2。 The Causes of Cultural Differences on English and Chinese Idioms

Idioms are the essence of the language, the core of the vocabulary。 They accumulate a lot of cultural factors and contain the profound social historical origins and the rich cultural connotations。 As an important part of the vocabulary of language, almost every phrase hides a story and cultural background。 Therefore, understanding of cultural connotation of idioms directly influences and restricts our mastery and application of idioms。 And the research has very important practical significance, especially in intercultural communication。 Due to the differences of geographies, histories, religious beliefs and living conventions, English and Chinese idioms bear different cultural features and information。 They are closely related to cultural traditions。 

The British and Chinese cultural differences are due to their respective different historical backgrounds and aesthetic psychology and the kind of cultural differences is a permanent cultural phenomenon which established in the development of society and historical accumulation。

  China’s ancient civilization originates in the large river basin and belongs to the agricultural civilization。 Chinese people who choose the stable life usually pay attention to ethics and have the qualities of benevolence and patience。 Conversely, Britain belongs to the western countries。 The ancient Greek civilization in the west originates in the Aegean coast and belongs to the marine civilization。 Therefore, British farming was far not as important as Chinese farming in the ancient society。 Britain is an island country。 The British early life largely depended on the sea。 Its seafaring has been going far ahead than any other countries in the history。 And Britain has early experienced the industrial revolution and entered the industrial economy era。 Accordingly, the British have stronger fighting spirits and legal consciousness to maintain their own interests and they primarily put independence, freedom and equality as their principles。文献综述

Based on my study, English and Chinese cultural differences are presented in the following aspects。

2。1。 Different Histories

Human history is just a civilization written by the language and characters of human themselves。 Language is the inevitable product of human evolution and development。 Because of the different historical orbits, Chinese and English are totally different cultural systems。 Historical culture is mainly composed of allusion, tradition, myth, poems, ancient books and records。 Among them, allusion is the most important and represents the national characteristics。 Due to different historical cultures, English and Chinese idioms are usually different。 

In China, idioms about history and culture usually come from some history facts and literary classics。 These idioms are simple in structure but hard to understand。 We cannot learn and translate them from the literal meaning of words。 Only when we can fully comprehend their cultural connotations can we make proper translation。 But in English, idioms mainly come from the Bible and Rome mythologies。 In this way, we must be familiar with them and make proper translation。 For example, “ meet one’s Waterloo” means a defeat or suffering a devastating blow; “like the Black Hole of Calcutta” is often compared to be a place that too stuffy to bear in English; “warts and all” means all defects; “one’s name is mud” means that someone is notorious; “fiddle while Rome burns” means someone is indifference to great things, just for fun; “blood and iron” means military force or excessive use of force; “throw down the gauntlet/glove” means challenge; “bite the bullet” can be translated into “咬紧牙关” in Chinese; “drop the pilot” can be translated into “过河拆桥” in Chinese idioms。来,自,优.尔:论;文*网www.youerw.com +QQ752018766- 英汉习语翻译和文化差异(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_87682.html