英汉词汇文化对比及对英语教学的启示(1)(5)
2016-07-10 01:10
导读：lively and vigorous in calligraphy---like dragons flying and phoenixes dancing 龙飞凤舞 make the finishing point---画龙点睛 the dragon and the phoenix bringing prosperity-excellent good fortun
lively and vigorous in calligraphy---like dragons flying and phoenixes dancing 龙飞凤舞
make the finishing point---画龙点睛
the dragon and the phoenix bringing prosperity-excellent good fortune---龙凤呈祥
a scene of bustling activity---龙腾虎跃
full of vim and vigor--生龙活虎
(3) “individualism” and “个人主义”
In Chinese dictionary, “个人主义” means “一切从个人出发，把个人利益放在集体利益之上，只顾自己，不顾别人的错误思想。”[14] In traditional ideas, it is another name of “self-concern”, which belongs to a word of derogatory sense. While in English, “individualism” means “theory that favors free action and complete liberty of belief for each individual person.(contrasted with the theory that favors the supremacy of the state).”[15] This is the synonym of “hard-working”, which belongs to a word of commendatory sense.
These words are difficult to master for students. They often ignore the discrepancies of the cultural connotations of two languages and misuse the words. Many students translate “拦路虎”into “a tiger in the way”, but in fact it should be “a lion in the way”. While facing the first kind—the same literal meaning, a part of the same connotation, teachers should relate the same literal meanings together, and then draw the derivations of different cultural connotations so that make students active in remembering the word meanings, also improve the interests of learning.
To deal with the second kind—the same literal meaning, the opposite cultural connotations, teachers should focus on the opposite point and introduce the different cultural background of the countries to make students understand the real reasons which lead to the different cultural connotations. In this way, students can have these words at their finger tips.
3.3 No corresponding relationship
One language has no corresponding words and cultural connotations in another language. Besides the similar or the same objects and phenomenon in different countries, there are many kinds of special things in their own countries. Some unique objects are produced by their particular culture. For example:
（科教范文网http://fw.ΝsΕΑc.com编辑） (1) a very well-known judge in the Chinese history “包公”,if we translate it into “Judge Bao”, foreigners can not understand it. So we have to add some explanations to it, “Judge Bao (the just and impartial judge in Chinese history[16]”.
(2)There are some other words only appearing in Chinese produced by Chinese traditional culture. For example:
阴 lunar 阳 solar
小脚tootsies 八卦the Eight Diagrams
天干地支Chinese era
十二生肖 twelve representatives of animals
Then in China, people always use special things to compare to others, e.g. “mandarin duck 鸳鸯” compared to “couples”, “crane鹤” compared to “longevity”, “bamboo 竹子” compared to “humility”.
In English, there also appears some special words if Chinese people don’t know the cultural connotations. For example:
(1)“hippie”—“嬉皮” refers to some youth wearing strange clothes, indulging in drug and playing
