In the article On Translation, Mr. Zhu Guangqian said: "The most difficult thing for foreign literature to understand and translate is the meaning of association ...", "It has a special emotional atmosphere, which is profound, extensive and subtle, but it is extremely important for literature. If we are not familiar with the customs and cultural and historical background of a country, we will be at a loss about the meaning of words, especially when translating. " Edward tylor, a British cultural anthropologist, first put forward the concept of culture in his book Primitive Culture (187 1), and stated: "Culture is a kind of complexity, which includes knowledge, belief and art.

1, differences in living environment

The appearance of idioms is closely related to people's work and life. Britain is an island country, and the navigation industry once led the world in history; The Han people live and multiply in the Asian continent, and people's lives are inseparable from the land. Metaphor is a waste of money, luxury, English

Money is like water, while Chinese is "spending money like water". There are many idioms about boats and water in English, but there are no identical idioms in Chinese, such as to rest.

A person's paddle, keeping his head on the water, at sea, etc.

In the cultural atmosphere of Chinese, "east wind" is "spring breeze", and summer is often associated with the summer heat system. "The sun burns like fire" and "The sun burns like fire" are words that are often used to describe summer. However, Britain is located in the western hemisphere and has a maritime climate, but it is the news that the west wind heralds spring. Ode to the west wind by Shelley, a famous English poet, is a hymn of spring. Summer in England is a warm and pleasant season, and there are often

Cute, gentle and beautiful are interlinked. Shakespeare compared his lover to summer in one of his sonnets. Can I compare you to a summer lover?

Day? /You are cuter and gentler.

2. Differences in customs

There are many differences between English and Chinese customs, the most typical of which is the attitude towards dogs. The dog is a humble animal in China. Most idioms related to dogs in Chinese contain derogatory meanings, such as "a bunch of dogs", "a dog jumps over a wall", "heartless" and "dog legs". Although the number of pet dogs has greatly increased in recent years and the status of dogs seems to have changed, the derogatory image of dogs is still deeply rooted in China's language and culture. In western English-speaking countries, dogs are considered to be the most loyal friends of human beings. English idioms about dogs are partly influenced by other languages.

You are a lucky man (you are a lucky man). Dogs have their own days, but old dogs don't.

Learn new skills and so on. "As sick as a dog" is used to describe a person who is "very sick" and "as tired as a dog" is used to describe a person who is "extremely tired". On the contrary, China.

3. Religious belief

Idioms related to religious beliefs also appear in English and Chinese. Buddhism was introduced into China.

Help those who help them (God helps those who help themselves), and there is a curse like going to hell.

4. Historical allusions

There are also a large number of idioms formed by historical allusions in English and Chinese. These idioms are simple in structure and profound in meaning, so they cannot be understood and translated literally. Such as "learning from the East is effective", "falling into Sun Shan", "Ye Gong loves dragons" and so on. English

One's Waterloo, Penelope's net, Pandora's box, and so on.

Second, the specific principles and methods of English-Chinese idiom translation

On translation standards and translation theories at home and abroad

From Nida's "functional equivalence" or "dynamic equivalence", we can see that these propositions are interactive.