Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Background of the Study 1

1.2 Significance of the study 1

1.3 Organization of the Thesis 2

2. Literature Review 2

2.1 Related Studies on Numeral Translation in Chinese Classical Poetry 2

2.2 Functional Equivalence Theory 3

3. An Overview of Numerals in Chinese Classical Poetry 5

3.1 The Classification of Numerals in Chinese Classical Poetry 5

3.1.1 Numerals used to count 6

3.1.2 Numerals used not to count 6

3.2 The Function of Numerals in Chinese Classical Poetry 6

3.2.1 Function of statement 7

3.2.2 Function of intensifying emotion 7

3.2.3 Function of visualization 7

3.3 The Differences of Numeral Cultures between the West and the East 7

3.3.1 Numeral preference differences 8

3.3.2 Distinct numeral taboo 9

3.4 The Numerals Frequently Used in Chinese Classical Poetry 10

4. The Strategies of Numeral Translation in Chinese Classic Poetry 11

——— From The Functional Equivalence Perspective

4.1 Strategies of Numeral Translation for the Function of Statement 11

4.2 Strategies of Numeral Translation for the Function of Intensifying Emotion 14

4.3 Strategies of Numeral Translation for the Function of Visualization 15

5. Conclusion 17

References 19

1. Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study 

    With the implement of the reform and opening-up policy, the exchange of culture between China and western countries is much more frequent than before. And these years see the increasing number of foreigners who are curious about the long and brilliant of Chinese history and try to learn Chinese culture. As a treasure and symbol of Chinese traditional culture, Chinese classical poetry has attracted much attention both domestic and overseas. Therefore, a number of translators and scholars both at home and abroad have made a great deal of effort to translate the Chinese classical poetry into target language so as to spread Chinese traditional culture. And a lot of them have studied it from different aspects, such as poetic images, culture connotations and rhythms. However, in this paper, only the numerals in Chinese classical poetry are going to be analyzed. Since people from every culture are all using numerals in their daily, numerals bear their own cultural impacts and implications. Therefore, it is totally inaccurate to translate the numerals into target language literally when taking their cultural differences into consideration.

    However, due to the cultural untranslatability of some numerals especially those with rhetoric functions, it is difficult to achieve the language-culture equivalence between source language and target language which can make receptors have similar reactions with the original readers. And according to Wolfram Wilss, even between languages like English and German which are quite similar, there are sizable structural differences in syntactic and lexical categories. Thus, in some way, it is impossible to achieve the equivalence between the source-language text and the target-language text perfectly due to the following two reasons: the cultural limits and linguistic limits. And images of numerals in Chinese classical poetry sometimes have to be sacrificed in order to make the meanings clear to the target readers. And original rhyme and sound of numerals in Chinese classical poetry are nearly impossible to transfer into the same effect in English. Since both Chinese and English poems have their own rules of rhyme and sound. In Chinese culture, poems are measured by “对仗” and “平仄”. Whereas, English poems are pided into foot such as iambic, trochaic, anapestic and dactylic. Therefore, when translating the poems, the rhyme sometimes has to be scarified in order not to puzzle the target readers. Indeed, many Chinese researchers have noticed these problems and they have studied them from the early 1980s. However, some results turn out to be messy and lack supporting theory. Therefore, more deep researches and specific suggestions should be provided based on the Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory so as to promote better exchange and understanding between nations as well as to improve the translation quality. 从功能对等理论角度分析古诗歌中数字翻译(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_49919.html