The Translation Of Fuzziness Of Numerals In Chinese Idioms

As a comparatively new field of study, fuzzy linguistics is attracting more and more attention. The numeral, apart from its original function to help achieve accuracy in quantification and precision in description, bears the feature of fuzziness, which is highlighted in its usage in idioms, the nucleus and cream of a language, which have never ceased to be the focus of discussion. And consequently, little seems to be left to elaborate on in terms of their translation. In view of this, the author attempts to pay a revisit to the translation of idioms from a minor, but at the same time new perspective.First of all, fuzziness is defined and the universality and the application of fuzziness in language discussed, which serves as a kind of premise. Then the differences of English and Chinese are viewed from the perspective of numerals by comparing and contrasting their linguistic, cultural and conventional usage, which is followed by the presentation of certain patterns of application of numerals in Chinese idioms and two categories of fuzziness, namely, semantic and pragmatic fuzziness. However, the center of attention is still devoted to translation. All the cases of fuzziness of numerals in Chinese idioms are dealt with specifically, guided by the general translation methodology adopted in the rendering of idioms in English and Chinese, which correspond in different ways.