含动物词语的汉语成语翻译分析(2)
However, not all animals or birds have specific names to denote different sex. Some have specific names that are not well-known. With certain common animals, “bull” of “cow” and “cock” or “hen” is frequently used to distinguish sex, such as “bull seal”, “cow seal”, “bull elephant”, “cow elephant”, “cock pheasant”, “cock sparrow”, “hen sparrow”. Also such terms “male” of “female” or sometimes “she” is used as generic names, e.g., “male leopard”, “female panda” and “she wolf”.
Generic term Names for male Names for female Names for young
chicken cock(rooster) hen chick
duck draker duck duckling
goose gander goose gosling
horse stallion mare foal
cattle bull cow calf
pig boar sow pigling
dog dog bitch puppy
deer duck doe fawn
（苏丽萍.现代汉语中外来词的翻译[D]. 上海外国语大学, 2008.）
III. Animal Image Blanks in English and Chinese Idioms
3.1 Animal Image Blanks in English Idioms
In China, the “crane” is the symbol of longevity; so parents like to give their children names with “crane”（鹤）, such as “鹤年”, “鹤龄”, etc. They wish their children good health and a long life. Besides the image of “crane” can be found in the Chinese traditional lanterns and other works which are indispensable; its metaphorical meaning is “松鹤延年”(health and long-life). However, in Western culture we can’t find any idioms about the “crane” because it doesn’t have this kind of metaphorical meaning.
3.2 Animal Image Blanks in Chinese Idioms
In English, the “cat” is also used to refer to a person with a different connotation and color, such as “a fat cat”, “a queer cat” “an ally cat” and “a copy cat”, etc. It’s considered as a symbol of a cunning, mean and low animal. So it has a derogatory sense. There’re some phrases and sayings like “old cat”(an old woman with bad temper), “cat around”(a guy has been seen with many women), “cat’s paw”(a person who is duped or deceived), “ a cat in the pan”(traitor), and “let the cat out of the bag”(to disclose the secret). Besides these, let’s take another saying for an example to explain. “People all say that she is a cat.” In English it means that “She is a cruel and fierce woman.” But in Chinese we think she is gluttonous. So by comparison, it’s easy to find that “cat” abound with cultural connotation in English but there are few expressions in Chinese.
These examples are only used to show non-equivalence of the same animal words in English or in Chinese. According to this analysis about the cultural connotation of animal words, it can be clearly found that animal words in every language are not only represent animals’ images, but are also deeply ingrained with traces of culture. Therefore, similarity and dissimilarity in the connotation of animal words in the two languages should be taken in to consideration in cross-cultural communication and translation. “We should strive to find in English and Chinese ‘cultural equivalents’ rather than translate the animal words directly as we are to convey to the target language the symbolic images in the source language rather reference of particular animals.”