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2. Idioms and Culture
The idiom is a kind of special speech form that is particular in meaning, grammatical structure and usage. Idiomatic expression are even difficult for native English speakers because their meanings cannot be determined through an analysis of their inpidual words. It is usually impossible to explain idioms from the inpidual words. Thus, English idioms are difficult to understand and acquire, because they are a combination of two or more words, which function as a unit of meaning. As a matter of fact, idioms as a special form of language exist in both of Chinese and English and carry a large amount of cultural information such as history, geography, religion, custom, nationality psychology, thought pattern and etc, and therefore are closely related to culture. They are the heritage of history and product of cultural evolvement. 文献综述
2.1 Relationship between Language and Culture
According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, culture is “the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively.”(121) Historically, the word “culture” derives from the Latin word “colere”, which could be translated as “to build”, “to care for”, “to plant” or “to cultivate” (Liang and Clark, 2011: 43).Thus “culture” usually refers to something that is derived from, or created by the intervention of humans——“culture” is cultivated. As we all know, language is closely related to culture and can be said as a part of culture. Language and culture are inextricably linked together and closely related to each other. From a dynamic view, language and culture interact with each other and shape each other. Language is a key component of culture. It is the primary medium for transmitting much of culture. Without language, culture would not be possible. Language, in its broadest sense, is the symbolic representation of a nation’s culture. Children learning their native language are learning their own culture; learning as second language also involves learning a second culture to varying degrees. On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture. It reflects culture. Cultural differences are the most serious areas causing misunderstanding, unpleasantness and even conflict in cross-cultural communication. Obviously, as a tool for communication, language is at the core of human interaction. It enables us to exchange abstract ideas, setting us apart from other animal species by allowing us to say or write down abstract ideas. (Samovar and Porter, 2013: 223) Language is a particularly important aspect of studying intercultural communication. The importance of language in contemporary society is increasing as a result of globalization and immigration, which continues to bring people from different cultures together on an unprecedented scale. And these people very often speak different languages, which gives rise to broad changes in societal requirements. We have convinced of the growing number of people from different cultures speaking different languages, who are interacting with people in many cultures derive a great deal of pleasure from the art of conversation each other. For this reason, it is important to understand how culture and language complement each other.