Culture and Chinese Proverbs

Abstract: Proverbs, which derive from life are the condensation and embodiment of the language and culture of a nation. They can reflect geography, history, customs of a nation. So it is necessary to study a nation's proverbs when we try to study its culture . English and Chinese proverbs, being treasures of two different languages, see distinct differences resulted from cultural differences. This essay uses some typical examples to compare and analyze the differences between English and Chinese proverbs from the point of origin, geographical environment, customs, religious beliefs and historical culture, etc. Proverbs are difficult to translate because of their distinctive characteristics and their unique cultural backgrounds. In order to present an adequate translation of a proverb, we can use four translation methods flexibly: literal translation, free translation, equivalent translation and literal translation combined with free translation.
Keywords:: English and Chinese proverbs; culture; cultural differences; translation principles; translation methods
1 Introduction
Proverbs from life, is a national language and culture, a high degree of concentration and a concentrated expression. The British philosopher Francis

Cultural Differences Between English and Chinese Proverbs and Their Translation Strategies
Introduction
Proverbs date back from life. It reflects the marrow of culture. Because of the differences of origins, religious beliefs, humanistic ideals, moral views and life and work experiences, English and Chinese proverbs carry on different cultural characteristics and information. It has everything with culture and can’t be separated from each other. In this paper, I set some typical examples to discuss the cultural differences between English and Chinese proverbs from the respects of religious beliefs, humanistic ideals, moral views and life and work experiences. Due to cultural differences in English and Chinese proverbs, the same