新编跨文化交际英语教程 参考答案(7)

My first reaction was unfortunately laughter because it is so full of mistakes. It omits some necessary information about the Dragon-Boat Festival, including its historical origins and when it actually takes place. These things are important… The copy seems to try to ―snow‖ the reader with fanciful, overblown assertions about how terrific it all is, but in unintentionally hilarious language that leaves the reader laughing out uninformed… The brochure also suffers from lack of background material, the taking-if-for-granted that the reader already is familiar with many aspects of Chinese history and culture? It doesn?t tell you where to go, how to get there, when things are open and closed, how much they cost, and so forth. All these are things people visiting an area want to know.

Why is it that many Chinese travel guides read basically the same, no matter what region is being written about, and are so packed with indiscriminate hyperbole? Less exaggeration would actually be more convincing.

Case 16

Comparing the two English versions, we can see that in Yang?s version more culturally-loaded meanings are conveyed from the original while Hawkes? version may be easier for English-speaking readers to comprehend.

Look at some of the differences between the two versions of this extract: 贾母The Lady Dowager / Grandmother Jia 老祖宗 Old Ancestress / Granny dear 凤辣子 Fiery Phoenix / Peppercorn Feng

二舅母王氏 Lady Wang, her second uncle?s wife / her Uncle Zheng?s wife, Lady Wang 学名叫做王熙凤 the school-room name His-feng / the somewhat boyish-sounding name of Wang Xi-feng

黛玉忙赔笑见礼，以“嫂”呼之 Tai-yu lost no time in greeting her with a smile as ―cousin.‖/ Dai-yu accordingly smiled and curt-eyed, greeting her by her correct name as she did so.

竟不象老祖宗的外孙女儿 She doesn?t take after her father, son-in-law of our Old Ancestress / She doesn?t take after your side of the family, Ganny.

怨不得老祖宗天天嘴里心里放不下 No wonder our Old Ancestress couldn?t put you out of her mind and was for ever talking and thinking about you. / I don?t blame you for having gone on so about her during the past few days

现吃什么药？ What medicine are you taking? / Not translated

And there are some culturally-loaded expressions in the text that seem to defy translation: 琏二嫂子 内侄女

以“嫂”呼之 外孙女儿 嫡亲的孙女儿 妹妹

By comparing different translations of the same text, we can achieve a better understanding of cultural gaps and differences and then learn to employ proper strategies to bridge those gaps in translating across languages for intercultural communication.

Unit 5

Culture and Verbal Communication

Reading I

Comprehension questions

Understanding the Culture of Conversation

1. What made the author feel learning to converse in Mexico City was easier for him/her in one way, more difficult in another?

It's easier because Mexicans service the relationship and they care about everyone in the conversation. But their conversation doesn?t move in a straight line, drifting around both in the topic and in the way they use words.

2. Why did the Mexican customer slide into the topic of the full eclipse of the sun?

For the Mexican, the conversation starts with one topic, but if another interesting topic seeps in he or she will ride it around for a while. Sticking to the first topic is less important than having an interesting conversation.

3. What did the American businessman feel about the Mexican?s way of conversation?

For the American, a conversation should have a topic, and he wants to take a straight line through it from beginning to end. So he felt very impatient about the Mexican?s way of conversation.

4. What “conversational ideal” was represented by the example of a championship skier who was interviewed on TV?

The Swedish conversational ideal is to response in a concise manner without elaborating specific details, especially those for self-promotion. .

5. What problems are likely to occur if an American talks with a Swede?

The American may feel totally lost in the conversation since he or she would not get as much information from the Swede as he or she has expected.

6. What are the differences between Anglos and Athabaskans in conversation?

There are a lot differences between them. For instance, at the beginning of a conversation, Anglos almost always speak first. Athabaskans think it is important to know what the social relationship is before they talk with someone. There is another difference in how long one should talk. Athabaskans tend to have longer turns when they talk with each other, but Anglos expect shorter turns.

7. Is it enough just to learn to speak in grammatically correct manners when one learns a foreign language? What else does he or she also need to know?

It is far from enough just to learn to speak in grammatically correct manners when one learns a foreign language. One also has to know about the culture of using the language in social life, things like who talks first, who talks next, who opens and closes conversations and how they do it, in order to be able to use the language in culturally appropriate manners.

8. In what ways are Chinese similar to or different from the Americans, Mexicans and Swedes ? It seems that we Chinese are somewhat similar to Mexicans in the way we are having a

conversation. Unlike Americans, we do not usually move in a straight line in a conversation and may also care much about the other?s feeling.

Reading II

Comprehension questions

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