I Introduction   Different societies possess different cultures. In the book Patterns of Culture, Ruth Benedict generalized the effects of culture on human beings: ¡°From the moment of [a child¡¯s] birth the customs into which he is born shape his experience and behaviors. ¡­its habits are his habits, its beliefs his beliefs, its impossibilities his impossibilities.¡± (South Africa, par. 1) It is culture that decides the language people speak and how people speak it. Culture also teaches people values, with which they view things. When people who come from different societies try to communicate, literal interpreting is far from enough, with different cultural background, people may understand the same word or expression differently. Laughter may burst out during a serious discussion; a lady may get depressed at a friendly compliment. Interpreters¡¯ job is to bridge the gap of the languages and also the cultures. They need to interpret the meaning with acceptable cultural elements of the original speech.  Provides with ample typical and interesting examples, this paper clarifies the major aspects of cultural difference between Chinese and English, and tries to divide these cultural differences into several groups in order to suggest some solutions to represent them in interpretation.  

ⅡBody  In order to reflect different cultures, the first thing interpreters must do is that they need to have a good understanding of cultures represented by both source language (SL) and target language (TL) to eliminate cross-cultural misunderstanding. They must know how people with TL view things and express themselves then interpret the actual meaning with SL¡¯s cultural characteristics by using the proper expression of TL. For example, after presenting many nice dishes, the Chinese hostess always say, ¡°饭菜不好,请多包含.¡± (Please bear with these poorly prepared dishes.) It¡¯s generally accepted that hostess says this to express her modesty and welcome. All Chinese guests may then admire her cooking. However guests from Britain might end up thinking, ¡°Am I not good enough to get well-prepared dishes?¡± To avoid this uncomfortable situation, the interpretation should be, ¡°These are the best dishes I¡¯m able to prepare, enjoy yourselves.¡±

Major types of cultural differences  Chinese and English are two different languages originated from different cultures. Natural environment and social environment have been playing the key role in the long history of language evolution. During the process both languages have taken on their national characteristics and have become the representatives of eastern culture and western culture. There are five types of cultural knowledge enter into the translation process:

1.ecology (flora, fauna, climate, exploitation techniques, etc.);
2.material culture and technology (food, housing, transportation, clothing, etc.);
3.social categories (kinship relations, sex roles, etc.);
4.mythic patterns (cosmology, taboos, etc.); and
5.linguistic structure (phonology, lexical semantics, syntax, etc.). (Nida, 1945: 194-208)  While Etilvia Arjona adds two additional types:
6.legal-political categories; and 7.world view or logic system. (Etilvia, 1978: 40) These types represent well the main aspects of cultural difference between Chinese and English in interpreting. Full comprehension of these may help interpreters to decide which expression are acceptable or un-acceptable to the Chinese speakers and/or the English speakers.

1. Ecology (flora, fauna, climate, exploitation techniques, etc.);  Narcissus is the name of a flower in both languages. But it bears cultural specific meanings. Narcissus, in English, means abnormal and excessive love for oneself. To Chinese narcissus is just a kind of flower with sweet smell.  Chinese and English share the figurative meaning of owl, which is death and bed luck. But in English, owl also means wisdom. Most of the Chinese may not understand ¡°sand owls to Athens¡± means to take an unnecessary action. Because Athena is the goddess of wisdom who guards Athens and owl is her emblem.

2. Material culture and technology (food, housing, transportation, clothing, etc.);  饺子(jiaozi)and pie are two tradition food in China and America respectively. The pronunciations of the food were adopted when they were introduced to other countries. In America 饺子is called jiaozi, in China pie is 派(/pai/)

3. Social categories (kinship relations, sex roles, etc.);  老(old) is widely used in China to address people who one respects, it means well experienced, authority like 老干部,(old official). There is a Chinese saying ¡°若要好,问三老.¡± (If you want to be successful, ask old people¡¯s opinion.) In English speaking societies, old age is a heavy burden; old age itself is a disease. So there are lot of euphemisms for old people, like pensioner and senior citizen.

4. Mythic patterns (cosmology, taboos, etc.);  In Christian society dragon is the symbol of evil. It is described as a snake-shaped monster with wings and claws, able to breathe out fire. And dragon is also being compared to fierce woman. ¡°Our neighbor was a real dragon; we were really frightened of her.¡± While in China, dragon is a divine and powerful animal. It always used to describe an emperor.

5. Linguistic structure (phonology, lexical semantics, syntax, etc.)  Passive voice is often spotted in English. For example, ¡°You will be expected to work on Saturdays.¡± In Chinese, we use a lot of active voice, like ¡°你们周六要上班.¡±(I expect you to work on Saturdays.)

6. Legal-political categories;  It may take sometime to understand different administrative structure in China and Britain, like shire and 乡(rural administrative division under the county).

7. World view or logic system.  People from British or America value individualism and privacy. While in China, individualism is neglect other people¡¯s interests and feelings, being arrogant. And it¡¯s common to talk about age, income and marriage in daily conversation.

Ideas and expressions  When interpreters try to find proper expressions in TL to represent the cultural elements of ideas in SL, he may experience four situations.

1. TL and SL share the similar expression of the same idea;
2. TL and SL use different even opposite expression to represent the same idea;
3. TL and SL have different views on the same thing;
4. The idea in the SL does not exist in TL. There are several ways to get the meaning across the language and cultural barrier under each circumstance.
l. TL and SL share the similar expressions of the same idea;  There are many idioms in Chinese and English have similar expression to express one idea. For instance, ¡°通过透支健康获得事业成功无疑是杀鸡取卵.¡± (To succeed in career by overworking is like killing the hen to get eggs.) While people use ¡°to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.¡± in English. In this situation interprets may just use the existing English idiom directly.  There is another example, ¡°不入虎穴,焉得虎子,要取得成功是得花大力气.¡± (How can you catch tiger cubs without entering the tiger¡¯s lair? You really need to work hard in order to succeed.) We have an English version of this saying ----- ¡°No pain, no gain.¡± Obviously, it is simper, but the Chinese version is more interesting and vivid. So interpreters may just interpret the literal meaning, it provides a new and vivid idea and reflects Chinese cultural element. (Niu Gu-fang, 2003:144)

2. TL and SL use different expressions to represent the same idea;  ¡°Over the hill¡± indicates someone who is no longer young, and therefore no longer attractive or good at doing things. ¡°人老珠黄¡± in Chinese also means the same thing, only it compares aged people to a pearl loss the lustre. For example: Apparently, show business is no longer for her, she is over the hill. The interpretation can be: ¡°很明显, 人老珠黄的她已不适合在演艺圈工作了.¡± (Obviously, as a pearl whose lustre has faded, she can¡¯t work in show business.) In this case, it would be easier for interpreter to use the Chinese set phrase.

3. TL and SL have different views on the same thing;  The first line in John Mansfield¡¯s Ode to the West Wind is ¡°It¡¯s a warm wind, the west wind, full of birds¡¯ cries;¡± and there is an expression of ¡°biting, cold east winds¡±. Literal interpreting without any examination of these two descriptions do not make any sense in Chinese culture. Because of the geological difference, Chinese people and British people live in different climatic zones. To Chinese west wind is chilly and bitter, while east wind is warm and pleasant. So, short and clear explanation is needed in this situation.

4. The idea in the SL does not exist in TL.  In this situation, the technique of explaining and paraphrasing is always used in order to express the cultural elements in interpreting. ¡°Vanity is his Achilles¡¯ heel.¡± Achilles¡¯ heel means the single venerable spot or fatal weakness of someone which can lead to his downfall. A little examination seems necessary: ¡°虚荣自负是他阿基里斯之踵----致命伤.¡± (Vanity is his Achilles¡¯ heel-----the fatal weakness.)  Chrysanthemum is the name of a flower in both languages, but in Chinese it also has a figurative meaning of being resolute and determined because it blooms at the beginning of cold winter. A paraphrase of the figurative meaning is enough the pass the message.  ¡°Don¡¯t bother to ask him to the movie, he is a couch potato.¡± ¡°A couch potato is an American slang for a person who spends most or much of his time sitting or lying on a couch, watching television in his underwear and often drinking beer.¡± (Wikipedia, par.1) So literal interpreting plus examination can get the meaning across and reflect American culture. ¡°用不着叫他去看电影，他是沙发土豆,就知道看电视.¡± (There is no need to ask him to see the movie, he is a couch potato. Watching TV is the only thing he does.)  Ever since the Watergate scandal, Chinese borrow the word gate to refer to some political scandals, like ¡°拉链门¡±(zipgate) to refer to Clinton¡¯s scandal.  People also borrow the pronunciation or the similar pronunciation of things that do not belong to their culture.(Niu Gu-fang, 2003:170) American people adopt the pronunciation of 荔枝 (lychee, a kind of fruit) in China, 匹萨 (pisa) is the name for pizza.  The technique of borrowing is also used when there is people¡¯s name or the name of the place.   

Ⅲ Conclusion  English and Chinese represent different cultures. Good interpretation will bridge not only the gap between these two languages but the gap between these two cultures, in a short period of time.  The question how an interpreter should reflect the differences in social culture is asked frequently. Before any technique issues are mentioned, interpreters, also as a language learner, should first raise the cultural consciousness. Language system of SL and TL is not the only thing they need to master; they must also have a deep understanding on the cultural system of theses two languages to avoid cross-cultural misunderstanding as much as possible. Then they need to use different techniques like explaining, paraphrasing, literally interpreting, replacing and borrowing to represent the difference in cultural-----presenting SL¡¯s culture or the combination of these two cultures in interpreting.  
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Reference:

• Southafrica. ¡°Bridging the gap of cultures.¡± Online posting. 23-10-2003. Writing World. <http://www.englishforums.com/English/BridgingTheGapOfCultures/czwj/Post.htm> Forum

• Nida, E.  Linguistics and Ethnology in Translation Problems. Word, 1945, , pp. 194-208.  

• Etilvia, A.  ¡±Intercultural Communication and he Training of Interpreters at the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies.¡± In Language Interpretation and Communication, edited by David Gerver and H. Wallace Sinaiko, New York and London: Plenum Press, 1978, pp.40.  

• ¡°Coach potato.¡± Wikipedia. 2005.

• Niu Gu-fang. ¡°Keep the original language culture in translation¡± Journal of Jinzhoug Teachers College 20:2 Jun.2003: pp.144, 170.