On the Translation of Numerals in Chinese Classical Poetry From the Functional Equivalence Theory Abstract Numerals are widely used in natural language and literature works, and they play important roles in calculating and stating viewpoints. However, due to different culture backgrounds, religious beliefs, geographical environments and some other factors, numerals bear different cultural connotations and functions in different countries. Because of the importance of numerals and persity 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.47725
Though there are a lot of researches to on numeral translation both at home and abroad, these studies mainly focus on the translation of numerals in idioms, proverbs or some literatures in general. Moreover, when analyzing the translation of numerals, researchers do not do a deep study about the cultural connotations behind the numerals. Thus, the results and suggestions of these researches are in generalization. In this paper, 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. What’s more, in this study the features and characteristics of the numerals in Chinese classical poetry will be discussed. Then the author will analyze the functions of the numerals in Chinese classical poetry. Finally, the study provides some translation strategies according to the different functions of these numerals in Chinese classical poetry to improve the translation quality.
Keywords: Fuzziness; numeral translation; Chinese classical poetry; Functional Equivalence Theory
从功能对等理论角度分析古诗歌中数字翻译
摘要无论是在日常生活中还是文学作品里,人们无时无刻不在使用数字。数字既可以用来计数,也可以用来陈述观点。然而,数字作为语言的重要组成部分,深受其特定文化因素影响。同时,宗教信仰,地理环境等因素都或多或少对数字的内在含义产生影响。因此,不同文化,不同地区或不同国家的人在使用数字时,一定程度都附带了本民族的文化特色和特殊功能。随着数字的文化含义及其表达的功能受到越来越多的关注,近二十年来愈来愈多的学者相继投身于有关数字翻译的研究工作。从数字的的精确程度上来看,数字既可以准确到一分一毫来陈述事实,也可以变得模糊夸张来实现特定的修辞功能。由于不同文化中的数字隐含的意思千差万别,所以在翻译文学作品中的数字时,不能想当然地将其对应到目标语中的相应数字,这就要求译者在翻译数字时尽可能多地将两者不同的文化因素考虑在内。
虽然,已经有很多来自国内外的学者对数字翻译进行了不同程度的研究,但研究的对象局限于成语,俗语或一些文学作品中的数字。并且,他们在研究数字翻译技巧时,只停留在浅显的表面而没有将数字与其背后的文化背景结合起来分析。所以,在一定程度上,这样的研究结果并不全面。而在本文,作者将以奈达的功能对等理论为理论依据对古诗中的数字翻译做深入的剖析。本文的正文将分析数字的特点,分类及其特有的功能。同时,本文将分析和对比中西方文化背景下,数字文化的共性和差异性。最后,根据功能对等理论,针对古诗词中数字的不同功能提出不同的翻译策略,希望在一定程度上能帮助提高古诗的数字翻译质量。
关键词: 模糊性;数字翻译;古诗;功能对等理论