Abstract
Idiom and allusion are indispensable parts of a language, and they are deposits of a language in a certain culture. This paper focuses on the origin of English allusion and idiom and how to translate English idiom into Chinese. The form of English idiom is simple and vivid but its sources are wide. All of these features cause the difficulty for people to understand it. This paper tries to discuss the correct translation ways of English idiom by means of describing its origin. Translators must try their best to convey the literal meaning, keeping the metaphorical image and connotative meaning of English idiom. The thesis is aimed at helping people have an exact understanding of English idiom and translate it correctly.
Key words: English allusion and idiom; translation; origin; approaches
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摘 要
习语和典故是语言不可缺少的一部分,是语言文化的淀积。本文重点讨论英语典故与习语的来源以及如何把英语习语翻译成中文。虽然英语习语的形式简单生动,但是它的来源却很广泛。正是由于这些因素，导致了人们对英语习语理解上的困难。本文试图通过阐述英语习语的来源来讨论他正确的翻译方法，那就是翻译者必须尽力传达英语习语的字面意思,保留其隐喻性形象和内涵意义。本文旨在帮助人们正确理解和翻译英语习语。
关键词：英语典故与习语；翻译；来源；方法
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1. Introduction
Language is a carrier of culture, allusion and idiom play important roles in language and as a specific form of language, idioms are habitually used by people. Idioms contain abundant information of culture and they can reflect culture. They are formed through a long time, and have their unique style and implied meaning. Due to these characteristics, it’s hard for us to understand them. In order to understand English idioms thoroughly and use them correctly, we have to know their origins and features.
If we want to have a right idea of English idioms, what we should do at first is to grasp what English idioms are. Therefore, the thesis gives the definition of the English idioms and their common features, such as structural feature and semantic feature. Then, since there are many sources of English allusion and idiom, the paper lists four main origins, daily life, Bible, myths and tales, living environment and literary works. From these four sources, many allusions are formed. So allusions are something typical from kinds of aspects in our life, they further develop into linguistic idioms gradually. The paper studies many English idioms from four origins of allusions which are good for understanding. Besides, based on the origins of English idioms, the paper comes up with some approaches and advice of English idioms translation, for example, equal replacement translation, free translation and so on. We should use literal translation as far as possible and keep the original and national culture characteristics of English idioms. The successful translation of English idioms should combine different methods reasonably and respect their original culture.
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2. The Research Background
Based on the study of English allusion and idiom, cultural factors infiltrated idiom translation. Many scholars and professors have made efforts on the study of idiom translation. There are mainly three directions. First, many scholars have conducted the study on the methods of idiom translation with little concern about the differences of cultures. Second, some studies only focus on the cultural factors of idiom translation. Third, some scholars inspect and analyze idioms only from one specific aspect of culture. This paper based on the origins and features to find some suitable ways to translate the English idioms.
2.1 Researches of English Allusions and Idioms in Western Countries
Shokooh and Mohammad (2012) used four strategies for translating idioms, such as using an idiom of similar meaning and form, using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form, translation by paraphrase, and translation by omission. They wanted to find out which strategy was the most frequently used strategy and whether there were any significant differences among the using of these strategies. Conducting a descriptive statistical analysis, it has been concluded that “paraphrase” and “using an idiom of similar meaning and form” were the most and the least common strategies respectively. On the basis of the findings of this research, it is recommended that, in addition of having enough knowledge in terms of the theoretical translation issues and the translation strategies suggested by different scholars, a translator should have a good command of the idiomatic expressions.
Idioms are the gems of a language, said Chen Linli (2010), translating idioms is not an easy task because not all English idioms have equivalents in
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Chinese idioms due to linguistic, especially cultural differences. He indicates that there are six translation tactics in translating English idioms into Chinese: literal translation, free translation, compensatory translation, explanational translation, borrowing, integrated approach. Obviously, a reasonable choice and the quality of translation are decided by the translator’s cultural awareness and creativity.
According to Michael (2006), English idioms commonly appear to exhibit relatively fixed prosodic patterns, and departure from the expected prosodic pattern can give rise to humorous and bizarre effects. As idioms are generally supposed to require phrasal entries in the mental lexicon, there is some initial plausibility in the proposal that such entries might include arbitrary prosodic or accentual properties. Various categories of idiom can be distinguished, according to which aspects of the prosodic pattern seem to be fixed, and the relationship the pattern bears to those which would be expected on corresponding literal expressions.
2.2 Researches of English Allusions and Idioms in China
The idiom is fixed sentences or phrases, which is widely used by people in oral, so as a special form of language, it has different characteristics from the general form of words, such as nationality, folk and figurativeness, Li Xin (2013) said. This topic was also talked bout by Shen Gang (2012), he represents the unity of semantic and the stability of structural of the English idioms.
Zhou Jun (2015) said that language is a carrier of culture, English idioms reflects the cultural characteristics of the Anglo American countries in the process of formation. For example, American hegemonism, inclusive
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culture, rich religious values and American dream and so on. The fundamental strategy of the United States to deal with the weaker countries is hegemonism. The United States is a unique immigrant country, and its culture presents diversity, open and containment. It was because that America received religious culture and customs from other regions such as Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, through a long time melting, it created its own unique “new culture”. There are a lot of idioms from the loan words in English, like “tofu”, which is literal translation to translate Chinese food. Besides, in the minds of Americans, everyone is free and has equal opportunity, no matter how poor a person is, how low social status the person has, as long as you work hard, there is always a day will achieve their ambitions, even as president.
The origins of English idiom are various, Shen Donghuan (2012) classified its origins from historical perspective, mythological perspective, religious perspective, life perspective and literal perspective. And in historical perspective, she further classified that English idioms influenced by Roman conquest, Norman invasion and English Civil War. So she emphasized that English idioms related to certain historical events or figures usually have extended meaning far beyond their original ones, which are marked by the traces of history. From the mythological perspective, English idioms came from two sources, one is Greek and Roman mythologies, and the other is Aesop’s fables. From all the above trace come English idioms in terms of culture, she said that the charm of English idiom is so great that it is impossible to learn English without a deep understanding of its hidden meaning. The various origins of the English idiom contribute to its
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abundance.
In the learning of English idioms, the most important is translation. Jiang Ruyan (2005) listed two typical mistranslations according to her teaching experience, the first type is word by word translation, and the second type is having words too literally. Dong Yingwu (2012) gave a suggestion about the translation of English idioms that translators should have a good knowledge of cultural differences between English and Chinese idioms, such as the differences in natural environments, in customs, in religious beliefs and so on.
In order to translate English idioms correctly, Su Tianlan (2012) came up with three principles: first, the translation should give a complete ideas of the original words, second, the style and manner of writing should be consistent with the original words, third, the translation should be as smooth as the original words. What’s more, Wang Qian (2014) put forward some methods of translation according to the characteristics and origins of English idioms, for instance, equal replacement translation, free translation and literal translation.
3. The Definition and Features of English idioms
In the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Huo, 1989), idiom is explained as "phrase or sentence whose meaning is not obvious through knowledge of the individual meaning of the constituent words, but which must be learnt as a whole”. An English idiom, which is a sentence or phrase, usually is of a special meaning different from the meaning of its constituent words. Idioms are usually semantically difficult to understand. Therefore, the
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meaning of an idiom cannot be defined only from the literal meaning of the constituent words. If we want to understand the meaning of the English idioms exactly, we should have a good knowledge of the features of them. In general, English idioms contain two features mainly: structural feature and semantic feature.
3.1 The Definition of English Idioms
An English idiom, which is a sentence or phrase, usually has a special meaning different from the meaning of its constituent words. Idioms are usually semantically difficult to understand. That is to say, idioms are metaphorical rather than literal. Hence, the meaning of an idiom cannot be defined only from the literal meaning of the constituent words.
Another important characteristic of English idiom is that they are structurally fixed or invariable. Most of these idiomatic expressions are phrases or sentences which exist as a unit, and must be learned as a whole.
To sum up, an idiom may be defined as a combination of two or more words which are usually structurally fixed and semantically difficult, and have a single unit of meaning.
3.2 The Features of English Idioms
The features of English idiom mainly contain structural feature and semantic feature. As for structural feature, it further contains stability and irregularity. Stability means English idioms are fixed phrases, their structure is stable, and we can’t change their parts casually. We can’t increase or decrease words, or replace them with synonymous components. We also can’t change the order of idioms, because any change will make them no longer have their original meaning. For example, “make haste”, we can’t add an
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object “him” to change it into “make him haste”, it is not a idiom. “Smell a rat” cannot be changed into “smell a mouse”, although rat and mouse are synonyms, they cannot exchange, because “smell a rat” is a set phrase. We cannot change or replace the every part of idioms. In addition, English idioms have specific form and meaning, but some of them can’t obey the grammar rules, we can’t understand and explain them, and we also can’t change or replace the part of them, this phenomenon is named the irregularity of English idioms. For example, “ups and downs”, “ins and outs”, these prepositions are used as plural noun, they do not conform the rules of grammar. But as idioms, they used by people for a long time.
In the same way, semantic feature includes unity, metaphor and nationality. Unity is equal to semantic integrity, it is the most prominent feature of English idioms. Semantic integrity is to use an English idiom as a complete unit, rather than the sum of words meaning. For example, “put the heads together”, we cannot understand it from its literal meaning, the real meaning of it is to discuss something together，and “face the music” means not be terrified before the danger. The form of English idioms are various, each part is related to others and cannot be isolated. So we should pay attention to their integrity, avoiding producing error of out of context. What’s more, because we are influenced by the way of thinking and cultural connotation, the meaning of English idioms in people’s mind formed very tactfully with metaphor. That is to say, the meaning of idioms not only has the literal meaning, but also has the implied meaning. Such as “hot potato”, it does not mean that the potato is very hot, but refers to something difficult to tackle, “rain cats and dogs” means it rains hard. So in explaining or
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translating an English idiom, translators cannot just get its literal meaning, but put it as a whole, and put it in a specific context and then they can understand it well.
Nationality is another part of semantic feature. English idioms are created by people in the process of long-term labor, they are related directly with a nation’s historical background, geographical environment, economic life, religious beliefs, customs, values and so on. In general, the nationality of English idiom is mainly manifested in two aspects: one is the associative meaning which shows the national consistency, such as “hang by a hair” translated as千钧一发, “add fuel to the flames” translated as 火上浇油, and “thin as a stick” translated as骨瘦如柴, etc. The other is metaphor object, which shows the national characteristics, such as “spring up” is used to describe something happened quickly in Chinese, however, as well known, there are few bamboos in Britain, so people commonly use “to boom like mushrooms” to express the same meaning. Two more are “birds of a feather” translated as 一丘之貉, and “have a face like a fiddle” translated as 愁眉苦脸.
4. The Origin of English Allusions and Idioms
Without knowing the origins, it is very difficult for readers to understand the meaning of certain English idioms, because the meaning of English idioms cannot be guessed word by word, they have the implied meaning.
4.1 English Allusions and Idioms from Daily Life
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A lot of English allusion and idiom come from the daily life of people, they reflect all the aspects of people’s life and their thoughts. The daily life of the English people is a cradle of lots of idioms. For example, as early as the fourteenth century, people who were high-ranking would ride horses as big as possible to show their superior status. Because riding on the big horses, they could look down at others. As a result, “get on one’s high horse” appeared, which means目中无人in Chinese. And “to get the root of something” means lift up one’s horn, and to find out the real cause of something. Besides these, there are some idioms about farmers and cook, for example, “as you sow, so shall you reap”, which expresses a common belief in many cultures: If you do good things, good things will happen to you, and the opposite. And “the fat is in the fire”, which means it is very terrible.
4.2 English Allusions and Idioms from Bible, Myths and Tales
Bible is the main origin of English allusion and idiom, because Bible is very important for English. There is a story. Once upon a time, there was a rich man who needed a few people to work in his vineyard. He began to hire people from five o'clock in the morning, the last person he haired came to work at 11 o’clock in the night. At twelve o’clock, the job was done, the rich started paying wages, and he gave each a silver dollar, no matter the worker had worked all day or just an hour. Therefore, workers who had worked from the morning were very discontent, they thought it was better to come here at 11 o’clock, as long as you did not exceed 12, the rewards were the same. So “at the eleventh hour” came into being to describe the critical moment. What’s more, “after someone’s own heart” translated as称心如意 and “apple
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of one’s eye” translated as掌上明珠.They are all from the Bible, and have their own meaning.
After Bible, many English idioms come from Greek and Roman mythologies. For example, “lion’s share” means the biggest and largest share; “Achilles’ heel” means the weak or vulnerable point of a person, an organism, a state, a country, etc. It was said that Achilles was a warrior, he was soaked in the river of Promise everyday by his mother when he was a baby, which could pray for the blessing of the holy river to make him invulnerable. However, when he soaked in the river, his heel was caught by his mother which became his weak part. In Trojan War, because of the blessing of the holy river, he didn't care any attack, the weapon could not hurt him. Unexpectedly, his heel was shot by enemy, he died on the spot. Besides, “nurse a viper in one’s bosom”, which comes from the famous story of The Peasant and the Snake, indicating that we should not have mercy on the enemy, or they will ruin us.
4.3 English Allusions and Idioms from Living Environment
The formation of the culture is close to the living environment. The specific geographical environment has created a specific culture. Britain is an island country where navigation industry and fishing industry play important roles in its economic life. As a result, a great many idioms related to navigation and fishing were created. Correspondingly, China is a continental and traditionally agricultural country since ancient times. Many Chinese idioms are related to agriculture or land. For instance, to describe someone spending money quite easily or wasting money, English will say “to spend money like water” and “water” is related to the sea, on the contrary, Chinese
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will say 挥金如土 which is related to the land.
More examples, “to go by the board” is compared to fail or fall through, “to be all at sea” means to be at a loss or be in a state of confusion, like a fish out of water, “a fine/pretty kettle of fish” is used to describe complete mess, chaos, etc. All these idioms are somehow related to the sea or fishing.
4.4 English Allusions and Idioms from Literature
Literature is a form of language expression, it is a part of national culture. So literature is also one of the sources of the English allusion and idiom. Especially Shakespeare’s works are the richest literary sources of English idioms, such as “to paint the lily” translated as多此一举from Shakespeare’s King Lear. “To hoist with one’s own petard” translated as咎由自取from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. “Last in somebody’s throat” translated as难以启齿 from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. “To drop mill stones” translated as铁石心肠from Shakespeare’s Charles Ⅱ. In addition to Shakespeare’s plays, there are some English idioms from other famous writers’ works, such as “dark horse” translated as黑马from Benjamin Disraeli’s The Young Duck. “An apple of discord” and “Achilles heel” come from Homer’s Homeric Epics.
5. Approaches of English Idioms Translation
Translation is a bridge of alternating information between original work and readers of translation. The main assignment of translation is to let the readers who read the translation have the same feelings of others as those
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who read the original. Therefore, translators must consider the mentality and regularity of readers when they read the translation.
A good translation version ought to be faithful to the literal meaning, metaphorical image and connotative meaning. However, it is very often that some translation may carry the literary meaning, but lack of metaphorical meaning. Some may cover both but are devoid of the connotative meaning. The aim of English idiom translation is to have the target language convey the source language in both connotative meaning and style, whether by literal translation or by free translation. It would be a difficult but important thing for translators to combine faithfulness and smoothness in translation. In the following part, the thesis discusses the idiom translation based on their origins and features and gives following methods to translate them.
5.1 Equal Replacement Translation
Some English idioms and Chinese idioms have similarities with form and content. The two kinds of idioms are not only equal to the literal meaning but also the rhetorical, and metaphor meaning (Yang, 2010). Due to the similarities of human experience and observation of the world, though Chinese and English are two different nations, there is still much cognition in common. There are some Chinese and English idioms that are similar to each other in literal meaning, metaphorical image and connotative meaning. That is to say, this kind of idiom’s literal and image meaning transmit the same cultural information. Therefore, equal replacement translation method should be a good approach because it can convey both the style and meaning of the source language quite well. For example:
seeing is believing 眼见为实
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to be led by the nose 被牵着鼻子走
to have something at one’s figure’s ends 了如指掌
to pour oil on fire 火上加油
These idioms mostly come from living experience, they are equivalent to Chinese idioms.
In allusions, there are also some idioms that are similar.
“To burn one’s boat” is from a historical story: Julius Caesar wanted to encourage his soldier to fight hard in the war, so he burned all the boats to show his determination. Xiang Yu, who was a famous general in ancient China, sank the boats, broke the caldrons, burned the house along the way, and kept food for only three days so they had no other choice but won the war. So the idiom 破釜沉舟was created. Because the two historical stories are similar to each other, equal replacement translation should be the best way to translate them.
The idiom “One’s hair stands on end” is said to come from a prisoner. He was sentenced to death for theft, and his hair stood on end with fear when the rope was put around his neck, and a very similar Chinese idiom is 毛骨悚然. “Walls have ears” means even the most secret and private conversation may be known to other people. The definition is close to the Chinese idiom隔墙有耳. Both of them come from some historical allusions.
Here are some idioms translated by equal replacement translation:
to fish in troubled water 混水摸鱼
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like father like son 有其父必有其子
at the end of one’s rope 山穷水尽
man proposes，god disposes 谋事在人，成事在天
birds of a father flock together 物以类聚，人以群分
at sixes and sevens 乱七八糟
When using equal replacement translation, we cannot translate randomly. There are some idioms that have much stronger national information and cultural factors. So translators must pay attention to this kind of English idiom and choose a suitable method to translate it.
5.2 Literal Translation
Literal translation can keep the metaphor image and national characteristics without violating the translation language specification and causing errors under the condition of association. It can not only keep the original content but also keep the original form.
There are many English idioms that are literally translated into Chinese for their vividness. They have been used and accepted by the Chinese people. For example,
“Not to see the wood for the trees” means unable to judge or understand the whole because of attention to the parts, criticizing that due to small things and not see the value or the aim of the future achievement, and it is translated into 见树不见林 which has been a Chinese idiom.
“All roads lead to Rome” means the same conclusion, ending or goal may be reached by many different ways. and now its translated version 条条
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大路通罗马is used very commonly in China.
In addition to these idioms, the following examples also use the literal translation.
armed to the teeth 武装到牙齿
a stony heart 铁石心肠
to break the record 打破记录
easy come, easy go 来的容易，去的容易
Hence, through literal translation, many English idioms are translated into Chinese directly. Literal translation can keep the original idiom’s meaning and retain the original style, so the readers can understand and accept easily. As time goes on, for their vividness and truthfulness, these translated idioms are parts of Chinese idioms.
5.3 Literal Translation with Explanation
As we said in the previous section, the number of equivalent idioms of the two languages is small. As for the cultural gap, it is very common that the Chinese version of an English idiom, which is literally translated would be difficult to understand. But if translators add some explanations to the translation, it can both be easy to understand and keep the original style and cultural color.
For example, “a Pandora’s box” is translated into 潘多拉之盒—灾难,麻烦,祸害的根源. It is said that Zeus gave Pandora a sealed box filled with disaster, pestilence and plague, and asked her to give the box to her husband. After Pandora getting married, out of curiosity, she opened the box, all the
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disaster, pestilence and plague inside flew out immediately. Since then, human have suffered from the disaster, plague and scourge. And “hold out the olive branch” can be translated as伸出橄榄枝—愿意讲和. Olive branch is a symbol of peace in Greek culture, due to the rise of the modern Olympics, the cultural idea is the general consensus in the worldwide, so now most of the countries and regions have admitted olive branch as a symbol of peace. Specifically, when it comes to a country olive branch, it generally means that the country shows friendly to others, and desires peace and win-win development.
Other examples:
every day brings its bread with it 每天都会有面包—没必要为他日寻愁
fish begins to stink at its head 鱼从头发臭—上梁不正下梁歪
let sleeping dogs lie 让睡觉的狗躺着—别招惹是非
there is no rose without a thorn 没有不带刺的玫瑰—有乐必有苦
Some English idioms with national features, if translators only use literal translation would make readers feel confused. However, if they translate them by literal translation with some notes, which can make people easy to understand.
5.4 Free Translation
Free translation is to express the main idea of the original text but change the way of expression. This method is used when any equivalents are found in the target language or it is not necessary to translate literally. Some
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English idioms seem strange if they are translated literally. Free translation does not mean translators can translate English idioms according to their wills. Instead, it means that translators should try to get rid of the abstract usage of English, and find a good expression for people to understand. Free translation only keeps the original content, but does not keep the original form. This way of translation can not only retain the original intention, but also enrich the target language. In addition, in using free translation, translators must pay attention to the context of English idioms.
For example, “She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, she thinks she can do what she likes” is literally translated as出生的时候嘴里含着一个勺子, but the readers cannot understand the real meaning, it seems that the author talks about a fairy tale. If translators use free translation based on the context, it can be translated as 出生在富贵之家, which makes readers understand easily.
“Playing cat’s paw with us” is literally translated as 与我们玩猫爪, it not only fails to express the meaning of the original, but also is ridiculous. So we must based on the context and free translated as 戏弄我们.
The idiom “the rain cats and dogs”, which is difficult for Chinese readers to understand from its literal meaning. If it is free translated as 大雨倾盆, it would be better to understand. It seems weird for Chinese readers if “every man has a fool in his sleeve” is literally translated as人人袖子里都装着傻瓜, it should be translated freely as 人人都有糊涂的时候. And it would
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be better to freely translate “When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war” into 两雄相争,其斗必烈than 希腊人遇上希腊人,定有一场好斗.
Other examples:
a piece of cake 小菜一碟
as greedy as a wolf 贪得无厌
two heads are better than one 两人的智慧胜一人
nothing venture，nothing have 不入虎穴, 焉得虎子
English idioms translated by free translation can convey the meaning of the source language and make readers of the target language read the translation smoothly. However, the freely translated idioms fail to maintain the metaphorical image of the original idioms. To some extent, free translation deprives the cultural features of the source language.
6. Conclusion
Idioms are the essence of language, they contain a lot of special cultural elements. The meaning of some English idioms are clearly. Some are implicit. Some have strong national color. Some may contain several meaning. When translating English idioms，translators should not only express the meaning of the original idioms faithfully, but also keep their image，rhetorical effect and their ethnic and local characteristics as far as possible. So when using the above methods to translate English idioms, the paper comes up with three following suggestions:
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First, using literal translation as far as possible. In the process of English idioms translation, the first choice is literal translation, because it can effectively express the cultural connotation of the original, which makes readers easily understand the rich culture and the metaphor image.
Second, not to translate English idioms too literally. The form of an English idiom can be a word, phrase, phrases or sentences, its meaning is not the simple superposition of each meaning. Due to the differences between English and Chinese culture, the literal meaning of some idioms in English and Chinese is the same, but the actual meaning is different. In understanding the meaning of English idiom, translators should pay attention to its integrity and avoid being out of context.
Third, keeping the original culture characteristics. Generally, idioms reflect different national cultural features of language. Therefore, in the translation of English idioms, translators should pay special attention to the national features of the original.
So it is a duty for translators to show their respect for culture and master its characteristics and origin in idiom translation. There are several but not one approaches which can be applied to do a satisfactory translation.
The cultural differences include living environment, custom, history and literature, this paper gives a general analysis about English idioms from these aspects. A good translator should have a complete comprehension of the above mentioned factors to choose the most proper way to translate English idioms. What’s more, in translating English idiom, translators should pay more attention to its implied meaning and consider its national factors to make a better translation. Therefore, translators could accumulate translation
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knowledge by reading, practice and correcting mistakes, only in these ways can they accurately convey the artistic conception of the original and make the translation smooth.
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Acknowledgments
Four years of university life is about to the end in this season , but my life is only a common, I will face a new start again. At this moment, I want to express my thanks to all the teachers of Tianjin University of Commerce, because they taught me a lot, they taught me how to face the failure and success, how to be a tolerant person, how to face life correctly, which made me become more mature. This graduation thesis is an important part of my university study, it is achievements of my university life.
So in the end of the thesis, I want to express my thanks to all those who have helped me write the thesis.
My gratitude particularly goes to my esteemed and beloved supervisor Professor Yue Fuxin. It was he who offered precious instruction in my study of the idioms translation related to origins and approaches of English idioms. Moreover, I am deeply indebted to his for his constant help, detailed advice, as well as his painstaking revisions of the present thesis.
Finally, I owe thanks to my fellow classmates, who have been supporting and helping me in the course of writing the thesis.
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