摘要

谚语作为流传于民间的特有民间文学形式,以其语言凝练、形象生动、表意精辟等特点而成为各民族民间文学的一颗璀璨的明珠。常常显得既寓意深刻，又韵味隽永。不同的谚语所传递的文化信息不同,而这种差异正是翻译的难点。若不处理这些文化因素,在翻译中难免会出现文化误解或文化流失的状况。因此，本文通过对谚语的分类和对中西文化的对比，包括对宗教信仰、风俗习惯、文学艺术等方面的差异的分析，并提出一些常见的翻译方法，即直译法、意译法、直意译结合法，就谚语及其翻译做一些探索。

关键词：谚语分类，文化差异，翻译方法

Abstract

This paper tries to prove that proverbs, which are the treasures of the language, have such close relations to culture that they truly reflect the colorful life of people throughout history. As we all know, every nation has its own culture. And Proverbs are closely linked with cultural tradition and they are inseparable. The cultural elements of proverbs cause the difficulty of translation of proverb.
So, in this paper, we will divide the proverbs into several categories, and then we will analyze the culture difference between Chinese and English, including the difference of religious beliefs, customs and habits, historical background and values. In the end of the paper, we propose some translation methods: literal translation, free translation, literal translation combined with free translation and some special ways of translation.

Key words: proverb, culture difference, category, translation method.

1 Introduction
1.1 Background information
A proverb (from Latin: proverbium) is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim. (From Wikipedia)
Proverbs are often borrowed from similar languages and cultures, and sometimes come down to the present through more than one language. Both the Bible (including, but not limited to the Book of Proverbs) and Medieval Latin (aided by the work of Erasmus) have played a considerable role in distributing proverbs across Europe, although almost every culture has examples of its own.