Comments on the Translation of “Loong”10.doc

PAGE  PAGE 7 简评“龙”的翻译 Comments on the Translation of “Loong” Abstract: Some western professors translated the Chinese “loong” into the devil “dragon”. In fact, this is an improper resolution from the culture, history and the techniques of translation. “Loong” is the symbol of Chinese nation and is a mythological creature, with the meanings of being imperial, powerful, prosperous even talented etc. But the “dragon” in the west culture is the mythical beast usually represented as a huge, winged, fire-breathing reptile，and the bad definitions of Satan, devil and vixen. So when doing translation, we should not take the differences of culture background for granted and take the culture information gap into consideration. Key words: loong; dragon; translation 摘 要:一些西方学者把邪恶的“的拉根”翻译成了中国的龙。事实上，我们从中西方文化、历史和翻译技巧上来看，这都是误译。龙作为中华民族的象征，是一种想象出来的生物，是皇权、力量、繁荣、甚至是才能的象征。但是西方世界的“的拉根”是虚构出来的，身躯庞大笨拙，颜色是黑灰色的，长着巨大的翅膀，口中吐火，经常用作撒旦、邪恶和悍妇等不好的词。当我们在翻译时，不应忽视了不同的文化背景，而应当多注意文化信息的差异。 关键词：龙；的拉根；翻译 I. Introduction The Chinese version Bible finally was published in 1919. At the beginning, the purpose of Bible translation was to preach to Chinese and propagate the Christ culture in China. At the same time, Chinese began to introduce Chinese culture to western countries. Then, Chinese masters frequently quoted the Chinese version Bible and, gradually, it became the authoritative reference. When Chinese masters introduced the loong to western, they translated “loong” into “dragon”. So, western people recognized Chinese loong as the same symbol and figure of dragon. In fact, “dragon” and “loong” is completely different. The “dragon” was the representative of Satan and it just simply indicated a kind of evil monster, an evil thing in the western people’s mind. The “loong” is the representative of goodness and it was a kind of traditional Chinese mythological animal, which bears the meaning of being imperial, powerful, prosperous and even talented etc. It was wildly used in Chinese people’s daily lif