Abstract: Color is closely linked to people’s life; the world would be meaningless and colorless without color. Besides the surface meaning, color words–the culture-loaded words–may also convey connotative meaning, which in some measure is cultural and social meaning and is closely related to culture. Most of color words in English and Chinese convey completely different connotative meanings as a result of different cultural influences, so it is important to have a detailed understanding of the different connotative meanings of some major color words in English and Chinese. In this paper, first, some cultural influences on the color words are introduced and then a detailed analysis of connotative meanings of English and Chinese color words is given. At last some liberal translation methods are explored. It is hoped that, by deeply understanding the cultural connotative meanings of English and Chinese color words; we can enhance translation between English and Chinese and promote the cross-cultural exchanges between the two cultures.
Key words: color words, cultural connotation, liberal translation
中文摘要:颜色与人们的生活紧密相连，世界上如果没有了颜色，将会变得毫无意义、暗淡无光。颜色词除了其表面上的意思，还承载着许多引申意。与文化及其相关的时候他们有一定程度的文化和社会意义。由于不同文化的影响，在中文与英文中，颜色词有截然不同的意思。因此，对主要颜色词不同内涵意思的深入了解至关重要。本文首先将对影响颜色词的文化因素进行介绍，然后详尽分析其对颜色词内涵意义的影响。最后，总结出颜色词的意译方法。希望通过对于颜色词在中英文中文化内涵意义的深入理解，能提高翻译技巧促进跨文化交流
关键词:颜色词；文化内涵；意译法
