2. 1 Cultural difference awareness
Language and culture are interwoven. Serving as the backbone of language, culture has its representations in language and determines the way language functions. On the other hand, language is the medium through which thoughts are expressed and conveyed in a specific cultural context. Unexceptionally, culture plays a dominant role in the unique, arbitrary system of human communications－language.
Culture is a sophisticated, multi-layered phenomenon. Although people inside a culture take its representations for granted, linguistic representations are ubiquitous and distinctive for non-native learners of the language. Ways of greetings, value systems, social norms, and customs and taboos vary greatly from culture to culture. Consequently, cultural-specific beliefs, customs, and expressions in a given language are often proven to be the most difficult part in language learning for a non-native speaker. When functioning in the context of the foreign language and culture, a non-native speaker, therefore, should always be on the lookout for possible connotative meaning intended in the culture.
The relationship between language and culture manifests the significance of working on meanings rather than on mere linguistic elements such as words and sentences. Putting the stress on the cultural differences, however, does not mean cross-cultural communications is impossible. Rather, cultures share more in common with each other than they differ. It is the common ground cultures share that makes cross-cultural communication possible. On the other hand, it is the differences between cultures that can turn cross-cultural communication into a tough job. Interpreters, working between two languages and cultures, are thus strongly advised to raise their awareness of cultural differences.
Among the ways to increase cultural consciousness, the best one is to live in and experience the target culture. Other than that, interpreters should make a serious effort to expose themselves constantly to the target culture through updated with the research on cultural differences in translation. A careful review of the research in this area would ensure a better-prepared and thus better-functioning interpreter when difficulties stemming from cultural differences crop up in their job.
The nurturing of sensitivity to and consciousness of cultural differences requires long and sustained endeavors on the part of interpreters. When interpreting a speech heavily loaded with cultural representations, interpreters should beware of taking things at face value. For example, a literal interpretation of the Chinese greetings “Have you eaten?” and “Where are you going?” would be confusing and misleading for an English-speaking audience. If interpreters find a art of a speech too culture-laden to thoroughly understand, they should not hesitate to ask the speaker for clarification.
2. 2 The interpretation of idioms, figures, humor and jokes.
Not only the different in thinking and belief between eastern and western is difficult for the interpretation, but also the interpretation of idioms, figures, humor and jokes are the difficult for the interpretation.
2.2.1 Interpreting of idioms
As carriers of heavy cultural particularities, idioms in a language are terse and forcible in expressing thoughts for people in the corresponding culture. They are the condensed forms representative of various aspects of the culture. Ever since a popular idiom was coined, it has gone through the process of modifications and enrichments until it is finally accepted and employed by the public in verbal communication. Because of their simplicity in form and richness in meaning, idioms are used frequently to express thoughts that speakers could not as effectively communicate to their audiences by other rhetorical means.
It has never been an easy job to translate idioms into another language, to say nothing of the extemporaneous interpreting of them. The difficulties are two fold. Firstly, owing to cultural differences, a thorough and accurate comprehension of an idiom in the original may pose a problem. For instance, although an interpreter understands every single word of an idiom a speaker uses, he can easily fail to understand the meaning as a whole, simply because the lumping-together of the words does not make sense to him. Secondly, provided an accurate comprehension of the idiom is achieved, conversion of meaning into the target language is still quite difficult for the interpreter. His challenge is to provide a nearly simultaneous rendition with congruent impact and terseness.
Proper handling of idioms, therefore, relies on interpreters’ skills in both comprehending and interpreting idioms, familiarity with idioms in both target and source languages is an aim interpreters always pursue. A large store of idioms will work to the great advantage of interpreters.
What if the interpreter has managed to get the meaning (and implication) of an idiom, but the exact or official rendition is not available? In this case, the interpreter should first stay calm and poised, it would be detrimental to his interpreting as a whole if he pondered over the idiom and missed the speaker’s logical line. Then the interpreter could follow the rules listed below in his interpretation of the idiom: a) render the meaning in the light of the context, not mere words, b) distinguish commendatory ones from derogatory ones and, c) do not misuse foreign idioms in interpreting.
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