TranslationStrategiesofRedinChineseandWesternCulture

劉凱

【Abstract】Owing to the differences of geographic environment， national customs， value orientation， historical development and so on， the associative and symbolic meanings of color words are vastly different in different cultures. This may influence its translation in different cultures. This paper aims to take red for example to make a specific comparison between its translation in Western and Chinese culture. In the past， a great number of scholars have researched the translation of red words. Many of them made great contributions. translation strategies and methods of red words are studied in order to get a thorough understanding of red words.

【Key words】red； difference； translation strategies

Translation Strategies of Red Words

The translation is conveyed through a language in another language. Therefore， it can be said that any kind of translation cannot be separated from culture. When the faithful meaning and the form of the faithful meaning are in conflict， it should be line with the significance of flexible handling of the word in original language. Under normal circumstance， the meaning of the color words has no more than two aspects： the basic meaning and extended meaning. An accurate understanding of the meaning of red words is the basis of faithful and smooth translation of words. In the following part， two translation strategies of red words are analyzed： literal translation and free translation.

1.1 Literal translation of red words

Literal translation is a translation method that not only keeps the meaning of the original language， but also keeps the structure of the source language （Nida，1998）. The use of literal language not only largely enriches the vocabulary of Chinese， but also greatly expands the way of expression and the scope of expression. Literal translation is the best choice when the connotation can be directly expressed and literal meaning will not lead to misunderstanding. This makes the translation faithful to the original meaning.

Whats more， because of the frequent exchanges between Chinese and Western culture， the translation of red is often used by literal translation. For instance， “紅包”can be directly translated as “red packets”. “紅包”does not need to be translated into “red envelope containing money as a gift”. The similar words such as 紅軍（red army），紅旗（red flag），紅衛軍（red guard ） can be directly translated. Furthermore， some English color words can also be directly translated， such as red ink figure（赤字）， jump a red light（闖紅燈）， red carpet（紅地毯）， red light district（紅燈區）.

1.2 Free Translation of Red Words

Free translation is biased towards the target language and target readers. In other words， it is to break through the shell of the language， digging out their real meanings （Bastide， Roger 2008）. When the red color words have just an ended meaning， the translation in Chinese-English only focuses on their internal meaning， avoiding translating the color.

1.2.1 Deleting red words in English -Chinese translation

Because red contains extended meanings， it is not possible to always translate red to “紅” or vice versa. In translation， we need to take the connotative meaning into consideration. According to the different meanings of red， we should eliminate certain red words and just get the denotative meaning （楊瓊，2012 ）.

No matter in China or in the West， red is always related to festivals and joy. “Red letter days” means memorable days or festival days. （It is used to a habit of church， showing festivals in red letters in calendar.）. “Roll out the red carpet” implies solemn welcome.“Paint the town red”shows rejoice with wild excitement. “Paint it red”means describing something striking.“Red figure” means deficit. “In the red” and “red ink” all show general debility.

Red is the color of blood and fire. In the west， red has derogatory sense， implying cruelness， violence and disaster. “A red battle”means bloody battle.“Red-handed”represents that somebody is caught in the act.“Red light” shows dangerous signal. “Red alert” means urgent alert.

1.2.2 Deleting red words in Chinese -English Translation

Similarly， in order to avoid certain misunderstanding caused by Chinese culture and customs， we should ignore red words when we translate Chinese to English. In ancient times， Chinese women especially young ladies in Han Dynasty， decorated themselves with thick red rouge. So red has been applied to portray young ladies. For example， “紅顏” portrays a face in red rouge， which symbolizes a beautiful young woman who is considerate and patient. If it is translated into “red face”， that will be misunderstood by the westerners. In ancient times， only rich people could afford to paint the door in red （趙英玉，2006） . Since that time， red has been related to wealthy family. Poet Dufu once wrote“朱門狗肉臭” to portray the luxurious life of the rich. “紅榜” means a paper on which are the names of accepted candidates in the Imperial Exam. In China， if we suppose that a person gets “紅眼病”，it does not mean that the person get a disease. In fact， it signifies that he or she is jealous of somebody or something. “近朱者赤近墨者黑”represents that he who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl. This translation masterly embodies the Chinese meaning from another view. As a matter of fact， “紅娘”means match-maker or go-between. If foreigners do not know the cultural background of it， they may think of it as a “red woman”.“紅運”means good-luck. “紅塵”signifies human society.

Conclusion

To guarantee the translation readable and acceptable， some special means such as free translation， way of deleting and changing， should be adopted. To be a good translator， we should have a penetrating study and careful comparison of the similarities and differences between the two languages so that we are able to find the corresponding strategies and methods in translation. Second， with the continuous development of human civilization and a corresponding color vocabulary development， its meaning generates many new meaning which makes human language become more vivid and colorful. Under this condition， we have to be aware of the different characteristics and cultures. There are many contents that this article does not cover. Therefore， through continuous research， the understanding of symbolic meanings of red words and their translation strategies can be studied thoroughly.

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