A Contrastive Study between English and Chinese Culturally Loaded words

Abstract：Culturally loaded words play a significant role in understanding the languages of different cultures. This paper makes a contrastive study between English and Chinese culturally loaded words， giving the readers insight into English and Chinese cultures. Therefore the verbal intercultural communication between English and Chinese can be effectively improved.

Key Words： language; culture; culturally loaded words; translation

1、Introduction

Language is the carrier of culture. Many cultural differences existing among different countries can be found in their languages. Every language contains a large number of culturally loaded words--words or expressions that are loaded with distinctive cultural meanings. They are direct or indirect reflection of national culture at the structure of vocabulary. These words more often than not become the barriers in language teaching as well as intercultural communication.

English and Chinese are two languages with a long history but they belong to different language families. Naturally there are many culturally loaded words in both languages that highlight the cultural differences between China and English-speaking countries. Therefore it is of great importance to study such kind of words to gain a better understanding of both languages and the cultures they reflect. So this essay tries to analyze the similarities and differences between English and Chinese culturally loaded words through a contrastive study， hoping to shed light on the understanding of each culture and to strengthen the improvement of intercultural communication.

2、Definition of Culturally Loaded words

In China， Prof. Xu Guozhang first put forward the concept of Culturally loaded words. In 1980， he contributed an article entitled Culturally Loaded words and English Language Teaching to the Journal of Modern Foreign Language．In the paper， Professor Xu introduced his contrastive sample study of some selected words with different cultural loads in English and Chinese.

In 1981，C Leech in his famous work Semantics classified lexical meanings into seven different types: conceptual meaning，connotative meaning，social meaning， affective meaning，reflected meaning， collocative meaning and thematic meaning．

Based on Leech’s classification， the conceptual meaning，connotative meaning，affective meaning and reflected meaning are considered to be the cultural meanings of culturally—loaded words expressions．Cultural meanings may vary as time and personal experience change．Therefore，the content of culturally—loaded words expressions does not keep the same all the time.

Hu Wenzhong distinguishes culturally loaded vocabulary from non-culturally-loaded ones. His definition is “culturally loaded vocabulary is loaded with specific national culture. It is the direct or indirect reflection of national culture in the structure of words.” (Hu， 1988) Culturally loaded vocabulary includes cultural specialties， idioms， allusions， figurative expressions， etc.

Generally， culturally loaded words and expressions are those items that carry distinct cultural loads and meanings in their own context．Sometimes，people call them culture-bound words or cultural words. The study of these words and expressions will benefit ELT and intercultural communication．

3、A contrastive study between English and Chinese Culturally Loaded words

This paper makes a contrastive study between English and Chinese culturally loaded words from the following four main aspects:

3.1 Differences in living environments

China is an agricultural country. The peasants have presented many idioms about farm work， such as ‘斬草除根’， which is translated literally into ‘to cut the weeds and dig up the roots’， its figurative meaning is ‘to stamp out the source of the trouble’. More examples: ‘瑞雪兆豐年’（a timely snow promises a good harvest）; ‘解甲歸田’（take off one’s armour and return to one’s native place to do farm work）. While Britain is an island country on the Atlantic Ocean， surrounded by the sea， which was once leading the world with its navigation， so lots of English idioms have something to do with navigation and fish， such as: a drop in the ocean(滄海一粟); plain sailing (一帆風順); between the devil and deep sea(進退兩難); a big fish(大人物) ; go with the stream(隨波逐流); While it is fine weather mend your sail(未雨綢繆)。

Geographical environment has impact on climate， and climate influences languages and connotative meaning of words. For example， In Chinese culture， ‘east wind’ symbolizes spring and warmth. It makes every living things revive. Therefore， comes the saying of “東風報春”. While in Britain， ‘east wind’ comes from north of the European continent， representing coldness and unpleasantness. Therefore， British people dislike east wind. But they like west wind， which represents warmth and spring. There are two famous sentences from Sherley’s Ode to the West Wind(西風頌): O， wind， if winter comes， can spring be far behind? Therefore， translators should know the connotative meaning and make necessary illustration in order to express the author’s real intention properly.

3.2 Differences in customs and habits

Due to different living customs， different nations have obvious cultural differences in concept of value and aesthetic standards，such as opinions on time， animals， figures.

People in the west have a long tradition of keeping pets. Of them， domestic animals such as dogs and cats are dear and valued companions. However， in China “dog” is disgusting in people’s eyes. Naturally they are different idiomatic expressions toward “dog” in the use of language， for instance， in Chinese， people have 地’(be knocked out with admiration); ‘不看僧面看佛面’(do sth for sb out of consideration or reverence for sb else of greater importance); ‘泥菩薩過河，自身難保’(like a clay idol fording a river， hardly able to save oneself)， etc.

In the western countries， especially in England and America， the majority of people are Christians， believing that God is the creator of everything and the master of the world. Idioms concerned with God are countless in the English language， for example: Man proposes， God disposes(謀事在人，成事在天); God helps those who help themselves. (天助自助者); God send fortune to fools(傻人有傻福)， etc.

3.4 Difference in historical allusions and myths

There are lots of culturally loaded words mainly idioms coming from historical allusions， myths and legends. The structure of these idioms is very simple but they have profound meaning， so we can not translate and understand these idioms from the literal meaning. It’s necessary for us to learn and understand the English allusion and myths as well as the Chinese allusions and myths. For example: ‘梁上君子’ refers to the thief who breaks into a house. ‘同室操戈，相煎何急’ refers to internal struggle as between brothers. Other allegorical stories like ‘亡羊補牢’、 ‘名落孫山’、 ‘黔驢技窮’are often quoted and widely loved by Chinese people. The ancient myths and legends also produce lots of idioms. In Chinese， such set phrases as ‘嫦娥奔月’、 ‘夸父逐日’、 ‘精衛填海’、 ‘女禍補天’ are all pieces of beautiful and touching myths. The proverbs “天冷不凍織女手，饑荒不餓苦耕人” and “雷公先唱歌，有雨也不多”contain the legendary characters. Most of English idioms of historical allusions come from the Bible and Greek and Roman mythologies: Pandora’s box(潘多拉的盒子，比喻災難和禍害的根源); The Trojan horse (特洛伊木馬); to cry wolf (在不需要援助時求援)， the last supper(最后的晚餐)，the lost sheep(迷路的羔羊，比喻失足少年)，and Judas’ kiss(猶大的吻，比喻叛徒口蜜腹劍的可恥伎倆)，etc.

4、Conclusion

Culturally loaded words take up a large part in the vocabulary of a language. The cultural information loaded in these words and expressions are always the barrier of appropriately understanding and using foreign language. Such kinds of words are always a headache for English learners and teachers. This paper makes a contrastive study between English and Chinese culturally loaded words， hoping to provide some help to both English teachers and learners. However， what mentioned here is only a brief analysis of the culturally loaded words. Still further research needs to be conducted to gain a better understanding of such words so as to improve foreign language learning and teaching as well as intercultural communication.

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