英语11002班 胡 畔 1010291061
Cultural Comparison of Animal Idioms in
Chinese and English Culture
Abstract: Language and culture are like two wheels of our human beings. Language is a vehicle that helps record and interpret culture. And culture becomes alive by means of language. However, culture is not only unique to human, but also something concerning animals. As an essential part of the language and culture of a society, idioms are characterized by their concise expressions, rich and vivid. English and Chinese idioms carry the different national cultural characteristics and cultural information. In order to improve our intercultural communication competence, this paper will mainly analyze some idioms on dogs in terms of the Chinese and English religious influence, historical influence, geographical environment influence etc, and explore the possible reasons which can account for these differences.
Key words: Animal idioms; dog; Chinese and English culture; difference; similarity
1. Introduction
Language is an indispensable carrier of culture. Culture finds a better representation through language use. Vocabulary, as one of the most important parts of a language, will surely reflect the multi-dimensional image of a society. Countries of different cultures attach various associative meanings to their vocabulary, which is especially obvious in animal terms. Because animals play a significant part in daily life, animal terms are closely related to their own culture, convey different cultural features and messages of their own nation, reflecting their own culture.
In the long course of human history, animals, especially dogs, have been keeping a close relationship with human beings and also influencing their living and growth deeply. This relationship brings people all kinds of complex emotions such as fondness, sympathy, disgust and horror. Moreover, many animals have become a kind of symbolism in people’s thinking, and this symbolism is reflected in the language. Languages of all nations contain plenty of words and phrases connected to animals, so
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英语11002班 胡 畔 1010291061
do English and Chinese. However, because of different history and culture, the connotations of animal words in one language do not parallel with those in another. Due to the cultural differences of geography, customs, historical allusion, religion and so on, such idioms embody the distinctive characteristics of national culture. And with the development of economy and science, globalization is a more and more obvious phenomenon. The relationship between countries is becoming closer and closer. In order to understand these idioms more clearly and make the international communication more effectively, it is useful and necessary to compare such idioms. The paper will make a comparative study of animals employed in English and Chinese idioms.
2. Comparison of connotations of animal idioms in English and Chinese idioms (Take idioms on dogs for example)
2.1 Similarities of connotations
All humankind lives on the same planet. They have similar environment, psychology, and cognitive ability; therefore, both Chinese and English people nearly have the same knowledge of animals. As a result, they have the same or similar association and give the same cultural connotation to animal words. So it also applies to “dog”.
In China, dog is defined as,“哺育动物，种类很多，嗅觉和听觉都很灵敏，毛有黄、白、黑等颜色。是一种家畜，有的可以训练成警犬，有的用来帮助打猎、牧羊等。” And in English, the definition of dog is," an animal with four legs and a tail, often kept as a pet or trained for work, for example, hunting or guarding building.” Judging from it, we can easily notice that Chinese and English have similar knowledge of dog.
Meanwhile, both in Chinese and English culture,” dog” can be a negative or positive word. The examples are as followings:
(1) He lives a dog’s life——他的日子过得很艰难
(2) A lucky dog——幸运儿
(3) 狗嘴里吐不出象牙
(4) 犬子
2.2 Differences of connotations
The majority of animal words carry different connotations, because of their
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different natural environment, customs, and society systems. Besides, English history is influenced more by Egypt and Roman, while Chinese history is much more independent.
For example:
In English:
Iove me，love my dog：爱屋及乌
lucky dog：幸运儿
top dog：最重要的人物
every dog has its(his)day：凡人皆有得意
While in Chinese:
狗胆包天
狗急跳墙
狗屁不通
狗崽子
3. Possible Reasons of Differences between English and Chinese Animal Idioms
Every country has its own history and culture personality. So there is more dissimilarity between China and English-speaking countries then similarities between them. There are many sources responsible for these differences, such as natural surroundings, social conditions, religions, customs, psychological reactions, thinking styles, aesthetic standards, and national traits and so on.
3.1. Historical Influence
China has experienced more than 2000 years feudal society, and agriculture played the most important role in nation’s economy while other counties already began their industrial age. There are more than 0.9 billion peasants in China; therefore Chinese have a close relationship with animals such as oxen, cows, sheep, silkworms, bee and so on. So we use silkworm as a metaphor to illustrate people who are hard working, while English-speakers don’t.
For example:
（1）Rain cats and dogs: it originates from Nordic mythology，in which dog symbolize wind.
（2）狗咬吕洞宾：it originates from Chinese myth.
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3.2. Religious Influence
Ancient Chinese believed in Buddhism, and most of the modern Chinese have no religious belief. However, most of the English people believe in Christianity. There are many religious stories that involve animals in both Taoism and Christianity. That’s why same animal referent may have quite different senses.
For example:
The dog return to his vomit(狗又呕吐了，比喻重犯旧日的罪行)
3.3. Geographical Environment Influence
The emergence of idioms is associated with the labor and life of people. English people and Chinese people live in quite different environments. The UK is located in the Western Hemisphere. Its seafaring and animal husbandry are well-developed. China is located in Eastern Asia, the west coast of Pacific Ocean. Its agriculture is well-developed. On account of these distinct differences, people in two countries have different attitudes to the same animal. For example, Chinese culture originated from agriculture. Ancient Chinese people depended on the ox for survival, so there were many idioms about “ox”, e.g. “孺子牛”, “力大如牛”, “强的像头牛”, “牛劲”. In our traditional culture, ox was a symbol of hard work. They always compared industrious people and those who bore hardship without complaint to ox. In history, past and present, many celebrities liken themselves to ox. Take Lu Xun for example. He had a famous sentence called “俯首甘为孺子牛”.
But in English it’s hard to find corresponding vehicles. English culture originated from nomadic herding. In the eyes of English people, the horse was a strong and assiduous friend. Therefore, there were a considerable number of idioms about “horse”, e.g. “a willing horse”, “flog a dead horse”, “work like a horse”, “be on the high horse”. Horse was a symbol of hard-working. Owing to these, people sometimes used two different aniamls to express the same meaning.
4. Conclusion
English and Chinese are both rich in animal idioms, which reflect the culture of a country. In turn, animal idioms are influenced by culture at the same time. English
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and Chinese differ from each other greatly in language culture; geographical environment and emotional awareness, as a result, majority of animal words have different expression and culture connotation when used in different languages. Therefore, in the process of learning a foreign language or cross-cultural communication, we should pay attention to the words with ethnic or culture background. Only by grasping the national culture connotation can we truly grasp a language, so that to make it work for us as a communicative tool. Besides, connotative differences influence a lot in cross-culture communicate, so we need to update our concept so that to adapt to other people’s culture in order to have a successful communication.
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