Abstract:

Language is the product of the existence of society. Different history, habits and natural environment in different nations lead to different cultures. English and Chinese are two kinds of different languages based on different cultures. This kind of cultural differences may make language translation very difficult and complicate. This research paper mainly talks about the influences of cultural differences on translation. There are four kinds of influences analyzed in the research paper. They are thinking method, the concept of time, religious beliefs, habits and customs. All of them must be considered during the process of translating. Or else, it may cause an unpleasant even a false translation. The last part of the research paper talks about some ways of improving translation. Only when we know the different cultures of the two languages can we translate them very well.

Keywords:  culture differences; translation; influences; ways of improving translation

摘  要：

语言是社会存在的产物。由于不同国家的历史、习惯和自然环境各异，而导致文化的不同。英语和汉语两种不同的语言建立在不同文化背景的基础上，这种文化差异使语言翻译变得非常困难和复杂。这篇研究论文主要讨论文化差异对翻译的影响，重点分析了思维方法、时间观念、宗教信仰、习惯和习俗等影响翻译的因素。这些都是在翻译过程中必须考虑的因素，否则，就有可能引起不愉快的甚至是错误的翻译。文章的最后一部分论述了提高翻译质量的方法，只有当我们更好地了解不同文化的差异时才能在两种语言互译中做得更好。

关键词：文化差异； 翻译；影响；提高翻译的方法

1.  Introduction
English and Chinese are the two kinds of different languages which are based on different cultures. Language is the carrier of culture．It contains rich cultural information．Therefore translation is not merely to convert one language to another. Language is the product of the existence of society. They reflect their own special national culture and historical tradition. In different nations, there exist different religious culture, historical culture, regional culture, custom culture and different thinking models. These differences made language translation very complicated and difficult. Only when we know the different cultures very well can we translate the two languages better.