In the article "Down and Out Hermit Lady", a group of lonely and strange ladies living in new york are told. Although they wander the streets, they don't beg openly; Living in poverty, but with strong viability; Living in a crowded downtown, but lonely. When talking about the neighbor's attitude towards them, the article describes it this way: If she chooses your door as her place to sleep at night, it will be morally difficult to drive her away, just like a lost dog. Here, the author uses the metaphor of "lost dogs" to show that neighbors sympathize with them. Readers are often confused about metaphors in sentences. In Anglo-American culture, dogs are regarded as human's best friends. They tend to treat dogs who have lost their homes well, instead of beating them up or driving them away. The term "lost dog" is used by China people to describe people who have lost their backers, run around and have nowhere to go, and are annoying. Therefore, only by understanding the cultural knowledge of Britain and America can we correctly understand the meaning of this sentence.
Similar examples can be seen everywhere in our English learning, which illustrates a problem: if we don't pay attention to the cultural differences between China and the West, we can't learn English well. Just because every language reflects the culture that produced it, any form of language has its cultural connotation. Therefore, cultural linguistics has become an important topic in linguistic research, and cross-cultural communication has also become a hot spot in our English learning. This is because from the perspective of foreign language learning, it is necessary to communicate with foreigners in authentic foreign languages to avoid all kinds of misunderstandings and estrangements, and to understand not only their language, but also their culture.
Second, what is culture?
The so-called culture is the sum of all the contents that guide a group's life and ensure its survival during its development. Every one of us, no matter where we grow up, is the product of our specific culture and the language that expresses it. Some anthropologists, such as ruth benedict, Clyde Clackhorn, Franz Boas, margaret mead and Sir james frazer, have revealed to us how each culture regulates and determines the beliefs, values, aesthetics and truth of its members. The following passage is taken from ruth benedict's "Cultural Types", which is concise and far-sighted, and summarizes the influence of culture on each of us: "From the moment a person is born, the environment and customs around him affect his experience and behavior. By the time he babbled, he had become a little creature influenced by this culture. When he grows up and can participate in social activities, this specific cultural habit becomes his habit, his unique concept becomes his concept, and his taboo becomes his taboo. "
What about the relationship between language and culture? Language and culture are interdependent and cannot exist independently without the other hand. Language reflects cultural characteristics and indicates the direction of cultural development. The relationship between them can be simply compared to the interdependence and interaction between content and form. China linguists Deng Yanchang and Liu Runqing said: "Language is a part of culture and plays an important role in it ... It can be said that language reflects the characteristics of a nation, including not only its historical and cultural background, but also its views on life, lifestyle and way of thinking. ..... It should be pointed out that language and culture influence and interact with each other; To understand language, we must understand culture. To understand culture, we must understand language. " Therefore, we can say that a language takes a certain culture as its soul, and a certain culture also depends on a certain language structure. Since the relationship between language and culture is inseparable, it is no exaggeration to say that without cultural factors or lack of knowledge, it is impossible to master a nation's language comprehensively and correctly. This is especially important for us to learn a foreign language, because our eastern and western societies are formed and developed on different foundations, and they carry different cultures. There are many differences in the expression and understanding of things, which are embodied in four aspects: national culture, regional culture, custom culture and religious culture.
Third, the differences of national culture.
National culture refers to the culture formed by historical development and social inheritance. Due to the different historical development, different nationalities have formed different cultures in their long national history.
In the west, especially in the United States, people worship individualism extremely, pay attention to individual struggle and advocate realizing self-worth. Carnegie changed from a poor apprentice to a rich steel king; Lincoln rose from a civilian to a president ... these are examples of personal success that ordinary Americans relish and dream of. Therefore, advocating personal struggle and personal success has become the cultural core of American society. Therefore, it is not surprising that the number of self-prefixed compound words in English dictionaries exceeds 100. For thousands of years, millions of people in China lived on limited land and resources. The objective economic and social conditions, coupled with the constraints of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism ethics, make China people put their personal goals under social needs. In China, individual achievements and honors are generally not outstanding, and often belong to groups, and people have a high sense of national pride.
There is an old saying in China: "Food is the most important thing for the people", which shows the importance attached to eating. People all over the world know that China people's food culture has a long history. The first seven or eight dishes of the Chinese banquet filled the whole table, and the dishes were piled up for the guests to enjoy. In America, hot dogs, hamburgers, bread and butter are home-cooked foods. Even at the Thanksgiving dinner, the whole family just gathered around a rough-skinned turkey. What China people can't understand is that at the banquet hosted by the state government and the municipal government, only one meat main course, two or three beautifully cooked vegetables, a beautiful dessert and coffee appeared on the menu.
Fourth, regional cultural differences.
Regional culture mainly refers to the culture of geographical environment and natural environment. Influenced by the natural environment, different nationalities have different understandings of the same thing. Some things are beautiful in one language and ugly in another; Some things are rich in one language and meaningless in another.
In China, the dragon is regarded as a sacred object, which combines strength, wisdom, luck, celebration, majesty, strength and power. The emperors in feudal times often compared themselves to "dragons", and the Chinese nation also called themselves "descendants of dragons" and "descendants of dragons". In English, dragons are regarded as synonymous with evil, terror and even war. Satan is the devil mentioned many times in the Bible, and he is the image of the tempter and rebel against God. It's called old.
Dragon. Dickens, a famous British writer, also used the word "dragon" to describe Mrs. Sparsit in difficult times: … People in the town walked around and saw her sitting there, but they regarded her as the "bank dragon" of this bank.
"Red" symbolizes enthusiasm, joy and celebration in the minds of China people. It is a color that brings beauty, so many characters in A Dream of Red Mansions are dressed in red, such as Baoyu's big red arrow sleeves; Daiyu's embroidered brocade skirt in Yang Fei; Feng's pink striped coat; Xiangling's pomegranate red skirt; Yuanyang's pink silk coat and so on. But for some westerners, "red" is associated with war, bloodshed and terror. For example, Scarlet in English means "scarlet" and "lewd". The scarlet letter was a symbol of adultery during the American colonial period, but red-letter means "celebration" and red-letter day means "anniversary" and "scarlet letter day", which may come from the habit of marking such days with red letters on the calendar.
Bamboo, a plant, has a deep relationship with China culture. Scholars in past dynasties admired bamboo, painted and chanted it. Zheng Banqiao's bamboo paintings are world-famous, and Shao Ye's famous phrase "Bamboo remains unchanged, flowers smell" is deeply rooted in people's hearts. Bamboo has gradually become a symbol of China people's indomitable and upright character. But the word bamboo is just a very common plant in English, and it has no extension.
Verb (abbreviation for verb) Differences in customs and cultures
Custom culture refers to the habits and customs formed by a nation in its long-term life. If we carefully compare the examples of daily life and social customs in Chinese and western cultures, we can easily see their differences.
China people must wear bright red at weddings and white from head to toe at funerals, which is full of joy and sadness. Wedding gongs and drums, funeral suona sound, filled with lively and sad atmosphere. Westerners wear white wedding dresses to show purity and nobility. The funeral must be dressed in black to show solemnity. Silence is indispensable to both.
China people, who have been cultivated by China culture for a long time, are introverted, rigid in action and modest-oriented. Obviously, they have done a good job. When others praise him to his face, he always says "I'm far from it" and "I didn't do well". Westerners regard this answer as hypocritical humility or fame. Westerners often say "thank you" to this kind of praise. This will make China people feel immodest. When a China person arrives at a new job, he often says to his leader, "I am new here and have no experience. Please help leaders and colleagues. " The leader is very satisfied with this. In the west, if you say this to the boss of a company, the boss may think that this person lacks enterprising spirit and cannot be entrusted with heavy responsibilities.
China people are familiar with each other's family and personal situation in a short time. This is because China people have lived intensively for thousands of years, and their personal life or private life is easy to be known or interfered with. In addition, China people care about and love each other, and think that personal matters are family matters, even collective matters, so they are willing to understand the joys and sorrows of others, and others are willing to express their own. For the British and Americans, if a stranger asks about their salary, age, marital status, religious beliefs, etc. They may feel embarrassed or unhappy, or even complain: It's boring, you have a hobby of prying into other people's privacy!
Differences in Religious Culture of Intransitive Verbs
Religious culture refers to religious belief. Different nationalities have different religious beliefs. They have a profound influence on national culture and become people's spiritual motivation. Most British people believe in Christianity. Since john wycliffe, a professor of theology at Oxford University, translated the Bible from Latin into English in 1382, it has become a must-read for every family. They think that the world was created by God, and all the arrangements in the world are God's will. Human beings are burdened with original sin and should suffer in this world, be poor and humble, and obey God's arrangement. Moreover, Christianity once occupied a dominant position in British history, and the power of the church was often above the king and monarch. People in China believe that there will be another world after Pangu's creation, and "God" and "God" will dominate nature. "God" and "God" represent different things and have very different meanings. In particular, the concept of "god" has a strong Christian color, while "respecting life", "resigned to fate" and "man proposes and God disposes" all have Chinese religious colors.
In a word, we can draw a conclusion that it is impossible to learn English well without understanding western cultures and their differences. On the other hand, the deeper and more detailed you know about the history, culture, traditions, customs and lifestyles of the countries where you learn the language, the more you can understand and use the language correctly.