1、英漢姓名的文化內(nèi)涵及其翻譯Abstract As carriers of cultures, Chinese and English names are full of cultural connotations, and result in cultural gap between English and Chinese. Personal names are not only symbols that distinguish one person from others, but also social symbols. It is “a mirror of culture”. Throu

2、gh comparative study on a nations history, religion, concepts of moral and value, we can see different cultural connotations between English and Chinese names. And then suggest some translation principles and methods. There are some similarities between English and Chinese names, such as totemism, c

3、onsciousness of root-seeking, specializing points. In Chinese names, we can find the culture of religious concepts, Confucian-worship, hierarchy. And the religion, personal-orientation, individualism can also be found in English names. In the translation of Chinese and English names, translators sho

4、uld follow the pronunciation of the owners language and adopt the established popular translated names, use transliteration and paraphrase so as to reflect the real meaning of English and Chinese names.Key Words English names and Chinese names; cultural connotation; translation principle; translatio

5、n method摘 要 姓名，作為一種文化載體，蘊涵著極其豐富的文化內(nèi)涵，英漢姓名因而存在著巨大的文化差異。姓名不僅僅是一種簡單的區(qū)別于他人的符號，它同時也代表一種社會文化現(xiàn)象，被喻為“文化的鏡像”。通過對英漢姓名的 HYPERLINK /lishi/ 歷史淵源，宗教信仰，價值觀念等的對比研究，揭示出英漢姓名的深層文化內(nèi)涵及社會文化因素的影響，進而對這種富載文化內(nèi)涵的姓名的翻譯提出翻譯原則和翻譯翻譯方法。英漢文化的共性，如圖騰崇拜，尋根意識，特指性，心理暗示等使英漢不同姓名的系統(tǒng)中出現(xiàn)一些類同的現(xiàn)象 。英漢文化內(nèi)涵的差異，如 HYPERLINK /china/ 中國的宗教觀念，崇儒思想，等級制

6、度等文化因素都可以從中國人的姓名中反映出來。而 HYPERLINK /English/ 英語民族的宗教信仰，個人取向，強調(diào)個性也在英語姓名中有所反映。由于英漢姓名的文化差異，在翻譯英漢姓名時應(yīng)遵循“名從主人原則”和“約定俗成原則”，采取音譯法和釋義法，或者兩者相結(jié)合，使人名的真實內(nèi)涵得到體現(xiàn)。關(guān)鍵詞 英漢姓名；文化內(nèi)涵；翻譯原則；翻譯方法1IntroductionNames are used by human beings and they are the signs for people to distinguish one person from the others. They have

7、 some particular functions that no other signs can perform. They are not only linguistic symbols, but also social symbols, representing relationship in societies and cultures. “Each person has his name which distinguishes himself from other members in the community, and each country has its own name

8、 system owing to their different historical and cultural background”. 1 P1 In a word, personal names are windows for people to see through different cultures in different societies. For these reasons, the translation of Chinese and English names should follow the pronunciation of the owners country

9、and adopt the established popular translated names, use transliteration and paraphrase so as to reflect the real meaning of Chinese and English names.2Relation between personal name and culturePersonal names are the products of the historical development of human society. They reflect the ancient ci

10、vilization and splendid cultures from different respects. The choice of name tells something about human society and reflects the social culture. Therefore, the development of personal names cannot be isolated from the social culture background. Names are the inseparable part of culture and the inev

11、itable outcome of cultural evolution. Like other linguistic phenomena they play the role of carrier and propagator of cultures.Culture influences every aspect of human social life and influences peoples behavior. Personal names are the outcome of peoples behavior, so the influence of culture can be

12、seen from the changing of personal names. For example, “in ancient China, “龜” （gui, tortoise）was often used as personal name which had good connotation of longevity. However, after Ming Dynasty, the connotation of the character changed, which indicates a man whose wife is not loyal to him. Then few

13、people use “龜” as personal names”.2 P2 In addition, personal names are restricted by culture, for instance, Chinese people are greatly influenced by Confucianism, so obvious proprieties can be seen in Chinese names. “English people believe Christian and religious sense can be found in their names”.3

14、 P51 On the other hand, as a kind of social reality, personal names exert its influence and action on societies and cultures. For example, the taboo on using the personal names of emperors was formed under the influence of feudal hierardy culture. Once it had been formed it began to restrict every a

15、spect of peoples life. In short, personal names and culture influence restrict each other and act on each other. From personal names, people can see the cultural similarity and difference in different society. 3. Comparative study between the two name systemsEvery nation has its own history, during

16、which it has shaped its own particular characteristics. As a special social and linguistic phenomenon, names relate to cultures extensively and profoundly. When we learn a foreign language and try to make effective communication, we must understand its culture and need to know about names and naming

17、, just as when we study a language we need to know its vocabulary and its grammar. In this section, we are going to make a comparative study on these aspects between Chinese and English name systems.3.1 Similarities between the Two Systems3.1.1 Totemism “At beginning, the basic of personal name is t

18、otemism. Totemism may be animals, plants or unliving things. The group often takes some totem as their ancestor, and then used it as their own names”.4 P51 “In ancient times, the human beings were not only afraid of natural power, but also respect it. Therefore, both in Chinese and English personal

19、names, we can find lots of names from place, animal, plant, unliving things in nature or natural phenomenon”.5 P82 For example, in Chinese names, Yan Emperor（炎帝, one ancestor of Chinese people）lived near Jiang Water（姜水, a name of a river）, so his tribe used jiang (姜) as their tribe name, Huang Emper

20、or (黃帝, another ancestor of Chinese people) lived near Ji Water (姬水, a name of a river) and used ji (姬) as the tribes name, and yao (姚) came from the place called yao xu (姚墟) where Shun (舜, an ancestor of Chinese people) lived. In English, people used the natural phenomenon as family names, such as

21、Frost, Rain, and Snow etc. And some names come from animal names, for example, Bird, Bull, Lion, Fox, Wolf and so on. Some come from plant names, for instance, Flower, Apple, Lily, Rose. This phenomenon reflects similar cultural connotation that names are associated with primitive totemism.3.1.2 Con

22、sciousness of root-seekingIn Chinese and English names, we can find names taken from their birth-place names, such as Liu Zongyuan (柳宗元), a famous poet in Tang Dynasty, was born at He Dong, so he has another name Liu Hedong (柳河?xùn)|). In China, nowadays, we also have names like Wang Changcheng (王長城), Li

23、 Changjiang(李長江), etc. These names are closely connected with Chinese places. In English people also take places as their personal names. “For example, Washington(華盛頓)，Brook(溪流), Well (泉), Wood (林木) and so on”.6 P81 These similarities show, as human being, they all have the consciousness of root-see

24、king.3.1.3 Specializing characterMost names in literary works have special meaning. “They symbolize some connotations that go far beyond their literary meanings. They become some general terms indicating certain meaning, symbolizing certain people, or referring particularly to certain situations or

25、actions”. 7 P31For example, Shylock, in Shakespeares comedy The Merchant of Venice indicates some usurers and businessmen who are mean and cruel. It can also be used as verb referring to the action of owing usury. For instance, “His income derived from illicit activities-bookmaking, gambling, shyloc

26、king, and questionable union activities”. Take the personal name Zhu Geliang （諸葛亮）as another example. It can be used not only to refer to the specific person who once really existed in history, but also used as a common noun.“諸葛亮” in the saying “三個臭皮匠，頂個諸葛亮”（Working together, three ordinary men can

27、be as wise as Zhuge Liang who was a very wise man in the Three States Period ）is not specific a person, it refers to same wise men like him. In Chinese literature, we may find names with specially implied meaning chose by writers who tend to take advantage of homophone, which acts as a pun. For exam

28、ple, characters in The Story of Stone that written by Chao Xueqin. Jia Yucun (賈雨村)，Jiahua(賈化)，Zhen Shiyin(甄士隱)，which pronounce the same as jia yu cun (假語存-lies exist), jia hua (假話-tell lies)，zhen shi yin (真事隱-truth is hidden).Both in Chinese and English, there are also names in great authors writing

29、s which are taken as current vocabulary.Hamlet is the hero in Shakespeares tragedy “Hamlet”. His uncle murders his father so he wants to take revenges on him. But he hesitates so much in his avenging plan that in the end he has to pretend being mad. “Hamlet” in present English is not only one of the

30、 characters in Shakespeares tragedy, but also considered as a synonym to a person who is hesitating in doing something or to a hesitating action. If people think someone is very hesitating in doing something, they may say“You are Hamlet”. Rip Van Winkle is one of the heroes in the works of the Ameri

31、can writer Washington Irving. He is a hen-packed man. Once being scolded by his wife, he runs into the Catskill, a mountain near his village. He feels relaxed there and drinks too much before falling asleep. When he wakes up, it is too many years later that everything in the village has been greatly

32、 changed. Rip Van Winkle is now referring to some people who are old-fashioned, or whose minds and thoughts are dropped far behind from the present society. People may express someones idea that is out of date, by saying “This is the opinion of same Rip Van Winkle”.3.2 Differences between the two na

33、me systemsIt is said that every coin has its two sides. We talked about their similarities above, and now, we are going to talk about the differences between Chinese and English name systems and their culture connotation 3.2.1Origin of family names Family names reflect different national cultures an

34、d ancient civilization from various points of view. Being a kind of social phenomenon and complicated psychological process, family names reveal social reality. So the development of family names cannot be separated from the social and cultural background on which they rely. The form and use of fami

35、ly names are developing progressively with the evolution of history and changing of society.(i) Origin of Chinese family names “The number of family names in Chinese is much smaller than that of English name. So far, we have all together less than ten thousand family names, in which 6363 family name

36、s are from the Han nationality. But in the west, there are 156 thousand family names, among which thirty-five thousand are frequently seen in daily life”.8 P6 “It is thought that Chinese family names came about in matriarchal clan society. At that time, every clan got the distinctive clan name based

37、 on their totem or dwelling places. The clan names are the earliest family names which in Chinese are called 姓(xing)”.9 P9 After population of a clan multiplied, the clan divided into several branches and moved to different places to live. Then each branch would get their own branch name to distingu

38、ish this branch from the others. The name of each branch is called氏(shi). The difference between them is that, the former one is used to tell apart different families in ranks of family in the society. So “xing” is not changeable, but “shi” can be changed. In ancient China, there would be thousand o

39、f people shared the same family names, they came from the same clans and lived in the same villages, some of them may move to other places, but they couldnt change their family names.According to historical records, in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, “xing” and “shi” began to have class color besides

40、 their original function. “Shi”, especially, was best owned by their ruler. As a result, “shi” became the mark of the aristocracy. Only the aristocrats had “shi”, and the ordinary people had no “shi”. All the aristocrats were men at that time. Therefore, only men had “shi”. “The distinction between

41、“xing” and “shi” disappeared in Qin and Han Dynasty. They became one that is called “xingshi” in Chinese and refers to family names”.10 P10 This phenomenon indicates that the original function and distinction of “xing” and “shi” were of no significance after the centralized feudal social system was

42、established.(ii) Origin of English family names“The history of English family names is much shorter than the Chinese ones. It came about in the Middle Ages”.11 P34 They are in large number. Social cultural factors play an important role in the development of English family names. They reflect a comp

43、lete picture of English feudal society. So they are the living fossils for studying English history and culture.English family names are the historical product of English society. They experienced nearly three centuries from nonexistence to full development. There was a time when no one had a heredi

44、tary family name. “When the ancestors of English people invaded Britain in the 5th century, they formed a tribal society. English people didnt get family names until 1066 when Normans conquered Britain. The Normans certainly didnt have a fully developed family names system”.12 P80 It was not yet the

45、ir conscious policy to identify a family by one name. But there were not enough names for distinction. In a certain period more and more names were duplicated. This phenomenon brought great trouble to people in communication. So when people were talking about a person who was absent, they often empl

46、oyed additional phrases for further identification. For example, when they referred to John who lived under the hill, they would add descriptive phrase as “from the hill”. Then John became “John from the hill” to indicate which John they were talking about. Although the additional phrases can play t

47、he role for further identification, they are too complicated. Therefore, some unimportant words are often omitted. Then “John from the hill” is changed into “John Hill”. With the development of feudal society, there was an urgent need for people to solve the problem of personal identification. For t

48、his reason, people created a new way for expression that they began to add their fathers or manors name behind their given name. In fact, the additional phrases which are called “bynames” are the embryos of English family names. They played an important transitional part in the development of Englis

49、h family names. Gradually, these bynames were turned into hereditary family names.From the beginning of the 15th century nearly all English people inherited family names at birth and the word “surname” was used with the meaning we give it today. It had been borrowed from French “surnom”, deriving fr

50、om Latin super, and was used at first to mean “an extra name” or “a nickname”. Modern French translates “surname” as nom de femile, so in English surname is also called family name.3.2.2 Forms of names and cultural connotation(i) Forms of namesIn both Chinese and English, the personal names can be d

51、ivided into surnames and given names. A persons family name is inherent. He/She got his/her family name before he/she was born. Therefore family names are not selectable. The case is different in given names. Given names are not inherent but selectable; one can choose his given names. But the way in

52、 which these names are used varies in the two languages. A fundamental difference is the order in which these names occur. In Chinese, the family name comes first and the given name is placed after it. And there are two kinds of family name, one is single surname, the other is double surname. For ex

53、ample, 王國強(Wang Guoqiang), 司馬相如(Sima Xiangru). Here 王(Wang) and 司馬(Sima) are family names, 國強(Guoqiang) and 相如(Xiangru) are given names.However, in English, the family name is at the end, and the given name is in the front. “The given name could be divided into Christian name (first name) and middle

54、 name (second name)”. 13 P58In western counties, most people have middle names, the number of which can be one, two, three or even more than tens, such as “an American writer Robert Peter Tristram Coffin and a British writer Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wilde”.14 P11 Here Robert and Oscar are given

55、 names, Peter Tristram and Fingal OFlahertie Wills are middle name, Coffin and Wilde are family names. Middle names are only used in very formal situation for official purpose, such as on a document. Usually people omit them or use the capital letters instead. Therefore the writer mentioned above is

56、 called Robert Coffin and Oscar Wilde on most occasions. As most English speaking people believe in Christianity or Catholic, according to the religious custom, a baby who was born around one week should be baptized and named in the church. So the given name can also be called baptized name or Chris

57、tian name. Although given names are frequently referred to as Christian names, this does not mean that the person is a Christian or the name has been given by the church. Nowadays, it is usually used as a synonym for “given name”. Many parents take their baby to church to be baptized, but the given

58、names are chosen by their parents before this. And even if a person has never been baptized, their names can still be called Christian names.(ii) Cultural connotation The opposite orders of Chinese and English names are reflection of different cultures on personal names. Chinese family names represe

59、nt the relationship of clan, group and consanguinity; Traditional Chinese culture emphasizes the generality. Therefore, in this kind of culture atmosphere, Chinese people put their family names which represent their ancestors, clans and groups before their given names, which symbols person individua

60、lity while the western people not only emphasize individual person and individuality, but also value the independent personality and self-consciousness, they think the given names are life and soul of a person, so they highly value them.Contrary to the high esteem of given names, English people thin