Abstract

With the development of the times, vocabulary has become a practical tool for people to communicate and acquire knowledge, especially color terms. The deepening of the cross-cultural communication accelerates the research on semantic contrast of color words between Chinese and English. This paper aims to make a semantic comparison between color words in Chinese and English, and then to analyze the causes of the phenomenon. At last, the methods of translation of color words between Chinese and English will be put forward.

  Key words: color words, comparison, translation, semantics

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-5

2. Literature Review-6

3. Semantic contrast of color words in Chinese and English-10

3.1 Mutual Corresponding Meaning-10

3.2 Partly Corresponding Meaning-13

3.3 Semantic differences-14

3.4 Semantic voids-16

4. Reasons of the existence of semantic similarities and differences of color words in Chinese and English-18

4.1 Differences in geographical environment-18

4.2 Differences in religious beliefs-19

4.3 Colors and ritual customs-19

5. Strategies of dealing with semantic similarities and differences of color words in translation-20

5.1 Literal translation-20

5.2 Free translation-21

6. Conclusion-21

References-22