On the Translation of Numerals in Chinese Classical Poetry from the Functional Equivalence Theory文献综述

 2022-08-29 11:04:09


On the Translation of Numerals in Chinese Classical Poetry

Abstract：Numerals are widely used in natural language and literature works, playing an important part in calculating and stating viewpoints. However, due to different culture background, religious belief, geographical environment and some other factors, numerals bear different cultural connotations and functions in different countries. Because of the importance of numerals and diversity of their functions, the researches on numeral translation have been developing rapidly in recent 20 years. As we know, numerals can be precise, but usually used with fuzzy meanings in literary works. Therefore, when taking cultural connotations and fuzziness of numerals into consideration, we can not simply translate the numerals literally from Chinese into target language. Though there are a lot of researches to study numeral translation both domestic and overseas, these studies mainly focus on the translation of numerals in idioms, proverbs or some literature in general. And when analyzing the translation of numerals, they do not do a deep study about the cultural connotation behind the numerals. Thus, the results and suggestions of these researches are in generalization. Whatrsquo;s more, many previous studies have done from the perspective of domestication and foreignization but seldom done from Nidarsquo;s functional equivalence theory. Thus, the author will concentrate on the numeral translation in Chinese classical poetry from the functional equivalence theory to do an in-depth and careful study. Whatrsquo;s more, in this study the features and characteristics of the numerals in Chinese classical poetry will be discussed. Then the current situation of numeral translation include its limits from culture level, image level, sound level and form level and possible causes for these will be analyzed. And the author will analyze the functions of the numerals in Chinese classical poetry. Finally, the study provides a quantity of translation approaches according to the different functions of these numeral in Chinese classical poetry.

Key words: fuzziness; numeral translation; Chinese classical poetry; poetic image; functional equivalence theory

  1. Literature Review

1.1 The Definition of Numerals

According to Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo;s English-Chinese Dictionary, “A numeral is a word or symbol that represents an amount or a quantity”. And the concept of numerals stems from the Nature, from human beingsrsquo; observation and exploration to the objective world, from the realization and generalization to the physical world. A numeral is the abstract concept that can be considered not only as a word but also as a symbol. Besides their basic use in calculating and measuring, numerals are often used for labels, for ordering, and for codes. According to its features and functions, numerals can be divided into two categories: one is numerals used to calculate and the other is not to calculate. And those used to count can also be divided into two subcategories: calculating numerals and fuzzy numerals. The former are adopted to count the real quantity of things while the latter are used to give rough information. As for numerals used not to calculate like time, age, allusions and proper nouns and some other words, they have little or even nothing to do with quantity.

1. 2 Related Studies on Numeral Translation in Chinese Classical Poetry

As we know, there are thousands of famous poems appeared in Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, which carry over 5000 years of Chines history and reveal the great minds, spirits and wisdom of Chinese people. And Chinese classical poetry is like a mirror reflecting the culture, religion, tradition of China. And with the population of Chinese traditional culture all over the world, more and more foreigners have drawn attention by the charm and beauty of Chinese classical poetry such as the metrical beauty, artistic beauty, word beauty and implicit beauty.

According to the research, numerals widely used in Chinese classical poetry. And the origin of using numerals in Chinese classical poetry can be chased back to Book of Songs. And there are at least one numeral in almost every poems in Guofeng. Whatrsquo;s more, among the 300 Tang poems, nearly half of them (more than 130) contain numerals. Therefore, numerals play an active role in Chinese classical poetry. In addition to their basic function as a mean of counting and calculating, they usually bear more than those in literary works. They can sometimes be precise as they should be, however, they can also be fuzzy and misleading. Besides, at other times, the numerals in Chinese poetry refers to age, time, allusions, noun proper or degree. Therefore, due to the different culture connotation and usage of numerals, the numerals in Chinese classical poetry should studied carefully and deeply in order to promote the exchange of culture between the east and the west.

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