红色在中西文化中的内涵差异及其翻译策略(12)

The Differences of the Connotation of the Color Red and Their Translation Strategies红色在中西文化中的内涵差异及其翻译策略

Chinese customs are more and more well-known by the rest of the world, so ―红包‖ do not need to translate into "red envelope containing money as a gift." Similarly, “红旗”（red flag），“红军”（red army）“红卫兵”;（red guard）Furthermore, some English color words can also directly translate into Chinese, such as red blood cells(红血球), red carpet （红地毯）, red ink figure(赤字), jump a red light（闯红灯），red light district（红灯区）: The word ―red ―is not the original Chinese, but because both of both countries have such a phenomenon, literal translation can better spread western culture to the Chinese , which is also a good way of translation.

In addition, literal translation can introduce new methods of the expression, these can rich the culture of the target language and promote cultural exchanges between Chinese and Western. In a word, by literal translation, some expressions in English have also been accepted by the Chinese.

3.2 Free Translation

Free translation (意译)means that combined with the culture and linguistic characters, marketing and other factors so that the reader‘s responds to translation is similar to that of the original language.

In Chinese and English culture ,―red‖(红)is limited by their cultural and social conditions, so symbolic meanings are not completely equivalent. Therefore in the process of translation between English and Chinese, most time according to the original literal meaning, and breaking the original language, then using appropriate methods to deal with it. Otherwise, it will not be able to effectively deliver the original information. So when start to translate the text, one can not just use literal translation. For example, in China we use "红颜" refers to a beautiful woman. If you translate into "red face", that will make misunderstand by the western. In this case, generally using free translation is a better way.

The purpose of free translation is according to the gist of the original, not word for word and sentence for sentence translation. When the original language and target language reflect the circumstances of vast cultural differences it can be used for translation.

Firstly, because ―红‖ and "red" are far from different in the culture of Chinese and Western. In Chinese culture, ―红‖is a commendatory word, but in the English language, ―red‖ is a derogatory expression, so the Chinese word "红" are often not translated into "red", it often use other words correspond with it. United Kingdom translator David Hawks translated“红楼梦”as ―The Story of Stone‖，besides, “怡红公子” translated as ―green boy‖, it is taken ―红‖ and ―red‖ in different cultures of the different connotations and implications into consideration.

Second, ―red‖(红) is limited by the different culture of Chinese and Western, its symbolic meanings are not completely equivalent. In Chinese traditional marriage,“红娘”is CuiYingying‘s maid ,she contributed to the combination of Yingying and Zhang. After then,“红娘”refers to a person or a unit who create opportunity to others in their marriage, and is translated as ―go-between‖ or ―mash-maker‖. The literal translation is ―red girl‖ or ―a lady in red‖, which will make people misunderstand. Look at this sentence: Stop chasing red herrings and get back to the point. Chasing red herrings like red herring group, the real meaning is jumping from one subject or changing the