浅析影响翻译的社会文化因素

摘 要 众所周知，翻译是一种跨文化交际活动。好的翻译作品能够反映出文化特色和文化价值，进而促进文化的交流与理解，这是翻译最重要的职责。反过来，有很多因素会对翻译造成影响。它们相互作用，在翻译的不同阶段发挥着不同的作用。作为译者和翻译学者，我们应动态而全面地观察并研究这一现象。本篇论文着重从社会文化因素的角度来进行分析。本文从结构上总共分为三个部分。第一部分为引言，对论文的研究背景及意义进行了介绍。第二部分重点分析社会文化因素对翻译的影响。第三部分为结论部分，总结了本论文研究的意义及对未来研究的建议。

关键词 翻译 译者 社会因素 文化因素

中图分类号：H315.9 文献标识码：A

1 Introduction

With the expansion of globalization and the rapid development of interculture communication， translation becomes increasingly necessary. This paper does researches into the social and cultural factors influencing the translation， and obtain that a good translation should combined with the social and cultural factors， for they have a dominant influence on translation. Translators should keep these factors into consideration in the translating process， in order to obtain successful translations.

2 Social and Cultural Factors Influencing the Translation

Culture is defined by Edward Tylor in 1871 as following： “Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge， beliefs， arts， morals， law， custom and any other capacities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” Every country has its own culture and all the translations are done in cultural context， so the essence of translation is cultural communication. That is to say， translation is a conversion of meanings which depend on different cultural factors. Thus， having a good knowledge of cultural differences makes translations better.

2.1 Eastern and Western cultural differences

First， geographical differences. Culture can not survive without its existing background， and it has strong features of geography. English-speaking countries are mostly by the sea， so fishing and sailing industry occupy a dominant percentage in their economy， while Chinese tradition is regional culture off the seashore， taking agriculture as the main body in economy. Thus， in English there are many proverbs relative to sea， but in Chinese we use words relevant to agriculture to express the same meaning. Such as “to teach fish to swim&班门弄斧”， “to spend money like water&挥金如土”.

Second， differences in historical allusions. Allusion is the essence of history and the concentration of culture. More often than not， cultural features are closely related to the quotation of allusions. It is known that China is a famous historical country and has five thousand years of cultural accumulation. For example， idiom “卧薪尝胆” means that a person undergo self-imposed hardships so as to strengthen his resolve to do something. It comes from the historical story of King Goujian of Yue.

However， in western countries， they do not have these historical backgrounds， so they express them in other ways. Meanwhile， western countries have their own historical allusions that we do not have， such as the knight’s culture. Allusions about knights of Middle Ages reflect the spirit of chivalry and we can get to know this in the medieval romances. A relative phrase “to give someone a cold shoulder” means to disrespect someone or to pay no attention to someone. Here shoulder means a cut of beef from the shoulder of the animal. It is said that in the old days， knights would be warmly treated with hot shoulders by the local people wherever they go， because knights are said to protect those kind but innocent men， in the name of king or some noblewomen， by defeating the wicked wizards or hulks. But if one is treated with cold shoulder， it means people do not respect him.

Third， differences in religious beliefs. Christianity is a main religion in the west. When they feel surprised， they tend to say “God” or “Jesus”， while Chinese people are inclined to say “天啊”. There are many phrases referring to Christianity. “Juda’s kiss” means betrayal， and “olive branch” symbolizes peace. Number 13 and Friday are taboos of westerners， because they symbolize bad luck. From bible we know that Juda who betrays Jesus is the thirteenth guest at the last supper and Jesus was persecuted in Friday. Many films are enveloped in strong religious color， such as Seven， Nativity and The Davinci Code， they clearly show the great influence upon English film exerted by western religious. However， Chinese is influenced by Buddhism to a great extent and has a lot of proverbs to express religion. For example， “临时抱佛脚”，“无事不登三宝殿”.

Forth， differences in values. The pursuit of individualism is the most important value in western culture. Westerners think highly of individual capacity. Therefore， superman， batman and many other heroes appear on the screen. On the contrary， the value of Chinese is collectivism. In most cases， individual interests should submit to group interests. Chinese people are used to connect individual achievements and honor with group， and they like to work together and think that the power of group is much stronger. They believe strongly that “many hands make light work”.

Besides， the attitudes toward dog are another typical case. Westerners like to keep dog as a member of their family so that the word of “dog” always conveys a good symbol， such as “each dog has its day”，“lucky dog ”. But Chinese regard dog as a bad symbol， like “的”，“狗腿子” .

Fifth， differences in patterns of thinking. As for this aspect， we have many illustrations. A typical one is addresses. When Chinese describe a place’s location， they will put province， city， road and house number in positive sequence， which indicates their straightforward thinking. On the contrary， westerners will put those in inverted sequence because of their reverse thinking.

2.2 The impacts of the social factors on translation

From the differences above， we can see that the influence of culture factors on translation is displayed in many ways. But cultural factors are not onefold， and often combined with other factors， influencing translation in a comprehensive way. As is known， cultural factors are connected tightly with social factors. Translation， as a kind of communication activity， appears when our human society develop into a certain stage. And it will constantly develop and enrich with the human society’s evolution. There are several aspects where social factors affecting translation.

Above all， Social development calls translation. There is no doubt that human society is keeping in a state of changing， and the more this society develop， the more desperately people need translation. During the years that China closed its gate to outsides， translation activity has barely developed. Since the policy of reform and opening-up， translation plays a bridge role in China’s reform and opening， in return， the society of reform and opening offer a free and comfortable atmosphere for translation development. The degree of openness of the society affects translation. If one nation wants to get rid of a closed condition， the first thing it should do is to get contact with the outsiders to receive a communicative relationship with others， and in this way can move forward aiming to reach mutual development and relative understanding.

Meanwhile， different social development stage needs different translation. Social customs play an indispensable part in translators’ choosing and dealing with the texts. Even translating the same work， the way for translators of dealing with the text will be quite different in different social conditions. For example， nowadays we can make full use of internet， while in the old days could we only consult the dictionaries， and the situation could be even worse.

3 Conclusion

It is obvious that interculture communication has become intensified nowadays. Translation plays a more and more significant role. As is known， language is a cultural phenomenon and a carrier of culture. It can not survive without the culture it is deeply rooted in. Translators should not just concentrate on how to convey the message from one language to another language， but endeavor to display the differences of the two cultures’ modes of thinking and the habits of expressing things. This paper is conducted in hope that more translators and learners pay attention to the social and cultural factors influencing translation， so that foreign information can be better appreciated and successful inter-lingual and cross-cultural communication can be better guaranteed.

References

[1] Tylor， Edward. Primitive Culture. London： John Murray， Albemarle Street，1871.

[2] Nida，E.A.Language， Culture and Translation. Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2000.

[3] 许钧.翻译概论.北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2009.

[4] 金惠康.跨文化交际翻译.北京：中国对外翻译出版公司，2002.