The Relative Non—Communicative Between Chinese and Western Culture

Abstract：As intercultural communication has been increasingly developed，the relative non-communicative between cultures attracts great attention.The paper takes Chinese—English translation for example，and by analyzing the translation process，proves the existence of the relative non-communicative between cultures from two aspects： cultural tradition and aesthetic values.Understanding the relative non-communicative between Chinese and Western culture can help us explore other cultures and express Chinese culture in a wiser way.

Key Word：The Relative Non-Communicative；Intercultural Communication；Translation

China has had continual business communication with the West，thus inevitably the deep cultural communication persists.Since modern times，translation industry grew prosperously.Many foreign masterpieces were translated into Chinese，and vice versa.As a result，intercultural communication has been developed in a much broader sense.

1 The Process of Translation is Intercultural Communication

The differences between Chinese and Western Culture are so diverse that many ideas are uneasy to make each other understand.That is because culture is an iceberg： the shallow stuff on the top is easy to grasp，but the essence，like literature is not.When we want to study a culture，we usually start with its literature works written by their own languages.But without enough capacity to master the foreign language，we turn to the second best—the translated version.We always find translation very difficult in that language is subjective and its meanings reside in people，not in words.As a result，“there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes.” The function of translation is to decode the foreign language into Chinese.However，after translation，the communication process still cannot go smoothly.

2 The Aspects of Non-Communicative Between Chinese and Western Culture

Translation helps us establish the channel between cultures，but the result of non-communicative between cultures causes many obstacles in the way of translation.In this part I am going to introduce some main differences in cultural traditions and aesthetic values in order to demonstrate the relative non-communicative between Chinese and Western culture.

3 Cultural Tradition

From the view of cultural tradition，though human civilizations originated from large river valleys，the development of Chinese and Western culture differs.For example，the Western feudalism started 1000 years later than China while ended 300 years earlier，so the influence of feudalism in Western Culture is much lower than in China.Because western culture stemmed from ancient Greek and Rome whereas Chinese culture mainly stemmed from Hundred Schools of Thought in Pre-Qin period，western countries emphasized humanity and democracy while our Chinese love to talk about Five Virtues.All these examples had profound influences on relative cultural development and in the end formed the cultural psychological sediments in people’s hearts.

This paper is not to say that cultures cannot communicate.Different cultures can communicate despite their different cultural psychological sediments，and moreover，the result of cultural communication is to assimilate others and enrich us.Take the communication between Chinese culture and Buddhism as an example，the introduction of Buddhism into China did not resolve the peculiarity of Chinese culture but enriched and strengthened the steadiness of Chinese culture.

But different cultural psychological sediments can cause difficulties in cultural communication to some extent.For example，King Lear，overcome by anger at his daughters，says： “No，you unnatural hags，I will have such revenges on you both.Zhu Shenghao translated it as： “不，你們这两个不孝的妖妇，我要向你们复仇。” However，Mr.Yang Zhouhan argued that Shakespeare’s philosophy “Nature is humanity” was covered up by “不孝（unfilial）”，a typical Chinese feudal ethic in Zhu’s translation.Nature and humanity are both unique philosophies of the West and are hard to find phrases exactly correspond to these phrases.But if translated as “不孝（unfilial）”，it can barely show the advanced thoughts of Shakespeare.So these philosophies and allusions all belong to the non-communicative part in intercultural communication.

As a guide to culture，languages provide cultures more possible variations.For instance，because some peculiar events or masterpieces leave deep impressions on one country’s people and thus become new items with special meanings in its culture，many phrases or philosophies cannot be understood by other countries，but we must confess some mentalities do have something in common even portrayed by different languages.Thus，every culture expresses the universal human feelings.A British slang “Will wonders never cease？” should be translated into Chinese as “太阳打西边出来了？” Different expressions，but the same emotion crosses the border.So，the meanings of language depend on cultural experience rather than the words.

In short，during cultural communication，we must acknowledge the existence of non-communicative.Meanwhile，we also need to apply our culture flexibly in order to make foreign cultures more dynamic in China.

4 Aesthetic Value

From the view of aesthetic value，values can be both explicitly and implicitly communicated and expressed through verbal and nonverbal behavior.Translation belongs to verbal expressions which highlight the importance of specific values.We are always enchanted by those have great aesthetic values in our culture.What’s more，intercultural communication is shaped by different value systems they hold.Different cultural psychological sediments often set different cultures apart and make communication a hard task.

Let alone intercultural communication，even people from the same country have different aesthetic values towards words.In Dream of the Red Chamber，Dai Yu wrote a poem says： “寒塘渡鹤影，冷月葬□魂” （A stork’s shadow flit across the chilly pool； the ？’s spirit is buried in cold moonlight.） Because the book was spread by hand-written books and different editions were slightly different，people have been constantly debating whether here should be “诗魂” （a poet’s spirit） or “花魂” （a flower’s spirit） and experts from two groups all gave evidence convincing enough.This is a representative debate to show that aesthetic difference can lead to different views towards the same poem，so how we choose to act in the process of communication really matters.In cultural communication，this aesthetic difference is more complicated.When an American scholar A.C.Graham was translating Ascending Yueyang Tower（《登岳陽楼》），a poem written by Du Fu，he translated the last sentence “凭轩涕泗流” into “as I lean on the balcony my tears stream down”.But he was dissatisfied with his work because “Du Fu will on occasion speak of his feelings，or at any rate his tears，with a simplicity which falls rather flat in English.” “涕泗” and “tears” contain the same meaning but their aesthetic values in their own countries are dramatically different.It’s just like the debate of “诗魂” or “花魂”： the former is more suitable for poet Dai Yu whereas the latter one utilized aesthetical sentiment moves through expressing feelings.One is chosen and the other is bound to be lost，so if we translate “涕泗” into “tears”，the poem’s aesthetic values would be damaged.

The beauty of Chinese poetry also shows in rhythm.But if we want to translate them into English，these unique sound and rhythm are hard to preserve.Sometimes in order to make sure the meaning is original，poems have to change into prose and those beautiful sentences in Chinese’s mind eye would be plain for foreigners.It’s the same in foreign cultures where proverbs are also used to underscore values.Phrases like “Those who have eyes apparently see little.”，“It is better to travel in hope than to arrive.” contain many life philosophies and can refresh our minds and thoughts.When these are translated into Chinese，it’s hard to feel its profound power and infectious enthusiasm.

5 Conclusion

All the examples above reveal the relative non-communicative between Chinese and Western culture.In conclusion，when we are doing intercultural communication，we should accept the existence of relative non-communicative between different cultures，embrace others cultures with an open heart and use our expressions to convey the charm of Chinese culture as best we can.

References

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作者简介

尹玥（1998—），女，汉族，江苏南京人，南京师范大学教师教育学院本科在读。