Culture and Translation

                       Culture and Translation

 

               （华中科技大学 管理学院99级  涛涛）

 

       Translation is not simply a matter of seeking other words with similar meaning but of finding appropriate ways of saying things in another language. Different languages, then, may use different linguistic forms. Translation is also the social and psychological activities. One should be familiar with one's own culture and be aware of the source-language culture before attempting to build any bridge between them. As translators, we are faced with an alien culture that requires that its message be conveyed in anything but an alien way. That culture expresses its idiosyncrasies in a way that is 'culture-bound': cultural words, proverbs and of course idiomatic expressions, whose origin and use are intrinsically and uniquely bound to the culture concerned. So we are called upon to do a cross-cultural translation whose success will depend on our understanding of the culture we are working with.

翻译并不仅仅是找到意思相近的其它词，而是要找到合适的用另一种语言表达的方式。 不同的语言使用不同的语言形式。 翻译也是一种社会和心理的活动。 在试图在他们之间建立任何桥梁之前，一个人应该熟悉自己民族的文化并且要意识到源语言文化的特征。 作为翻译者，我们所面对的是一种外国文化，那么这就要求信息的传递也要以一种不同的方式进行。 那文化在表达自己的特点时明显带有地域色彩：例如方言，谚语及惯用语等，它们的起源和使用与对应的文化息息相关。 因此，我们翻译成败的关键将取决于我们对异域文化的理解程度。

                       [Keywords]: culture, translation

   

     Introduction

 Though the activity of translation includes a series of language conversion, it is also the social and psychological activities in essence. The reason for translation to become the necessary activity of a society is that it has many practical functions. The functions of it under different culture background or different era are not always the same. As a translator, he or she should be able to answer such questions: “What to translate? When to translate, how to translate and for whom?” In order to answer these questions, translators must understand the function of translation and the social background they are related to. Translation is a decision-making process in a certain social culture frame. The translator's decision not merely depends on the language he/she learns, but also on the cultural environment of a specific era to a great extent. As what Bassinet and Lefevere have said, “Translation reflects a certain ideology and poetics and as such manipulates literature to function in a given society in a given way”(Bassinet&Lefevere: “Translation/History/Culture”).

     So we can say that any translation can’t be carried on well without getting to know the culture. We should pay attention to the relationship between culture and translation. As we know translator doesn’t operate under an abstract and ideal situation. He is a human being living in a certain society. It is quite natural that his idea is greatly influenced by the environment around him. We can see this from his choice of words. The choice of a translator in different period shows different characteristics, which proves that the society and political background where the translator lives affect him a lot. Translators usually have certain anticipation or prejudice of the original text, while the anticipation or prejudices exactly reflect his political orientation. We can say the translation is jobs of recreation with the translators’ own feeling. The translator's political orientation can explain why a translator will intend to explain a neutral word in the original text into a vocabulary with obvious political tendency in the translation. And sometimes there is even a totally opposite meaning in it.

  As we mentioned above, the translator must be a person with certain culture in a real sense. As a translator, he must grasp the two languages well .It is quite true. And we can’t imagine someone can do a good translation without the understanding of the social culture of a language. Understanding the meaning of the original text while translating is not simply a matter of understanding. The language is a component of the culture, which is affected and limited by culture. In the course of translating, whether the translator has the right understanding or not, depends on his knowledge of the relevant culture to a great extent. For a translator, without the comparison of two cultures, his correct understanding of the spoken and written languages is unimaginable. That is why we say, “Learning a language is a kind of learning the culture and habit of the country where the language is spoken”.

So long as we study the culture behind the language during the process of studying a language, a large amount of culture information can be transmitted equivalently. These are comparatively simpler in translation. Besides similarities, there are also many differences between two cultures, which form the most difficult part in translation. We must keep in mind that translation is a cross-cultural activity. When we face an original text, it may be well written, attractive, tempting and aesthetic. But if one does not know the difference between two cultures, it would be rather difficult for him to achieve the same effects in the translated work.

     In the following, I am going to discuss the relation between culture and translation in many aspects, such as trademark translation, international ad translation, idiom translation etc.

     The truth has proved that a well-translated trademark can make the product more famous and is a valuable intangible asset of those enterprises. The trademark of goods, like name of people, is a symbol of the product itself and enjoys a widespread reputation with enlargement of the goods exchange. And it plays an important role in deciding the sale of the goods. The following are some characteristics, which a successful trademark can not do without:

   (1). Accord with the characteristic of the goods;

A good name should show the special characteristic of the goods.

   (2). There is a symbolic meaning, which makes people produce association;

   (3). Easy to remember;

   (4). Bright and suitable for reading.

    Today, with the constant increase in international trade, the trademark also becomes international. It is very essential for translators to get to know people's aesthetic psychology of foreign lands before they do the translation; otherwise, there will be a failure in trademark translation.

From one language to another, the translated trademark should keep quintessence of the original one, and accord with consumers' aesthetic psychology. Different from other translations, this purpose must be realized in the process of translating a word, which needs the comprehensive knowledge of languages, marketing and aesthetics. During the translation, transliteration can be combined with free translation .We should pay attention to choosing the word with its sound and meaning comparatively close to the original one, in order to reach the satisfactory result.

  When translating the trademark of the Chinese products into a foreign language, we should give consideration to the cultural habit and aesthetic psychology of foreign consumers. We can't rush through simply by transliteration or the free translation. Speaking from the aesthetic psychology, people will produce a kind of expectation when they enter the appreciating of the rhythm, such as rhyming in the poem, the parallelism in the article, repetition of the object in the photography composition etc. All those things are used to satisfy the psychological need of people. In fact, the translation of trademarks depends on this kind of psychology to a great extent. There are requests not only in the number of words, tone, the level and oblique tone, but also in the meaning of the translated name. All those elements determine the success or failure of the translated name.

 Several years ago, the translators of our country didn’t pay too much attention to those problems mentioned above when translating the trademark of some exported products. And those products didn’t sell well in some western countries.

 For example, “白象” is the band name of a very famous battery in China. When it was translated into “White Elephant”, no one had expected that there were some problems. But it turned out that few people came to buy it in the American market. Why? It is because “white elephant” has the meaning of " useless and burdensome thing". How can you expect someone to buy a lot of useless and burdensome things? The translator didn’t notice this when they did the translation. For another example," 帆船" carpet is a traditional export product too. When it is translated into “Junk”, it suffered the same destiny. The reason is that Junk also has the meaning of rubbish in English.

  At the time of translating trademark of Chinese, the translator must consider that the coordination between the shape and meaning. People usually adopt the method of Chinese Pin Yin to translate Chinese trademark into English. The result of doing it is that it makes the trademark difficult to understand, not suitable for reading and even causes misunderstanding.

There is a kind of lipstick named “芳芳”,which is a pretty good name in Chinese. When we see it, we can't help raising a beautiful association. Not only can we see a beautiful young girl but also smell the fragrance around her. But when this trademark was translated into " Fangfang", it is not suitable at all. Since “fang” has the meaning of “ poison-tooth”, the English customers can't help growing a kind of terrific sense. What they imagined is not a young girl using lipstick, but an evil dog or poisonous snake baring fangs and brandish claws. It is unlikely that they will buy those products that may endanger their lives. If we translate it into “DoubleFun”, maybe more people would come to buy it.

  For another example, we know Washing machine “荣事达” is a very famous brand in China. If we translate it into “Rongshida”, it is too long to read comfortably. Also “rong” has the same pronunciation as “wrong”, which may arouse people’s misunderstanding. If we change it into “Run star” or “Young star”, I believe the effect would be much better. 

The literal translation for "蜜蜂" toilet soap is " Bees", which seems to correspond with the English way completely. But English customers do not like this translated name, for the honeybee has the invisible fine hair stinging. And they may feel it is not comfortable to use this type of soap with a lot of hair stinging. The transliteration for “马戏” brand cards is “Maxipuke”, which accords with translation skill and principle. However the translated name is the combination of two English words “Maxi”(very large or particularly big） and “puke” (Vomit things , emetic) . People play cards for entertainment, and" circus" is a very ideal name for Chinese. But English people may hang back to this translated name. The English people do not welcome it, for it will cause them feel sick instead of happy.

There are also some successful examples of brand name translation.

For example, it is a right choice to translate the trade mark “白熊” into “White Bear”. You may be wondering why not using “polar bear”, which is a scientific name for it. It seems to be reasonable. However with the development of the international political situation in recent years, “Polar bear” has already referred to something else. People are apt to regard it as the nickname linking to a kind of political force in the world. So “white bear” is a much better choice.

 A good product, with a beautiful and suitable name, is tantamount to make perfection more perfect. And it would attract more customers. The comparatively famous example should be Coca-Cola. When it is translated into “可口可乐”, it keeps the syllable and sound of the original word. It is easy to associate it with a type of beverage, which tastes delicious. The translated word makes the product more vivid and tempting to the customers. We can say that the effect of the translated name has exceeded the original name; and"" coke" has already become the symbol of the beverage in modern society. We can see the powerful strength of the translated name in the culture.    

 Another example would be the world-famous man dress “Goldlion”. The free translation is “金狮”.In order to create a splendid and magnificent atmosphere for the goods, the translator keeps “gold” in the original meaning and adopts transliteration tactics for the word “ lion”. The two combination makes the famous brand name “金利来” in China. The translation is magnificent and has the meaning of luckiness. Though it is not same with the original meaning, its aim, function, and effect are unanimous. Everybody is familiar with the American product “Nike”. The original meaning of the word is a sweet name of a goddess in the Greek mythology. A lot of consumers in China will be very obscure if it is transliterated in this way. Considering its syllable and that sportswear should have the characteristics of wear-resisting, the translator translates it into “耐克” .This translated name has an endurable meaning, which shows the good quality of the product.

 A very outstanding enterprise in China is “Procter&Gamble(宝洁公司)” .Many of its products are very popular in China. Besides the elements of marketing, the translated brand name of the products also plays a very important role in promoting these products. For example, “舒肤佳” is the Chinese for “Safeguard”. When we hear the name “舒肤佳”,we can easily associate it with a type of soap which can protect our skin. “佳洁士” is the translated name of “Crest”. “Rejoice” gets the name of “飘柔”, which shows the characteristic of the shampoo. “激爽” is the Chinese brand name of  “Zest”.

There are also many other successful examples. “乐凯” was translated into “lucky”. “HiSense” is the English name for “海信集团”.　

These examples have fully proved that the trademark of the product is the symbol of the quality, which represents the image of the products. When translating a brand name into another language, we need to pay special attention to it. The more careful, the better. Because the name of the trademark concerns the internationalized images of the enterprise. A good name can help an enterprise win great success in a market with keen competition.

In order to pass on the original information faithfully to the readers, sometimes the translator should make proper cultural change for better understanding. The trade mark "玉兔" was translated into "Moon Rabbit" rather than " Jade Rabbit". Why? The reason is that “Moon rabbit” is a rabbit living on the moon in mythology of our country. Gradually it becomes the symbol of the moon. This translation reflects the culture of our country. So it is much better than “Jade Rabbit”. Or else, the English people may think that it is just the rabbit made of jade.

  In order to make readers of the translated script get the same cultural information as the readers of the original text, the translator should look for the corresponding expression that can express the culture information. If he is unable to express the same information with literal translation, he needs to try the free translation.

      There is very close relationship between masses' aesthetic psychology and advertisement translation. The aesthetic psychology is a kind of comprehensive cultural consciousness, involving many respects, such as political view, religious idea, life style customs etc.  Masses' aesthetic psychology is even more like this. And the advertisement is an important means of propaganda, which is an important part of social culture. It follows social culture and caters to masses' aesthetic psychology. And it plays a more and more important role in influencing the formation of social culture and aesthetic psychology. “No one can deny that any act of persuasion has a cultural meaning” (O.J. Firestone："The Economic Implications of Advertising"）

  In fact, advertising translation is the means of communication. The definition of advertising translation depends on the meaning given to the word "advertising." This word must be understood as a generic designation including all forms of commercial communication and promotion, from a leaflet to a television campaign broadcast on an international scale, because the translator is involved at all levels as long as the advertiser is targeting a foreign market. And defining translation as a mere tool or even as another type of international marketing is somewhat restrictive, because an essential fact is then forgotten: communication becomes effective abroad only after the message has been translated. Without this prior translation, it is very unlikely to have an impact on the foreign consumer.

   And this implies that a translation must be adapted to each country. Actually, translation must be considered as a business function, the mission of which consists of adapting marketing strategies to a group of market countries. The advertising activity is not merely a kind of economic activity, but also a kind of cultural exchange. It influences people’s life style and consumption habit like an invisible hand. Advertising culture has characteristic of masses, commercialization and era. The advertisement should be made according to the consumers’ need and certain purpose. Certain cultural tradition, faith and values affect the psychology and behavior of both businessmen and consumers to a great extent. In this way, it influences various countries' advertising activity a lot. The international advertisement is a propaganda form with transnational and cross-cultural characteristic. What it faces is not merely a conversion problem of the language. There is an implicit but mistaken assumption that the translated ads will be appropriate for the second population, simply by merit of translation. However, just as with ads in any language, translated ads must be carefully reviewed for cultural and linguistic appropriateness. Sometimes, the individual who transcribed the material from English may not be familiar with educational ideas and their application to intervention, which may result in the ads being inappropriate in that domain as well.

       In a word, if you translate the successful domestic advertisement in a direct way without considering other factors, the result is often bad. Because the international advertisement must face many different factors, such as language, traditional habit, regulation, education, natural environment, religion, economic situation etc. We must take those factors into consideration when we are doing the translation.

      There are three aspects concerning the cross-cultural factors of international advertisement:

 (1). Different cultural values

       The values of the Chinese culture have deep humanism spirit. Chinese pay great attention to the content of the advertisement of the product. They want to know what the product is and what they can get from it. On the contrary, the westerners have the personality of the extroversion, and they pay more attention to the external form of the advertisement .If the advertisement is delicately produced, they may be attracted by it and apt to buy the product introduced in the advertisement.

   (2). Different psychological structure

   Chinese people's firm psychological structure is embodied in the idea of unifying: Pay attention to the authority while ignore the fact; Pay attention to a group while ignore the individual .The Westerners' psychological structure is more complicated and loose. And they pay more attention to the individual. This has formed the peculiar cultural psychology of the west.

(3). Different regional and humane environments

 The Chinese have a strong sense of the family, who put family in the first place in their life. And western people emphasize individual life and like individual adventure. That is why it is unusual to see a family with a lot of people living together in the west.

  Concerning those factors mentioned above, the translator should also pay attention to the difficult part brought by the other languages. There are mainly three aspects. They are pronunciation, semanteme, and form of the characters:

(1). Pronunciation difference

     The pronunciation of different languages can cause different psychological reactions. The psychological response may be soft, clear, melodious or vigorous. In the advertising language, the means of onomatopoeic motivation, sound symbolism and echoism are often used to arouse a sense of aesthetic feeling. But those elements mentioned above have different characteristics in different nations to some extent, which bring a lot of trouble to the translators. For example, in the advertising word " Never late on Father's Day", the two vowel [ei] can bring us a beauty of harmony. And it is extremely difficult to accomplish this purpose in the Chinese translation.

      In addition to this, we should also notice some pronunciation of words in the advertising, which may cause bad amplification in another language. For example Japanese “Toshiba” used to use a sentence of advertisement: " Toshiba, Toshiba, everybody's Toshiba.” In the translation, the first two “Toshiba” was pronounced according to the Japanese pronunciation. Some young people make a joke of this and pronounce it like this “偷去吧，偷去吧, 大家的东西(steal, steal, everyone's thing)”. Amplified in this way, the seriousness of the advertisement reduced greatly. Because “Toshiba” was turned into a common “ thing” instead, the public impression of  “Toshiba” was greatly desalinized.

(2). Semanteme difference.

     As we know, the language is a part of the culture. It reflects the history and cultural background of a nation, and contains the view, life style and thinking mode of this nation. Advertising word, as a part of the language, will reflect the culture too. Translator’s understanding of the advertising word can’t be limited to literal meaning. They should also understand the abundant culture it contains.

     There are several situations for this. First, the translated name does not accord with foreign culture. For example, “白翎” pens ,the translated name of which is “White Feather”, didn’t arouse any interest in English-spoken countries. The reason is that there is an old English idiom“to show the white feather”,which means “escape from the battle field”. The white feather signifies the coward. It is quite natural that no one would like to buy this type of pen. Second, the translation is inelegant. The word “cock” in western countries often refers to human organ .If the word appeared in any advertisement, it certainly will arouse a feeling of disgust. We can’t translate “金鸡” into “golden cock” directly ,since it may give the customers an impression of vulgarity.

(3). Different forms of characters

      Different countries or nations use different languages. Their partiality and detesting of the word are quite different from each other. It is thought that Chinese like those characters such as “福(good fortune)”, “寿(longevity)”, “喜(happiness)” etc. According to American writer Irving Wallace, the most beautiful English words are “chime”, “golden”, “lullaby”, “melody”, “murmuring” and so on. Not only the implied meaning is graceful in these characters, but also the appearance is beautiful, which arouse people's aesthetic psychological reaction and visual effect. We should try to use those beautiful words when we are translating one word to another in order to achieve those effects. We know western people like the number “seven” very much. So we’ve got 7-up beverage. If you have seen any TV advertisement, you may have heard the famous “七喜” which is the Chinese edition of “7-up”.Since the translation accord with the Chinese partiality of the “喜”,it is welcomed by the Chinese people a lot.

      Idiom is the symbol of a country’s traditional culture. It has a strong characteristic of national culture and long history and develops with the time. Although they are very short sometimes, their significance is far-reaching. However the thinking modes of different nations are very different sometimes, we need to make some conversion while translating the idioms.  Take the idiom “kill the goose to get the eggs”for example. It comes from Greece. It is about a greedy and foolish countryman, who killed his goose. The goose can lay gold eggs. The man thinks he can get more gold if he kills it. But at last, he got nothing. The idiom is used to describe someone who only cares about immediate interest while ignoring long-term interest. If we translate it into Chinese, we should say“杀鸡取卵”instead of “杀鹅取卵”.

     Sometimes, idioms that have obvious meaning in one language and culture may be completely confusing to speakers from another language and culture. That is why we need to pay special attention to idiom translation as a translator. In every language, people’s understanding of the objective world reflects the cultural character.

There are several aspects we need to take into consideration while we are translating idioms:

     (1). Never be confused by layer meaning

For example, the Chinese idiom “骨鲠在喉” means that someone has something to say. While the English idiom “have a bone in one’s throat” has the opposite meaning, which means someone is unwilling to say something with the excuse that the bone has nipped the throat. Another example would be the Chinese idiom “知子莫如父”and American idiom “It is a wise father that knows his child”. It seems like that the two have the similar meaning. As a matter of fact, the two have the opposite meaning. The Chinese idiom emphasizes that father understands the children the most, while the English idiom means that even the father himself may not understand his children completely.

Now see the following proverb “The nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat.” Someone translate it into “越是贴骨的肉越香”,which can only make people think of meat. This is only the literal understanding.

Its real meaning is “slim people are more attractive than fat people.”

    (2) Avoid adding distinct Chinese characteristic to the translation.

   Take the idiom “(a region) flowing with milk and honey” for example. We know milk and honey are the food that westerners are familiar with. If this idiom is translated into “鱼米之乡”in Chinese, it would not be so proper even if though the meaning is close. So it is more suitable to translate it into “物产富饶之地richly endowed place” . Another example would be

“When Greek meet Greek, then comes the tug of war.”  It is used to describe the fierce scene when two brave warriors fight against each other. Someone translate it into “张飞遇张飞，杀得满天飞”. But there is no such a person called “Zhangfei” in British history. And it is not proper to mention his name here. The translation“两雄相遇，其斗必烈”would be much better, which keeps the original flavor.

     Sometimes, even the same object in different cultures can possess quite different meaning and arouse different association. There are a lot of idioms concerning animals in different nations. However the same animal in different culture has quite different meaning. The English people have the tradition of loving dog, while the Chinese adore dragons a lot. The psychology reactions of the two nations towards the two animals are quite different, which displays in a large amount of idioms. So we need to make some proper conversion while translating those idioms.

For example:  

(1).过着牛马不如的生活to lead a dog life
　　(2).瘦得像猴as thin as a shadow
　　(3).爱屋及乌love me ,love my dog

       (4).狡兔有三窟Do not put all your eggs in one basket.

       (5).五十步笑百步The pot calls the kettle black.

       (6).以毒攻毒Fight fire with fire.

       (7).家家有一本难念的经經Each family has its own kind of hell.

       (9).无风不起浪There is no smoke without fire.

       (10).入乡随俗In Rome do as the Romans do.

       (11).醉翁之意不在酒  Kissing the baby for the nurse.

       (12).牛不饮水,不能按牛地头低 You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him      drink.

       (13).一箭双雕Kill two birds with one stone.

       (14).三个和尚担水无粥食Too many cooks spoil the broth.

       (15). 赐子千金, 不如赐子一技Give a man a fish and he will eat for one day; teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.

       (16). 有麝自然香 Good wine needs no bush

       (17). 狗口吐不出象牙Nice things (words) won't come from a bad source.

       (18). 青出于蓝胜于蓝The master is surpassed by the apprentice.

       (19). 覆水难收What is done cannot be undone.

       (20). 留得青山在，不怕没材烧燒If you don't kill the golden goose, you will still get a golden egg everyday.

     (21). 天无绝人之路When god closes one door he/she/it opens another.

     (22). 贪字变贫字" Grab all, lose all.”

     (23). 海中无鱼虾子大The mediocrity shines in an arena where there are no real talents around.

     (24). 冰冻三尺，非一日之寒Big nasty problems do not evolve overnight; they must have been brewing for sometime.

     (25). 朽木不可雕. You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

     (26). 人不可貌相. " You cannot judge a horse by its saddle. "

           Even if we understand the cultural meaning of some idioms to some extent, we can't say we can deal with them flexibly according to the linguistic context in translating. For example, “a dog in the manger” is usually literally translated into“狗占马槽”.But it would not be proper as seem from the following two examples.

Eg1：Let me have the skates. You don’t know how to skate. Don’t be a dog in the manger.

     Translation： “把冰鞋给我，你不会滑冰，不要狗占马槽”。（Here it is much better to translate it into“不要占着茅坑不拉屎”）.  

Eg2：There you are the dog in the manger! You won’t let him discuss you affairs, and you are annoyed when he talks about his own.

     Translation： “你狗占马槽！你不让他谈你的事，可他讲他自己的事你又恼了。(Here it should be  “你不干还不让别人干！”)           

     4. Greeting translation and culture.

   People with different culture have different living habit and thinking modes. And we need to make some equivalent change while translating. For instance, the English people loves discussing the weather while they meet no matter in the city or the rural area. When they say, “Lovely weather, isn't it?”, they don’t mean to talk about the weather. In fact, it is the same as saying hello to each other. Equally, there are also many saying concerning food in our daily life. When two Chinese meet, sometimes they will offer each other a cigarette, which shows their hospitality and respect. And they may probably say, “ Have you had your lunch yet?” But if you ask a foreigner this question, he or she may feel puzzled, “Why do you ask me such a question? It is my privacy. It has nothing to do with you.”  But we Chinese know the meaning of it. As a matter of fact, they don’t really care about the lunch. It is just a way of saying “hello” to each other. The phrase “Where are you going?” has the same meaning in Chinese. If we translate it into English, we should say “ How do you do?”, “How are you?”, “Hi!” etc.

  In publishing the books, the publishing houses of the developed country spend a lot of time in the cover. A title is often delayed even if the text has already been completed. We can see the importance of the title. Indeed, a good title is one of the key factors of a successful translation. Our task is to translate the title into something according with English readers’ reading habit on the premise of faithful original meaning. This is a process of recreation. At first, the translator should have thorough understanding of the content. Then he can convey the original information to us in his translation. Under many circumstances, several words of Chinese can introduce the theme of a book accurately. But literal translation may make foreign readers at a loss. So when we face this kind of problem, if we add several words to introduce the social background, this will make the theme of a book much clearer. And it would be much easier to arouse the readers’ interest.

    Marshal Peng Dehuai is very famous in China.But westerners know little about him. So, if we try to translate the book 《彭德怀自述》into English, we can’t just do it briefly. After careful consideration, the English title was chosen as “Memoirs of A Chinese Marshal--A Cultural revolution "Confession" by Marshal Peng Dehuai(1898－1974）, Covering his Career from Services in China's Warlord Armies to Command of the Chinese People’s Volunteers in Korea ”.In this way, the western readers would have a much clear idea of the book and is more likely to buy it.

 　　6. " Preface " translation and culture

     If we take a look at the preface in the Chinese books, the speeches would be full of phrases in praise of the author's intelligence, courage, willpower and ability if someone else writes it. But if the authors write them themselves, they would write such words like, “The level is limited. There may be some unavoidable mistakes in the book. Please make a comment.”  Modesty is the traditional virtue in China; a few words like this in the book can show the author’s modesty and rigorous attitude of pursuing scholarly work, which also hints that the works may not be the summit of the academic research in a certain field. In most cases, these words make readers respect writers further.     

      However because of the differences in the culture background, the effect may be the opposite if we translate it directly. Though there are a lot mistakes in some western books, the authors themselves wouldn’t admit it in the preface of their book. According to their habit and logic, the readers may ask “Since you know there are some mistake in this book, why don’t you correct them first and then publish it?” if the authors themselves admit the mistakes in their books. If we want to accord with the foreigners’ psychology, it is better to ask someone else to write the  “Preface”.

 

       All in all, any translation can’t be separated from culture. Culture is a complex collection of experiences, which includes history, social structure, religion, traditional customs and everyday usage. This is difficult to comprehend completely. Especially in relation to a target language, one important question is whether the translation will have any readership at all, as the specific reality being portrayed is not quite familiar to the reader. Whether the translator can express the original meaning or not depends on his understanding of the relevant culture to a great extent. For a translator, it is impossible for him to do so if he doesn’t possess the knowledge of the two cultures. Cultural transfer requires a multi-pronged approach. It is concerned with the author's relationship to his subject matter and with the author's relationship to his reader. These should be reflected in a good translation. The translator has to transmit this special cultural quality from one language to another. So we should pay much attention to the relationship between culture and translation when we are doing translation.

 

Alejandra Patricia Karamanian, Volume 6, No. 1 January 2002, “Translation and Culture”, Translation Journal

C. Thriveni, Volume 6, No. 1 January 2002,“Cultural Elements in Translation”, Translation Journal

Gabe Bokor, Volume 5, No. 4 October 2001, “Translation and International Politics”, Translation Journal

Mathieu Guidere, Volume 5, No. 1 January 2001, “Translation Practices in International Advertising”, Translation Journal

Nida, E. A. “language, Culture, and Translation” [J],  “Foreign language” 1998 (3): 29-33

陈德运，1987，《世界著名寓言一百篇》，中国对外翻译出版社公司，商务印书馆香港分馆，

谢建平, 2001, 文化翻译与文化“传真”, 《中国翻译》第5期

王晓元， “意识形态与文学翻译的互动关系” [J] ，《中国翻译》1999 (2):10-13

http://www.smmu.edu.cn/webpage/engnetclass/translate/翻译技巧.htm