Abstract

Translation is the Venus de Milo in literature world. What translators can do is to pursue the closest conception and even the best and the most experienced translators would make mistakes in their translations, which are called mistranslation. There are many reasons for mistranslations, and except for the wisdom and ability of the translator, culture differences are the main and inevitable elements. Language is always taken as the mirror of the culture, reflecting every detail of its own culture, through which we can acknowledge even the slightest differences of different cultures. So every language has its distinguished spot and scar, left by its culture and making it unique of all the other languages. Translation has always been connected to inter-lingual activity in China and cultural factors have long been buried under ground without notice. Recent year, many scholars turn their attention to cultural factors in translation analysis and mistranslation is an indispensable part of it.
In this paper, examples of mistranslations are combined with translation theories. The causes of mistranslations and the roles played by different cultures are studied in this paper from the perspective of different cultural backgrounds and different cultural environments as the major parts. Meanwhile, the chapter of different cultural backgrounds is subdivided into incomprehension of western religion, misunderstanding of history and cultural allusion and different traditional social customs; the chapter of cultural environments are subdivided into social values and thinking differences and political backgrounds and political systems. Examples are adopted to fully and closely illustrate the author’s points of view; translation methods, literal translation and liberal translation, as well as domestication and foreignization, are introduced to produce correct translation. In the end, according to the results of this research, a clear direction is given for translator to make an effort and provides the right ways for translator to improve and eliminate mistranslations.

Key Words: Mistranslation; Cultural Differences; Cultural Backgrounds; Cultural Environments
 
摘要

翻译可谓是艺术世界里的“维纳斯”，永存残缺之美。译者只能追求与原文无限接近的境界，但绝达不到与原文的意义和意境一模一样。即使是最好的译者也会出现错误，我们将这些错误称之为“误译”。产生误译的原因多种多样，除了不同译者之间的水平差异以外，文化差异是一个重要的、不可规避的因素。语言常常被比作是文化的镜子，它可以反映出文化的每一个细节。每一种语言文化都拥有自己独立的，与其他语言文化不同的特征，通过语言翻译，我们也了解到不同文化之间细小的差异。在中国，翻译一直是一种跨语际的活动，但是文化因素却常常被忽视。近年来，许多学者将他们的翻译研究方向投向文化因素，而误译则是不可或缺的一个部分。
   本文主要采用翻译实例和翻译理论相结合的研究方法。本文从文化背景和文化环境两个大方面，综合研究误译的产生的原因和文化在其中扮演的角色，同时将文化背景细分为宗教、历史和文化典故、以及传统社会习俗；文化环境细分为社会价值观和思维方式，以及政治环境和体系。每一个方面都结合实例加以分析，采用适当的翻译方法，同时给出正确的译文。根据研究结果，笔者给译者提供了努力的方向和改进的方式方法。

关键词：误译；文化差异；文化背景；文化环境