On the Strategies of English Proverb Translation

毛发仁

Abstract：A proverb is the refinement of a culture， the short but best description of a national character， and the marked representatives of a value sense. Both Chinese and English have affluent proverbs. With the development of globalization and the widely use of English， more and more English proverbs are introduced into China. “Proverbs strengthen the English language force.” （Luo， 2006） The introduction of English proverbs into Chinese has largely enriched the expression of Chinese. It is the translation that makes the transmission process smooth. “Translation is the transformation and the embodiment of two languages， and it requires us to cross the barrier of both languages and cultures” （Chen， 2002）， therefore， the translation of proverbs needs attach more importance to cultural connotation.

Key words：proverb； cultural connotation； translation

中圖分类号：G64 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1673-9132（2017）31-0016-02

DOI：10.16657/j.cnki.issn1673-9132.2017.31.008

1. Introduction

Since proverbs are linguistic symbols loaded with cultural connotation， translators should bear in mind taking cultural elements into account during the process of translation. Though contained the same thought， proverbs sometimes are not necessarily produced in the same wording but phrases in another expression. The fact that the similar universal wisdom or truth contained in proverb is often used by different speakers or writers in various places or times result in the variety of proverbs. Thus proverbs are restricted to a certain place and time as well as different user. The creators tend to phrase the popular thought with their own languages so that every culture has their own proverbs. Proverbs in different cultures is unique and may add flavor to its language.

Before translating the English proverbs into Chinese， we should distinguish the difference of cultural connotation of those proverbs and use them correctly in translation. To enhance the accuracy of translating English proverbs into Chinese， the present paper is a tentative study of E-C translation from the cultural perspective and aims at finding a solution to the problem of cultural transmission in proverb translation.

2. The Strategies of English Proverb Translation

Being cultural-loaded， English proverbs are rich in cultural connotations， some of which are unique to a nation or a special group in particular， whereas some are common among different nations. They are regarded as one of the most ancient and valuable manifestations of human culture， using succinct and pithy language to express commonly held ideas and belief and providing the readers with an overview at peoples geography， history， social views and attitudes. Proverbs really play an important role in delivering cultures. However， cultural connotations， which are embodied in proverbs， will definitely block their translation. Thus， understanding the cultural connotations of proverbs is essential to proverb translation， during which， not only the image and figurative meaning of source language， but also its cultural specialties should be reflected.

No matter what cultural similarities or cultural specialties the proverbs have reflected， they are embodied in proverbs through the employment of some cultural images， which always carries certain implication from the perspective of culture. So， whether we should take TL-culture-oriented strategy or SL-culture-oriented strategy in English proverb translation， it is necessary to make a classification between Chinese proverbs and English proverbs from the view of culture， which can be roughly divided into three categories： The first category is about the corresponding proverb， another one is semi-corresponding， and the third one is Non-corresponding proverbs. And the three translation strategies should be chosen respectively according to the class the classification.

2.1 Counterpart

To some extent， different cultures have general characters， and mutual overlapping parts still exist even between two kinds of greatly different cultural types， the East and the West. From the viewpoints of humankinds structural mechanism， humankind has the common material organ-brain perceptible to the objective world. In the course of historical development， humankind has many similar things in the aspects of knowledge about the objective world， perception on the objective things and social experience. Even if expressions of every national language are different， they can achieve the common cognition for the same thing， concept， inference and judgment. Some expressive forms of a kind of language can find the expressive forms with corresponding meanings in another kind of language based on generalities of all kinds of languages.

There are a few basic corresponding proverbs between Chinese and English that express the same or similar figurative meaning with the same cultural images. For instance： Big fish eat little fish（大魚吃小鱼）； Constant dropping wears away a stone（水滴石穿）；Great minds think alike（英雄所见略同）. It can be apparently found such proverbs of each group which contain completely similar messages and images.

2.2 Foreignization

“Debates between literal translation and free translation have lasted more than two thousand years in the circle of translation both at home and abroad.” （Sun， 2002） Now under the circumstance of cultural translation， foreignization and domestication accordingly replace literal translation and free translation. “Cultural translation， literal translation and free translation have been mainly confined to the value of linguistic items； however， foreignization and domestication focus on not only cultural values but also linguistic values.” （Sun， 2002）

Foreignization is SL-culture-oriented translation， which strives to preserve the original flavor as much as possible in order to retain the foreignness of the SL culture as well as to signify the difference of the foreign text.

Translating proverbs from one language to another needs to achieve the effects of conveying the foreign flavors of the source language culture. Foreignization serves better to the conveyance of foreign cultures in translating proverbs and the adoption of foreignization in proverb translation.

Another one is semi-corresponding. Some proverbs between Chinese and English are partially corresponding， which still express the same or similar figurative meaning but with different cultural images. For example： Great boast， small roast（光打雷不下雨）； A good lather is half the shave（磨刀不误砍柴工）； Take not a musket to kill a butterfly（杀鸡焉用牛刀）； Money makes the mare go （有钱能使鬼推磨）. Therefore， compared with the basic corresponding proverbs， these share equivalence only in half， carrying like message but with different images.

2.3 Domestication

For every translation deals with not only bilingualtransference， but also bicultural transference， lacking of one， especially the latter of which， mistakes could probably be made in translating. It is usually not because of verbal inadequacy， but of wrong cultural assumptions. Therefore， in terms of determining the meaning of words or proverbs， the translator must not only look at the symptomatic context but also the cultural context， for the latter one is more of significant to acquisition of the meaning underlay in words or proverbs.

Domestication refers to TL-culture-oriented translation in which expressions acceptable in target language culture are exploited in order to make the translated text intelligible and suitable for the target text readers.

The last category should be non-corresponding proverbs. It means proverbs in Chinese and English express or imply different figurative meanings and with different cultural images. Thus， such proverbs express unique cultural phenomena of a nation. These cultural phenomena are widely accepted in one nation but are rarely known or hardly acceptable in another nation. For example： The Chinese proverbs such as“情人眼里出西施”and“塞翁失馬，焉知非福”are both common sayings in China， whereas may sound odd to western people. And so do the English proverbs like “Greek gifts” or “Good wine needs no bush” make Chinese people confused.

3. Conclusion

In an era of globalization of economy and culture， when people from different cultures are more often exposed to foreign cultures， the translator is supposed to take all the cultural connotations into care while translating proverbs. Based on the argumentation above， it can be concluded that this paper advocates learning the cultural connotation of proverbs before translating them， aims at drawing more attention to cultural-oriented translation of proverbs both in English and Chinese， which is proved to be beneficial to the target language and culture， promoting communications of different nations and will become increasingly important and necessary in the environment of globalization.

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