Abstract

The idiom is the carrier of a nation’s or even a country’s culture. As an indispensable part of language system, it is not only on behalf of the features of a language, but also an independent language. Because of these, idioms cannot be separated from cultural context, which makes the meanings of idioms even more ambiguous. Therefore, the translation of Chinese idioms has been always hard for English learners and researchers. Because every time they translate idioms, they should take contexts and cultural backgrounds into consideration. Otherwise, the real meanings of the originals will not be understood.
    Now, we know more about the translation of Chinese idioms, which makes cultural context even more important. We find that even the same idiom may have different meanings under different cultural contexts. Hence, researchers proposed a great number of translating theories about four of the most representative kinds of idioms: set phrases, proverbs, common sayings and enigmatic folk similes. These theories integrate the methods of the translation of idioms and also provide some sources to English learners and researchers for their reference. This essay aims at summarizing the definitions of idioms and cultural context and give a brief introduction of some rules and skills of translating some idioms from the perspective of cultural context by several typical examples.

Keywords: translation; Chinese idioms; cultural contexts

摘要

习语承载着一个民族乃至一个国家的文化，它有很强的民族性。作为语言体系中不可或缺的一部分，习语不仅仅是一种语言特点的代表，它本身更是一种独立的语言。正是习语的代表性和民族性，让它与文化语境有着密不可分的联系，这也使得习语的意思更加难以琢磨。因此，对于英语学习者和研究者来说，汉语习语的翻译一直以来就是一个难点。因为在翻译习语的过程中，不仅仅要照顾到上下文的内容，更要对习语背后的文化背景有一定的了解，否则就有可能对原文的意思产生错误的理解。
    随着对汉语习语英译研究的深入，文化语境的地位更加显著了。在不同的文化语境下同一个习语的英译也可能会有所不同。因此，研究者们为成语、谚语、俗语、歇后语这四种最具有代表性的习语的翻译提供了很多理论，这都使汉语习语的英译方法变得更加系统完整。也为英语学习者与翻译人员提供了参考资料。本文旨在总结习语和文化语境的定义并从文化语境角度通过一些实例简要介绍一下翻译习语的规则与技巧。

关键词：翻译；汉语习语；文化语境