On English Translation Of Fuzzy Numerals In Chinese Classical Poetry

A numeral is a symbol or word that represents a quantity or an amount. For a long time, numeral translation is just carried out by substituting the equivalent in the target language for the numerals in the source language. However, numerals can not simply be regarded as the precise numerals to express the exact quantity, degree, time, distance or scope, but the fuzzy ones whose function is to carry out implicit meanings. In linguistics, numerals sometimes play rhetorical roles of exaggeration, figuration and so on so as to carry abundant cultural information, express rich denotative and connotative senses, show feelings and emotions and reveal the expressiveness of a language. The numerals can largely be classified into three categories according to their functions. At the same time, the author studies the causes for fuzziness of these numerals. Many poets favor the use of numerals which are often endowed with fuzziness and employed as rhetorical devices to create artistic beauty in Chinese classical poetry, which makes their translation not as easy as it seems to be. Under the guidance of theories of fuzziness and translation equivalence, the author employs several examples to prove the feasibility of fuzzy equivalence in English translation of fuzzy numerals in Chinese classical poetry. Last but not least, three translation strategies are explained for realization of fuzzy equivalence on the basis of three principles.The main findings of the study can be stated as follows:First of all, a great number of numerals are employed in Chinese classical poetry and many of them are of fuzziness. Poets such as Li Bai and Du Fu are especially fond of making use of fuzzy numerals to achieve rhetorical effects, create aesthetic values or show strong emotions.Secondly, numerals in Chinese classical poetry can generally be classified into three categories, namely, a single numeral, numerals in juxtaposition and numerals for antithetical parallelism. What's more, the causes for fuzziness of numerals such as semantic fuzziness of numerals, juxtaposition of numerals, fixed structure of numerals, linguistic hedges in poetry and cultural implications of numerals are analyzed.Thirdly, the fuzziness of numerals, differences in words construction, pragmatic meaning as well as cultural connotation between Chinese and English all lead to difficult equivalent English translation of fuzzy numerals in Chinese classical poetry.Fourthly, the author illustrates several translation equivalence theories, particularly that of Nida. In the light of fuzziness theories, the author means to seek fuzzy equivalence in fuzzy language translation instead of pursuing absolute equivalence. Based on this theoretical foundation, the author makes clear the feasibility of fuzzy equivalence in translation of fuzzy numerals in poetry by raising a few translated versions of Chinese classical poems with fuzzy numerals as examples. The author concludes that complete equivalence in fuzzy numeral translation is impossible in most cases; instead, fuzzy equivalence to a certain degree can be achieved.Fifthly, to guarantee that the translated versions of fuzzy numerals are readable and acceptable in the target language, certain principles should be followed. There are generally three principles, namely, principles of maintaining meaning, readability and figurative speeches.Finally, under the guidance of theories of fuzziness and translation equivalence, and the three translation principles, the author puts forward three translation strategies that may of some help to realize fuzzy equivalence in English translation of fuzzy numerals in Chinese classical poetry. The strategies are as follows:precision-precision translation; fuzziness-fuzziness translation and fuzziness-precision translation.