从功能对等角度分析英汉颜色词翻译

时间：2020-12-03 15:05:21 来源：蒲公英阅读网 本文已影响人

相关热词搜索：对等 英汉 角度

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　从功能对等角度分析英汉颜色词的翻译 Acknowledgment

　 This paper is completed by the earnest and careful guidance of the instructor. Her serious scientific attitude, rigorous scholarship, the work of excellence style is deeply infected and inspired me. In this time I will extend my sincere thanks and high respect to my teacher. I would also like to thanks my partner that we spent happily time together,because of their help and support, so I can overcome one after another difficulties and doubts,until the successful completion of the paper. When the paper come to finish, my mood can not be calm,how many respectable teachers,classmates and friends gives me help from the beginning to the end of the paper smoothly,please accept my most sincere thanks here.

　Than,I would also like to thanks my parents grow me up hardly, thank you!Finally, thanks again to my teachers and classmates!

　 ii

　 摘 摘 要 颜色词是每个民族文化中的重要组成部分。由于地域、风俗、政治、宗教及价值观念等方面的不同，中英文中相对应的颜色词往往代表着不同的含义，本文将从功能对等的角度对中西颜色词进行系统的分析，以便更好的理解在翻译层中不同的文化背景对语言产生的影响力，避免在跨境文化翻译中产生文化冲突。

　 西方文明一开始就比较注重科学理性的教育和科学方法的探索，对客观世界和客观认识采取积极的科学态度。因此，西方文化中颜色的象征意义往往比较直接，一般使用客观事物的具体颜色来象征某些抽象的的文化含义，所以更容易追溯其语义理据和逻辑理据。而中国经历了几千年的封建社会以及教育和科技的相对落后，它的发展受到中国社会文化的发展的较大影响。所以中国文化中的颜色内涵和象征意义非常丰富，而且颜色词的的象征意义是多元的。

　目前，国内外翻译界中关于颜色词条的翻译有很多，但本文旨在通过功能对等的视角，在英文颜色词的翻译上进行更为深入的探索。并且由于文化、历史等的不同，所导致的翻译方法和方式也不同，所以应当结合当今现有的颜色词的翻译以及我们本国的文化，为这个虽起步较晚，但不可忽视、亟待加强的重要翻译研究领域提供有益的参考和借鉴。

　关键词：颜色词，功能对等,文化差异，翻译原则

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　 Abstract

　Color words is an important part of every ethnic culture. Due to the differences of geographical, customs, political, religious and values and other aspects. Correspondingly, color words in Chinese and English often represent different meanings. This paper will conduct system analysis on the differences of the color words translations. From the perspective of functional equivalence theory(FET) to do which helps us to better understand the different cultural background and to avoid cultural conflicts in the translations. Western civilization pay a lo more attention to the discovery of rationality educations and scientific methods, and westerns take a realistic scientific attitude to the objective world and objective understandings, so the symbolic meaning of color words in western culture is more direct, and it is easier to trace its semantic rationale and logical justification. As China has experienced thousands of years of feudal society, moreover, the education and technology development is relatively backward, and color words translation was greatly influenced by the Chinese society and cultural development, therefore the symbolic meaning of color words in Chinese culture is very rich and multiple. This paper aims to make a systematic exposition of English color words form the perspective of functional equivalence theory(FET). Because of the different of culture and history between western and china, so we should combining with the practice of translation of color words in our country and the reality of our country"s comprehensive national strength, to do more studies in this aspects.

　Key words:Functional equivalence theory(FET), Color words, Culture difference, Translation principles

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　 Contents

　Acknowledgment .............................................................................. i 摘 摘 要 .................................................................................................. ii Abstract ............................................................................................ iii Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................... 1 1.1 Research background .............................................................................. 1 1.2 Significance of the research .................................................................... 1 1.3 Arrangement of the thesis ....................................................................... 2

　Chapter 2 Literature review ............................................................ 4 2.1 Study of the color words translation „„„„„„„„„„„„„4 2.2 FET and Its Applications

　............................................................. 6

　2.3 FET Applied in English Color Words Translation

　.......................... 8

　Chapter 3 Translation of English Color Words ............................. 9 3.1General Principles of Color Words Translation ................................... 9

　3.2Application of FET in English color words translation ..................... 10

　 3.2.1Vocabulary equivalence„„„„„„„„„„„„„„„„„ 10

　3.2.2Syntactic equivalence„„„„„„„„„„„„„„„„„„ 10

　 3.2.3Chapter Equivalence„„„„„„„„„„„„„„„„„„ 11

　 3.2.4Stylistic Equivalence„„„„„„„„„„„„„„„„„„ 11

　3.3Exploration Reasons ............................................................................. 12

　Chapter 4 Conclusion ..................................................................... 14

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　Bibliography.................................................................................... 15

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　 Chapter 1 Introduction

　 As the essence of human civilization, language is the most important part of it. Different language make the world colorful, which color words is one of the most colorful languages.

　1.1 Research background We lived in this colorful world, and a variety of colors makes this world colorful. However, translation of color words in English and Chinese requires us not only to observe the meaning of the color words in the surface,but to study its deep meanings. So we should be more cautious about the translation of color words. Coupled with the historical background, geographical location, language habits and other factors, we find that the symbolic meaning of color words are various according to different culture, so the translation of color words can be various. The classification of color words in Chinese and English is basically the same. Due to physical or psychological reasons that may result of different meaning of color words in English and Chinese. If we made literal translation, it will lead to the confusion and tedious understanding of the recipients. For example,in well-known sinologist Hawkes‟s(2009.8.25) translation works Dream of Red Mansions, red can make the modern readers think of “violence”and “bloodshed”, so the title is The Story of Stone originally. There are many literature on translation at home and abroad, but translation in practical applications has been a weak point. Especially for the translation of English color words is still very little. So this research is necessary.Under the development of China‟s translation industry and increasing of our countries comprehensive strength, we should do some studies on strengthening the translation industry and provide reference and research to developed the study. 1.2 Significance of the research

　The translation of color words is very important. As a powerful form of communication, color is irreplaceable. Because these words are closely related with our lives. But for different

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　cultures and different histories, the meanings of the expression will be biased and we must try our best to grasp these differences in order to express accurately in the foreign exchanges.

　Language and culture complement each other and influence each other. Due to the historical and cultural background, social customs, geographical environment and so on, different people give a very rich and different cultural connotations for this color words. By studying the color words connotations of English and Chinese and analyzing the causes of the differences, then puts forward some translation strategies of translating English color words. So the origin meaning of color words can be appropriately expressed in whatever context. All in all, study in Western color words can enhance the sensitivity of Chinese learners in English-speaking countries and social countries. Under the development of China‟s translation industry and increasing of our countries comprehensive strength, we should do some studies on strengthening the translation industry and provide reference and research to developed the study. 1.3 Arrangement of the thesis The whole article is divided into four chapters to discuss the translation of color words from different angles. Chapter one is divided into three sections: research background, research significance and arrangement of this thesis. First of all, to explore the different meanings of English color words in order to help us to express more accurately in cross-culture communication. By learning the color words and understanding the importance of color words,we can better understand the foreign culture.

　 Chapter two mainly introduced some related literature. It was divided into four sections. First we will study of the color words translations and functional equivalence theory and its applications. And then make a summery of this two sections. From the perspective of functional equivalence theory to translate the English color words. In addition, according to the current status of color translations, it was pointed out what problems should be paid more attention to translation of these words. And then the chapter focuses on the meaning of functional equivalence theory, analyses it completely and associated with the translation of

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　color words. Chapter three points out the theme of this articles,also divided into three sections. This part mainly discusses the translation of English color words in the angle of functional equivalence. Give three general principles that we should followed. And then is the applications of FET in English color words. Finally made a exploration of reasons why I used this perspective to do translations, and we know that the primary factor is cultural differences. Chapter four is the summary of this article, content is divided into three pieces. First is mainly the summary of this study, and then discusses when in the cultural background the translation strategies of English color words. And last is the limitations of this studies. Through this article, some of the translation methods developed, as well as caused some difficulties and restrictive factors in the translation process, this need us to solve in the future.

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　 Chapter 2 Literature review

　 In human languages there exists a number of color terms that makes the world colorful. The color words not only express the color but imply the culture of each country. So let‟s study the color words.

　2.1 Study of the color words translation

　 Different cultures can reflect one country‟s history, aesthetic taste and national characteristics. It is noticed that different people from different culture backgrounds have different sense to colors. But what is color words? The exploration of color words in western countries can be traced back to the ancient Greek. Plato believed that:

　The process of perceiving colors by human beings should satisfy three basic conditions:a light source,a reflector or an object which can reflect light and a functional eye that can receive the reflected light (Sloane 1991:54).

　In short, color words are words that describe color, also it is a perception of the objective world. In recent years, many scholars discuss color words from different perspectives and different levels , Such as Ye Jun(2001) stressed the differences between colors and color terms. He described the difference of colors between English and Chinese start from the color words meanings, categories, generation, features and functions. Fu Huaiqing(1988) study the „red‟ words group from the “red” color words. She thinks there is a lot of expressions can interpret the word „red‟ and each way is different according to various cultures. Wu Ge(2001) focuses on the semantic culture of color words. This studies let us know that color words is complex and need to be studied according to different circumstances. In cross-cultural communication, the translation of color word can not be literal translation because of the culture differences. For example, many foreign famous translators translated the literary masterpiece HongLouMeng written by Cao Xueqin. In this title the word „Hong‟ means „a girl with an unfortunate life and the tragedy love between Jia baoyu and Lin daiyu‟, „Hong Lou‟ means „贾府‟, so the words „Hong‟ have an important meaning.

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　But when David Hawkes translated this title into The story of the stone the translation lost its original cultural meanings. Later, someone translated the title into A dream in Red Mansion, and this title is better than the former one. There have another examples that is the film How Green Was My Valley in 1941. In this title,

　 „Green‟ was translated into Chinese as „青山‟ which shows the image of the mountain full of green, and the „Valley‟ was translated into „翠谷‟ which corresponds to the previous word „Green‟. These two color words translation is faithful to reflect the original love of green mountains and rivers, and it also takes the culture and pragmatic habit of Chinese people into consideration. In Western countries the word ‟yellow‟ can be a symbol of “death”, “desolate”, “depression” and so on. So the British will use yellow to express these meanings. British poet Shelley described the dead leaves in his Ode to the West, those dead leaves are: driven like ghosts fleeing from an enchanter ， yellow ， and black ， and pale ， and hectic red ，pestilence-stricken multitudes.The famous translator Zha Liangyong translated this sentence as: 枯死的落叶被你横扫 , 有如鬼魅碰到了巫师 , 纷纷逃避：黄的 , 黑的 , 灰的 , 红得像患肺痨 ,

　 In the translation, the author integrates his own understanding and the beauty of Chinese culture to achieve better rhythm. These studies about color words indicating that the study of color words have great significance and it plays a very practical role in different contexts, and represent completely different meanings, we must translate it according to different circumstances. Color words belongs to cultural qualifiers and have a strong national cultural characteristics, every nation has its own color concepts. The same color expresses different cultural psychology in different national cultures and causing different associations.(包惠南，2001）

　Bao Huinan point out the relationships between color words and culture, so different culture will have its own features, and this caused different concepts of people. For example, Peng qiurong(2001) discussed the translation of color words from the cultural perspective and Zhu hua(2009) discussed the translation of color words in English and Chinese poems.

　Above all are examples of translation of color words, and we have made some

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　achievements in this. But there are still many problems and limitations that we should pay more attention to. For example, some color words can not be very appropriate translated into Chinese, for example “a white area where enemies move” translated to “白区”,Chinese people may not have a good understanding for this words. So when translation of English color words till have some difficulties and we need pay more attention to it and to solve this problem.

　 We all know that the highest goal of Eugene Nida"s functional equivalence is to pursue meaning equivalence, and then followed by form equivalence. This theory is widely used in advertising translation, trademark translation, poetry translation, and for the translation of color words, it is also applicable, we will analyze concept of functional equivalence and its applications in the following part. 2.2 FET and Its Applications The core concept of Nida‟s theory is functional equivalence theory. The functional equivalence of information instead of the direct formal equivalence in translation. Nida think that not only the sense but the style should be closely to the original meanings and the meaning is the most important, followed by the form. His functional equivalence theory mainly includes four aspects: vocabulary equivalence; syntactic equivalence; chapter equivalence; stylistic equivalence. The development of functional equivalence theory is divided into three stages：The first stage is based on the modern linguistics that is use the functional equivalence theory to describe linguistics. In Nida‟s view, the translation through the inter-lingual transformation of the structure can ensure the translation of loyalty and fluency to the utmost. The second stage is to pursue the original forms to analyze functional equivalence theory, Nida stressed that the original form can be appropriately changed in order to enhance the understanding of the translation. The third stage is based on the social semiotics to analysis "functional equivalence" theory. In the book Language, Culture, Translation, Nida pointed out that social semiotics studied all the code of human society and it focuses on the most comprehensive complex symbol system --- language. Functional equivalence is mainly reflected in the following three aspects: First,

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　functional equivalence in meaning, followed by the form. Second, concerned about the acceptability of the translation. Third, the translator has more freedom on the basis of faithfulness. In these years, Nida"s functional equivalence theory have many applications in practical translation. For example, Wang Zehua (2016) translated the book Man from Mars. Man of Mars was written by Marguerite Atwood, a Canadian writer. Under the different cultures, Wang used three aspects of functional equivalence to explain the translation: Syntactic equivalence,Chapter equivalence and Stylistic equivalence to translate the color words. This is a good applications of FET. Functional equivalence was also used in many other aspects of the translation. Cheng Zhenqiu(2003) in translation problem exploration, Mao Xuan translation study find the problems in translation from the aspects of lexical and syntactic, he pursued the equivalence both in meanings and forms. Another translator Cai lvyan(2013) in Translation of the

　„To‟ sentence in the government work report said that: The special form of Chinese does not have a corresponding form in English,so we must ensure the equivalence of meaning and the proper abandonment of form equivalence.

　Newmark is another famous translation theorist did not approve of the points of Nida‟s functional equivalence. He proposed the concepts of “communicative translation”and“semantic translation”. Newmark proposed some cases where functional equivalence can not be realized.“(a) if the purpose of the source text was to affect and the translated text was to inform (or vise versa); (b) if there is a pronounced cultural gap between the SLT and TLT.” (Xu Chunchun, cited in Newmark, 2007). While Liu Chongde(2003), assesses the equivalence in the following way, “ Nida ’ s

　functional

　equivalence

　which

　is

　abundant

　in

　content

　and

　includes

　every situation

　of

　translating

　has

　practical

　referential

　values

　for

　most

　translators

　forever.” Liu

　Chongde

　also

　said

　in

　2003

　that : functional

　equivalence

　proposed

　by

　Nida

　was

　a comprehensive

　translation

　theory, which

　includes

　the

　equivalence

　not

　only

　in

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　meaning,

　but

　also

　in

　style

　at

　the

　three levels. (Liu Chongde, 2003).

　So the FET have two key point: meaning equivalence and form equivalence and when translation English color words that we should followed it. So this all study is the understanding and application of functional equivalence. 2.3 FET applied in English color words translation The above two sections respectively described the color words and functional equivalence, and the combination of two parts will helps to achieve more conducive translation of color words. Tan peixi(1999) said in the New Nida Translation that:

　As English color words can not find the relative color words in the target language, so will use a non-color words to replace the meanings. The target language and source language in the form is not completely equal but the meanings are equally, so the “equivalence language” does not mean “the same language” We may often encounter such cases that there is no corresponding words to translate, so we should know the priorities of the translation. Deng Yvhua and Li Jianhong(2010) said in the The translation of colors in perspective of Functional equivalence theory that: The classification of English and Chinese color words is very common, the same meaning can be achieved when having the same form. And some color words that have different forms also are close to the source language by some measures. Actually all language are in common. Color words are almost correspondence when expressing the color of nature, but if the culture background was added into the color words, translator should to analyze or translate the words from the perspective of functional equivalence. The above literature are functional equivalence theory applied in English color words translation, but we can see the literature is very small, so we also need to continue to explore it.

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　 Chapter 3 Translation of English Color Words

　 As the saying goes:Nothing can be accomplished without norms or standards. So when we translate the color words,we should know some rules or principles. 3.1General Principles for Color Words Translation

　When we translate the English color words, we must know the English nations history and culture. On the contrary, literal translation will lead to a lot of problems. For example, „red rain‟ will be translated into „火灾‟ not „红雨‟ in literal meaning; „a white lie‟ means „善意的谎言‟,and also some poetry translation are not strict followed the form because different culture have different rhythm and beauty. For example, Zhu Shenghao(1994) translated Shakespeare‟s famous poetry Hamlet that the original is: The time is out of joint, O cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it right.

　And Zheng‟s translation is:

　“这是一个颠倒混乱的时代，哎，倒霉的我啊，却要负起重振乾坤的责任。”

　 This translations is an example to let us know that we do not always translate followed the forms and it can also achieve equivalence. Therefore some general principles in the English color words translation can be draw from the above examples:

　The first point is not only to be faithful to the original translation, but in line with the habit of Chinese.

　The second point is that translation should not too rigid. Because if we strictly followed the form, then the sticky, engraved translation will hurt the original meanings. A good translation should be the unity of form and content.

　The third point is that the process of translation should be understood first. These three principles should be applied in our translation. When translating English color words, we can not be out of context or just literal

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　translation. This is very undesirable. The above three principles may illustrate the following examples from the positive or negative interpretation: The first is “red-letter day”. It means „a memory day‟ in English, but when translated into Chinese, we can translated as „纪念日‟,‟开心‟,‟大喜的日子‟and so on, there is no need to followed the original form strictly. And then some other English color words translations also are very good proofs of these principles “black sheep 害群之马”, „black sheep‟ in English means „a member of a family or group who is regarded as a disgrace to them‟, but in Chinese culture,we can use a idiom to expla and this proved the first principle. 3.2Translation English color words with FET

　We have already mentioned the benefits and principles of translating color words with functional equivalence theory, but how should we deal with English color words? There are four layers of equivalence. The study of it may helps us better apply the functional equivalence theory in color words translation. 3.2.1Vocabulary equivalence Some English color vocabulary has the corresponding Chinese color words, such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, these vocabulary corresponding chinese words „赤橙黄露青蓝紫‟. „a red sun‟

　can be translated into „一轮红日‟in Chinese. So we can know that simple vocabulary have the same meanings in English and Chinese because there have no cultural connotation. We know the vocabulary have corresponding words in Chinese, but when color words in sentences whether have color words corresponding or not? And then we will explore the English color words in sentence. 3.2.2Syntactic equivalence When color words in a sentences not only means the color of the objective things but contains cultural connotations, we need to understand the meaning of the whole sentence in order to translation correctly. For example, „to show the white feather, to see the white.‟ was translated into Chinese as „见世面，长世故‟. We can not translated „white‟ into „白色‟ because western countries people are believed in Islam and „white‟ is the most holy, solemn colors in Islam, so when we translate this sentence into this. Another example is „black sheep‟. The literal meaning is „黑羊‟. Actually, it means spendthrift or a member of a family or group

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　who is regarded as a disgrace to them. This phrase is takes from the ancient legend of the British superstition. In the past people think that black lambs are the embodiment of the devil,so the shepherd felt a black sheep in a group of Aries means is very auspicious,so the „black sheep‟ have this meanings. Syntactic equivalence do not equivalence in sentences but the original meaning should be kept.

　3.2.3Chapter Equivalence

　We need know an article or a passages structure and its whole meaning that we can know the simple word meanings of it. In one article every simple words have its special meanings. Because of the different context and different atmosphere, the color words have different meanings.For example, the famous translator FuLei(1986) translated the Balzac‟s famous works The Human Comedy, one of the sentences of this works that FuLei translated into: 然而奥古斯汀天生心高气傲，能够体会到这种生活的空虚。有时他抬起蔚蓝的秀眼，似乎在向这幽暗的楼梯和潮湿的殿堂提出询问。

　In this sentences that the source languages has not have this color words,but according to the cultural characteristics of the target language and understanding of whole context, the use of additional color words to express. This method is very appropriate, chapter equivalence theory is also very applicable here. By contacting the context and the writing background,he using different words instead of color words. This is the meaning of chapter equivalence. 3.2.4Stylistic Equivalence Nida has said ：

　The types of changes which are justified in the case of possible,misunderstanding of designative meaning are primarily lexical,but they may involve matters as syntax as well（Nida, 1993). Different stylistic translation works have their own unique language features. Only to master both the source language and target language features, the translator can create a translation works that true embodiment of the source style. The difference in the style of the works mean the cultural factors are different. So when we translated a color words must knowing the styles. For example：Zheng Zhenduo(1982) translated Tagore"s famous poem“Stray Birds”, “The grass seeks her crowd in the earth. The tree seeks his solitude of the sky.” ,he translated into “绿草求她地上的伴侣，绿树求他天空的寂寞。”. This translations achieve the stylistic equivalence by amply the English color

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　words translations. And have another examples: “My thoughts shimmer with these shimmering leaves and my heart sings with the touch of this sunlight; my life is glad to be floating with all things into the blue of space, into the dark of time.”

　Zheng translated into “我的思想随着这些闪耀的绿叶而闪耀；我的心灵因了这日光的抚触而歌唱；我的生命因为偕了万物一同浮泛在空间的蔚蓝，时间的墨黑而感到欢快。” In this sentence that Zheng translated the English color words literal in order to achieve the original effect better. So this is stylistic equivalence and under the premise of meaning equivalence.

　3.3 Reason Exploration Because of different cultural backgrounds, it is impossible for all English color words to correspond exactly in which as we said that equivalence does not mean the same. Different ways of translation may caused by same reasons. One is historical background. English-speaking countries is completely different from that of China. There are many words that can not be understood literally because of historical connotations. For example, the word „red‟ in the western culture mainly refers to the blood,while foreign history has a lot of bloody revolution and a lot of war, so Westerners will think of “violence” and “dangerous”. But in china, we think „red‟ is auspicious and happy because there has an ancient legend; according to the legend, our ancestors used red guns, red couplet to scared the terrible beast, so „red‟ represent the auspicious meaning of happiness. Because of the different history, color words has different meanings, we translated it,we must pursue the meaning equivalence, not form equivalence.

　Another aspect is different living habits or concept that made the different meanings for color words. There is a phrase may illustrate this, „white sale‟ in English means „no smoke of the war, long refers to the economic war‟,but in china it means „big sale‟. Because china have no economic war, so we all have no recognize economic war, but in foreign countries people often under the economic war. So also have some other different living environment may made the differences, such as geographical factors, religious belief and so on. This all need us to use functional equivalence theory to solve the problem.

　The purpose of any language is to do communicate, the English color words are no exception, it also to be able to better communication. Study English color words may have a

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　better understanding of foreign culture. But the direct “doctrine” is completely unreasonable, we must follow certain rules and this rules must be able to solve this problem. So, Eugene Nida"s functional equivalence theory is well used in this regard. These are the reasons why I will from the perspective of functional equivalence to solve the problem of translation English color words.

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　 Chapter 4 Conclusion

　 Through the study of this subject, we found that the translation of color words from the perspective of functional equivalence is very appropriate. Because Eugen Nida"s functional equivalence theory from four aspects to give us some translation methods, or translation standards. The four aspects are vocabulary equivalence, Syntactic equivalence, chapter Equivalence and Stylistic Equivalence. From this four aspects that we find some applications that expand this theory successfully.

　The next point we focuses on is the translation of English color words. There have some general principles should we followed before we translation: The first point is not only to be faithful to the original translation, but in line with the habit of Chinese. The second point is that translation should not too rigid. The third point is that the process of translation should be understood first. And then we studying the English color words translations from the perspective of FET, mainly from the former four aspects to study the English color words translation. we can change the form and no longer rigidly adhere to the original form. So that recipients can through his familiar language to understand English words meanings. This is a success of functional equivalence. Finally explored the reasons why we study the English color words translations from the perspective of FET. The main reason is the different cultures, different historical factors and different geographical environment. This can influence our understanding of the color words meanings. Different people have different ideas about color words, as the saying goes: A thousand people...