Cultural Background Knowledge and English Teaching(6)

主要讲文化背景对英语学习的影响,值得我们学习这一方面的知识

It is thus clear that difficulties in reading cannot be completely solved by one‘s language knowledge, because works of a people cannot be separated from the people‘s cultural tradition. So, in teaching reading, a teacher should explain grammatical difficulties as well as expound cultural background.

Similarly, writing and translating cannot be separated from cultural background knowledge.

In translation, even the very simple expressions cannot be dealt with without any consideration of specific context and customs.

We shall take the word ―dog‖ as an example.

To English-speaking people, the dog does not carry the same associations as it does to Chinese. The dog is considered to be derogatory, for example, ―癩皮狗‖ ―丧家之犬‖ ―走狗‖ ―狗急跳墙‖ ―狗头军师‖ etc. are often used to describe disgusting people. But dog in English, especially in proverbs, is a commendatory term. If we translate dog into Chinese ―狗‖ without exception, we may make jokes. For example:

1. Every dog has his day.

2. You are, indeed, a lucky dog.,

3. Last night my father came home dog-tired.

Because some learners are not well aware of the cultural differences, they take it for granted that the three sentences should be translated into the following:

1.每条狗都有自己的节日。

2.你真是一条幸运的狗。

3.昨晚我爸爸回到家中像狗一样得累。

In fact, the right translations are as follows:

1.人人皆有得意时。

2.你真是个幸运儿。

3.昨晚我父亲回到家中非常累。

In writing, cultural background knowledge is also important. Why is it that the English writing of Chinese students read so much like translations of Chinese? Why is it that one can fairly easily tell whether an article was written by a Chinese or by a native speaker of English? On the one hand, it is probably because most Chinese students have not yet mastered the language; On the other hand, it is probably because of differences in Chinese and English writing styles that reflect cultural differences.

Narration and description in Chinese seem to be a bit more ornate, or ―flowery‖, than in English. The following passage from a student‘s composition is typical of this kind of faulty writing in English:

―I walked joyfully along the path that was lit up by the golden rays of the morning sun. Beautiful flowers of many colors were blooming. How fragrant they smelled! Little birds were singing in the trees, as if greeting me Good morning! Good morning!‘… my heart was bursting with happiness…‖

One of the common faults in this matter is the tendency of Chinese students to use too many adjectives. Adjectives, of course, are necessary in good writing. But if not used

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