Abstract:Language is a major tool of maintaining and transmitting culture. It reflects cultural characteristics inevitably. Though translation faces two languages directly, it deals with two cultures with similarities and differences. As two important translation methods, literal translation and free translation are playing an irreplaceable role in cultural exchange. They are not repellent but complementary because of differences and similarities among different cultures.

　　　By combining cultural characteristics with its communication, this dissertation explores a close relation between literal translation and free translation in cultural exchange. Through describing the forms involved in culture in detail, such as ideology, historical allusion and metaphor, and comparing literal translation with free translation, we conclude that both of them should be properly used in translation.

　　　Discussing literal translation and free translation from the cultural perspective will be beneficial to enrichment of translation theory and better communication among different cultures.

Key words: literal translation; free translation; cultural perspective; language

摘要:語言是傳承文化的主要工具，民族的文化特征無不通過語言體現出來。翻譯雖然直接面對的是兩種語言，但它所處理的卻是相似與差異并存的兩種文化。直譯和意譯作為翻譯中最主要的兩種方法，在文化交流中都分別起著不可替代的作用。不同文化之間既有同也有異，翻譯中直譯和意譯是互補而非互斥的。

　　　本文結合文化的特點及其傳播情況，探討直譯和意譯在文化交流中的密切聯系。通過描述涉及文化的多種表現形式，如意識形態、歷史典故和比喻等，對直譯和意譯進行比較，進而得出兩者都應該在翻譯中正確運用的結論。

　　　從文化的視角來探討直譯和意譯，有利于豐富翻譯理論和不同文化更好地交流。

關鍵詞：直譯；意譯；文化視角；語言