On Association Meanings of Vocabulary and Its Translation in Both English and Chinese

焦育玲

【Abstract】Language is the reflection of culture. This paper mainly talks about the relations of culture， language and culturally- loaded words or phrases and classifies the associative meanings in four types， then discusses the corresponding translation and puts forward several strategies in translation in order to make a smooth transmission of culture.

【Key words】culture； language； associative meaning； translation

1.Introduction

There are different opinions about the definition of category in English， and the associated meaning referred in this paper is the meaning that could arouse the readers or listeners associate meaning by using certain words. As Leech or Nida put out， it also called as the connotative meaning or emotive meaning of words. In many cases， we took advantage of the associative meaning of certain terms to reach some kind of rhetorical effect.

2. Types of association meaning

2.1. Similar association meaning both in Chinese and English

Fox in English and 狐狸 in Chinese both have the meaning of crafty； ass in English and 驴 in Chinese denote the meaning of stupid； and parrot， in English， 鹦鹉 in Chinese give readers the impression of mimicking.

2.2 Association meanings only exist in English

English word lion refers to strong and brave man； goat means victim， goat， inferior people or objects； cat means evil hearted woman， woman that love to speak ill or coward； swan means beauty and innocent， brilliant poet or singer； the association meaning of cock is weather vane， complacent person， or taboo of male genital； oyster means dumb people， things that could make a profit or fun of； lobster means British soldiers in red coats， color-faced people， idiot； nightingale refers to beautiful melodious voice of the singer， informers. All these words do not have a respondent association meaning in Chinese.

2.3 Association meanings only exist in Chinese

鸳鸯 in Chinese means couples or things that in pair； 黄鱼 means gold bar or gold smugglers； 黄雀 means villain； 野鸡 means parking girls； 竹 refers to firm， integrity or humility. While in English， words like mandarin duck， yellow croak， siskin， pheasant， bamboo do not have association meanings like that.

2.4 The same reference but different association meaning

There are words both in English and Chinese that have the same reference but different association meanings， dragon and 龍 is a typical one. Dragon in English differentiate from Chinese 龙 greatly in association meaning. The first association meaning of dragon， violent person or strict vigilance of the people， originated from ancient Greek. According ancient Greek tales， dragons used to guard the garden and springs. While in ancient China， Emperor Huang laid the foundation of Chinese Culture， so he was honored by his descends. Later， when he died， a dragon was sent from the heaven to pick him up. As a result， emperors were graven the name “真龙天子”.

3. Features of association meaning.

3.1 Instability

Association meanings are not inherent in words themselves but on an additional meaning in the rational meaning， and it can be different from people， time， nationality， race， belief， and value of beauty， value of political， class， jobs and personal experiences. For example， home means family， but for most people， it refers to comforts， peace and free. As it says， East or west， home is best. However， for people who have a broken family or quarrelling family， which means cold and remote， and that is a different association meaning. For the same city， New York， there are people who like it， and think it is heaven， and there are people who hate it， and regard it as the hell， so the same word has totally different association meaning.

3.2 Close relationship with culture

Culture is the entire way of life of a society， and it is the collection of all the achievements of human society life and spiritual life， so all of its words and deeds reflect a degree of cultural connotations consciously or unconsciously. Language is not a vacuum， and it deeply rooted in people's culture， and reflects the community's beliefs and emotions. As Spire observed， language cannot divorce from culture. And Osgood has point out that proverbs are all about people in their cultural environments in which grow the result of an experience， so we can see that a culture carrier was born and developed in a certain cultural background. Therefore， any language saturated with a certain degree of cultural content， and embodies the characteristics of a culture. Association meaning， as the additional meaning of words， has a close link with culture， whose content reflects a distinct predicted cultural characteristics and historical and cultural background.

3.3 Non-correspondence

Every group in society has its own unique way of language， way of thinking， religious believes， systems and way of living， all of which consist the difference in cultures. Language is not only significantly different between systems and cultures， but also differences in attitudes and value systems， because the language of various ethnic groups not only have the function of expressing experience and facts， but also have the function of expressing personal feelings， wills and wishes， so the same words of the same concept in different languages may have totally different association meaning. As Lado points out， we change life experience into language， and add meanings to them under the restrictions and influence of culture， and languages differentiate from each other based on languages. As a result， there are meanings only exist in a language， but absent in another.

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