摘要：在文化多元化的今天，翻译作为跨文化交流的一种重要手段，是文化转换的一种模式。颜色词与文化有着极为密切的关系。作为语言的一部分，颜色词被赋予了丰富的文化内涵，其词汇意义和象征意义都反映了不同的文化及文化背景。为了促进多元文化社会的发展和加强跨文化交流，了解和掌握颜色词及其在文化转换中的作用具有极为重要的价值和意义。

论文从探讨颜色词的概念及其在中英两种语言中的历史比较出发，仔细研究了颜色词在翻译中存在的困难，并在此基础上总结和论证了颜色词翻译的主要技巧，包括同化和异化两种翻译技巧。论文旨在认真分析颜色词及其翻译的基础上增强人们的翻译实践能力和跨文化交际能力。

关键词颜色词；翻译困难；翻译技巧

Abstract: In today’s multi-cultural society, translation, as an important device in the cross-cultural communication, is a mode of cultural transfer. Colour terms are closely connected with culture. As a part of language, colour terms are endowed with abundant cultural connotations. Moreover, colour terms’ lexical meaning and symbolic meaning reflect various cultures and cultural backgrounds. In order to promote the development of the multi-cultural society and cross-cultural communication, it is significant to understand and grasp colour terms and their functions in the cultural transfer. This thesis, targeting at improving translation proficiency and promoting cross-cultural communication, makes a careful analysis of colour terms, including the definition, the history in English and Chinese, the translation difficulties and the translation techniques.

Key Words：Colour terms; translation difficulties; translation techniques

Introduction

People can not live without colour. Language will be more vivid with colour terms.

Colour terms are a part of language, and colour terms’ translation is important in today’s society. Lots of classic works are rich with colour terms. Correct and accurate colour terms’ translation helps to transmit the meaning of the source text.

Colour terms are endowed with various emotions of different nations. It is necessary to learn the cultural connotations of colour terms before learning the nation’s language. 

The thesis, centering on the colour terms’ translation, is divided into three parts.

Chapter One makes an analysis of colour terms’ definition and its history in Chinese and English.

Chapter Two illustrates the difficulties in translating basic colour terms and object colour terms.

Chapter Three makes a study of the two main translation techniques for colour terms, that is, domestication and foreignization.

Ⅰ. A Brief Introduction to Colour Terms

A. The Definition of Colour Terms

 “Colour term” indicates the word which is used to stand for a kind of colour. This definition is well known throughout the word, but “colour terms do not necessarily mean the same thing as colourful terms. Colourful English may appear as idioms or in figurative expressions, while colour terms are words which simply show different colours. Like the onomatopoeic word, a colour term has little merit in itself. Only when it suggests the image of the original, or fortifies the sense in the version, it has value in translation.”. (Xiao Junshi, P173, 1982) Obviously, as a part of words, colour terms are used in writing to transmit information. In physics, it stands for the colour reflected by objects.

1. Classification of Colour Terms

There are two main kinds of colour terms: basic colour terms and object colour terms.

Basic colour terms mean “words used to describe the colour of objects when they appear”. (Lu Hongmei, P135, 2006) Basic colour terms come from the language of Anglo-Saxon, including seven kinds of colours. In Chinese, they are “赤、橙、黄、绿、青、蓝、紫”. In English, they are “red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet”. Although basic colour terms contain only a few words, they can be used with other words to indicate more colours. They are very active.

Object colour terms mean “terms used to indicate colours which are the names of objects”. (Lu Hongmei, P135, 2006) Lots of these kinds of words exist in any kinds of languages, such as “gold, silver, orange” in English, and “金黄色、米色、银色” in Chinese.

2. Function of Colour Terms

Generally speaking, colour terms have all the functions which words have. In source language, the author always uses the colour terms to express the image of the text. This is the first function of colour terms, that is, informative function. For example, the colour terms used in the follow text form the landscape of an autumn evening.

“The ground was a carpet of deep reddish brown in the glow of an autumn evening sun, tempered by the trees. Yong birches sprang up, caught light on one side, and were sparkling green there; the shadowy sides of the stems were warm, deep black-green. Behind the saplings, behind the brownish red soil was a very delicate sky, bluish grey, warm, hardly blue, all a glow. Against it were a hazy border of green and a net work of little stems and yellowish leaves. A few figures of wood gathers were wandering around like dark masses of mysterious shadow.” (Irving stone: Lust of life, Book Three)

The second function of colour terms is emotive function. It is accepted that different colours give people different feelings. Experiences show that colour terms are the best way to describe one’s emotion. An example is quoted below.

“Then the morning clouds in the east turned deep red and sky above showed blue, the red clouds were pierced by golden rays, interweaving to spin a majestic, glittering web in the southeastern sky with the clouds as weft, the rays as warp. Fields, trees and wild grass changed their colors from dark green to bright emerald”. (Bao Huinan, P124, 2003)

This paragraph was translated from The Rickshaw Boy written by Lao She. The colour terms describe Xiang Zi’s feeling specifically after he had escaped from danger. Obviously, without colour terms, the original images can hardly be reproduced in the version.

The third function of colour terms is performative function, which is first used in Linguistic Study written by Austin and Searle. Colour terms in different languages have different social connotation. Two examples are given as follows.

1.The government has given the green light to Sunday trading.

政府已经允许星期日贸易。（Hua Xianfa, P266, 2000）

2.There was no question of the republicans throwing in the towel or showing the white flag.

共和党人不会认输，这是毫无疑问的。(Hua Xianfa, P270, 2000)

In the first example, the English term “green” in the phrase “give somebody the green light” means “allowing and admitting something”. In the second example, the phrase “shows the white flag” means “accepting defeat”. Rendering the English term “green” and “white” simply by the Chinese equivalents of “绿” and “白” would result into a significant loss of the metaphor. 

B. Colour Terms’ History in English

In west countries, colour terms are popular in fields like philosophy, physics, psychology, art and so on.

The oldest theory in colour terms’ history is Aristotle’s Black and White Theory, in which colour is made up of hue, luminosity and saturation. At that period, all colors were thought as different degrees of mix of white and black. Black and White Theory was ended by Newton who saw seven colors of the sunlight through prism.

Other theories appeared at the same time, such as Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and Cognitive Linguistics. In spite of the relationship between these theories, they all admitted colour terms’ important position in English.

Lots of English authors are familiar with colour-scheme.

For example:

O wild west Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,

Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead

Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,

Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,

Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,

Each like a corpse within its grave, until

Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow

Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill

(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)

With living hues and odours plain and hill:

Wild spirit, which art moving everywhere;

Destroyer and preserver; hear, O, hear!  (Ode to the west Wind, first chapter)

In view of the complexity of context, it is not always easy to choose the right expression of some meanings. In the instance above, without the few colour terms, it is impossible to imagine the government’s turbidity and the author’s feeling of the revolution.

C. Colour Terms’ History in Chinese

Through the forming of colour terms in China, colour terms originate from people’s daily lives. A lot of plants’ names are used as colour terms, especially after the improving of painting, dying and ceramics. “Blue comes from a kind of plant called blue, and red comes from the plant called madder”. (Luo geng, P8, 2004) Many Chinese colour terms come from the name of plants or minerals. Although there is no theory about the forming of colour terms in Chinese history, it is possible to learn a lot of historical things which have relationships with colours. Countless colour terms can be found in Chinese poems, essays and novels. The following instances are some typical examples.

1.他觉得他的头颅仿佛在颈脖上旋转；他眼前是红的，黄的，绿的，黑的，发光的，立体的，圆锥形的—混杂的一团，在那里跳，在那里转…

He felt as if his head were spinning and his eyes swam before a kale endoscope of red, yellow, green, black, shiny, square, cylindrical, leaping, dancing shapes… (Zhang Peiji, P64, 1979)

2.这是梅花，有红梅，白梅，绿梅，还有朱砂梅，一树一树的，每一树都是一树诗。白玉兰花略微有点残，娇黄的迎春却正当时，那片春色啊，比起滇池的水来不知道要深多少倍。

It came from the variegated plum flowers, red, white, green, and vermilion. Standing there, ach tree was individually veiled in poetic inspiration. The white magnolias were beginning to turn yellowish although the winter jasmines were just showing a lovely yellow. The spring beauty there was immeasurable! Who knew how many times deeper than depth of Dianchi Lake nearby. (Lu Hongmei, P135, 2006)

In the first instance, due to colour terms’ emotive function of showing the feeling, colour terms can not be replaced by the other kinds of words. In the second instance, plum is the popular flower in China with countless kinds of colours.

Above all, colour terms play a very important role in Chinese and English cultures. Meanwhile, it is also true that a translator’s role in translating colour terms is not an easy one. He is, in a sense, a kind of middleman, one who belongs to two language-culture contexts. He must serve as a receptor of one message while being a producer of message in another language. It is important for a translator to know colour terms’ definition and histories well.

 Ⅱ. The Difficulties in Translating Colour Terms

For some persons, the barriers to effective translation are so enormous as to make the task of translation seem almost impossible. Diversities of cultures and languages appear to be insurmountable, while differences of orthography present untold complications for transcribing. It is a fact that no two colour terms in any two language ever seem to have precisely the same meaning, which makes the translation of colour terms more difficult. In this chapter, the difficulties in translating colour terms are studied.

A. The Difficulties in Translating Basic Colour Terms

In the first chapter, it is said that basic colour terms are very active. A colour term may have one set of meanings when it is used as a noun, but quite a different set of meanings when used as a verb. The usages and cultural connotation of basic colour terms are the main difficulties in translating colour terms.

1. The Usages and Features of Basic Colour Terms

Either in English or Chinese, basic colour terms can be used as nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in the context.

For example: 

1.上身穿一件补丁摞补丁的坎肩，那上面，补着各种颜色各种式样的补丁，有红布，灰布，青布和格子布。

He was wearing a vest which had been patched and re-patched with rags of every colour and shape—red, gray, black and checkered—till you could hardly tell what the original vest was made of.(Zhang Peiji, P64, 1979)

2.这是一个高大身材，长头发，眼球白多黑少的人…

The speaker was a tall, burly fellow with long hair and more white than black to his eyes… (Selected Works of Lu Hsun, Volume One, P189, 1998)  

3.姑太太说到这里一顿，轻轻吁了一口气，眼圈儿也像有点红了。

Mrs. Tu paused and sighed slightly, her eyes reddening at the edges.（Zhang Peiji, P66,

1979）

4.灰黑的云突然遁去，西天边烧起一片彩霞。

    The grey-black clouds had suddenly departed and an expanse of coloured clouds had blazed up at the western edge of the sky.(Zhang Peiji, P66, 1979)

Obviously, basic colour terms are translated in different forms according to the context. In the first example, “红、灰、青” is turned into “red, gray, black”, and these colour terms are used as adjectives. In the second example, “白多黑少” is rendered into “more white than black”, which sounds more smoothly. In the third example, “红” is put into “reddening” instead of “turning red”. In the fourth example, with rendering the English term “grey-black” into Chinese colour term “灰黑”, the style and the meaning become similar in two languages.

    Basic colour terms can also be put together with other words to indicate the state of colour.

1.我们的船向前走，两岸的青山在黄昏中，都装成了深黛颜色，连着退向梢去。

As we set off, the green mountains on the two banks became deep blue in the dusk, receding toward the stern of the boat. (Selected Works of Lu Hsun, Volume One, P45, 1998)

2.粉红色的吴少奶奶，苹果绿色的一位女郎，淡黄色的又一女郎，都在那里疯狂地跳、跳！

Mrs. Wu Sunfu in pink, a girl in apple-green, another in light-yellow were frantically leaping and whirling around him.（Zhang Peiji, P68, 1979）

3.忽然像是揭去了一层幔，眼前一亮，淡黄色的太阳光变做金黄了。

Suddenly, as if a curtain had been lifted, the view cleared and the dull yellow sunlight brightened into gold. (Zhang Peiji, P68, 1979)

From the translation versions above, basic colour terms are used in three different kinds of forms, showing the different kinds of source language. In certain instances, the selection of an appropriate colour term to fit the context involves a number of subtle factors.

Basic colour term, which is added with the suffix “-ish” or another basic colour term, show a new kind of colour.

For example:

1.近来这荷花瘦的多了，皮色是白里泛青…

She had become much thinner lately and her with skin had taken on a bluish tinge... (Zhang Peiji, P70, 1979)

2.他的脸作紫褐色，额角，颊腮，眼眶，耳朵，都叫人感觉异常饱满…

His face was a purplish brown; his temple, his cheeks, his eye-sockets, his ears--all gave the impression of being unusually full… (Zhang Peiji, P71, 1979)

From the examples above, it is known that colour terms’ usages and features are various in different cultures and that various usages and features of colour terms require different kinds of translation.

2. Basic Colour Terms’ Cultural Connotation in Chinese and English

    “Different nations have different cultures and take the different colours as special”. (Lu Hogmei, P 134, 2006) A well-known legend, Wang An-shi, a great poet scholar of the Song Dynasty (A.D.960-1269), was once traveling in a remote part of china and he saw a poem written by a young author. Wang An-shi understood one couple of the poem which reads:

A moon is singing in the sky,

And a yellow dog lies in the flower.

He assumed that there must be a mistake in the poem, so he quickly took out his writing brush and corrected the lines as the following:

The moon is shinning in the sky,

And a yellow dog lies under the flowers.

Wang An-shi corrected the lines so that they could be read more sensibly, and he then showed his corrections to his friends living in the locality. He soon found out, however, that his “corrections” had been quite mistaken, for the word which he had interpreted as “The moon” did not really mean “moon” in the local language, but referred to a bird in the area. Similarly, the term for “yellow dog” in the original poem was really the name of a type of insect.

Wang An-shi had made two mistakes. Firstly, he did not check the meaning of such words in the local dialect; secondly, he was perhaps too anxious to make poetry completely logical and reasonable. But the fact is that poetry often does seem illogical and anomalous.

As a part of vocabulary, colour terms have different cultural connotations in two different languages. It is certain that colour is related to the history. Chinese term “黄” has many symbolic meanings in traditional Chinese culture. “黄”, as the honorable color, can only be used in an imperial family.

For example:

宝钗亦悄悄的笑道：“还不快作上去， 只管姐姐妹妹的。谁是你的姐姐？那上头穿黄袍的才是你姐姐，你又认我这姐姐来了。”

Suppressing a smile Baochai replied, “Hurry up and finish instead of talking such nonsense. Who are you calling ‘sister’? That’s your sister sitting up there in the golden robes. Why call me your sister? ” (Yang Xianyi, Dai Naidie, P612, 1990)

In this example, it is learned that in the context only one person had the right to wear yellow clothes and that the one who wear yellow clothes was from the imperial family.

English term “purple” has the same meaning as “黄” in Chinese. For instance, the phrase “to be born in the purple” means that the person is living in an imperial family.

Colour is also related to the custom. Chinese term “红” in the phrase “红事” means happiness or celebration. The bride must wear the clothes with the colour of red in wedding. In western countries, the brides are usually in white. 

A few colour terms have been used as technical terms in economy, such as “红利”, “红运” and “黑货” in Chinese terms. These colour terms can not be translated as colour terms in English. In English, “in the black” means the profit in business, “in the red” means the loss in business.

Moreover, basic colour terms’ cultural connotation is given as below.

Chinese CultureEnglish Culture

红色(happiness, a festival day)Red (violence, anger, being short of money)

黄色(filthy, filthy things)Yellow (timid, shy, mean)

白色(wed, mourning, apparel or terror)White (wedding garment or elegance)

黑色(death, bad, crime or evil)Black (dignity, depression, bad)

蓝色(quiet, pleasant, lightheaded)Blue (heavy hearted, filthy)

绿色(marriage failure)Green (jealous, short of knowledge)

B. The Difficulties in Translating Object Colour Terms

In a sense, language is the expression of thought by means of symbols. In each language the symbols are different, but they are equally effective. In linguistics those symbols are generally known as words, such as, term “橘黄色” in Chinese, term “orange” in English. All these terms indicate the same colour.

1. The Common Characteristics of Object Colour Terms in Chinese and English

Although different nations have different cultures and languages, they can indicate the same colour with different colour terms. Denotation and connotation are two main characteristics of colour terms.

Denotation means that “the quality and essence of colour are the same in different cultures, for the colours are the reflection of objects”. (Zhang Peiji, P106, 1999) For instance, Chinese term “血红” and English term “blood red” have the same denotation, that is, the colour of bright red. 

Connotation means that “people in different nations have the same association of the same objects’ colour”. (Zhang Peiji, P106, 1999) For example, “雪” and “snow

2. The Different Characteristics of Object Colour Terms in Chinese and English

Different nations have different object colour terms, which can not be translated word by word. For instance, in the translation from Chinese to English, “米色” should be translated into “buff-colour”. The English native speakers are more familiar with the buff than rice, so terms “米色” and “buff-colour” show the same colour of pale yellow. “Different culture caused the differences of colour terms in two languages”. (Guo Zhuzhang, P116, 2005) It is easy to see that object colour terms reflect the culture and the custom of a nation.

As a translator, one should be more familiar with the history and the custom of source language and target language.

C. The Other Difficulties in Translating Colour Terms

In the above, it has been discussed about the difficulties of translating basic colour terms and object colour terms. The following is concerned about those which are not talked about above.

1. Non-Equivalence in Referential Meaning

In translation, colour terms are always translated into terms, with different referential meanings. As for referential meaning, “black” and “红” are totally different. However, the term “black tea” in English and term “红茶” in Chinese stand for the same thing. Moreover, “black coffee” does not mean that the coffee is black, but means “the coffee without milk”. Therefore, “black tea” is translated into “不加牛奶的咖啡” in Chinese.

2. Non-Equivalence in Pragmatic Meaning

“Different nations have different associations of the same colour terms”. (Hua Xianfa, P64, 2000) Examples are given as the following.

1.To be in the black 

经营盈利（Xiong Ting, P13, 2006）

2.Blue-eyed boy 

(男)宠儿（Xiong Ting, P13, 2006）

3.大红大紫

Beat the height of popularity（Xiong Ting, P13, 2006）

Obviously, these colour terms do not have their own lexical meaning, but the source text makes no sense without them. These colour terms serve as stirring people’s association and they do have pragmatic meaning.

3. The Various Concepts of Chinese Colour Terms

Chinese includes ancient Chinese and modern Chinese. Lots of colour terms have more than one meaning in ancient Chinese. For example, “碧” in Chinese has the meaning of blue and green; “青” has the meaning of black and blue; “苍” has the meaning of deep blue, deep green, grey-white and grey yellow. Note the following source-language texts in Chinese:

1.…方巾阔服，臂挽青囊…

2.还有许多客，只见红青缎子马褂发闪。

3.他便变了脸，铁一般的青。

The Chinese term “青”in the three examples above has different meanings. It can not be translated into the same colour terms in English. The following are the proper translation.

1. The visitor wore a square-cut cap and a loose robe. In his hand he carried a small black bag. (Zhang Peiji, P108, 1979)

2. There were many guests as well, whose short jackets of red and blue stain were shimmering all around her. (Zhang Peiji, P110, 1979)

3. His complexion changed, and he grew ghastly pale. (Selected Works of Lu Hsun, Volume One, P14, 1998) 

The first rendering uses the term “black” which refers to the colour of the clothes. The term “青” also refers to the colour of clothes, but means “blue”. Thus, the second “青” is turned into “blue” in English. In English “blue” and “black” are not used to modify the colour of face, the term “青” means “pale”. Therefore, “青” in the third example is translated into “pale” in English. In modern Chinese, these words are frequently used in daily life.

 

Ⅲ. Translation Techniques for Colour Terms

Traditionally, the two major translation orientations have been literal translation and free translation. This contrast has been primarily a matter of focus. Some translators have been quite willing to sacrifice the formal elements of the target language and even the intelligibility of the target language text for the sake of preserving what is regard as the integrity of the source text.

Because of the complexity and variety of both kind of colour terms, the disposition of colour terms in translation from Chinese into English and vice versa is undoubtedly a matter of importance. Here the thesis divides the translation techniques for colour terms into two kinds: domestication and foreignization.

A.Domestication

Domestication means “the translator leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author towards him”. (Venuti, P240, 2001) The receptors understand the text more easily in reading. This method includes creative translation and liberal translation.

1. Creative Translation

Creative translation refers to the translation which is totally different from the original text in order to satisfy the needs of target text’s readers. It is also a kind of translation which abandons the form but keeps the faith to the context of original text. This method is always used in translating the colour terms with non-equivalence in referential meaning.

For example:

1.上面是铅色的天…  

Above was the salty sky… (Zhang Peiji, P85, 1979)

2.他（祥子）很想换一份套子， 换上土黄或月白色儿的，或者足以减去一点喜净劲儿。

He felt like changing the metal work to something bronze or milky in color, to liven it up a bit. (Mao Ronggui, P36, 2005)

In the first instance, “铅色” can not be translated into “lead-coloured”. Otherwise, the original image may have a change. In the second instance, “moon” and “milk” refer to the same colour, but milk is more familiar to English speakers. Faithfulness should be the first choice when a translator meets difficulties.

2. Liberal Translation

“Liberal translation is also called free translation, which does not adhere strictly to the form or word-order of the original.” (Guo Zhuzhang, P366, 2005) There are two kinds of circumstance under which liberal translation should be employed.

Firstly, the meanings of these colour terms in source texts can not be expressed with colour terms of target language. For example, the term “green” has another meaning of “first time to do something”, which Chinese colour terms do not have.

Secondly, the colour terms, which do not have any lexical meaning in source text, do not need to be translated. For instance, term “红” in phrase “红榜” means celebration, and it does not need to be translated into “red”. It is more suitable to render the Chinese phrase “白头偕老” by the English equivalence of “remaining a devoted couple to the end of their lives”. Another example is as the following.

他不但活泼而诙谐，单是那浑身雪白这一点，在红红绿绿中就有“鹤立鸡群”之概。

Not only is he lively and full of fun; the more fact of his being completely in white among the gaudy throng makes him stand out like a stork in a flock of fowls.(Lu Hongmei, P172, 2006)

In this sentence, “红红绿绿” means “the environment full of every kind of colour”, which need not to be translated word by word.

Moreover, amplification and conversion are usually used in translating colour terms.

Amplification means “supplying necessary words in our translation work to make the version correct and clear, to make it appear more like the language translated into”. (Guo Zhuzhang, P84, 2005)

For example:

1.清晨的阳光照在鸡头山的顶峰…

The morning sun tipped the summit of Chitou Hill with rose… (Hua Xianfa, P274,2000)

2. He is Hollywood’s hottest property

他是好莱坞最走红的演员（Hua Xianfa, P275, 2000）

Colour terms “rose” and “红” are added to the target language so as to make the sentences acceptable to the reader.

Conversion means “in translation a word in one language belonging to a certain part of speech is not necessarily to be turned into one of the same part of speech in another language”. (Guo Zhuzhang, P84, 2005) Conversion does not mean replacing one word with another colour term, but changing the lexical category of the word.

For example:

我们都忘了看红叶。红叶就在高山坡上，满眼都是，半黄半红的，倒还有意思。

We had forgotten about the leaves although the slope higher up was completely covered with them, yellowing and turning red. (Feng Qinghua, P240, 2002)

As a verb, the terms “yellowing” and “turning red” refer to the process, and this translation does suggest something of the logic of the original message.

All of the methods above put the “faithfulness” at the most important position.

B.Foreignization

Foreignization means “the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as possible, and moves the reader towards him”. (Venuti, P240, 2001) After reading these texts, the receptor can learn more lexical borrowing. This technique contains literal translation and annotation.

1. Literal Translation

“Literal translation refers to an adequate representation of the original almost without any change of word-order or sentence construction.” (Guo Zhuzhang, P300, 2005)

For example:

宝玉掀帘一跨步进去，先就看见薛宝钗坐在炕上作针线，头上挽着漆黑油光的髻儿，身穿蜜合色棉袄，玫瑰紫二色金银鼠比肩褂，葱黄绫棉裙，一色半新不旧，看去不觉奢华。

Lifting this he stepped inside. Baochai was sewing on the kang. Her glossy black hair knotted on top of the head. She was wearing a honey-coloured padded jacket, a rose-red sleeveless jacket lined with brown and snow-weasel fur, and a skirt of leek-yellow silk. There was nothing ostentatious about her costume, which was none too new. (Yang Xianyi, Dai Naidie, P84, 1992)

In this example, the terms “蜜合色”, “玫瑰紫” and “葱黄” are translated word by word into “honey-coloured”, “rose-red” and “leek-yellow”.

Lu Xun said “Before translating, the translator has to make a decision: either to adapt the original text or to retain as much as possible the foreign flavor of the original text”. (Lu Xun, P32, 1973) Translation means communication. As a translator, one must transmit some new things from source language into target language. For example, chocolate refers to a colour of deep brown, which is not familiar to Chinese speakers before. Now, the term “巧克力” in Chinese has the meaning of the objects which are named chocolate and have the colour of deep brown.

2. Annotation

Annotation is possible when the translation loses the meaning in source text.

For example:

紫禁城：Purple Forbidden City (Ancient Chinese astronomy believed that North Star is in the center of the sky, where the Heavenly God resides. Since purple is the symbolic color of the North Star in Chinese culture, and the Heaven and the Man are homologous, the Imperial Palace is also called Purple Forbidden City) (Luo Wenxuan, P102, 2004)

In this example, the term “紫禁城” is translated word by word. Through the annotation, the English readers can learn what Purple Forbidden City is. More examples are:

1.White goods consume 80 percent of the electricity in his apartment.

他家的白色家电（冰箱，洗衣机之类）消耗的电量占到80%。（包惠南, P180, 2003）

2.人人都说她是个白骨精。

Every body says she is the White Boned Demon, an evil spirit who of ten took the guise of a charming young woman in the novel Pilgrim age to the west. (Huang Birong, P18, 2004)

By annotation, the implied meanings of colour terms in two instances are more accurate and clear. In the first instance, the term “白色” does not mean the goods with white colour, but refers to some specific electrical appliances. In the second instance, although the “bone” is white, here the phrase “white in the Boned Demon” refers to an evil person.

Generally speaking, no mistake would creep into the version if a definite equivalence exists in target language. Thus it is more important to find a suitable translation technique for different colour terms.

 

Conclusion

Vocabulary is the most active part in language. It can directly reflect the social changes and cultural development. Moreover, vocabulary is the mirror of society and culture, so are colour terms.

Through the analysis of colour terms’ definition and history in English and Chinese, there are three main kinds of difficulties existing in colour terms’ translation, that is, the choosing of suitable forms to transmit the accurate cultural connotations of basic colour terms; the mastering of the characteristics of object colour terms; the grasping of the referential meaning and pragmatic meaning in colour terms’ translation. Then, the thesis draws a conclusion about the significance of domestication and foreignization in colour terms’ translation by listing lots of examples.

With the development of globalization and the intensified international contacts, it is more and more necessary to learn cultures of different countries. Colour terms in Chinese and English are influenced by the cultural development in their societies. Because of the complexity and variety of both vocabularies, the disposition of colour terms in translation from Chinese into English and vice versa is undoubtedly a matter of importance. Moreover, mastering colour terms’ translation improves the abilities of translation practice and promotes cross-cultural communication.

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