A Study on Cultural Connotation of Animal Words in English and Chinese-精品文档

A Study on Cultural Connotation of Animal Words in English and Chinese

Every animal word has its own cultural

connotation.Obviously， different animal words， even the same animal words， have the same， similar or contrary cultural connotations in different languages.So it brings misunderstanding and cultural shock in intercultural communication.This paper tries to discuss the cultural connotations of animal words in English and Chinese from the following aspects： cultural connotation

correspondence， cultural connotation non-correspondence and cultural connotation zero both in English and Chinese.Through the comparison， it is clear to conclude that this discrepancy of languages is the epitome of the differences of English and Chinese cultures.Therefore， if people want to communicate with English-speaking people confidently and successfully， people firstly have to enrich their knowledge of different cultures， make clear the differences and understand the cultural connotations of these animal words.

In China， the crane is the symbol of longevity.We can

easily find the image of crane in the Chinese traditional lanterns whose metaphorical meaning is松鹤延年 （ health and long-life）.However， in western culture we can not find any idioms about crane because it doesn’t have this kind of metaphorical meaning.

Chinese people like to use the mandarin duck as the symbol for love because a mandarin duck couple always lives together in the water at ease.In a newly-married couple's room， there are many things with pictures about mandarin duck， such as 鸳鸯帐、鸳鸯被、鸳鸯枕， etc.But the image of the mandarin duck in the phrase has to be turned into love birds as the mandarin duck is a kind of duck， which has no symbolic meaning at all in English.

Silkworm comes from china and the silk fabrics are very popular in foreign countries.The most famous history event is 丝绸之路.Silkworm is spoken highly in the poem for its dedication.So especially cultural connotations of silkworm are endowed to Chinese.Whereas to most

English-speaking people， silkworm is， at most， a kind of small animal.Generally speaking， it is obvious to see the great influences of different cultures on animal words. Chinese people believe that tortoise can live for

hundreds of years.So it is a symbol of long life in Chinese culture.In the modern China， now tortoise has a very derogatory meaning.In English there is no such allusion whether with a favorable meaning or negative meaning. Everybody can list a bundle of examples which have a Chinese connotation but have none connotation in English.English-speaking people feel puzzled when they meet 你真熊；他太牛了；那个家伙简直像条泥鳅；喜得麟子.Because in English， a bear has no symbolic meaning of stupid or incompetence， neither cattle refers to stubbornness.There is no loach in most English-speaking countries.So people do not regard it as a kind of fish， let alone a cunning animal.Of course they can not understand the connotative meaning of 滑as sly， tricky， diplomatic and so on.And Qilin麒麟 just exist in Chinese legend.麟子refers to a newborn child being looked forward to and blessed.凤毛麟角refers to rare， precious persons or things.So no wonder almost all English-speaking people were puzzled by Chinese phrases and idioms， even feel terrible about that. This cognitive gulf exists because people in two cultures have different imagination of some animal words.However， the gulf will be eliminating