On Sex Discrimination in English Proverbs and Their Translation Abstract.Proverbs, as essence and important part of language and carrier of culture, reflect people’s perspectives and systems of society. The discrimination against women in society is reflected in proverbs, which influence the social concept greatly. It aims to expose the sex discrimination in language, enhance people’s awareness of it and have a better understanding of the relationship between language and society. It also puts forward some translation methods for English proverbs with sex discrimination, such as literal translation, free translation, synonymous replacement and combination of literal and free translation. Key words: sex discrimination；English proverbs; translation 1.Introduction Language is like a mirror through which one can see social views and attitudes of human beings; all kinds of social phenomena (including sex discrimination) are bound to be reflected in language. Language, to a great extent, reflects such social phenomena: females are defamed, belittled, and laid in the position of being subordinate to males. A major issue in sociolinguistic studies has been the relationship between gender and language. Since 1960s, the rising of the feminist movement has further promoted the research of gender language. As the peculiar result of the development of the human society, language reflects the society naturally. Language is like a mirror through which can see social views and attitudes of human beings. According to Alleen Pace Nilsem(2025), language and society are as interviewed as a chicken and an egg. Language use is the evidence of the values and beliefs of that society. All kinds of unequal phenomena in the society...
