneralapplicationamongpeopleofallsocialstrata.Theyexpressinafewwords,afactoratruthwhichdealswitheverydayexperience.Forinstance,“Firstcome,firstserved”means“peoplewillbedealtwithastheycome,withoutspecialtreatmentforlatecome