A Study on Proverbs’ Translation from Functional Equivalence Theory

1、基于功能對等理論英漢諺語翻譯及文化缺失現(xiàn)象的研究 摘 要：諺語是熟語的一種。是流傳于民間的比較簡練而且言簡意賅的話語。多數(shù)反映了勞動人民的生活實踐經(jīng)驗，而且一般都是經(jīng)過口頭傳下來的。它多是口語形式的通俗易懂的短句或韻語。諺語可稱得上是語言中的精華，但是在英漢互譯過程中，諺語由于其承載的文化信息和其約定俗成的意思，經(jīng)常會給譯者帶來一定的理解困難或理解錯誤。雖然，在功能對等翻譯理論的指導(dǎo)下，我們可以按照功能對等理論翻譯原則譯出大多數(shù)諺語的近似對等意思，但在翻譯這些諺語的同時有時會失去了源諺語所要傳遞的文化信息。本文將從諺語的來源，功能對等理論，及在此理論下英漢諺語的翻譯等方面進行研究，從而提醒譯者

2、在運用功能對等翻譯理論翻譯諺語時應(yīng)避免產(chǎn)生文化缺失現(xiàn)象，盡可能地使譯文達到傳遞民族文化信息的目的。關(guān)鍵字：功能對等理論，英漢諺語翻譯；文化缺失現(xiàn)象a study on proverbs translation from functional equivalence theory abstract: proverb is a kind of sayings. proverb is made up of the concise and comprehensive words which win a great popularity among the folk lives. the most of

3、 them reflect the lives and experience of the laboring people gained from practical activities. they are inherited from generation to generation orally. so they are mostly spoken in the form of easy phrases or rhymes. proverbs are the precious fruits of the language. however, translators are always

4、making some errors or misunderstandings on translation of proverbs due to their own cultural information and fixed conventions. based on the functional equivalence translation theory, we can translate the basic meaning of such proverbs approximately, but unfortunately, we fail to transfer those prov

5、erbs cultural information into translation at the same time. this article will do research on the source of proverb, the functional equivalence translation theory and translation of proverbs, and so on, for purpose of reminding the translators of the cultural information loss in the use of functiona

6、l equivalence translation theory so that they can avoid making mistakes of cultural transmission on proverbs translation. in this way, we will have a better translation which is more identified with the original meaning.key words: source of proverbs; functional equivalence theory; translation of pro

7、verbs; culture loss 1. introductionboth english and chinese are highly advanced languages which bear a great number of proverbs. they are the treasures created by our human beings over the history. they reflect many precious doctrines and qualities concluded by all walks of life. a proverb combines

8、to certain cultural information which reflects the variety information, such as the geography, economics, and politics and so on at that period time. for example, in chinese proverbs, here is “莊稼一枝花,全靠肥當(dāng)家” it reflects the importance of the fertilizer to agriculture. at the same time, it reflects the

9、 conditions of china where people are highly depending on the crops as their living resource. in english proverbs, “every dog has his day”. as we know, chinese people usually regard dog as the vicious animal, and they always compare dog to the bad or miserable. as a matter of fact, dog is used with

10、a disapproving meaning in chinese culture. however, dog is a kind and loyal animal in english lives, it is always compared as a good thing. so what does a proverb mean? a proverb (from latin: proverbium) is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on

11、common sense or the practical experience of humanity. they are often metaphorical. (from free encyclopedia, wikipedia) and in chinese version from辭海,諺語是高度概括實踐經(jīng)驗，可以指導(dǎo)人們行動的口頭語。誕生于上古社會。多為民間作品，亦有文人之作。如“工欲善其事，必先利其器”<諺語幾乎都是以經(jīng)驗為基礎(chǔ)的，幾乎永遠是真實的>，<只有在得到生活的驗證后，諺語對你來說才稱其為諺語> （現(xiàn)代漢語辭海，延邊人民出版社，1975）there

12、fore, we can make a conclusion that in both english and chinese, proverb is created by ordinary people, which is popular among people over the times, and conveys a short, concise and persuasive message to make peoples life better. moreover, it is easy to remember and helpful to peoples lives. as we

13、know, “no smoke without fire” everything has its origins. according to wikipedia, proverbs are often borrowed from similar languages and cultures, and sometimes come down to the present through more than one language. both the bible (book of proverbs) and medieval latin have played a considerable ro

14、le in distributing proverbs across europe, although almost every culture has examples of its own. but chinese proverbs are created mainly by chinese with its own cultural information. thus, i would like to search the origins both english and chinese proverbs as follows.1.1 the influence of agricultu

15、ral activitiesproverbs are created in early times before the industrialized society, most societies were still in agricultural stage, and so many proverbs are related to the agricultural activities over the different period both in english and chinese culture. for example, “make hay while the sun sh

16、ines”, due to the weather conditions, britain is plenty of rain, so sunshine is very important to the farmers and ordinary people, so every man or woman can have a same empathy even without knowing the same phrase or patterns. because many people finally find this proverb that can exactly and easily

17、 express their feelings and experience after many trials and errors, so they just remember and pass it onto next generation. so does the proverb: “dont put all your eggs in one basket.” it comes from a common sense of the agricultural products trade. there are same origins in chinese proverbs, for e

18、xample, “有收無收在于水,多收少收在于肥!” it means that both water and fertilizer are important to a good agriculture. “人誤地一時,地誤人一年.” it means that peoples attitude toward the agriculture will determine their harvest of next year. moreover, many agricultural activities are limited by the local geography, which inf

19、luence on the proverbs. for instance, the great britain is an island, and it enjoyed an advanced seamanship in history, so many activities are related to the sea, and many proverbs have the close contacts with the sea and boats. “spend money like water,” (english-chinese proverbs, gao lanying, 2002.

20、9, 322)” “hoist your sail when the wind is fair”; “l(fā)iving without an aim is like sailing without a compass.” “he that would sail without danger must never come on the main sea.” but china is a continent country; so many activities are related to the soil and fields, such as, “大路朝天，各走一邊” a main road

21、being towards the sky, any person can choose to walk on either side of it. the deeper meaning is each one should mind his or her business. “道不同不相為謀” those who go different ways cannot take one another to heart. therefore, agricultural activities are one of most important sources of the proverbs both

22、 in english and chinese culture.1.2 the influence of customs and conventionsdifferent nations have different customs and conventions. these differences reflect in their language, of course, and in the proverbs of these nations. for example, in western culture, people tend to compare cat to a vicious

23、 woman, however, chinese people seem to prefer to compare a cat to a lazy and gluttonous child. in english culture, people regard fox as a cunning and tricky animal which is difficult to deal with. for example, “when the fox preaches, then beware your geese.”（遇上狐貍說教，當(dāng)心雞鵝被盜）but in chinese culture, pe

24、ople tend to use a image of fox to compare a cunning and beautiful woman who is good at taking advantage of her beauty to subvert a states peace and regime, or some ones tricks are revealed at last. for example, “憑尾巴抓狐貍”(the tail does often catch the fox.) or “狐貍尾巴藏不住”（evils cannot be covered up.）(a

25、 dictionary of chinese idiomatic expressions with english translations, shanghai education press,2006,272) “飛跑的狐貍證明自己有罪” (the fox who flies proves himself guilty.) in english culture, people think that it is terrible bad to let your horse be lost owe to its importance to you, on the contrary, people

26、 think that it does not matter to lose his horse, may be the missing horse can bring luck to him in chinese culture. for instance, in chinese culture, here is “塞翁失馬，焉知非?！?(just like the old frontiersman losing a horse, who knows but that which seems a misfortune may prove a blessing in disguise). bu

27、t in english culture： “better lose the saddle than the horse.” (寧可丟鞍，不可失馬)； “it is good to go afoot with a horse in hand.”（有馬牽在手，步行最悠閑）。therefore, a nations conventions and customs are playing an important role in forming its own proverbs, and different nations vary greatly on the same objects.1.3 t

28、he influence of religion and mythologyreligious belief has strong influence on a nations culture and is one of important factors of peoples spiritual life. but different nations vary greatly in their beliefs, so these differences often reflect in their life styles, especially in proverbs of their la

29、nguage. in chinese culture, peoples belief is based on three religions: buddhism, taoism and confucianism. so there are a great number of chinese proverbs related to those three religions. in buddhism, people stress that only people stop doing bad things can they become a buddha or immortal. and bud

30、dha enjoys the highest position in their faith, for example,“不看僧面看佛面”（if you wont do it for the monks sake, do it for the buddhas sake.） “放下屠刀，立地成佛” （to lay ones butcher knife and suddenly become a buddha.）in taoism culture, there are many practical philosophical methods. they reflects the philosoph

31、ical method of movement, for instance, “柔能克剛，弱能制強” （softness can overcome the hard, and the weak can defeat the strong.） “福無雙降，禍不單行” （blessings never come in pairs and troubles never come singly.）in confucianism culture, there are many theories on how to adjust the relationship among different class

32、 so as to have a harmonious life with the surroundings. “己所不欲，勿施于人” （dont do to others what you dont like others to do to you.） “既來之，則安之” （since you are here, youd better relax.）(a dictionary of chinese idiomatic expressions with english translations, shanghai education press,2006)however, in englis

33、h world, many proverbs are related to bible which tells the birth of the world, human beings and all creatures created by god. bible is the highest doctrine in christian world. and god enjoys the highest position in the universe. so there are many proverbs from bible. for instance, “god makes and ma

34、n shapes” ( 上帝創(chuàng)造人，衣著美化人) “god never shuts one door but he opens another”(天無絕人之路) “god and parents, and our master, can never be requited”(上帝，父母和老師的恩情是報答不盡的) (dictionary of english proverbs in current use, shaanxi peoples press, 157) at the same time, there are a number of proverbs from greek mytholo

35、gy in english world. for example, “ an apple of discard” (斗爭之源)，“swan song”(最后的杰作)“a penelope's web”（永遠做不完的工作）however, in chinese proverbs, there are a few ones from chinese mythology, such as “豬八戒照鏡子” a hog（a character in journey to the west） is looking into a mirror. “豬八戒倒打一耙” （hog is striking

36、 backwards with his rake-to make unfounded counter- charges.）(a dictionary of chinese idiomatic expressions with english translations, shanghai education press,2006)thus, we can find that there are many proverbs bounding to the different nations religions and related mythologies. each proverb has it

37、s own special cultural information.1.4 the influence of historical events and literature worksthere are many proverbs from historical events and literature works. in china, many proverbs are related to the historical figures, events and literature works as same as those in western world. for example

38、, in ancient three kingdoms of china, there is a wise man who was a great genius at war. here are proverbs related to him. “三個臭皮匠，頂個諸葛亮” （three cobblers with their wits combined are equivalent to zhuge liang, the master mind.）it stresses the great wisdom from common people. “三請諸葛亮” （ to invite sb th

39、ree times, like inviting zhuge liang- to invite sb earnestly and repeatedly.）it refers to ones earnest efforts to invite or consult someone for a certain purpose. in chinese literary, “桃李不言，下自成蹊” (from shih chi written by sima qian, han dynasty.) ( though peach and plum trees do not speak, a path is

40、 worn beneath them./ a man of true worth attracts admiration.) “堂屋里掛草簾，不是畫”（from the scholars written by wu jingzi, qing dynasty.）it means what sb said is nonsense. at the same time, there are the same ways of forming proverbs in english world; there is a wide range of proverbs in shakespeares works

41、. for example, “the entire world is a stage.”（世界就是一臺戲）； “have is have.” (到手的東西才算數(shù))； “it is a wise father that knows his own child.” (聰明的父親才了解自己的孩子) but there is not only one source of proverbs from english world, and many from other nations, especially in literary. for instance, in russia novelist,

42、tolstoys works anna karenina, “all happy families resemble one another, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”（幸福的家庭彼此相似，不幸的家庭各有不幸）and english proverb borrowing from france, “do not put the cart before the horse.” (不要本末倒置) (dictionary of proverbs in current use, shaanxi peoples press) so t

43、hese proverbs contain a wide range of their unique cultural information, we can not be too careful to english prtranslate them in the different language.therefore, proverbs are the precious fruits of language with the different origins and backgrounds, which cause the difficulties in translation. as

44、 for this fact, we should attach a great attention to the methods on proverbs translation. 2. functional equivalence theory2.1 the development of functional equivalenceeugene a. nida, the proposed of the theory, has been a pioneer in the fields of translation theory and linguistics. his translation

45、theory has exerted a great influence on translation studies in western countries. his works on translation set off the study of modern translation as an academic field, and he is regarded as “the patriarch of translation study and a founder of the discipline” (snell-hornby 1988:1; baker 1988:277). b

46、efore nida put forward his translation theory in the 1960s, there was a tendency in translating, i.e. the emphasis on technical accuracy and literalism, which had a very negative effect on bible translations in the 19th century. most english versions of bible at that time, adopting the 16th century

47、forms, were only popular with theological “ponies”, but never popular with the christian community of english-speaking people for their bad performance in communicating effectively. here comes the creation of “dynamic equivalence” from nida.nidas theory of dynamic theory is his most notable contribu

48、tion to translation studies. the concept is first mentioned in his article “principles of translation as exemplified by bible translating” (1959) as he attempts to define translation. later, the expression “dynamic equivalence” is superseded by “functional equivalence” in his work from one language

49、to another (1986, with edward). however, there is essentially not much difference between the two concepts. the substitution of “functional equivalence” is just to stress the concept of function and to avoid misunderstandings of the term “dynamic”, which is mistaken by some people for something in t

50、he sense of impact. since then, functional equivalence has been widely adopted by many translators and has been successful, although there are many questions and challenges against it. 2.2 functional equivalence theoryas i mentioned in above, functional equivalence theory is stemmed from dynamic equ

51、ivalence theory, without much essential distinction between them. the acquaintance of dynamic equivalence is a must in order to understand what functional equivalence is. in nidas influential work toward a science of translating (1964), he postulates dynamic equivalent translation as follows:“in suc

52、h a translation (dynamic equivalent translation) one is not so concerned with matching the receptor-language message with the source-language message, but with the dynamic relationship, that the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between

53、the original receptors and the message. (1964:159)” then in his 1969 textbook the theory and practice of translation, dynamic equivalence is defined “in terms of the degree to which the receptors of the message in the receptor language respond to it in substantially the same manner as the receptors

54、in the source language” (1969:24). about 20 years later，he restated his idea about dynamic equivalent translation together with professor jin di in on translation (1984:124) as follows: “the dynamic character of such a translation depends upon a comparison of two relations. that is to say, the relat

55、ion of target language receptors to the target language text should be roughly equivalent to the relationship between the original receptors and the original text. it is this double relationship which provides the basis for the dynamic equivalence. (2008:25)”accordingly, the dynamic-equivalent trans

56、lation can be simply defined as “the closest natural equivalent to the source-language message”, which covers the following critical factors:1) equivalent, pointing to the source-language message2) natural, pointing to the target language3) closest, combining the two orientations togethertherefore,

57、the term “functional equivalence” embodies the essential spirit of nidas theory, which highlights the same impact the message has on the target language and the source language reader. by functional equivalence, nida refers to the equivalence first in terms of meaning and second in terms of style. n

58、ida also holds that the degree to which the receptors of the message in the receptor language respond to the target-language translation should be the same as the degree to which the receptors in the source language respond to the source-language translation. i think the two points above are in effe

59、ct the same because when the target-language translation and the source-language translation are functionally equivalent in meaning and style, the degree to which the receptors of the message in the receptor language respond to the target-language translation is surely the same or almost the same as the degree to which the receptors in the source language respond to the source-language translation.in language