Abstract: A proverb is the essence of a culture, the best description of a national culture. With the cultural communication between Chinese and western people, the cultural differences reflected by proverbs are recognized increasingly. These differences also mirror the cultural divergences. This thesis attempts to analyze distinctive Chinese and western proverbs by contrast, and tries to explain what cultural divergences are hidden behind them on four aspects: different views on custom, living environment, value orientation, and religion.By comparison we can gain a better understanding of Chinese and western proverbs from various aspects. At the same time, it will contribute to foreign language teaching and intercultural linguistics, and also broaden the horizon of cultural-linguistics.
Key words: Proverbs; Cultural Differences; Custom; Living Environment; Values; Religion
【摘 要】格言是一个民族文化的精华，也是民族性格的最佳描绘。随着中西文化交流的日益频繁，中西格言反映和渗透的文化差异日益为人们所关注，而这种差异也为研究中西文化差异提供了一个视角。本篇论文将主要采用对比的方法，分析各具特色的中西格言，来阐述格言所体现出来的中西文化在习俗，地域，价值观，宗教四个方面的不同。通过对比，我们不仅可以了解中西谚语的诸多方面，同时对外语教学，跨文化交际等具有借鉴意义，也为文化语言学研究提供了一个崭新的视角。
【关键词】格言；文化差异；习俗；地域；价值观；宗教
1 Introduction
Francis Bacon once commented that“the genius, wit and spirit of a nation are discovered in its proverbs.”The proverb is the refinement of wisdom, the condensation of experience, and the concentration of culture. Proverbs reflect almost every aspect of the features of a nation: its customs, value trends, geographic condition, religious tradition, historical process and so on. Therefore, the importance of proverbs is quite obvious.
2 Research Done about Proverbs
2.1 Definitions of Proverbs
Various definitions are provided in quite a number of authoritative dictionaries of English. According to Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913:1613), a proverb is “an old or common saying, especially, a sentence which briefly and forcibly expresses some practical truth or the result of expresses some practical truth or the result of experience and observation”. A proverb is defined as “a short, pithy saying in general use, held to embody a general truth or gives advice” in The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1999:1193).
Some experts in the relevant field also put forward their own definitions of English proverbs. For instance, Gregory Titelman (1996:ix), in his introduction to a dictionary of proverbs, gave the following definition: Proverbs are the collective wisdom of all nations, of all ages, of all times. A proverb typically expresses a commonplace thought in a succinct, often metaphorical way. After carefully analyzing the definitions of proverbs given by scholars home and abroad and systematically comparing English proverbs with other categories of English idioms such as set phrases, sayings and maxims, Zeng Zhili (1983:7) came up with a tentative definition: “English proverbs are the summarization of the life and struggle experience of the English-speaking people with instructive and persuasive functions, such as imparting knowledge, providing advice and warnings, etc; and they are concise and vivid sentences and utterances, which are fixed in form and pattern and widely popular with British and American people as well as other English-speaking nations”. 2.2 Sources of Proverbs
Historical culture is formed by a specific historical development and historical legacy. It is composed of allusion, tradition, myths, poems and ancient books and records. All those are the distinctive national features.
Many ideas now prevailing in western countries can be traced back to the thinkers in ancient Greece and Rome. Unless one is well acquainted with the Greco-Latin tradition, one would be puzzled at the meanings and connotations of the proverbs such as those below: “One falls into Scylla in seeking to avoid Charybdis.” The proverb is based on the story of Scylla who was a nymph that changed into a monster in Greek mythology and terrorized mariners in the Strait of Mexico. And Charybdis was a whirlpool at the coast of Sicily personified in Greek myth as a female monster. So the proverb can be translated as “为避虎穴, 落入狼窝” .
Literature, as a mirror of social life, is another source of proverbs. Many Chinese proverbs are derived from classical Chinese literary works.
The following proverbs are taken from The Red Mansion:
（1） 世上无不散的筵席。 (Even the longest feast must break up at last.)
（2）清官难断家务事。(Not even good officials can settle family troubles.)
Just as many Chinese proverbs are derived from classic works, many western proverbs are derived from Shakespeare""s plays, narrative verses and sonnets. For examples:
（3） All the world is a stage, and all the men and women are merely players. (整个世界就是个大舞台，形形色色的人们只是其中的演员。)
（4）A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. (玫瑰无论叫什么名字都是香的。)
Other literary masters also contributed to the English proverbial repertoire. For example, in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, one can find many humorous and ironic proverbs such as, “Every wise man dreads his enemy (聪明人不吃眼前亏。) ”. And “Knowledge is power (知识就是力量。)” is what the great British thinker Francis Bacon contributed to the English proverbs.
There are some other Chinese proverbs chosen from the ancient books and records with more than 2000 years.
（5）近朱者赤, 近墨者黑。(Touch pitch, and you will be defiled.)
（6）不入虎穴，焉得虎子。(Nothing venture, nothing have.)
3 Different Cultures Manifested in Proverbs
Every nation has its own way of living and thinking, cultural environment and traditional culture. Because of this, the cultural information reflected by different languages is quite different. Both China and the West have plenty of proverbs. If we do some comparison work, we would see many interesting examples. 3.1 Different Customs Reflected in Proverbs
Since both Chinese and western countries have long history and rich cultural legacy, there are a large amount of proverbs that reflect their different customs and conventions.
The Chinese and the western hold different opinions on the same thing, for example: time and animals. In Chinese society, cautious plan is more important. The Chinese people believe that a person should wait for opportunities to come with patience, because “心急吃不了热豆腐” means one could not be too eager to do something. Similarly, “慢工出细活” is used to mean “Careful work makes perfect result”.
But western people view time with different perspectives. For examples:
（1） Time is a hard taskmaster. (时间是严厉的监工。)
（2）Time is money. (时间就是金钱。)
The proverbs show western people have very strong feelings of the limitedness of time, so they say, “Time is money.” And Americans believe that the most precious thing is time. Meanwhile, the British pointed the importance of punctuality in the proverb “Punctuality is the politeness of kings (守时乃国王之礼) ”.
Another example, Chinese people often say“狗仗人势”, “狗腿子”,“狼心狗肺”. To Chinese people, dog is not only associated with positive but also negative qualities. “A filthy mouth can’t utter decent language (狗嘴里吐不出象牙。) ” is a typical example that contains the negative quality. But in the west, dog is usually associated with positive qualities. For example: “Love me, love my dog. (爱屋及乌。) ” “Every dog has its lucky day. (人人都有走运的一天。) ” “Dogs” are regarded as man’s faithful friends, because they are loyal, dependable, and being able to make good companions.
3.2 Different Living Environments Reflected in Proverbs
Different language forms, as the partial reflection of regional culture, are applied by different nations to show their attitudes towards one thing or phenomenon. Therefore, different regions exert effort on the expressions of Western and Chinese proverbs. For example:
（1）In a calm sea, every man is a pilot.（在平静的海洋里每一个人都是舵手。）
（2）A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner. （平静的大海里练不出好水手。）
These proverbs are related to sailing and braving the weather on the sea. They best represent an insular culture, describing people who live along seacoasts and whose livelihood is dependent upon the sea.
Look at another two examples:
（1）七十二行农为首，百亩之田粪当先。（Farming is prior to all the other trades, and in farming nothing important than manure.）
（2）百业农为本，民以食为天。(Agriculture is essential for all the other trades, as food is the first necessity of the people.) These proverbs best represent a continental culture, recording agricultural activities in China.
From the above examples, we can see that either the English proverbs or the Chinese ones are used metaphorically. The sharp contrast is that when expressing these similar ideas, English speakers turn to their experience in the sea for vivid and witty expressions, while Chinese speakers turn to their experience on land for similar expressions.
3.3 Different Values Reflected in Proverbs
From people’s working and living experience of one country, different values have been abstracted, accumulated and handed down from generation to generation. Because of different experience between countries, values originated from it also turned out to be largely varied and even totally opposite, which proverbs are built on. A number of proverbs reflect their different values.
For instance, modesty is valued in Chinese culture almost since the beginning of Chinese history. There are a great number of Chinese proverbs, such as “满招损, 谦受益” “虚心使人进步”and so on. On the contrary, most of western countries are infested with fierce social competition so that people there emphasize individual behaviors, achievement and value. Their value orientation in this aspect appears to be in contrast with Chinese. They have proverbs showing the uselessness to be modest such as “Modest dogs miss much meat”, “Where there is fear, there is modesty”.
Many western people believe they should take care of themselves, solve their own problems, that is, individual freedom: self-reliance, as a proverb says“Heavens help these who help themselves”. But Chinese believe“一个篱笆三个桩，一个好汉三个帮”，“在家靠父母，出门靠朋友”. These proverbs contrast sharply with those of self-reliance. The Chinese don’t think the particular character of an individual can help a lot, and instead cooperation and compromise are more beneficial.
Besides self-reliance, material wealth is another value to the western people. For instance, “Health and wealth create beauty”,“Health and money go far”. However, the traditional Chinese intellectuals never view money as a part their standard for ideal life. Instead, spiritual wealth is much more important. “朝闻道，夕死可以”,“一箪食，一瓢饮，在陋巷不改其乐”，these old expressions have been generally acknowledged and influenced Chinese significantly.
3.4 Different Religions Reflected in Proverbs
Religion exists in every country and nation and affects much in people’s belief and life. Numerous proverbs were generated from the fountain of religion. Most westerners believe in Christianity and regard the Bible as one of the most important classical works in their life. Innumerable proverbs are originated from the Bible, such as the proverb referring to the unwise act of forcing the extremely conservative person to accept new conceptions, “to put new wine in old bottles”, the proverb describing the characteristic of human beings, “Every heart has its own ache”, another proverb denoting revenge in the same way, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”.
Look at the following examples:
（1）A butcher becomes a Buddha the moment he drops his cleaver.（放下屠刀，立地成佛。）
（2）One never burns incense when all is all right. However, he clasps Buddha’s feet when in dive need. （平时不烧香，临时抱佛脚。）
（3） As long as one remains a monk, he rings the bell. （当一天和尚，撞一天钟。）
These proverbs are closely related to Buddhism. Buddhist culture has been a part of Chinese culture and exerted enormous influence on Chinese traditional culture and present life as well. In language, a large number of Chinese proverbs can be traced back to Buddhist School.
4 Conclusion
Today, the type of figurative language is highly used in the daily life in western countries. The ability to understand proverbs is important to successful communication. Failure to grasp the meanings of proverbs can impinge upon an individual’s understanding of language in social, academic, and vocational settings. In order to communicate with each other fluently, the study of the relationship between the proverb and culture is significant and promising.
Bibliography：
Chris, Baldick. 1991. Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fernando, C. 2000. Proverb. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
Susan, Allen-Mill. 1995. Cambridge International Dictionary of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University press.
Zeng, Zhili. 1983. A Survey of English Proverbs. Beijing: Commercial Press.
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