Chinese  
Position:Translation Theory

Semantic Differential and culture difference (one)

From;    Author:Stand originally


One, Semantic Differential and culture difference
Culture setting is different, when the person that does different language is chatting, often produce following case: What go up as a result of culture is different, although the language is exact,do not have by accident, also can produce misunderstanding. To different people, same a word or same kind of expression means is OK have different sense. As a result of the difference on culture, when talking about a serious problem, because a word says inadvisably, can make auditor laugh, even belly laugh; A word that is without ill will can make the other side unhappy or furious; As a result of the difference on culture, a certain jest that the person that makes a speech in abroad often discovers to audience is told to him is without reaction, the face does not have expression, silent; However, in home, same jest can make audience laugh gets rock.
The language is the one part of culture, having main effect to culture. Some sociologist think, the cornerstone —— that the language is culture does not have a language, do not have culture; Look from another respect, the language suffers the effect of culture again, reflective culture. Can say, the language reflects the feature of a nation, it is including the history of this nation and culture setting not only, and contain is worn this nation is mixed to the view of life, lifestyle thinking means. Language and culture interact, interplay; understands a language to must understand culture, understanding culture must understand a language.
Culture is mixed, the language also is varied. As a result of culture and phonetic difference. Mutual understanding is not an easy thing, the communication that different culture asks often encounters difficulty.
Learn a kind of foreign language to want to master speech, syntactic, vocabulary and idiom not only, and know choose even the person of this kind of language how look upon thing, how to survey the world; The language that should understand them how to use them will reflect the thought of their society, habit, action; Want to know the language ” of their “ heart, understand the culture of their society namely. Actually, study language and the culture that understand report of insitute of language are not divided.
Here the person that we discuss English state roughly (or the person that is native language with English, represent artificially with the United States) with the culture difference between the Chinese. The difference on this kind of culture is many sided, we around language intercourse this undertakes making an on-the-spot investigation on one hand. As to other, if lifestyle, dress dresses up, the difference that characteristics of bearing behavior, food has nothing to do with language intercourse etc, criterion not give uncecessary details. Although be inside language intercourse limits, we also can discuss a few the commonnest differences only.
For instance, “ intellectual ” and Intellectual are in Sino-US and respective culture setting implication is very different. Be in China, “ intellectual ” includes personnel of college teacher, undergraduate and doctor, engineer, interpreter to wait for everything to had gotten the person of campus commonly, and middle school teacher also is an intellectual. There are a lot of places in Chinese country, also be considered as even the high school student “ intellectual ” . But be in the United States and Europe, intellectual includes the college professor person that has taller academic place only, and do not include common undergraduate, the person limits that so this word indicates wants small much. In addition, still have other distinction. In American Intellectual always not be commendatory word, use at derogatory sense sometimes, as “ crying in our country the Great Cultural Revolution smelly old 9 ” are same.
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