1、The Connotations of Number WordsA Thesis SubmittedTo Foreign Language DepartmentOf College of Information number words; connotation; translation英语专业本科毕业论文3Table of ContentsAbstract (Chinese) . Abstract (English) . 1. Introduction. 62. A brief survey of the cultural connotations of numbers 62.1 A bri
2、ef contrastive explication of some single numbers across cultures. 62.2 Review on other numbers in cultures both home and abroad . 73.Nidas translation theorydynamic equivalence and two related translation strategies83.1 Dynamic equivalence 93.2 Two translation strategies: naturalization and foreign
3、ization. 103.3 Different views of naturalization and foreignization. 124. Translation strategies of some number words 134.1 Literal four-involved Chinese phrases. 134.2 Cultural-bound four-involved Chinese phrases 135. Conclusion. 14Bibliography. 15Acknowledgments 16英语专业本科毕业论文41. IntroductionNumbers
4、 belong to a part of language and are a common phenomenon of different languages in the world. Whenever numeral are mentioned， people may think of mathematics or statistics then as a part of study in natural science. Apart from their explicitness and accuracy in natural science, there are considerab
5、le differences in their connotations and extensions, for the sake of influence of national psychology, religious beliefs, worship of languages and other cultural distinctions. In fact, numerals endowed with non-quantitative meanings have become an important component in language study with the devel
6、opment of human society and human languages.2. A brief survey of the cultural connotations of numbers2.1 A brief contrastive explication of some single numbers across culturesIn humans intercultural activity, all participative parties not only need to be familiar with national language and culture,
7、but also must fully understand the language and culture of the opposite party, specially the difference between ones national culture and others culture. Only holding this opinion can one make the human communication work smoothly.(Zhou Zhipei 2003:480)(Translation of the original by the author). In
8、 this section, the general culture related to different numbers are surveyed.The number “three” is used widely in China. “Three” is written as “三” in Chinese character, in which the first line is considered to represent the sky, the middle line symbolizes human being, and the last line represents th
9、e earth(Zhao Xiang 2005:90). In the history, human gradually recognized that time is divided into three parts: the past, the present, the future; space has top, middle, bottom. Under such a cognition of time and space, “three” is endowed with lots of meanings in Chinese culture and also consequently
10、 widely used in various fields: the navy, the army, the air force are called “three Armed Force”(三军); cattle, sheep and pigs are named “three domestic animals”(三牲); Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-autumn Festival and the Spring Festival constitute “three festival”(三节) (Hui Yu 2005). The number “three”
11、 英语专业本科毕业论文5is also respected by Western people. They hold the idea that the world consists of three elements, the earth, the oceans and the sky. The nature is constituted of three elements: animals, plants and minerals(Duan Ping 2006:208); the Christians think there are the Father, the Son and the
12、Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Western people believe “three” is a perfect numbe. They often said “The third time the charm”(第三次准灵); a play of Shakespeare also said “All good things do by three”(一切好事以三为标准。).In Laotzu, Laozi stated that Tao breeds one, one breeds two, two breeds three and three and thre
13、e breeds everything. That is to say, everything in the world is evolved from “three”. This thoughts is accepted by people and reflected in daily life. For example, “三” in Chinese means in what Confucius claimed “一日三省吾身”（I examine myself many times a day.）and “三思而后行 ” （think twice before you act）. Bu
14、t “三” can also be used to express “few” such as “三年五载”“三言两语”。2.2 Review on other numbers in cultures both home and abroadBy contrast, Christianity is its mainstream culture in English social life. Christianity has a great effect on culture connotations of numbers. For example, the number “three” in
15、English has auspicious and mysterious connotations.Number “five” is frequently used in China. It has a special brilliant past, reflected in the Theory of the Five Elements, an extremely popular theory in ancient China. We can tell its popularity by looking at some phrases and idioms, such as “five e
16、lements: metal, wood, water, fire and earth”; “five sense organs: ears, eyes, mouth, nose and tongue”; “三番五次”(again and again); “三令五申”(warn and order repeatedly), etc. (Hui Yu 2005). While in western countries, people consider the fifth day of a week as an unlucky day, and the reason is that it is t
17、he day of the Passion of Jesus Christ.Referring to “six”, in Chinese peoples view, it is the most lucky number. A common saying “六六大顺” is the best proof. Besides, three-dimensional space consists of forward, back, left, right, up and down; a woman who gets pregnant is called “身怀六甲”. In addition, peo
18、ple would like their telephone number or car number with “six” in it. For instance, “6; 66; 666; 6666” are specially cherished by 英语专业本科毕业论文6people.With the development of Chinese economy, “eight” has become increasingly welcomed by Chinese people for its similar pronunciation to the Chinese charact
19、er “发”, which means making more money and getting rich. So all the numbers contain eight are welcomed and more expensive than other numbers, and people are willing to spend a lot of money buying a number with eight for their telephone number or car number. Especially for the businessmen, “eight” see
20、ms a lucky number for them to make fortune. However, in Western countries,eight is not particularly favored.3.Nidas translation theorydynamic equivalence and two related translation strategies3.1 Dynamic equivalenceChinese and English cultures are quite different from each other, the differences are
21、 reflected in the respective languages and get expressed by means of words, phrase, sayings and so on. Thus, the two languages have become the carrier and container of the two cultures. At the same time, the two cultures are the soil that the two languages exist in. In other words, there would be no
22、 language if there were no culture.The interrelatedness of language and culture are perfectly reflected in Nidas words:.The meaning of verbal symbols on any and every level depends on the culture of the language community. Language is a part of culture, and in fact it is the most complex set of habi
23、ts that any culture exhibits. Language reflects the culture, provides access to the culture, and in many respects constitutes a model of culture (qtd. Ma Huijun, 75).Obviously, numbers have rich cultural connotations, besides their meanings on the surface. This brings about some obstacles in transfe
24、rring numbers in one language to those in another without causing misunderstanding. Therefore, while translating numvers, the cultural factors of numbers should be taken into account.3.2 Two translation strategies: naturalization and foreignizationTranslation is to transfer meaning across languages
25、with little information loss as possible.(Nida, Eugene A, 1993) It should give the approximately equivalent 英语专业本科毕业论文7information of the source language to the target language readers. Due to different cultural backgrounds, the same numbers in different countries have diverse connotations. In some
26、cases, the target languages shares the same connotation and linguistic feature with the source language.3.3 Different views of naturalization and foreignizationThe cultural backgrounds and expressions are various in different nations. So it is sometimes different or impossible to translate literally
27、 to get equivalence between the source language and the target language.Naturalization and foreignization are related. All translations have to make a compromise between the two basic methods of translation. From the standpoint of the intended readers, naturalization translation is directed toward a
28、 large number of common readers, whereas foreignization is only towards a few elitists who know the two languages concerned (Robinson 1997).In the process of translation, the two translation methods are usually used together, only if combining these two methods can we use another language to express
29、 its original meaning.4. Translation strategies of some number words4.1 Literal four-involved Chinese phrases“Four” is regarded as an unlucky number in China, because its pronunciations in Chinese are the same as the pronunciation of “si (die)”. If a car number, telephone number and address number c
30、ontain “four”, it will not be welcomed by people. Especially they avoid “4,14,24,54,514” which all contain “si“. However, at present, young girls and boys paid less attention to this problem.4.2 Cultural-bound four-involved Chinese phrasesIn ancient China the most common symbolical meaning of the nu
31、mber FOUR is four directions and four seasons. People often praise wonderful things or person by using Four. Such as “the four virtues”(四大美德)， “Four Buddhist Holly Mountains”（四大佛教名山） ， “Four Heavenly guardians”(四大金刚) and so on.In English speaking countries, the number FOUR has totally different symb
32、olic 英语专业本科毕业论文8meaning and people do not have to avoid it. Some of them think that number FOUR stands for equitableness, justice and power.5. ConclusionAs we can see that the Chinese terms are various, their English translation strategies can be varied according to the phrases themselves. In the pr
33、ocess of research, the author has made drawn a conclusion as follows: When referring to the non-cultural specific terms, we can take the English phrases as direct references, and these non-figurative phrases involving “seven” are primarily translated freely. As for the figurative seven-involved term
34、s, the author believes we should categorize them into different groups and adopt different translation theories and methods according to different situations. However, due to the limitation of the authors ability, the analysis conducted in this paper has not covered all the possible translations of
35、numerals in Chinese set phrases. This paper focuses on the study of the numbers cultural connotations and its translation strategies, which may promote peoples inter-cultural communication.It is widely accepted that language is intrinsically connected with culture. Numbers in a language are certain
36、to be inseparably related with their culture. Numbers are a mirror which reflected the cultural characteristics with regard to the way people view the world. In a word, it is very important and necessary for translators to know about the cultural of numbers while translating numbers. Decision of met
37、hods of number translation depends on specific context and respective cultural backgrounds.英语专业本科毕业论文9BibliographyCatford, J. C. A. (1995) . Linguistic Theory of Translation . England Oxford Press. Garner, B. A. (2003). Garners Modern American Usage. New York: Oxford University Press.冯庆华，2007，实用翻译教程，上海外国语教育出版社。金惠康，2002，跨文化交际与翻译，中国对外翻译出版公司。李长算，胡爱平，2000， “试论翻译史” ， 中国翻译第三期。郭庆光，1999，传播学教程，中国人民大学出版社。胡壮麟，1994，语篇的衔接与连贯，上海外语教育出版社。张培基，喻云，1988， 英汉翻译教程 ，上海外语教育出版社。
