Analysis on Cultural Connotation of Color Words Based on Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language—Take "Red" and "Yellow" for Example

: Vocabulary is the fastest developing in the language system, and it is closely related to the social development and change. Color words represent different cultural connotations in different ethnic groups, which is the difference between color words and other words, and it is a difficult point for international students to learn Chinese. This paper lists the non-color meaning of color words such as "red" and "yellow" and the differences in Chinese and Western cultural connotations, and puts forward some teaching suggestions for the teaching of color words in the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language. Understanding and mastering the differences in color words in different languages will help Chinese learners to better master the Chinese language and promote the further dissemination of Chinese culture


Introduction
Language is the carrier of culture, and color words, as the basic words, are an extremely important part of people's daily life.
Chinese and western countries have a very rich vocabulary about color.In addition to representing the conceptual meaning of color, they also have unique cultural connotations [1].The difference between Chinese and Western cultures is the main reason for the difference in color words between Chinese and English.Cultural factors such as politics, history, religion, customs and other factors influence the language, leading to different meanings and connotations of color words.In particular, the meaning of basic color words such as red and yellow is very closely related to the culture of the nation.The non-color meaning of color words is a difficult point in learning for Chinese learners, because it has the characteristics of nationality and concealment.This paper starts with the non-color meaning, studies the cultural connotation comparison of "red" and "yellow", and puts forward appropriate suggestions for the teaching of color words in foreign Chinese, so that Chinese learners can have a more systematic understanding of the meaning of "red" and "yellow", and reduce the confusion in learning.
Chinese as a foreign language [2].Color carries the value orientation of a country, so color word teaching is also an important content of teaching Chinese as a foreign language.Red and yellow are one of the basic colors, but also the representative colors of China, has a long history, naturally is also endowed with a unique cultural meaning.

Red
Red is the representative color of China, and we often hear the word "Chinese red" right now.China's worship of the sun has raised the status of red in China, we still use "red sun" to show praise for the beautiful.Our national flag is the five-star red flag, and the regime of the Communist Party of China is called the red regime, which all show that red has a unique important position in China's history and culture."Red" in China is a symbol of good luck, festive and lively, so every happy event often use red.China's traditional weddings are mainly red color, the bride and groom's auspicious clothes is red, marriage point red candles, wear red cover, this year to wear red.In addition, "red" also said popularity, such as the popular words "popular", "web celebrity" [3].
Ancient women makeup with red rouge, so "red" also refers to the woman's beautiful appearance, called the beauty as "beauty".In the quintessence of Chinese Opera, red makeup is a symbol of characters such as "loyal, chivalrous, solemn and majestic", such as Guan Yu.Chinese love of red is very obvious, while western countries are on the contrary, because red is the color of blood, they think red is a symbol of profiteering, bloody, such as: red flag, red-light district (red light area), red revenge (bloody revenge), so red in western culture to give a person a nervous dangerous mood.

Yellow
According to the earliest etymological dictionary in China, Shuo, "Yellow, the color of the earth, from the field, from the sound.Ancient Chinese prose light."Yellow is also a very auspicious color, which develops and changes from red.In traditional Chinese culture [4], people call the day suitable for holding large-scale events "auspicious day".In ancient times, yellow symbolizes the imperial power, nobility, nobility, land, etc., and because of the similar color with gold, yellow also has the meaning of wealth and glory.The ancients with five colors with five lines with five squares, green, white, red and black four colors respectively represent the east, west, north and south square, living in the soil, so yellow as the central color.The Yellow River area belongs to the birthplace of Chinese national culture, because the land in that place is yellow, plus ancient China is a big agricultural country, land is related to the national economy and people's livelihood, people's survival and development cannot be separated from the land, so in ancient times, yellow is regarded as a very important color.From about the Sui and Tang Dynasties, yellow became the common color of the emperor and noble ministers, and the common people were not allowed to wear yellow clothes.Later, yellow gradually became a symbol of imperial power."Yellow list" is the imperial edict of the son of Heaven, "yellow calendar" is the calendar issued by the imperial court, "yellow house" is the carriage of the emperor, "yellow mandarin jacket" is the highest standard gift that the emperor awarded to the meritorious ministers.Xie Jingyi.Quantitative analysis of the non-color meaning of the color word "yellow" in teaching Chinese as a foreign language.Journal of Fujian agriculture and forestry university (philosophy and social sciences)] but in the eyes of westerners, purple is the color of the supremacy, because in ancient Greece and Rome, the emperor, consul, and general wearing purple [5], purple and body means rights and status, such as Chinese "born in the home of the emperor" corresponding English translation for be born in the purple, "marriage with the royal or noble" is to marry into the purple.
Yellow facial masks in Beijing Opera, such as Huang Gai and Dian Wei in the Romance of The Three Kingdoms, symbolize bravery or ability.Since the 18th century, Americans used yellow paper to print pornographic books, so called yellow books.In Western culture, Judas betrayed Jesus wearing yellow, so yellow is often associated with traits such as betrayal, cowardice and meanness in English.After the introduction of Western culture, yellow in Chinese has also produced reactionary, pornographic and other derogatory meanings.But it is worth noting that pornographic magazines cannot be literally translated into yellow magazines, and yellow books in English should be translated into yellow books instead of yellow books.The color of porn in Chinese should be blue in English, such as blue movie, blue joke.In addition, yellow is the color of fallen leaves, setting sun, such as evening is also called dusk.Since ancient times, fallen leaves and sunset have been closely related to the feelings of decay and decline, so "yellow" also refers to the failure of a plan or unrealized, such as "that thing went wrong", and childish and immature meaning, such as "yellow mouth children".

The reason for the difference between Chinese and Western color words "red" and "yellow"
In both Chinese and English, color words represent not only a kind of color, but also the emotional colors attached to the color words.These additional color meanings reflect the different emotions and understandings of different nationalities to the color.There are great differences between Chinese and Western cultures, which show great differences in the meaning of color words and different feelings towards these words.The West has a more rational understanding of the objective world, so the West generally directly uses the specific colors of the objective things to refer to some abstract meanings.For example, "red", the first thing I see red is the blood in our bodies.If I can see blood, it is usually caused by injuries, such as fights or accidents, so westerners think of "violence and bloodshed" when they mention of red.China with a long history has experienced thousands of years of feudal society with underdeveloped science and technology.In this case, the Chinese people's cognition of color is full of perceptual color.Chinese people like red one reason is that the Chinese nation ancestors of the sun, fire and blood of primitive worship, these things have a very important position in ancient Chinese production and life, the sun brings light, fire can bake food, blood represents inheritance, they are to make life continue essential things, and these things are red, so the ancients by the worship of these things to the worship of red.
Language is the carrier of culture, and the culture of every nation has exerted a profound influence on its language.Many differences between Chinese and Western countries in language, cultural beliefs, historical traditions, living environment, life experience and customs lead to the semantic differences in basic color words between the two ethnic groups.Social and cultural factors are the main reasons for the cognitive differences in color words between English and Chinese.

Teaching Suggestions on color words in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language
As a huge family, color words are closely related to Chinese traditional culture.The cultural connotation contained in color words reflects the value orientation and value pursuit of the Chinese nation.Therefore, color words are also an important aspect in teaching Chinese as a foreign language, especially the cultural connotation of color words.If students do not understand them properly, it is easy to cause cross-cultural communication barriers.In order to solve these problems, teachers should pay attention to:

Teach the background knowledge of traditional Chinese culture
In order to understand the cultural connotation of color words, we must first understand the culture of the nation, deeply understand the history and culture, clan beliefs, geographical environment and customs of the nation, and achieve the combination of language and culture, can we grasp the accurate meaning of color words.For example, in traditional Chinese culture, white represents sadness and unhappiness, red represents happiness and auspiciousness, and yellow represents power and majesty... the cultural connotations of these color words are closely related to the five thousand years of Chinese history and culture.Before teaching the color words, the teachers should focus on the cultural meaning of the relevant color words, and popularize the background knowledge of the Chinese traditional culture to the overseas students.

Teaching in combination with the specific context
The color words of different countries are very different, and only in different contexts can they have different meanings.
In the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language, teachers should first explain the conceptual meaning of color words, students have a certain understanding, and bring them into the specific context, to help students to understand its meaning correctly.
Due to the different cultures of different countries, the teaching of color words without the specific context is easy to bias students in their understanding.

Adopt comparative teaching methods
The contrast with the native language is particularly important in the teaching of color words.When learning Chinese, international students are susceptible to the negative transfer of their mother tongue.When teaching, teachers need to compare color words with culture to help students better understand the meaning of color words in Chinese.

Teachers themselves should have a high professional quality
In teaching Chinese as a foreign language, teachers play an important role in the communication and dissemination of Chinese and foreign cultures.Teachers should have rich knowledge of Chinese traditional culture, have enough understanding of Chinese learners, master students' learning progress and learning habits, and teach students according to their aptitude.

Conclusion
When teaching Chinese as a foreign language, we should not look down on color words.Color words are a special class of words, which carries rich cultural connotations.The color culture of a country is also the epitome of its culture.It is difficult to understand the cultural connotations of these color words without understanding Chinese culture.Therefore, in teaching Chinese as a foreign language, teachers should deeply study the cultural connotations of color words and explain their additional cultural connotations while teaching the conceptual meaning of color words, so that students can better learn color words and deepen their understanding of Chinese culture.