A Study on Cultural Connotation of Animal Words in English and Chinese

Every animal word has its own cultural connotation.Obviously, different animal words, even the same animal words, have the same, similar or contrary cultural connotations in different languages.So it brings misunderstanding and cultural shock in intercultural communication.This paper tries to discuss the cultural connotations of animal words in English and Chinese from the following aspects: cultural connotation correspondence, cultural connotation non-correspondence and cultural connotation zero both in English and Chinese.Through the comparison, it is clear to conclude that this discrepancy of languages is the epitome of the differences of English and Chinese cultures.Therefore, if people want to communicate with English-speaking people confidently and successfully, people firstly have to enrich their knowledge of different cultures, make clear the differences and understand the cultural connotations of these animal words.