顏色詞的中英對比翻譯中英顏色詞的文化差異及翻譯

CulturalDifferencesandTranslationinChineseandEnglishColorwordsAbstractIntoday’smulti-culturalsociety,translation,asanimportantdeviceinthecross-culturalcommunication,isamodeofculturaltransfer.Colortermsarecloselyconnectedwithculture.Asapartoflanguage,colortermsareendowedwithabundantculturalconnotations.Moreover,colorterms’lexicalmeaningandsymbolicmeaningreflectvariousculturesandculturalbackgrounds.Inordertopromotethedevelopmentofthemulti-culturalsocietyandcross-culturalcommunication,itissignificanttounderstandandgraspcolortermsandtheirfunctionsintheculturaltransfer.

Thisthesis,targetingatimprovingtranslationproficiencyandpromotingcross-culturalcommunication,makesacarefulanalysisofcolorterms,includingthedefinition,thehistoryinEnglishandChinese,thetranslationdifficultiesandthetranslationtechniques.KeyWordsColorterms;translationdifficulties;translationtechniques

摘要在文化多元化的今天，翻譯作為跨文化交流的一種重要手段，是文化轉換的一種模式。顏色詞與文化有著極為密切的關系。作為語言的一部分，顏色詞被賦予了豐富的文化內涵，其詞匯意義和象征意義都反映了不同的文化及文化背景。為了促進多元文化社會的發展和加強跨文化交流，了解和掌握顏色詞及其在文化轉換中的作用具有極為重要的價值和意義。

論文從探討顏色詞的概念及其在中英兩種語言中的歷史比較出發，仔細研究了顏色詞在翻譯中存在的困難，并在此基礎上總結和論證了顏色詞翻譯的主要技巧，包括同化和異化兩種翻譯技巧。論文旨在認真分析顏色詞及其翻譯的基礎上增強人們的翻譯實踐能力和跨文化交際能力。關鍵詞顏色詞；翻譯困難；翻譯技巧

IntroductionPeoplecannotlivewithoutcolor.Languagewillbemorevividwithcolorterms.

Colortermsareapartoflanguage,andcolorterms’translationisimportantintoday’ssociety.Lotsofclassicworksarerichwithcolorterms.Correctandaccuratecolorterms’translationhelpstotransmitthemeaningofthesourcetext.

Colortermsareendowedwithvariousemotionsofdifferentnations.Itisnecessarytolearntheculturalconnotationsofcolortermsbeforelearningthenation’slanguage.

Thethesis,centeringonthecolorterms’translation,isdividedintothreeparts.

ChapterOnemakesananalysisofcolorterms’definitionanditshistoryinChineseandEnglish.

ChapterTwoillustratesthedifficultiesintranslatingbasiccolortermsandobjectcolorterms.

ChapterThreemakesastudyofthetwomaintranslationtechniquesforcolorterms,thatis：domesticationandforeignization

.

Ⅰ.ABriefIntroductiontoColorTermsA.TheDefinitionofColorTerms

“Colorterm”indicatesthewordwhichisusedtostandforakindofcolor.Thisdefinitioniswellknownthroughouttheword,but“colortermsdonotnecessarilymeanthesamethingascolorfulterms.ColorfulEnglishmayappearasidiomsorinfigurativeexpressions,whilecolortermsarewordswhichsimplyshowdifferentcolors.Liketheonomatopoeicword,acolortermhaslittlemeritinitself.Onlywhenitsuggeststheimageoftheoriginal,orfortifiesthesenseintheversion,ithasvalueintranslation.”.(XiaoJunshi,P173,1982)Obviously,asapartofwords,colortermsareusedinwritingtotransmitinformation.Inphysics,itstandsforthecolorreflectedbyobjects.1.ClassificationofColorTerms

Therearetwomainkindsofcolorterms:basiccolortermsandobjectcolorterms.

Basiccolortermsmean“wordsusedtodescribethecolorofobjectswhentheyappear”.(LuHongmei,P135,2006)BasiccolortermscomefromthelanguageofAnglo-Saxon,includingsevenkindsofcolors.InChinese,theyare“赤、橙、黃、綠、青、藍、紫”.InEnglish,theyare“red,orange,yellow,green,blue,indigoandviolet”.Althoughbasiccolortermscontainonlyafewwords,theycanbeusedwithotherwordstoindicatemorecolors.Theyareveryactive.

Objectcolortermsmean“termsusedtoindicatecolorswhicharethenamesofobjects”.(LuHongmei,P135,2006)Lotsofthesekindsofwordsexistinanykindsoflanguages,suchas“gold,silver,orange”inEnglish,and“金黃色、米色、銀色”inChinese.2.FunctionofColorTerms

Generallyspeaking,colortermshaveallthefunctionswhichwordshave.Insourcelanguage,theauthoralwaysusesthecolortermstoexpresstheimageofthetext.Thisisthefirstfunctionofcolorterms,thatis,informativefunction.Forexample,thecolortermsusedinthefollowtextformthelandscapeofanautumnevening.“Thegroundwasacarpetofdeepreddishbrownintheglowofanautumneveningsun,temperedbythetrees.Yongbirchessprangup,caughtlightononeside,andweresparklinggreenthere;theshadowysidesofthestemswerewarm,deepblack-green.Behindthesaplings,behindthebrownishredsoilwasaverydelicatesky,bluishgrey,warm,hardlyblue,allaglow.Againstitwereahazyborderofgreenandanetworkoflittlestemsandyellowishleaves.Afewfiguresofwoodgatherswerewanderingaroundlikedarkmassesofmysteriousshadow.”(Irvingstone:Lustoflife,BookThree)Thesecondfunctionofcolortermsisemotivefunction.Itisacceptedthatdifferentcolorsgivepeopledifferentfeelings.Experiencesshowthatcolortermsarethebestwaytodescribeone’semotion.Anexampleisquotedbelow.“Thenthemorningcloudsintheeastturneddeepredandskyaboveshowedblue,theredcloudswerepiercedbygoldenrays,interweavingtospinamajestic,glitteringwebinthesoutheasternskywiththecloudsasweft,theraysaswarp.Fields,treesandwildgrasschangedtheircolorsfromdarkgreentobrightemerald”.(BaoHuinan,P124,2003)ThisparagraphwastranslatedfromTheRickshawBoywrittenbyLaoShe.ThecolortermsdescribeXiangZi’sfeelingspecificallyafterhehadescapedfromdanger.Obviously,withoutcolorterms,theoriginalimagescanhardlybereproducedintheversion.

Thethirdfunctionofcolortermsisperformativefunction,whichisfirstusedinLinguisticStudywrittenbyAustinandSearle.Colortermsindifferentlanguageshavedifferentsocialconnotation.Twoexamplesaregivenasfollows.

1.ThegovernmenthasgiventhegreenlighttoSundaytrading.

政府已經允許星期日貿易。（HuaXianfa,P266,2000）

2.Therewasnoquestionoftherepublicansthrowinginthetowelorshowingthewhiteflag.

共和黨人不會認輸，這是毫無疑問的。(HuaXianfa,P270,2000)

Inthefirstexample,theEnglishterm“green”inthephrase“givesomebodythegreenlight”means“allowingandadmittingsomething”.Inthesecondexample,thephrase“showsthewhiteflag”means“acceptingdefeat”.RenderingtheEnglishterm“green”and“white”simplybytheChineseequivalentsof“綠”and“白”wouldresultintoasignificantlossofthemetaphor.

B.ColorTerms’HistoryinEnglish

Inwestcountries,colortermsarepopularinfieldslikephilosophy,physics,psychology,artandsoon.

Theoldesttheoryincolorterms’historyisAristotle’sBlackandWhiteTheory,inwhichcolorismadeupofhue,luminosityandsaturation.Atthatperiod,allcolorswerethoughtasdifferentdegreesofmixofwhiteandblack.BlackandWhiteTheorywasendedbyNewtonwhosawsevencolorsofthesunlightthroughprism.

Othertheoriesappearedatthesametime,suchasSapir-WhorfHypothesisandCognitiveLinguistics.Inspiteoftherelationshipbetweenthesetheories,theyalladmittedcolorterms’importantpositioninEnglish.

LotsofEnglishauthorsarefamiliarwithcolor-scheme.

Forexample:

OwildwestWind,thoubreathofAutumn’sbeing,

Thou,fromwhoseunseenpresencetheleavesdead

Aredrivenlikeghostsfromanenchanterfleeing,

Yellow,andblack,andpale,andhecticred,

Pestilence-strickenmultitudes:Othou,

Whochariotesttotheirdarkwintrybed

Thewingedseeds,wheretheyliecoldandlow,

Eachlikeacorpsewithinitsgrave,until

ThineazuresisteroftheSpringshallblow

Herclariono’erthedreamingearth,andfill

(Drivingsweetbudslikeflockstofeedinair)

Withlivinghuesandodoursplainandhill:

Wildspirit,whichartmovingeverywhere;

Destroyerandpreserver;hear,O,hear!

(OdetothewestWind,firstchapter)

Inviewofthecomplexityofcontext,itisnotalwayseasytochoosetherightexpressionofsomemeanings.Intheinstanceabove,withoutthefewcolorterms,itisimpossibletoimaginethegovernment’sturbidityandtheauthor’sfeelingoftherevolution.C.ColorTerms’HistoryinChinese

ThroughtheformingofcolortermsinChina,colortermsoriginatefrompeople’sdailylives.Alotofplants’namesareusedascolorterms,especiallyaftertheimprovingofpainting,dyingandceramics.“Bluecomesfromakindofplantcalledblue,andredcomesfromtheplantcalledmadder”.(Luogeng,P8,2004)ManyChinesecolortermscomefromthenameofplantsorminerals.AlthoughthereisnotheoryabouttheformingofcolortermsinChinesehistory,itispossibletolearnalotofhistoricalthingswhichhaverelationshipswithcolors.CountlesscolortermscanbefoundinChinesepoems,essaysandnovels.Thefollowinginstancesaresometypicalexamples.

1.他覺得他的頭顱仿佛在頸脖上旋轉；他眼前是紅的，黃的，綠的，黑的，發光的，立體的，圓錐形的—混雜的一團，在那里跳，在那里轉…

Hefeltasifhisheadwerespinningandhiseyesswambeforeakaleendoscopeofred,yellow,green,black,shiny,square,cylindrical,leaping,dancingshapes…(ZhangPeiji,P64,1979)

2.這是梅花，有紅梅，白梅，綠梅，還有朱砂梅，一樹一樹的，每一樹都是一樹詩。白玉蘭花略微有點殘，嬌黃的迎春卻正當時，那片春色啊，比起滇池的水來不知道要深多少倍。

Itcamefromthevariegatedplumflowers,red,white,green,andvermilion.Standingthere,achtreewasindividuallyveiledinpoeticinspiration.Thewhitemagnoliaswerebeginningtoturnyellowishalthoughthewinterjasmineswerejustshowingalovelyyellow.Thespringbeautytherewasimmeasurable!WhoknewhowmanytimesdeeperthandepthofDianchiInthefirstinstance,duetocolorterms’emotivefunctionofshowingthefeeling,colortermscannotbereplacedbytheotherkindsofwords.Inthesecondinstance,plumisthepopularflowerinChinawithcountlesskindsofcolors.

Aboveall,colortermsplayaveryimportantroleinChineseandEnglishcultures.Meanwhile,itisalsotruethatatranslator’sroleintranslatingcolortermsisnotaneasyone.Heis,inasense,akindofmiddleman,onewhobelongstotwolanguage-culturecontexts.Hemustserveasareceptorofonemessagewhilebeingaproducerofmessageinanotherlanguage.Itisimportantforatranslatortoknowcolorterms’definitionandhistorieswell.

Ⅱ.TheDifficultiesinTranslatingColorTermsForsomepersons,thebarrierstoeffectivetranslationaresoenormousastomakethetaskoftranslationseemalmostimpossible.Diversitiesofculturesandlanguagesappeartobeinsurmountable,whiledifferencesoforthographypresentuntoldcomplicationsfortranscribing.Itisafactthatnotwocolortermsinanytwolanguageeverseemtohavepreciselythesamemeaning,whichmakesthetranslationofcolortermsmoredifficult.Inthischapter,thedifficultiesintranslatingcolortermsarestudied.

A.TheDifficultiesinTranslatingBasicColorTerms

Inthefirstchapter,itissaidthatbasiccolortermsareveryactive.Acolortermmayhaveonesetofmeaningswhenitisusedasanoun,butquiteadifferentsetofmeaningswhenusedasaverb.Theusagesandculturalconnotationofbasiccolortermsarethemaindifficultiesintranslatingcolorterms.1.TheUsagesandFeaturesofBasicColorTerms

EitherinEnglishorChinese,basiccolortermscanbeusedasnouns,verbs,adjectivesandadverbsinthecontext.

Forexample:

1.上身穿一件補丁摞補丁的坎肩，那上面，補著各種顏色各種式樣的補丁，有紅布，灰布，青布和格子布。

Hewaswearingavestwhichhadbeenpatchedandre-patchedwithragsofeverycolorandshape—red,gray,blackandcheckered—tillyoucouldhardlytellwhattheoriginalvestwasmadeof.(ZhangPeiji,P64,1979)

2.這是一個高大身材，長頭發，眼球白多黑少的人…

Thespeakerwasatall,burlyfellowwithlonghairandmorewhitethanblacktohiseyes…(SelectedWorksofLuHsun,VolumeOne,P189,1998)

3.姑太太說到這里一頓，輕輕吁了一口氣，眼圈兒也像有點紅了。

Mrs.Tupausedandsighedslightly,hereyesreddeningattheedges.（ZhangPeiji,P66,

1979）

4.灰黑的云突然遁去，西天邊燒起一片彩霞。

Thegrey-blackcloudshadsuddenlydepartedandanexpanseofcoloredcloudshadblazedupatthewesternedgeofthesky.(ZhangPeiji,P66,1979)

Obviously,basiccolortermsaretranslatedindifferentformsaccordingtothecontext.Inthefirstexample,“紅、灰、青”isturnedinto“red,gray,black”,andthesecolortermsareusedasadjectives.Inthesecondexample,“白多黑少”isrenderedinto“morewhitethanblack”,whichsoundsmoresmoothly.Inthethirdexample,“紅”isputinto“reddening”insteadof“turningred”.Inthefourthexample,withrenderingtheEnglishterm“grey-black”intoChinesecolorterm“灰黑”,thestyleandthemeaningbecomesimilarintwolanguages.

Basiccolortermscanalsobeputtogetherwithotherwordstoindicatethestateofcolor.

1.我們的船向前走，兩岸的青山在黃昏中，都裝成了深黛顏色，連著退向梢去。

Aswesetoff,thegreenmountainsonthetwobanksbecamedeepblueinthedusk,recedingtowardthesternoftheboat.(SelectedWorksofLuHsun,VolumeOne,P45,1998)

2.粉紅色的吳少奶奶，蘋果綠色的一位女郎，淡黃色的又一女郎，都在那里瘋狂地跳、跳！

Mrs.WuSunfuinpink,agirlinapple-green,anotherinlight-yellowwerefranticallyleapingandwhirlingaroundhim.（ZhangPeiji,P68,1979）

3.忽然像是揭去了一層幔，眼前一亮，淡黃色的太陽光變做金黃了。

Suddenly,asifacurtainhadbeenlifted,theviewclearedandthedullyellowsunlightbrightenedintogold.(ZhangPeiji,P68,1979)

Fromthetranslationversionsabove,basiccolortermsareusedinthreedifferentkindsofforms,showingthedifferentkindsofsourcelanguage.Incertaininstances,theselectionofanappropriatecolortermtofitthecontextinvolvesanumberofsubtlefactors.

Basiccolorterm,whichisaddedwiththesuffix“-ish”oranotherbasiccolorterm,showanewkindofcolor.

Forexample:

1.近來這荷花瘦的多了，皮色是白里泛青…

Shehadbecomemuchthinnerlatelyandherwithskinhadtakenonabluishtinge...(ZhangPeiji,P70,1979)

2.他的臉作紫褐色，額角，頰腮，眼眶，耳朵，都叫人感覺異常飽滿…

Hisfacewasapurplishbrown;histemple,hischeeks,hiseye-sockets,hisears--allgavetheimpressionofbeingunusuallyfull…(ZhangPeiji,P71,1979)

Fromtheexamplesabove,itisknownthatcolorterms’usagesandfeaturesarevariousindifferentculturesandthatvarioususagesandfeaturesofcolortermsrequiredifferentkindsoftranslation.2.BasicColorTerms’CulturalConnotationinChineseandEnglish

“Differentnationshavedifferentculturesandtakethedifferentcolorsasspecial”.(LuHogmei,P134,2006)Awell-knownlegend,WangAn-shi,agreatpoetscholaroftheSongDynasty(A.D.960-1269),wasoncetravelinginaremotepartofchinaandhesawapoemwrittenbyayoungauthor.WangAn-shiunderstoodonecoupleofthepoemwhichreads:

Amoonissinginginthesky,

Andayellowdogliesintheflower.

Heassumedthattheremustbeamistakeinthepoem,sohequicklytookouthiswritingbrushandcorrectedthelinesasthefollowing:

Themoonisshinninginthesky,

Andayellowdogliesundertheflowers.

WangAn-shicorrectedthelinessothattheycouldbereadmoresensibly,andhethenshowedhiscorrectionstohisfriendslivinginthelocality.Hesoonfoundout,however,thathis“corrections”hadbeenquitemistaken,forthewordwhichhehadinterpretedas“Themoon”didnotreallymean“moon”inthelocallanguage,butreferredtoabirdinthearea.Similarly,thetermfor“yellowdog”intheoriginalpoemwasreallythenameofatypeofinsect.

WangAn-shihadmadetwomistakes.Firstly,hedidnotcheckthemeaningofsuchwordsinthelocaldialect;secondly,hewasperhapstooanxioustomakepoetrycompletelylogicalandreasonable.Butthefactisthatpoetryoftendoesseemillogicalandanomalous.

Asapartofvocabulary,colortermshavedifferentculturalconnotationsintwodifferentlanguages.Itiscertainthatcolorisrelatedtothehistory.Chineseterm“黃”hasmanysymbolicmeaningsintraditionalChineseculture.“黃”,asthehonorablecolor,canonlybeusedinanimperialfamily.

Forexample:

寶釵亦悄悄的笑道：“還不快作上去，只管姐姐妹妹的。誰是你的姐姐？那上頭穿黃袍的才是你姐姐，你又認我這姐姐來了。”

SuppressingasmileBaochaireplied,“Hurryupandfinishinsteadoftalkingsuchnonsense.Whoareyoucalling‘sister’?That’syoursistersittingupthereinthegoldenrobes.Whycallmeyoursister?”(YangXianyi,DaiNaidie,P612,1990)

Inthisexample,itislearnedthatinthecontextonlyonepersonhadtherighttowearyellowclothesandthattheonewhowearyellowclotheswasfromtheimperialfamily.

Englishterm“purple”hasthesamemeaningas“黃”inChinese.Forinstance,thephrase“tobeborninthepurple”meansthatthepersonislivinginanimperialfamily.

Colorisalsorelatedtothecustom.Chineseterm“紅”inthephrase“紅事”meanshappinessorcelebration.Thebridemustweartheclotheswiththecolorofredinwedding.Inwesterncountries,thebridesareusuallyinwhite.

Afewcolortermshavebeenusedastechnicaltermsineconomy,suchas“紅利”,“紅運”and“黑貨”inChineseterms.ThesecolortermscannotbetranslatedascolortermsinEnglish.InEnglish,“intheblack”meanstheprofitinbusiness,“inthered”meansthelossinbusiness.

Moreover,basiccolorterms’culturalconnotationisgivenasbelow.

ChineseCultureEnglishCulture

紅色(happiness,afestivalday)Red(violence,anger,beingshortofmoney)

黃色(filthy,filthythings)Yellow(timid,shy,mean)

白色(wed,mourning,apparelorterror)White(weddinggarmentorelegance)

黑色(death,bad,crimeorevil)Black(dignity,depression,bad)

藍色(quiet,pleasant,lightheaded)Blue(heavyhearted,filthy)

綠色(marriagefailure)Green(jealous,shortofknowledge)B.TheDifficultiesinTranslatingObjectColorTerms

Inasense,languageistheexpressionofthoughtbymeansofsymbols.Ineachlanguagethesymbolsaredifferent,buttheyareequallyeffective.Inlinguisticsthosesymbolsaregenerallyknownaswords,suchas,term“橘黃色”inChinese,term“orange”inEnglish.Allthesetermsindicatethesamecolor.

1.TheCommonCharacteristicsofObjectColorTermsinChineseandEnglish

Althoughdifferentnationshavedifferentculturesandlanguages,theycanindicatethesamecolorwithdifferentcolorterms.Denotationandconnotationaretwomaincharacteristicsofcolorterms.

Denotationmeansthat“thequalityandessenceofcolorarethesameindifferentcultures,forthecolorsarethereflectionofobjects”.(ZhangPeiji,P106,1999)Forinstance,Chineseterm“血紅”andEnglishterm“bloodred”havethesamedenotation,thatis,thecolorofbrightred.

Connotationmeansthat“peopleindifferentnationshavethesameassociationofthesameobjects’color”.(ZhangPeiji,P106,1999)Forexample,“雪”and“snow”havethesamemeaningofpurity.2.TheDifferentCharacteristicsofObjectColorTermsinChineseandEnglish

Differentnationshavedifferentobjectcolorterms,whichcannotbetranslatedwordbyword.Forinstance,inthetranslationfromChinesetoEnglish,“米色”shouldbetranslatedinto“buff-color”.TheEnglishnativespeakersaremorefamiliarwiththebuffthanrice,soterms“米色”and“buff-color”showthesamecolorofpaleyellow.“Differentculturecausedthedifferencesofcolortermsintwolanguages”.(GuoZhuzhang,P116,2005)Itiseasytoseethatobjectcolortermsreflectthecultureandthecustomofanation.

Asatranslator,oneshouldbemorefamiliarwiththehistoryandthecustomofsourcelanguageandtargetlanguage.C.TheOtherDifficultiesinTranslatingColorTerms

Intheabove,ithasbeendiscussedaboutthedifficultiesoftranslatingbasiccolortermsandobjectcolorterms.Thefollowingisconcernedaboutthosewhicharenottalkedaboutabove.1.Non-EquivalenceinReferentialMeaning

Intranslation,colortermsarealwaystranslatedintoterms,withdifferentreferentialmeanings.Asforreferentialmeaning,“black”and“紅”aretotallydifferent.However,theterm“blacktea”inEnglishandterm“紅茶”inChinesestandforthesamething.Moreover,“blackcoffee”doesnotmeanthatthecoffeeisblack,butmeans“thecoffeewithoutmilk”.Therefore,“blacktea”istranslatedinto“不加牛奶的咖啡”inChinese.2.Non-EquivalenceinPragmaticMeaning

“Differentnationshavedifferentassociationsofthesamecolorterms”.(HuaXianfa,P64,2000)Examplesaregivenasthefollowing.

1.Tobeintheblack

經營盈利（XiongTing,P13,2006）

2.Blue-eyedboy

(男)寵兒（XiongTing,P13,2006）

3.大紅大紫

Beattheheightofpopularity（XiongTing,P13,2006）

Obviously,thesecolortermsdonothavetheirownlexicalmeaning,butthesourcetextmakesnosensewithoutthem.Thesecolortermsserveasstirringpeople’sassociationandtheydohavepragmaticmeaning.3.TheVariousConceptsofChineseColorTerms

ChineseincludesancientChineseandmodernChinese.LotsofcolortermshavemorethanonemeaninginancientChinese.Forexample,“碧”inChinesehasthemeaningofblueandgreen;“青”hasthemeaningofblackandblue;“蒼”hasthemeaningofdeepblue,deepgreen,grey-whiteandgreyyellow.Notethefollowingsource-languagetextsinChinese:

1.…方巾闊服，臂挽青囊…

2.還有許多客，只見紅青緞子馬褂發閃。

3.他便變了臉，鐵一般的青。

TheChineseterm“青”inthethreeexamplesabovehasdifferentmeanings.ItcannotbetranslatedintothesamecolortermsinEnglish.Thefollowingarethepropertranslation.

1.Thevisitorworeasquare-cutcapandalooserobe.Inhishandhecarriedasmallblackbag.(ZhangPeiji,P108,1979)

2.Thereweremanyguestsaswell,whoseshortjacketsofredandbluestainwereshimmeringallaroundher.(ZhangPeiji,P110,1979)

3.Hiscomplexionchanged,andhegrewghastlypale.(SelectedWorksofLuHsun,VolumeOne,P14,1998)

Thefirstrenderingusestheterm“black”whichreferstothecoloroftheclothes.Theterm“青”alsoreferstothecolorofclothes,butmeans“blue”.Thus,thesecond“青”isturnedinto“blue”inEnglish.InEnglish“blue”and“black”arenotusedtomodifythecolorofface,theterm“青”means“pale”.Therefore,“青”inthethirdexampleistranslatedinto“pale”inEnglish.InmodernChinese,thesewordsarefrequentlyusedindailylife.

Ⅲ.TranslationTechniquesforColorTermsTraditionally,thetwomajortranslationorientationshavebeenliteraltranslationandfreetranslation.Thiscontrasthasbeenprimarilyamatteroffocus.Sometranslatorshavebeenquitewillingtosacrificetheformalelementsofthetargetlanguageandeventheintelligibilityofthetargetlanguagetextforthesakeofpreservingwhatisregardastheintegrityofthesourcetext.

Becauseofthecomplexityandvarietyofbothkindofcolorterms,thedispositionofcolortermsintranslationfromChineseintoEnglishandviceversaisundoubtedlyamatterofimportance.Herethethesisdividesthetranslationtechniquesforcolortermsintotwokinds:domesticationandforeignization.A.Domestication

Domesticationmeans“thetranslatorleavesthereaderinpeace,asmuchaspossible,andmovestheauthortowardshim”.(Venuti,P240,2001)Thereceptorsunderstandthetextmoreeasilyinreading.Thismethodincludescreativetranslationandliberaltranslation.1.CreativeTranslation

Creativetranslationreferstothetranslationwhichistotallydifferentfromtheoriginaltextinordertosatisfytheneedsoftargettext’sreaders.Itisalsoakindoftranslationwhichabandonstheformbutkeepsthefaithtothecontextoforiginaltext.Thismethodisalwaysusedintranslatingthecolortermswithnon-equivalenceinreferentialmeaning.

Forexample:

1.上面是鉛色的天…

Abovewasthesaltysky…(ZhangPeiji,P85,1979)

2.他（祥子）很想換一份套子，換上土黃或月白色兒的，或者足以減去一點喜凈勁兒。

Hefeltlikechangingthemetalworktosomethingbronzeormilkyincolor,tolivenitupabit.(MaoRonggui,P36,2005)

Inthefirstinstance,“鉛色”cannotbetranslatedinto“lead-colored”.Otherwise,theoriginalimagemayhaveachange.Inthesecondinstance,“moon”and“milk”refertothesamecolor,butmilkismorefamiliartoEnglishspeakers.Faithfulnessshouldbethefirstchoicewhenatranslatormeetsdifficulties.2.LiberalTranslation

“Liberaltranslationisalsocalledfreetranslation,whichdoesnotadherestrictlytotheformorword-orderoftheoriginal.”(GuoZhuzhang,P366,2005)Therearetwokindsofcircumstanceunderwhichliberaltranslationshouldbeemployed.

Firstly,themeaningsofthesecolortermsinsourcetextscannotbeexpressedwithcolortermsoftargetlanguage.Forexample,theterm“green”hasanothermeaningof“firsttimetodosomething”,whichChinesecolortermsdonothave.

Secondly,thecolorterms,whichdonothaveanylexicalmeaninginsourcetext,donotneedtobetranslated.Forinstance,term“紅”inphrase“紅榜”meanscelebration,anditdoesnotneedtobetranslatedinto“red”.ItismoresuitabletorendertheChinesephrase“白頭偕老”bytheEnglishequivalenceof“remainingadevotedcoupletotheendoftheirlives”.Anotherexampleisasthefollowing.

他不但活潑而詼諧，單是那渾身雪白這一點，在紅紅綠綠中就有“鶴立雞群”之概。

Notonlyishelivelyandfulloffun;themorefactofhisbeingcompletelyinwhiteamongthegaudythrongmakeshimstandoutlikeastorkinaflockoffowls.(LuHongmei,P172,2006)

Inthissentence,“紅紅綠綠”means“theenvironmentfullofeverykindofcolor”,whichneednottobetranslatedwordbyword.

Moreover,amplificationandconversionareusuallyusedintranslatingcolorterms.

Amplificationmeans“supplyingnecessarywordsinourtranslationworktomaketheversioncorrectandclear,tomakeitappearmorelikethelanguagetranslatedinto”.(GuoZhuzhang,P84,2005)

Forexample:

1.清晨的陽光照在雞頭山的頂峰…

ThemorningsuntippedthesummitofChitouHillwithrose…(HuaXianfa,P274,2000)

2.HeisHollywood’shottestproperty

他是好萊塢最走紅的演員（HuaXianfa,P275,2000）

Colorterms“rose”and“紅”areaddedtothetargetlanguagesoastomakethesentencesacceptabletothereader.

Conversionmeans“intranslationawordinonelanguagebelongingtoacertainpartofspeechisnotnecessarilytobeturnedintooneofthesamepartofspeechinanotherlanguage”.(GuoZhuzhang,P84,2005)Conversiondoesnotmeanreplacingonewordwithanothercolorterm,butchangingthelexicalcategoryoftheword.

Forexample:

我們都忘了看紅葉。紅葉就在高山坡上，滿眼都是，半黃半紅的，倒還有意思。

Wehadforgottenabouttheleavesalthoughtheslopehigherupwascompletelycoveredwiththem,yellowingandturningred.(FengQinghua,P240,2002)

Asaverb,theterms“yellowing”and“turningred”refertotheprocess,andthistranslationdoessuggestsomethingofthelogicoftheoriginalmessage.

Allofthemethodsaboveputthe“faithfulness”atthemostimportantposition.B.Foreignization

Foreignizationmeans“thetranslatorleavestheauthorinpeace,asmuchaspossible,andmovesthereadertowardshim”.(Venuti,P240,2001)Afterreadingthesetexts,thereceptorcanlearnmorelexicalborrowing.Thistechniquecontainsliteraltranslationandannotation.1.LiteralTranslation

“Literaltranslationreferstoanadequaterepresentationofthe