色彩詞語的“顏”外之意

Cultural Connotations of Color Words

摘 要：英漢兩種語言都是色彩名稱豐富的語言，顏色詞可以表達出獨特的魅力。因此，在英漢互譯時，要深入了解兩種不同文化的差異，以便更準確地體會色彩詞語的“顏”外之意。

關鍵詞: 色彩詞語 “顏”外之意

Introduction

The world is full of colors， so are languages. To preserve the colors in the original language， it is required that the translators should understand the facts that the color words have not only their own physical properties， but also their own cultural connotations.

Facial expressions of color words

First， color words can obviously express feelings. Red is used to express excitement， ashamedness， anger and so on. White can express anger， nervousness， anxiety， indifference. Purple can describe the look of shame or anger. For example:

see red 大怒 dirty look (indifferent) 白眼

His wide eyes are burning with disgust， anger and excitement， and his face purpling.

憎恨，憤怒，以及過度刺激，燒得他的臉青中帶紫。

From all above， we can say color words have strong countenance function. Watching a person’s every mood can get acquired of people’s age， temperament as well as their psychology.

Social property of color words

1. Color connotation with history

In Chinese traditional conception， yellow symbolizes such cultural meaning as the sacredness， imperial power， honor， loftiness， solemnity， land， territory， etc. For example， Yellow River is called Mother River， and is the birthplace of Chinese civilization. In ancient China， colors of clothes are only chosen by imperial house. The buildings in ancient dynasty have their characteristics: yellow and red can be seen in imperial palace and temple; indigo and blue in prince’s residence; common people’s houses are black， gray and white. Similarly， in western culture， color has its own history background. For example:

to raise to the purple 升為紅衣主教

to be born in the purple 升為帝王之家

2. Color words are closely related with politics.

In China， color has strong political meaning. Red， standing for revolution， Chinese Party， proletariat and socialism system， is a typical one， which was influenced by the October Revolution in 1917. On the contrary， the color white and black means counterrevolution. For example， “紅色政權”，“黑幫”， “白色恐怖”， etc.

However， in the west， the political meaning of color seems not so clearly demarcated. It is mainly used in various parties and factions.

Green Beret 綠色貝雷帽 Red Cross 紅十字會 Yellow book 黃皮書

3. Colors in clothing

In ancient China， officials in different classes were in different colors. For example， officials above the fourth level were in purple， officials above the sixth level were in green， ect. In the army， nowadays， the colors of clothes are different， soldiers and junior officers wear light grass-green uniforms， while field grade officers and generals wear dark grass-green uniforms. In the job-career， the colors of clothes are also different. For example: golden-collar workers 金領階層gray-collar workers 灰領階層"white-collar workers 白領階層blue-collar workers 藍領階層

4. Colors in economy

Colors are used to express economy terms. For example:

in red ink 赤字in the red 虧本in the black 盈利 black market 黑市

white goods 白色貨物 brown goods 棕色貨物

5. National psychology’s influence

Because of certain cultural similarities and mutual penetrations， different nations often have the same symbolism in one color. For example， red stands for merriment， green for vigor and white for purity. However， they are different in essence. The Chinese word “紅” is usually translated as “red”， it means merriment， envy， favor and so on. But Chinese phrases “眼紅” can not be translated as “red eye”， but as “green” for it has meaning of “envy” . Besides， when translating the word “jealous” also meaning “envy”， for example， “紅人”， “紅得發紫”， “走紅”， we can not use the word “red”， but “popular”.

Here are some other examples about yellow:

a yellow dog 可鄙的人a yellow livered 膽小鬼

Conclusion

As we said above， color words contain two meanings: basic meanings and their cultural connotations. Therefore， when translating these color words， we should pay enough attention to the varied cultural connotations and adopt specific translation methods. Only by doing these， can the thoughts in the author be conveyed successfully.