外语翻译论文-文化背景知识和翻译Abstract It is agreed that language is a component of culture and reflects it; translation is not only the linguistic but also the communication of cultures. Culture background knowledge is concerned with geographic chatacteristics,historical ,tradition, social customs ,religion arts and other aspects of a society. Also it conditions the psychological make-up of individuals. Therefore, target language readers may experience culture shock from translations do not properly deal with the factors of cultures as a result of their lack of cultural background knowledge, This paper discusses the influence of knowledge of cultures on translation, and concludes that translators should have a vast and precise understanding of the two cultures concerned.Key Words culture; translation; cultural background knowledge摘 要 语言不仅是文化的组成部分，也是文化的反映形式。翻译不仅仅是语言间的转换，而且是文化间的交流活动。文化背景知识涉及历史、地理特征、传统、社会风俗、宗教、艺术以及社会的各个方面。同时，文化背景知识也影响了社会成员的心理结构。因此，如果翻译者缺乏文化背景知识并因此不能恰当处理好原文中的文化因素，译文读者可能要面对激烈的文化冲击。本文将主要讨论译者文化背景知识对翻译的影响。最后得出结论：翻译者应该对相关的两种文化都有广泛而深入的认识。关键词 文化；翻译；文化背景知识1. IntroductionAccording to the tradition theory of translation, people considered translating activities as a process of transfer between two languages. In the 1970s, the study of translation tended to develop in several directions. It was no longer restricted to the tradition aesthetic and linguistic study and become cultural rethinking.According to the theories of Mary Snell-Hornby, Bassnett and Lefevere, we can conclude that translation is to present in another culture the meaning and implication that the text has in a specific cultural context. In nature, translation is a kind of communication between cultures. During the process of translation, the interpretation and expression of the connotation of culture emerge as problems to be solved at the first place. That requires the translators not only should have bilingual abilities but also should have the knowledge of two cultures of, even several cultures. In 1993, Nida pointed out that, for the truly successful translation, the knowledge of two cultures is more important than the bilingual ability. 1E.B.Tylor, an anthropologist, thought culture is a complicated gathering, including knowledge, belief, arts, moral standards, law, customs and all the abilities and habits of individuals as members of a society.2 The scope of culture is extremely wide-ranging .Language is the reflection of culture .Any kind of language bases on the ground of certain culture. So, the cultural characteristics of language include the way of thinking, psychological make-up, historical, tradition, social customs, believes and geographic features that the language reflects. To understand the source language and the original text, translators have to analyze those cultural characteristics of a language.2. Culture and languageCulture is a complicated system including and influencing almost all the aspects of life in a society. The language that the society uses is no exception. However, language also influences culture. Language and culture influences each other and reflects each other.2.1 Culture and languageE. B. Tylor, an anthropologist, said that culture is a complicated combination including knowledge, belief, arts, ethics, laws, customs and the ability and habits of individuals as members of a society. Here knowledge refers to academic subjects, both scientific and not scientific, for example, mathematics and linguistics. Belief could be divided into two sorts, political and religious, which are different among peoples and often course different comprehension and even conflicts. Examples are Christianity in the west countries and Islam in the Muslin countries. Arts comprise painting, architecture, sculpture, literature, opera, dancing, music etc. (Some people maintain that film is also a sort of the arts.) Ethics is a set of principles that people use to decide what is right and what is wrong. The scope of culture is not measurable. Language is a part of it. All languages grow on the ground of certain cultures.3 Different languages are not just used, but also created in different cultural situations. Thus languages bear their characteristics in accordance with those of specific cultures. To understand the language appropriately, we have to analyze the cultural characteristics of it.Language is a system of sounds, words, patterns, ect used by humans to communicate thoughts and feelings. We begin our preview of language by noting that it is impossible to separate our use of language from our culture. In its most basic sense, language is a set of symbols and the rules for combining those symbols that are used and understood by a large community of people. When we study another language, we soon discover that not only are the symbols (words) and sounds for those symbols different, but also are the rules (phonology, grammar, syntax and intonation) for using those symbols and sounds.Word differences are obvious in