Numerals In Chinese-english Poetry Translation

Being such simple and boring things, numerals have been widely used in Chinese language in various styles with abundant meanings and cultural connotations. The adroit adoption of numerals is partially responsible for the extraordinary charm of Chinese classical poetry. In addition to expressing quantitative relationship, numerals in poetry contribute to the shaping and delivering of aesthetic imagery. Through the rhetorical means such as hyperbole, parallelism, separating numbers and others, numerals in poetry create unique aesthetic conception with their rich cultural connotations. However, numeral connotations make it difficult for target readers to understand and translators to translate at the same time. Thus only when numeral connotations are fully understood can the readers enjoy the beauty of Chinese poetry.The unique charm of Chinese poetry not only stimulates the foreign readers'strong interests, but also greatly encourages Chinese scholars to popularize the culture, which, as a result, leads to strong demands of translation. With its five-thousand-year history, every word in Chinese language is heavily loaded with cultural connotations. Compared with English, it is quite different apart from their similarities. As a means of rhetorical device, numerals in poetry are in particular loaded with rich cultural connotations. In virtue of Xu Yuanchong's related translation principles, this thesis tries to carry out a detailed study on numeral translation in poetry and summarizes four kinds of tentative translation methods applied in Chinese classical poems translating. Finally, the thesis concludes that to display the charm of Chinese classical poetry to the greatest extent, translator must be equipped with both a thorough understanding of Chinese and English numeral connotations and an aim of expressing their artistic conception.