A Research on the Comparison and Translating Technology
of Chinese and English Animal Idioms
Abstract: The study of language is the most effective means of learning different culture of various regions, and idioms are quintessence of the language as it has been chastened hundreds of years. This paper mainly focuses on “English and Chinese animal idioms”, which is the funniest part of the quintessence, to make clear the differences of history and culture between China and other western countries through comparison and study, and to illustrate some translation skills of animal idioms. The whole paper gets to the point from three aspects: The first part explains the concept of the animal idioms of both English and Chinese; the second part grasps the inner significance of cultural differences between China and other western countries, by comparing the different associated meanings of “dog”, “horse” and “sheep” in Chinese and English; the last part of the paper brings up three effective skills in translating animal idioms, literal translation, change of image, and free translation.
Key Words: animal idioms; cultural difference; translation skills; change of images
英汉动物成语的比较与翻译技巧
摘要：语言研究是学习不同地域文化最有效的方法，而成语则是千百年语言磨练的精华。本文主要着眼于这精华中最有趣的一部分——英汉动物成语，通过比较、学习来透析中西方历史和文化的差异并且总结出动物成语的一些翻译技巧。全文分三方面来阐述：第一部分，简略地解释了英汉成语概念；第二部分，通过对“狗”“马”和“羊”在英汉成语中不同的形象联想意义的比较，洞悉中西方的文化差异；第三部分，提出了英汉动物成语中三种有效的翻译技巧——直译、想象转换的意译。
关键词： 动物成语, 文化差异, 翻译技巧, 形象转换
CONTENTS
1. Introduction: The concept of English and Chinese idioms......................1
2. The comparision of imaginative meanings between English and Chinese idioms......................................................................................................2
2.1 Dog, the typical animal in understanding of animal idioms between chinese and western culture. 2
2.2 Horse, favorited by both chinese and westerner......................................................3
2.3 Sheep, regarded as the weak and small animals in the eyes of both chinese and western cultures. 4
3. Translation skills of English and Chinese animal idioms 5
3.1 The literal translation method 5
3.2 The change of image method 7
3.3. The free translation method 9
4. Conclusion ....13
Bibliography..……………...………………………………………...…...14
