英语毕业论文070.中西方文化背景中对龙的不同阐释

中西方文化背景中对龙的不同阐释

The Different Translations of Loong under the Background of Chine and

Western Cultures

Abstract

Chine people are proud of Chine word long from ancient times till now,

which is the symbol of auspiciousness and authority. But in Western

people’s eyes, the English word dragon is the symbol of devil and bugbear.

So long and dragon are quite different. But in English-Chine or

Chine-English translations, the two words are often translated into

each other. The translations ignore the differences between Chine and

Western culture, and cau cultural misunderstanding. So how to translate

Chine word long into English becomes a rious problem. It is a good

way to translate them from the differences between long and dragon, from

the relation between characteristics of Chine language and English

language.

Key Words

Cultural differences; dragon; long; Loong; translation

摘 要

从古至今，中国人都对汉字龙感到自豪，因为龙是吉祥和权威的象征。而在西方

人的眼中，英语单词dragon意味着罪恶和怪物，是邪恶的象征。因此龙和dragon

在很大的程度上是不同的。但是在英译汉或汉译英中，我们会经常把这两个词互

译。这种翻译忽视了中西方文化的差异，从而造成了严重的文化误解。显而易见，

这种翻译是有问题的。因此如何把汉字龙翻译成英语就成为一个很严肃的问题。

从龙和dragon的差异、汉语和英语这两种语言特点的差异来确定龙的英译不失

为一种好的方法.

关键词

文化差异；dragon; 龙；Loong；翻译

Introduction

It is well-known that there are many differences between Chine and

Western culture. Nowadays cultural communication between different

countries is very frequent, so accurate translation becomes in great need

as occasions require. But great differences exist in different languages.

People in every nation always understand other nations’ culture with

their own views without considering whether they are right or wrong in

origin, as is a very common phenomenon. Hence the misunderstandings

between different nations come into being. It is more and more important

that cultural understanding rves as the communicational way between

different nations. And people also have begun to notice the

misunderstandings caud by translations. Especially culture-loaded

words, which stand for every nation’s culture and spirit, are translated

carelessly. Then misunderstandings spread and expand. Taking Chine word

long for example, long is a traditional culture-loaded word. Long is

always translated into English word dragon in many translations. But the

English word dragon is a kind of bugbear, which can breathe out fire

according to western legend. Becau of the translation from long to

dragon, great misunderstanding exists between Chine people’s and

western people’s minds.

Ⅰ.The Differences between Chine Word Long and English Word Dragon

There are many differences between Chine culture and western culture.

Therefore, there are many differences between Chine word long and

English word dragon.

A. Long in China

In ancient china, there are many origins about long, such as lizard,

crocodile and dinosaur and so on. Long is regarded as totem in ancient

times. Chine people in ancient times admired long though it is just an

imaginary animal in the legend.

In China, long is attached to a plenty of commendatory cultural meanings.

Since the ancient times, long has been regarded by Chine people as the

incarnation of their ancestor. Conquently they like to think themlves

as the offspring of long. Hence long has been regarded as the symbol of

China and Chine people, and China is called dong fang ju long---a huge

oriental country. In China, the traditional symbols of royalty are long

and feng. The word long stands for the Chine king or emperor and feng

for the queen. Therefore many things which are connected with the king

or royalty contain the word long, such as long yan which means the

appearance of the emperor, long ti which means the body of the emperor

and long pao which means the robe for the emperor. Besides, long is

suppod to bring good luck as an auspicious creature. In the phra wang

zi cheng long，long means a successful person with pretige.

In Modern Chine Dictionary，the original meaning of long is a kind of

a supernatural animal, which carries horns and whiskers and only has one

head. It can make rain as wanted in legend. The cond meaning is the head

of animals, which can be black or bright, can be slender or coar, can

be short or long, flying to the sky in spring, and diving in the a in

autumn. In the other words, long is the head of changeable water animals,

which is helpful for everything. So people awe and admire it as totem.

In lunar calendar, Feb. 2nd is a traditional festival of long. On this

day, people pray for spring rain and good harvest.

In Modern Chine Dictionary, it also refers to the emperor in the feudal

society of china. It is recorded before Jie Zitui , who is a Chine

historical person, left Jin Dynasty, he wrote a poem,“有龙于飞，周遍

天下„„龙返其乡，得其处所。”Long in this poem reprents emperor.

Long can be regarded as imagery of heroes and wi persons. There is a

record in the old text The Stories of Three Countries，which says that

“徐庶见先主，先主器之，诸先生曰：‘诸葛孔明者，卧龙也，先主岂愿见乎？’”

Here, Xu Shu regarded Zhuge Liang as latent long，which means that Zhuge

Liang ’s wisdom and talent were buried. Besides, there is another phra

long pan feng yi in ancient records to demonstrate wi persons who are

not known by most people. Long in the ancient times also meant noble steed.

In modern Chine, long in some phras has lost its original meaning,

and got meanings of trope. Such as, the phra shui long tou, which looks

like long. The phra yi tiao long is not a real long, but ries of good

methods or ways. Besides, long juan feng and che shui ma long all mean

trope.

B. Dragon in Western Countries

The dragon is often a symbol of devil to westerners. They regard the dragon

as a fierce monster that can destroy some other things. Therefore, in their

opinion, it can make many disasters. There are veral stories of saints

or heroes dealing with the struggles against such monsters, which in most

cas are killed in the end. The most notable story perhaps is the story

of Beowulf. An Anglo-Saxon epic around the year of 700A.D, tells how the

hero Beowulf defeats a monster called Grandel, but he is eventually

mortally wounded during the process of slaying a dragon.（Li Zuowen, page

85,2005）

Dragon is the symbol of devil, which can be en in many western films.

For example, in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, there is

a cruel character—dragon. Most people know that Harry Potter is a

righteous boy. In this movie, he fights against the dragon to stop it from

destroying the world. In another cartoon film Shrek the Third, who end

is very different from other similar films, there is a very cruel dragon

named Boss. In the film Boss always hurts others. There is another film

about dragon---Region of Fire. In this movie, after the dragon was waked

by others, he begins to destroy the world for a long time. Many people

are killed by him. In the film Dragon Heart, becau the figure has a half

of heat from dragon, he becomes a very rude person. At last, he gets his

nemesis. From the films, dragon is well known to appear with a cruel

image. Western films can reflect western cultures. Of cour, the

characters in their films can reflect directors’ opinions. The image of

dragon in the films is the reflection of dragon in western legend.

In Bible, Satan, a devil, is called the great dragon. Revelation in the

Books of The New testament of Bible describes dragon like this: A great

red dragon, with ven heads and ten horns, and ven diadems on his head.

And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the

dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated,

and there is no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was

thrown down, then ancient rpent, which is called the Devil and Satan,

the deceiver of the whole world, was thrown down to the earth, and his

angels were thrown down with him. (John, page10, 1998) In Microsoft

Encyclopedia, dragon is described as a legendary reptilian monster

similar in form to a crocodile and usually reprented as having wings,

huge claws, and a fiery breath. Above it is about the appearance of dragon.

From the description, dragon is very ugly, and its figure is very huge.

When the dragon is ud to refer to a person, especially a woman, it is

always in pejorative n. As in Collins Cobuild Language Dictionary,

it is said, “If you call a woman a dragon, you mean that she is fierce

and unpleasant.” For example, she is a bit of dragon around this place.

In Europe, there is a famous dragon named Hydra, which is very cruel and

rude. Hydra has nine heads and has long life. It is very different from

long in China. And European people hate Hydra very much.

So dragon in western countries mainly means cruel and bad things. For

example, “we call her a dragon” means she is very rude. “The Old

Dragon” refers to the Satan in Bible, and in the phra “cha the

dragon”, dragon means drug, which can make people crazy and go to death.

C. Comparison between Long and Dragon

According to the analysis above, long and dragon can be compared as follows.

Dragon: (1) having many heads; (2) ugly in appearance; (3) cruel person;

(4) evil force; (5) Satan; (6) drug. Long: (1) having one head; (2) emperor;

(3) wi people; (4) something that like the appearance of long; (5) noble

steed; (6) constellation; (7) a surname of Chine people.(Yang Zijian,

page 27, 2006)

There are many differences between them. They originate from different

cultures. The first meaning of dragon comes from Europe. In Western Europe,

dragon has many heads. The third meaning of dragon in English originated

from Greek legend. In the legend, the dragon always plays the role of

keeper, keeping golden apple garden, spring and so on. In Revelation,

Satan is named dragon. In Poems, it is said that you will trample the dragon

under the feet. So dragon is regarded as devil, especially standing for

gent in middle age.

In Chine legend, Emperor Huang laid the foundation of Chine

civilization, and he was admired by his offspring. Later he flied to the

sky on the long，which was nt by the God to welcome him. Therefore, the

emperors in China after him name themlves real long.

Chine word long has much more meanings than dragon. And meanings of long

are fine, while dragon mostly means bad things.

Ⅱ.Some Problems in Translation

There are many problems in Chine-English and English-Chine

translations between long and dragon, which cau many misunderstandings

between different nations.

A. Illustration of the Wrong Translation of Long

There are many Chine phras with the word long. When they are translated

into English, their meanings change a lot. For example, Chine phra

long zhou are translated into English phra as dragon boat. Every Chine

person knows that rowing long boat is an activity in honor of Qu Yuan,

who was a famous Chine poet.. Becau the shape of boat looks like long,

we call it long boat. Boat Festival is a happy day in China; so long boat

has the propitious and happy meaning. In the phra dragon boat, dragon

is a kind of bugbear. As a result, dragon boat is very ugly and strange

in westerners’ eyes. They may wonder why Chine people like dragon boat.

And they cannot figure out the happy atmosphere when Chine people row

the boat. Such translation cannot make westerners understand Chine

traditional culture, so tho two sides of communication cannot go on well.

Long feng cheng xiang is translated into English phra as dragon and

phoenix bringing in prosperity. This translation makes westerners

confud. They may think dragon is a bugbear and evil, and why devil can

bring in prosperity. Long de chuan ren, this Chine phra is the name

that Chine people regard them as. But when it is translated into English,

it becomes offspring of the dragon. Do Chine people become offspring

of devil? How absurd misunderstanding! Is Chine person’s image like

this?

In different kinds of English-Chine or Chine-English dictionaries,

there are also many mistakes about the explanation of long and dragon.

There are some examples as follows:

In Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English with Chine

Translation, it is explained like this, dragon: n. fabulous creature like

a crocodile or snake, often with wings and claws, able to breathe out fire,

often guarding a treasure; (Colloq) fierce.

In A New English-Chine Dictionary, it is explained like this, dragon:

n. ①long; ②xiong bao de ren, yan li de ren.

In Longman English-Chine Dictionary of Contemporary English, it is

explained as follows: dragon: imaginary fire-breathing animal in

children’s stories long；2．a fierce older woman esp. one who allows too

little freedom to ayoung girl in her charge.

In A Modern Chine-English Dictionary, it is explained as follows. Long：

① a kind of animal in the legend„„

In English–Chine translations, dragon is all explained long, and in

Chine –English translations, long is translated into dragon. It is not

difficult to find that the improper translations have gone deep into

everyone’s mind. The misunderstanding caud by it is very obvious. In

Chine dictionaries, long is a kind of supernatural animal, which has

antennae and whiskers. It can make it rain as people wish. But in

Dictionary of English with Chine Translation, dragon is an imaginary

fire-breathing animal; however, it is explained by Chine word long. This

is very contradictive.

B．Misunderstandings Caud by the Wrong Translation

The improper translation exists in different parts of life. The wrong

translation make Chine people face a lot of difficulties. Some Chine

students who study in European countries are laughed by westerners, when

they introduce their nation is a country of dragon. Though it is just a

word, it has hurt the feelings between Chine and western people. Words

are also languages in some extents. What is a language? It refers to the

culture of one country, and can embody personality of one country. So

languages in different countries are different, though they have

something in common. If using Chine dragon for long, western people

maybe give the differences between dragon and Chine dragon, but they

still can not imagine what Chine dragon is like. The translation cannot

embody the characteristics of long.

There are also many other misunderstandings. For example, Chine phra

wang zi cheng long means longing to one’s son successful. If some people

translate it into longing to one’s son to be a dragon, western people

will think why Chine people want their children to be a cruel person.

The bad impression of dragon in western people’s eyes is deep for a long

time. It is very difficult to let them accept it. Chine emperors regarded

them as long. They are very proud of it. Long means authority in their

minds. The emperors can control the whole country on the name of long.

But in western people’s eyes, dragon is a kind of bugbear and destroys

the whole world. Many heroes want to fight against it. It is impossible

for dragon to control the whole world. It is very difficult for westerners

to understand why Chine emperors like who is like dragon can control

the country.

All the misunderstandings make the cultural communications go on badly.

The best symbol of China faces a rious problem in communications. In

order to change the situation and solve the problem, correcting the

English name of long is an inevitable action.

Since mascots of 29th Olympic games were informed, many people were very

surprid at that Chine long，which is regarded well by Chine people

all over the world, was not chon. Beijing Olympic Committee explained

that long has many different definitions and understandings in different

countries. If choosing long as mascot and then translating it into dragon,

many people all over the world will misunderstand China. (www. loong. cn)

From this event, it can be known that the wrong translation has affected

the leaders of China to make decisions.

Even though Chine people maybe correct the mistake, westerners still

u the word dragon to interpret Chine word long. In their minds, Chine

kings are very cruel to people, which is just like the impression of dragon

in their hearts. But foreigners do not realize the differences between

them, so their view is one-sided. Chine word long has much more meanings

than what they think. And it mainly means kindness. In order to make the

communication be more harmonious, the misunderstandings should be paid

attention and eliminated.

Some foreign scholars gave the speeches or wrote articles on the internet

and other occasions. They regarded the offspring of dragon as the child

of devil, being bad on that dragon is devil and bugbear. They are lack

of benevolence, and have bad imagine on China. The world is unified, and

the civilizations have different forms. The globalization should be the

combination with all kinds of civilization, not be one kind. Chine

people cannot think westerners’ opinions with their eyes. At the same

time, Chine people cannot ask them to understand Chine people with

our eyesight.

Ⅲ.The Right Way of English Translation of Long

A. Some Theories in Translation

Different nations’ cultures not only have something in common, but also

differ in their own characteristics. Translation should be bad on the

common points. And their characteristics are the barrier of translation.

Cultural differences are often bad on their inner meanings, literality

or literality with note. In order to keep the cultural figure, idioms can

also be ud.

In the last decade of the 18th century, Alexander Frar Tytler, professor

of history at Edinburgh University, laid down the fundamentals by which

a translation should be made or judged. They were (1) a translation should

give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work; (2) the style

and manner of writing should be of the same character as that of the

original; and (3) a translation should have all the ea of original

composition. (Guo Zhuzhang, Li Qingsheng, page25, 2003) The first

fundamental can be understood as that translation should express the full

meaning of original work, which is just the translation

criteria—faithfulness. The cond one means expressiveness, and the

third one means elegance. According to the above explanation, there are

much translation criteria. And the criteria has something in common, which

can be illustrated by translation criteria of Yan Fu—faithfulness,

expressiveness and elegance.

There are two kinds of translations, which is literal translation and free

translation. Whether translators adopt literal translation or free

translation, they still should pay attention to the translation criteria

of Yan Fu. And the translation must be equal to the original work and

original culture. If there is a need, literal translation or free

translation should be ud together.

B. One Way of Translating into long

Some scholars suggest that translating Chine word long into English Long

on the basis of its pronunciation. Though long is its Chine

pronunciation, it is also very similar with the English word long, which

has many meanings. When it is adjective, it means measuring a large mount

in length, distance or time. For example,“a long time, a long line and

a long road”. Besides, it can be a verb. In this ntence“he longs to

meet his parents quickly”, long means wanting something very much. From

the illustration of long, the result can be got like that , becau the

English word long has many meanings, it make people feel confud. So it

is not a good way. But if writing long with italic print, it may be proper

as the translation.

C. Another Way of Translating into Loong

It can be en that the best way to translate long into English is still

transliterate, but its English pronunciation must be similar with its

Chine pronunciation. Some Chine rearchers have ever pointed out

that English may be a kind of ideograph firstly, which is reflected on

twenty-six letters in English. Such as the letter “o” is like the sun

or the moon, “c” like the crescent moon, “r” like fire, “M” like

a hill and “f” like a knife.(Yuan Li, page 23, 2000) For example, in

the word “fear”, the letter “f” is just like a knife. If putting a

knife one one’s ear, no body will not feel afraid. All of above can show

that English is ideography, though it is the exploration.

Huang Ji, who is the professor in East China Normal University, brought

forward that the best translation of long is Loong. Besides Huang Ji,

Taiwan scholar Meng Tianxiang also pointed out the same opinion. There

are many experts suggest that long should be translated into Loong. I also

agree with it. According to the character of ideography and so many

experts’ opinions, the English translation long should be Loong.

He pointed out there are three reasons. First, there are two letters “o”

in this word, which are like two big eyes. Second, Loong is similar with

long in spelling, which can make people think its length. Many western

people have the habit of writing the phra long long ago with loong loong

ago. So Loong has the characters of ideograph. Chine is also ideograph,

so they have common points. Using long and considering it according to

ideograph, people may feel it just has one eye. The third reason, according

to English pronunciation, letter “oo” always pronounces [u:]. So Loong

should be pronounced , which is very similar with Chine long in

pronunciation. There is no Loong in English words, so translating long

into Loong cannot cau confusion. (Huang Ji, www. loong. cn)

For the reasons, many phras such as “the offspring of dragon” should

be corrected to “the offspring of Loong”, and “dragon boat” to “Loong

boat”. In some occasions, the phras containing the word long should

be translated long. It cannot cau confusion.

Though there are many suggestions about its translation, the best

translation is still not certain. Every person has its own views. There

is no best way. Under the conditions of different advices, Loong may be

the better way. It is a long time to change the English translation of

it and get a best method.

Conclusion

Culture is a very critic element in international communication. The

development of China benefits from it to let foreigners absorb Chine

culture better. But Chine culture has its specialty. If Chine people

want to introduce it to other countries, and make foreigners understand

or accept it correctly, the culture-loaded words must be translated

properly. If not, misunderstandings will happen, and the functions of

cultural communication will not exist.

In this article the writer takes long for example, introducing the

problems in translations. Every Chine person regards Loong as a kind

of lucky animal. When talking about it, Chine people will think of Loong

Boat Festival, Chine Kings, and legend and so on. But becau of improper

English translation dragon, many foreigners do not understand Chine

Loong culture. They think that Loong is bugbear, which is just like dragon

in Western culture. They cannot understand why Chine people regard Loong

as Chine symbol. The cost is very ponderous. Becau of this

misunderstanding, the Olympic Committee did not choo Loong as Olympic

mascot. Becau of the improper translation, westerners think Chine

people ugly, and think Chine culture preposterous. This mistake has been

in people’s minds for a long time. When looking up it in the dictionary,

the wrong answers also can be en. When Chine people communicate with

foreigners and introduce Chine Loong culture to them, how do they think

Chine people? So Chine people must correct this mistake by us, it is

impossible for westerners to help Chine people correct it.

Culture differences exist widely. As a translator, he must learn different

cultures, analyze the differences between countries. As to translation,

people tend to think of Yan Fu who advocated for the first time the three

words as translation criteria, namely, “faithfulness, expressiveness,

elegance”. If people want to convey the most real content of a word, they

must pay attention to meaning, pronunciation and image. Literality, free

translation or transliterate can be ud.

According to the ways of translation, long should be translated into Loong,

not dragon. Becau Chine characters are ideograph and Loong just has

the character of ideograph, too. Not only from pronunciation, it sounds

like Chine pronunciation of long, but also from its way to letter

combination, it has the characteristics of ideograph. In Chine names,

people always say it Loong. In this translation Loong reaches the standard

of faithfulness, expressiveness, elegance.

Nowadays, many scholars have realized this problem. They stand out to ask

to change the wrong translation dragon into another. They have different

suggestions about English translation of long，though some have problems.

It has aroud many people’s attention. When turning on the computer,

arching for long or dragon, many articles or essays about this problem

can be found. They all analyze the cultural differences between long and

dragon in details. According to the articles, a conclusion can be drawn

that knowing more differences in different cultures is the most important

thing in translation of culture-loaded words.

Acknowledgements

I wish to express my gratitude to my tutor, Wang Li, who has gone over

the thesis carefully and offered valuable advice and suggestion in the

entire work of writing the thesis. I also want to thank all the teachers

who gave me much help during my writing. Huang Rong and Zhu Yuanhong helped

me to correct the mistakes in the thesis too, for which I am especially

grateful.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Feng Tingmei for her help. Thanks

should also be given to Yin Xue, who is always very patient to do something

helpful for me.

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