On the cultural differences between English and Chinese on the basis of a contrastive analysis of the introductory It pattern and Its Chinese Translation

Abstract

This paper focuses on one of the English introductory It patterns, which is known as Thematised Comment in the Theme-rheme theory of Functional Grammar, and its Chinese translation. By examining the self-built micro-corpus, we find that in such English sentences commenting words are usually put at the beginning part and the relating parts come after, stating the facts or reasons, while the Chinese versions are usually the other way round. This language characteristic reflects the different cultural psychology or thinking habits of the two nations, which, I believe, is caused, in turn, by the different productive forces and production relations between the two places. At the same time I hold that it remains to be proven whether there are factors of geographical environment, or even of race. In short, the two languages have their respective characteristics, and it's not a wise idea to say one is better or worse than the other. In essence, translation, in a sense, is a transformation of thinking mode. Only by understanding the thinking characteristics underlying the target language, can language learners realize the transformation between languages more quickly and more smoothly.