The Influence of Translating Methods on Faithful Degree of Idioms’ Translation

王瑩（蘭州外語職業學院人文科學教學部，甘肅 蘭州 730000）

Abstract: This paper focuses on the influence of different translating methods on faithful degree of idioms’ Translation.As the heritage of the nation, idioms are endowed with specific characteristics of their own.This paper tries to analyze factors which influence the faithful degree of idioms’translation by the discussion of different translating methods which not only focus on the word level as literal, but also above the word level including cultural meaning and rhetorical meaning.The common errors in translating processes of idioms are further discussed, collected, categorized and analyzed.With the analysis of relationship between English and Chinese idioms,this paper analyzes several different strategies in translation of idioms, focusing on the meanings behind the words.

Key words: translating methods; idiom; faithful degree；translation

1.Introduction

Idioms are one of the important components of the English language.Because of its frequent appearance, it is unavoidable for learners to come across a number of idioms during the study.Being refined through the long history, the idiom is considered as the essence of English language and the reflection of human intelligence.English idioms, in a broad sense, include idiomatic phrases, slangs,colloquialisms and proverbs.In this paper, the discussion will be focused on the idiom in a narrow sense, that is, the idiomatic phrases only, rather than the idiom in a broad sense.

Different historical background and cultural heritage, social systems, science and technology, different life experiences and living conditions, different geographical conditions and many other aspects may all affect the native linguistic expressions, thus inf l uencing greatly idioms.Therefore, the composition of idioms’ information is not only the literal meaning but also contains the meaning from culture background and rhetoric.Let’s take “mushroom growth” for example: the literal meaning of it is “grow up as mushroom（ 像 蘑菇一樣成長）”.Rhetorical meaning is “grow as fast as mushroom（迅速發展）”.Whereas, we could never ignore its meaning from cultural background.In westerners’ eyes, mushroom grow up fast,but forasmuch the real meaning of this idiom is “grow up fast but wither away fast too（迅速發展但也迅速消亡）”.It is not proper to translate this idiom to “雨后春筍”.Because the bamboo shoot in spring means something is full of vigour, the rhetorical meaning between these idioms is different.

2.The influence of different translating methods on faithful degree of idioms’ translation

2.1 The influence of translating methods which focus on culture background on faithful degree

The differences of geographical conditions make different kinds of idioms between Chinese and English.Chinese people take agriculture as main means of living.So there’re a lot of idioms about agriculture，for example，斬草除根，雪兆豐年，解甲歸田，拔苗助長.

In a contrast，oceanic culture，such as Englishman prefers sailing so that there is large amount of idioms about sea，ship or sailing.Such as, all at sea, all hands to the pumps, be taken a back.

The differences of religion or belief also make different kinds of idioms between Chinese and English.Although these is no general agreement on this issue, for many Chinese Confucianism is an ethical and philosophical system and a code of manners and behavior，as well as a system of mutual obligations，especially in regard to family relationships.Such characteristic can be seen in many idioms in Chinese，for example，舍我其誰《孟子·公孔丑下》, 舍己為人《論語·先進》, Westerners place relatively little emphasis on human values and ethics in the context of religion.So many idioms which are from Bible can be found in English，for example: an eye for an eye，and a tooth for a tooth（Deuteronomy）, Apple of one’s eye（Deuteronomy）,As Wise as Solomon（Kings）

From idiom studies we can see how idioms reflect cultural differences between Chinese and English and how the translation methods which focus on the cultural aspect affect the faithful degree of idioms’ translation.

2.2 The influence of translating methods which focus on literal meaning on faithful degree of idioms' translation

Some idioms can be successfully rendered by idioms in a target language，but in many instances idioms can only be rendered by nonidioms when we do idioms translating.Let's see the following examples.In Chinese，we can fi nd the equivalent of the English idiom “to escape by the skin of one’s teeth”——“死里逃生” and in English it is easy to fi nd the equivalent of the Chinese idiom “覆水難收”——“to cry over spilt milk”.But when we put the English idiom “to help a lame dog over a stile" into Chinese，we can only use the non-idiom “助人渡過難關” as its translation.And we can easily understand even we translate these idioms in literal way.

3.Conclusion

Thus the meanings of idioms involve the understanding of a culture in which the language is rooted.But understanding the meanings of idioms is more complicated since for the most part the meanings are very specif i c and culturally conditioned.In order to ensure the faithful degree when we translate idioms, we need analyze idioms in every aspect and fi nd proper translating methods.