Cultural differences and transiation
Meta, (1999)Abstract
This article discusses the influence of cultural differences on translation--a cross-cultural communication event. However complex a culture is, it can roughly be divided into three categories: material culture, institutional culture and mental culture. Language belongs to institutional culture, which is closely related to mental culture in formation and performance. Differences in mental culture are what produce the differences in languages involved in translation. The article first examines the differences between Chinese and English arising from their respective mental culture, which are mainly manifested in image and function, integrity and individuality, covertness and overtness, thought and form. It then further provides effective methods to solve culture-bound problems in translation from Chinese into English.