Strategies For Translating Chinese Abbreviations With Numbers

This study aims to discuss possible ways of properly translating Chinese abbreviations with numbers into English,using real examples taken from a Chinese-English translation project related to Chinese university development featured by the Double First-Class Initiative,of which the author is a translation team member.Firstly,based on a review of previous literature,a definition of Chinese abbreviations with numbers is given based on a pattern of “number + core word”,according to which the abbreviations are classified into two categories: “number + repeated core word” and “number + summarizing core word”.Secondly,a contrast of abbreviations with numbers in Chinese and English is made.Thirdly,challenges in translating such Chinese abbreviations into English are described and analyzed.Lastly,two translation strategies in this regard are proposed and discussed in the form of a case study on the translation project.One strategy is to keep the “number + core word” pattern in the original text,either by literally translating both the number and the core word,depending on the appropriateness in delivering the intended message,or by literally translating the number but using a different core word in English;the other strategy is to abandon the basic pattern,i.e.translating both the number and the core word freely,or translating the core word literally but giving up the number or rendering it in an alternative way.