Abstract：Color is one of human being’s fundamental recognizition on nature .Color words can not only express the natural gorgeous colors， but it also contains various cultural connotations and associative meanings. Because different peoples have different geographic environments， customs， ways of thinking， religious beliefs， regimes and ways of living， there is no surprise that colors are described diversely in different countries， which show the particular personalities of each nation. Hence，this article ，built on the conception of color words in english and chinese， analyzes the manifestation of culture differences between English and Chinese from color words in order to promote the further communication between two countries.

摘要：色彩是人類對自然界最基本的認(rèn)知范疇之一。顏色詞除了表示大自然的絢麗色彩外，還有著豐富的文化內(nèi)涵和聯(lián)想意義。由于世界各民族語言表達(dá)受地理環(huán)境，民族風(fēng)俗，思維方式，宗教信仰，社會制度及其生活方式的差異的影響，不同民族語言表達(dá)顏色詞也分類各異，顏色詞也表現(xiàn)出了各民族獨特的“個性”。本文以中英語言對顏色詞匯的定義為基礎(chǔ)，從民族心理，宗教信仰，生活習(xí)慣以及情感色彩等方面來分析顏色詞在不同文化中所存在的差異性。通過對比研究，使我們更好的通過色彩了解中西文化的差異，并促進(jìn)中西文化交流。

Key words: color; color culture ; culture differences;

關(guān)鍵詞：色彩；色彩文化；文化差異；

[中圖分類號]：H31[文獻(xiàn)標(biāo)識碼]：A

[文章編號]：1002-2139(2012)-10-0126-02

1、Introduction

The culture is like a vast ocean. There exist a lot of color-related words in English. The color words in English embody the visual effect in the objective world， and people attach the colorful significance to them. And all cultures have generalities and specialties， so do the language of various nationalities. The number of words for expressing color in languages of various nationalities differs and its classification varies as well. As to the same color words， there are different understanding and usages between Chinese and English. In different languages， color words have different meaning. Since English and Chinese belong to different families of languages， they have some similarities and differences. Affected by specific features of language and culture， people have different reflections to colors and consequently the words of colors in both languages carry the different meaning. Therefore， it is practically useful to know and study the differences， thus promoting the cultural communication and doing well in translation practice.

2、 The conception of color words in English and Chinese

2.1、The symbolic meaning of color words in English

From a scientific definition， the color is fired by the objects， reflective or light waves caused by a certain visual phenomenon; the human eye is one of the basic characteristics of the visual. Colors generated by such a definition， have experienced a relatively short period of feudal society， and in modern times and modern education and science popularization and rapid development has been the West， it is relatively easy for them to accept. Therefore， the Western culture in the symbolic meaning of color is often more direct， objective things in general is the specific color to represent the cultural meaning of some abstract， so its easier to trace the rationale and logic of semantic arguments.

2.2、The symbolic meaning of color words in Chinese

Chinese culture is of long standing and well established， the feudal society that China goes through several thousand years， education and science lag behind relatively， so， in Chinese culture， the thought that the color express strong mystery flavors， the development of the objective reality receives China’s social development relatively largely. Color intension and symbolic meaning are very abundant in Chinese culture， and the symbolic meaning of the color word is plural.

3、The manifestation of culture differences between English and Chinese from color words

3.1、Differences in national psychological aspects

“National psychology is like long dark underground streams， surging in the formation of a national consciousness， the flow through the blood of the nation.” [5]Because of English and Chinese peoples have different psychological factor and ways of thinking. So， in both English and Chinese different color words could describe the same material’s objective presentation. For example， “tea” in Chinese is translated into “cha”， but “red tea” in Chinese is blank tea in English. At this time， we should translate “red” into blank but not red. Studying carefully its reason， in Chinese we call it “red” according to the tea color， in English we call it “blank” according to the color of the tea leaves. It is seemingly contradictory things， in fact， not contradictory， this because of the two national point of view between the observation of different angles. White represents the color of light， and black colors represent the weight. Chinese people like to light on the front， heavy on the back， as a triangular pattern. And the British is like heavy on the front and the light on the back， into a reverse triangle pattern， heel waddled.

3.2 Differences in religious beliefs

In English， there is various color associations suffer from the impact of the religious deeply. So the color was gifted the different religious connotations and associations. In the middle Ages， the church designated artists in the use of certain colors when painting. Such as the Virgin Mary’s robe must to be painted blue， in the preparation period， the clothes of Christ to be painted blue; When the ignorance have been tempted at that time， it could painted black; At the resurrection， it was painted red or white. Why does this color change? This is inseparable from their religious imagination， and blue from heaven on their behalf， on behalf of black and dark messenger from the Christ of experience， red and white on behalf of God’s nature: wisdom and love. As a result of the two English-Chinese ethnic differences in religious beliefs， resulting in the word of the views of the same color to form a great contrast. This difference is sometimes caused by the words do not convey the idea， misunderstanding or resentment.

3.3、Differences in habits and customs

In the western countries， people advocates the purple， in ancient Greece， the ancient Roman emperor， as well as the general consuls are dressed in purple， purple symbolizes dignity and honor， and a symbol of royalty， thus in China， yellow is the imperial color of nature， and it is the color of the earth. It is known that in the ancient China， soil played a great important part in the life of Chinese people. Hence， yellow has been considered as a color which is exclusive to the monarch. And yellow was an exalted color in the old terms connected with it， such as “黃袍”（huangpao）， “皇榜”（huangbang）and so on. And “皇帝”（huangdi ）---the emperor， was the ancestor of Chinese people in the legend. And the thought of self-centered yellow carried catered for the need of the rulers， so yellow was an exclusive color to the rulers since the ancient. At the same time， the impact of custom clothing is one of the most important. Hot days is common sense to wear white or light clothing to reflect sunlight， cold weather we will wear a dark-colored to absorb heat. York City in the United Kingdom the woman to wear the tights in different colors to indicate their wish to marry a man; yellow expressed half of the hope， the green expressed agreed.， do not agree with the red table.

3.4、Emotional differences

Language has a certain color of the feelings; it is divided into complimentary sense of emotional， neutral and derogatory meaning. In variety of language， one word contains a different color are not uncommon. The color words are no exception. For example: blue word， Chinese people are fond of blue since the old times. It always associates with liveliness and vivid. And blue sky can help to stimulate people’s imagination of their future. And， in most cases， Chinese people are likely to think the popular music “Love in blue” in the west to be a romantic song. In fact， in the west， blue can not activate people’s imagination for the foreground of the future at all; instead， it will make people feel depressed. Blue in English usually has something to do with depression and groom. “In a blue mood” means “to be in an ill mood”; “feel blue” has the same meaning as “feel unhappy”.

4、Conclusion

The nature is a colorful world; the human’s sense about the color is generally common， but once the color used for the communication activities of human society， it will have a specific meaning in people’ mind， and cause a special association and stimulate a particular the feelings of excitation. To have a good master of these differences， it is of great importance and necessity to understand different cultures of different countries. Language and culture are closely related， language reflects culture. Studying color terms and their cultural connotations in both the west and the east is good for the understanding of different nations in the world， thus it will help to promote the communication between the west and the east.

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