学术论文摘选

We can use the word "loong" in translation instead of dragon

原标题：Cultural Differences of Chinese Loong and Western Dragon
LIU Yuan, School of Foreign Languages, China West Normal University, China.
Studies in Literature and Language, 10(3), 40-43. 2015

Abstract
Dragon is a mysterious animal that never exists in our real life. The culture of dragon is developing in different civilization with the elapse of time. However, people have different cognition about the origin, the cultural symbolization and the usage of loong and dragon because of the cultural difference. Chinese people regard loong as the symbol of auspiciousness and authority. By contrast, in Western people's eyes, dragon is the symbol of devil and bugbear. This paper aims to analyze the cultural differences between Chinese loong and western dragon to indicate Chinese loong is not exactly equal to the dragon in western culture, aiming to avoid the misunderstanding on dragon that are caused by these cultural differences.

Key words: Dragon; Loong; Cultural difference

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CONCLUSION

Since culture is a crucial element in international communication, the cultural differences between two languages are extremely important for learners to study in order to get to know another country better. Take Chinese loong and western dragon as example, they have been playing a tremendous part both in Chinese and western history. Throughout the endless development of civilization, loong and dragon has played different roles in Chinese and western culture. Those cultural differences caused some misunderstanding in the communication between Chinese and westerners. It may be hard for westerners to understand why Chinese call themselves the offspring of loong, and it's not easy for Chinese to accept that the dragon always plays the role of cruel monster in western movies. In this paper, through the comparison of the different origins, cultural symbols and usage, we have found the cultural differences between Chinese loong and western dragon. Because of those cultural differences, Chinese and westerners have different cognitions of loong and dragon and there are misunderstandings about loong and dragon. In order to save those misunderstandings, we can use the word "loong" in translation to represent this Chinese mythic creature instead of dragon.

Because "loong" not only can distinguish images between Chinese and western culture, but also can rightly circulates the outstanding features of Chinese loong. In addition, we need an extensive dissemination of Chinese loong culture which can make westerners have a better understanding of loong. To sum up, treading the cultural difference properly is beneficial to make Chinese loong culture accepted internationally.

Available from: http://www.cscanada.net/index.php/sll/article/view/6673
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/6673

【编后记】

　　英语论文的主要读者是外国人，因此，不能把中文论文直接翻译为外文，在一些地方必须做适当的解释。

　　“However, people have different cognition about the origin, the cultural symbolization and the usage of loong and dragon because of the cultural difference.”外国人多半会看不懂这句话，为什么这篇论文会突然冒出来一个 loong？它是什么意思？它和 dragon 有关系吗？是什么关系？

　　因此，论文里应该有一个解释：中国人崇拜龙（loong）这种神话虚构动物，但是这个“龙”一直被错误地称为 dragon，由于　dragon 和 loong 的寓意存在巨大差异，这样翻译导致了很多问题，然后展开论述。

　　结论中的这句话也有问题：“It may be hard for westerners to understand why Chinese call themselves the offspring of loong”。中国人一直对外国人说的是自己是 the offspring of dragon 或 the descendants of dragon。外国人不理解的是为什么中国人要自称 dragon 这个恶魔的后代。

　　如果中国人真的自称 the offspring of loong，外国人就不会感到奇怪了。他们顶多不知道 loong 这个单词是什么意思。

（黄佶编辑配图，2021年6月28日）

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