发布时间 : 星期六 文章英语毕业论文 The Cultural Differences Between Chinese and更新完毕开始阅读
Contents
1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………..1 2. The Review of Idiom…………………………………………………………........................2
2.1 The Definition of Idiom ……………………………………………….........................2 2.2 The Classification of Idiom……………………………………………….....................3 2.3 The Relations Between Color Idioms and Culture ………………………......................3 3. The Reasons of Idiom’s Appearance and Cultural Misunderstandings of the Idioms………..4
3.1 The Reasons of Idiom’s Appearance …………………………………………………...4 3.2 Cultural Misunderstandings of the Idioms……………………………………………...5 4. The Cultural Differences Reflected by the Color Idioms ……………………........................6
4.1 The Difference of Geographical Background…………………………….....................7 4.2 The Difference of Life Background ……………...........................................................7 4.3 The Difference of Color Values………………………………………………………..8
4.3.1 Different Good Fortune Expressions in Color Idioms………………………….8 4.3.2 Different Envy Expressions in Color Idioms…………………………………...8 4.3.3 Different Social Status Expressions in Color Idioms…………………………..9
5. The Influence of Color Idioms in the Cross-Cultural Communication ……………………....9
5.1 The Influence on the Language learners ……………………………….........................9 5.2 The Influence on the Business Activities……………………………………………...10 6. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………..11 Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………………….12
The Cultural Differences Between Chinese and English Color Idioms
The Cultural Differences Between Chinese and English Color
Idioms
1. Introduction
With the globalization of economy and especially with its accession to the WTO, China is taking an increasingly active part in world business activities and communication, in particular English-learning. It is therefore necessary and inevitable for domestic enterprises and foreign language learners to enter into business or language learning communication with the Western company groups or overseas people. The intercultural communication is a contemporary trend among countries or people. Therefore, culture plays a very important role in communication. Moreover, because the Eastern culture is different from the Western one, that is to say, there is a lot of distinctly cultural connotations existing between China and English, it is vital to know more about the differently cultural connotations to avoid some unnecessary conflicts and misunderstandings in communication.
Because culture is widely spread only by spoken and written communications, idiom is frequently spoken and written, it is also an important part of culture in the daily connections, in other words, and the idiom is the essence of culture, which embodies stronger cultural features. As a language, the idiom contains various cultural connotations according to different contexts. What’s more, color is a perception of the objective world, it not only reflects the color’s physical properties, but also reflects the social attributes and cultural characteristics. Owing to differently historical and cultural backgrounds, life environments and various values in different nations, the color in Chinese-English culture shows different connotations and associations. To some extent, it is color that enriches the world and the language, the color makes the idioms’ inner meaning more diverse. Learning different languages from abroad aims to communicate in differently cultural areas, so does the color idiom. China and English have a long history in language, both including many idioms.
Idiom is derived from life, which includes things in life, enlightens wisdom and covers everything. Color idiom sometimes reveals the speakers’ attitudes toward things or persons’ behaviors and social status. If not appropriately used, color idioms will result in negative effects,
1
咸阳师范学院2013届本科毕业论文
so that it is very difficult to keep harmonious cooperation relations with overseas large companies in the process of cross-cultural communication. For foreign language learners, if not better understood, color idiom will maybe lead to communicating barriers and unpleasant things happen to addressers and addressees. On the contrary, the color idioms’ cultural connotations can be well-known to Chinese and English people, it will help the Eastern and the Western cultural transmission in the intercultural connections to maintain cultural diversity and enhance the communicating ability. Meanwhile, it will promote China’s economical development and competitive advantage on the international stage.
2. The Review of Idiom
Culture is created and used by human beings, so cultural property is human’s basic feature. However, the idiom is a kind reflection of concrete culture; it can also be teeming with pungent cultural atmosphere, so it is imperative for language learners to know what idiom is and its classification under the range of idiom. “People use idioms to make their language richer and more colorful and to convey subtle shades of meaning or intention. Idioms are used often to replace a literal word or expression, and many times the idiom better describes the full nuance of meaning. Idioms and idiomatic expressions can be more precise than the literal words, often using fewer words but saying more”. (Brenner 231)
2.1 The Definition of Idiom
Language is the carrier of culture. Idiom, as a special language, is full of colorful culture. Moreover, idiom is the cultural kernel, so its meaning is rather large. Idioms, in general, are deeply connected to culture, language learners and businessmen, to a certain degree, have to understand the full meaning of idioms. The idiom refers to a group of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of the individual words. (Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary 873) Its definition seems simple, but its applications are diverse, flexible and vivid. That is to say, the idioms’ connotations are richer than its literal meanings in communication. Its expressions are very short and brief; it is hard to understand idioms better if only looking at separate words. Generally speaking, the idioms are fixed phrases or short sentences, which are gradually formed with the historical language development. The idioms
2