3. Bright ethnic and geographical characteristics
English proverbs are based English cultural backgrounds. When we read English proverbs, we cannot stop to imagine the English history, geography, customs, politics, economy, etc. Obviously, English proverbs have bright ethnic and geographical characteristics. Therefore, when we translate this kind of proverbs, we should try our best to keep the original proverbs‘ ethnic and geography characteristics. Now we will take some proverbs as examples following with two kinds of translations. We can compare which one is better to keep the ethnic and geographical characteristics of proverbs.
1. Talk of the devil and he is sure to appear.
说到魔鬼，魔鬼就到。（说曹操，曹操到。）
2. Two heads are better than one.
两个人的头脑总比一个的好。（三个丑皮匠顶个诸葛亮。）
3. Beauty lies in lover’s eyes.
情人眼里出美人。（情人眼里出西施。）
4. Do not cross the bridge until you come to it.
船到桥头自然直。（不要杞人忧天。）
5. Never offer to teach fish to swim.
不要教鱼儿游水。（不要班门弄斧。）
We all know that “曹操 ，诸葛亮，西施，杞人，鲁班”are the unique people in Chinese history. If we choose the second translation, our Chinese people will make a misunderstanding that there are also曹操 ，诸葛亮，西施，杞人，鲁班 in Britain. On the contrary, the first kind of translation implies the bright ethnic and geographical characteristics, and people can easily know that they are English proverbs but not Chinese ones. Part III
Cultural backgrounds of English proverbs
Proverbs are based a nation’s unique cultural backgrounds. Human culture has much in common, but also has much in difference. The differences of the traditional customs, religions and historical stories and some other literature works make proverbs have strong cultural characteristics. If we want to master a foreign language, we must know the specialty of the foreign country’s cultural backgrounds. In the following part, we will talk about the cultural backgrounds of English proverbs: traditional customs, religion and historical stories and some other literature works, which will help us understand the English proverbs well, then translate them precisely and faithfully. |
