语言和文化关系的认知解释与翻译的可译性

在语言和文化关系的传统认识上,有两种相反的观点.这两种观点都是片面的,其不足之处在于它们都把语言和文化看作两个孤立的个体.从人类的认知角度来看,语言和文化都是人类认知能力的外在表现.人类认知的本质决定了语言和文化的性质和它们的关系.语言和文化不是彼此决定的关系,某一语言和文化的结合是历史的、偶然的产物.人类认知能力是无限的,无限的认知能力赋予人类语言以无穷创造性,人类语言可以跨越文化的界限,实现对它文化的理解和接纳.这种对语言和文化的理解构成了翻译可能性的坚实理论基础.

The Relationship between Language and Culture from the Cognitive Perspective and Its Implication for Translatability

Traditionally there are 2 opposite views on the relationship between language and culture.Cul- ture determinism believes that language is the expression and embodiment of culture,so a culture deter- mines how people think and speak in that culture.Language determinism believes that language controls thinking,and the culture of a speech community is the collective thinking pattern and thinking habit of all its members.The 2 views are both incomplete and the reason lies in the fact that both of the 2 views look at language and culture as 2 isolated entities.From the cognitive perspective,both language and culture can be seen as the external expressions of the human cognitive ability.The nature of human cognition de- termines the nature of language and culture and their relationship.Language and culture do not determine each other.The combination of a particular language and a particular culture is historical and arbitrary. The human cognitive power is boundless and boundless human cognitive power give human language infi- nite creativity.Human language can travel across the boundaries of different cultures to understand and simulate other cultures.This perspective to the relationship of language and culture provides the most sol- id theoretical basis for translatability between different languages..