英语和汉语的颜色差异

摘要：不同语言中的颜色词汇具有不同的文化内涵。本文从文化的角度探讨了英语和汉语的颜色词汇存在的
差异，通过对各种颜色词汇的对比分析，指出学生掌握颜色词汇文化内涵的重要意义。
关键词：颜色词汇 文化内涵 比较

        1. Introduction
        Color terms often have symbolic meanings that vary from culture to culture. Color terms both in Chinese and English relate closely to their native cultures and have distinct cultural associations, so they often influence people’s way of thinking. With the development of language and people’s repeated use of association, color terms have developed relatively fixed images, which reflect a nation’s like and dislike, positive and negative aspects. What’s more, these fixed images and cultural connotations will act on people’s daily thinking and determine peoples daily be havior in a specific context. In this sense, studying the cultural meanings of color terms is quite necessary for communication; otherwise, we will fall into some errors arising from the misuse of color terms. As for English language teaching, the teacher should encourage and help students to summarize and compare the different cultural connotations between Chinese and English to avoid possible misunderstanding and misuse of color terms.
        2. Comparison of English and Chinese Color Vocabulary
        The color red
        Red is the most exhilarating color, which stimulates vivid emotions of people. The word red is usually associated with celebrations and joyful occasions. This is true in Englishspeaking countries as well as in China. For instance, Chinese expressions hong duilian ( 红对联) (antithetical couplet)，hong shuanxi ( 红双喜) (double happiness written in red--- the traditional symbol for an event of special joy,such as a wedding)，kaimen hong ( 开门红) (get off to a good start, make a good beginning) ;English ones like: red-letter days --- holidays such as Christmas and other special days; to put out the red carpet for sb.--- to give a lavish welcome; to paint the town red--- to celebrate wildly.
        In addition, in both cultures, red places some restrictions on people’s daily life, such as the traffic signal red light, the red light of fire truck and ambulance, or the red card in sports games.
        In Chinese, red is also the color associated with revolution, socialism and success, such as hongjun ( 红军) (the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, 1928-1937)，hongse zhengquan ( 红色政权) (red political power ) ， honghuo ( 红火) ( flourishing /prosperous)，hongren ( 红人) (a favorite with sb. in power).
While in English, red stands for blood, deficit and anger, such as red battle--- bloody battle; be in red--- have more liabilities than assets; see red--- become very angry.
        Due to the differences, if the examples here are translated literally, people from the other culture will be confused or misled.
        The color black
        Black is the color of mystery and the unknown. In both of the languages there are a variety of terms indicating that black is often associated with negative qualities: severe,unpopular, illegal, and vicious.
        black market and heishi ( 黑市) --- illegal buying and selling goods; black list and heimingdan ( 黑名单) --- list of people who are considered dangerous or who are to be punished;black heart and heixin ( 黑心) --- evil mind.
        Some individual examples in English and Chinese:
        black look --- angry stare; black day ---unlucky day; black future --- gloomy future.
        heibang（黑帮）--- reactionary gang; heihuo（黑货）--- sinister stuff
        Interestingly, the term be in the red means running a business at a loss, not meaning a profit, while the opposite of this in the black means having money in one’s bank account, that is, running a business profitably.
        Besides, black coffee refers to the coffee without cream or milk; black tea is equal to Chinese hongcha ( 红茶).
        The color white
        White has similar associations to both Chinese and westerners ; it stands for cleanliness, purity, innocence and holy. In spite of this, white has a lot of different expressions and connotations in English and Chinese languages. Here are some examples:
        a white day --- a lucky day; a white lie ---a harmless lie; white heads --- honest persons;white sale --- a sale at a reduced price
        In these cases, white in the expressions has nothing to do with the color baise ( 白色) at all. In Chinese, a lot of examples can also be found with the word bai ( 白)but without the meaning baise ( 白色). zhenxiang dabai ( 真相大白) (the fact made clear) ； baichi ( 白吃) (to eat without pay) ； biaobai ( 表白) (to explain something for oneself) ；baichi ( 白痴) (the foolish person) ；baiyan ( 白眼) (supercilious look).
        The color blue
        Blue is calming and cooling color. It is relaxing for the eyes and cheering for the mind. In Chinese, blue is the symbol of purity and wideness: liantu( 蓝图) (blueprint)，lantian ( 蓝天) (blue sky) . But in English,blue is usually associated with unhappy feelings:
        in a blue mood --- be in a low spirit
        a blue outlook --- a pessimistic view
        a blue Monday --- the first day of work or school after a pleasant and happy weekend‘
        blue talk --- dirty or obscene language
        a bolt out of blue--- something happened unexpectedly
        On the other hand, however, blue in English stands for high social position or being aristocratic:
        blue blood --- aristocratic descent or birth
        blue book --- it’s a book with the names of well-known persons, especially government officials.
        The color green
        Green symbolizes balance and agreement with nature and other people. Green in English is often used to indicate being envy and jealous.Green-eyed, which is similar to Chinese expression yanhong ( 眼红), meaning being jealous.
        Also, green in English is often used tomean lacking in experience or training of knowledge: as green as grass/ a green hand--- having no life experience and is immature.Besides, there are some other examples like:
        a green old age --- old but vigorous
        remain to every green --- remain to be energetic
        keep one’s memory green --- not allow sb.dead to be forgotten
        green power--- (AE) the power of money

　　[8]电大学习网.免费论文网[EB/OL]. /d/file/p/2024/0425/fontbr />        The Chinese expressions with the words lv( 绿)or qing( 青) are quite different from the above-mentioned meanings. For example, qingshi( 青史) (the history book), qinglai ( 青睐)(favor), luhuochunqing ( 炉火纯青) (the perfect skills of doing something), qingyunzhishang (青云直上) (to have a meteoric rise).
        The color yellow
        In Chinese , yellow is the symbol of emperor and influential officials, and it also indicates hope and luck. For example, huangpao( 黄袍) (the clothes of emperor in the past),huangdao jiri ( 黄道吉日) (propitious or lucky day), huangliang meimeng ( 黄粱美梦) (fond dream/pipe dream).
        Later, yellow appears in such Chinese expressions as huangse dianying ( 黄色电影),huangse shukan ( 黄色书刊), which have sexy or obscene sense. Such terms should not be translated into yellow movies and yellow books,because English word yellow doesn’t have the same associations as in Chinese in these cases.While in English, the color blue is often used with the similar meaning as huang( 黄) in Chinese:
        blue jokes --- dirty jokes
        blue film/software --- sexy film/software
        In English, yellow has some derogatory sense, with the meaning of being mean, timid,and coward. This is related with the religion Christianity: Judas, who betrayed Jesus, wore yellow clothes. For example,
        a yellow bargain --- a dirty deal
        a yellow streak --- cowardice in sb’s character
        a yellow talk --- coward talk.
        The color brown
        Brown rarely has other collocations in Chinese except the color meaning; while in English, we can find expressions like:
        brown sugar --- sugar that is only partly refined, with the Chinese equivalent hongtang( 红糖)
        brown bread --- bread made with wholemeal flour
        brown rice --- half- polished rice
        brown stone district --- residential quarters for the rich
        The color purple
        In western countries, purple stands for the power of emperor with the connotation of being noble, elegant and refined.
        to raise to the purple --- to be promoted to be the cardinal
        to be born in the purple --- to be born from the royal family
        purple heart --- (AE.) medal awarded to asoldier who has been wounded in battle.
        The color gray
        There are three main meanings of gray in English.
        (1) be depressing, monotonous: 
        gray and pointless life --- meaninglesslife
        gray prospect --- dim prospect
        (2) having no life or attractive features:
        gray men --- unknown person
        gray list --- the list of unpopular people,books, films etc.
        (3) referring to the old:
        the graying people --- the old people
        gray experience --- experienced
        3. Conclusion
        From the comparison above we can see that between English and Chinese. When a c avoiding some pragmatic failure in communication
　　[8]电大学习网.免费论文网[EB/OL]. /d/file/p/2024/0425/fontbr />