1、 Chinese; English; comparison; translation 【摘 要】 数字是语言科学中的一个特殊领域，是表示数量或顺序的词类。在汉英两种语言中，数字作为计算功能的意义是一致的。但由于受民族心理、宗教信仰、神话传说等文化差异的影响，数字被赋予了丰富的文化内涵。对不同或相同的数字，汉英有着不同的崇尚或禁忌习俗，以及不同的联想和意义，并由此而孕育出各自独特的数字文化。因此，在翻译数字，尤其在民间语言和文学作品中，要对汉英两种语言与文化有较全面的了解,并充分考虑到英汉数字的模糊语义的差异，灵活运用不同的翻译方法，才能译出形神兼备的作品。【关键词】 数字；汉语；英语；对比；翻
2、译1.Introduction:1.1 Language, culture and numbers1.1.1 The relationship between language and cultureCulture, a controversial and puzzling question, has been conceptualized from diverse perspectives by generations of linguists and anthropologists. It has no completely standard definitions, however, “
3、culture, in a broad sense, means the total way of life of a people including the patterns of belief, customs, objects, institutions, techniques, and language that characterizes the life of the human community” 1. As culture is so inclusive, it permeates virtually every aspect of human life and influ
4、ences predominantly peoples behavior, including linguistic behavior. And language, “the carrier and container of cultural information” 2, is commonly viewed as a means of communications, means of expressing ideas and emotions of human beings. Language, as a reflection of the culture and a mirror of
5、the society, is strongly influenced and shaped by culture. And culture is influenced by many factors, such as language, beliefs, customs, social habits and so on. Thus, language and culture, intrinsically dependent on each other, cannot exist without each other. The close relationship between langua
6、ge and culture is readily shown by the fact that culture is transmitted from one generation to the next through language. 1.1.2 The definition of numbers As far as the relationship between elements of language and culture is concerned, the words relate most tightly to the culture. And numbers, as an
7、 important part in language world, have an informative function. But what is number? As Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary defines, “A number is a word or symbol that represents an amount or a quantity” 3. Numbers are used widely in every aspect of life. Without numbers, nothing can
8、 get along well in the world. As we know, numbers are grammatically divided into cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers, multiples, fractions and approximate numbers in Chinese and English language.And the concept of numbers stems from the Nature, from human beings observation and exploration to the obje
9、ctive world, from the realization and generalization to the physical world 4. A number is the abstract concept that can be considered not only as the word but also as the symbol. 1.2 The purpose of this paperNumbers are created from the interaction of humans social and cultural behavior with their a
10、bility to conceptualize their outside world. So numbers are not merely mathematical tools, but extended as metaphors in the idiomatic usages with a series of connotations. Chinese people and English people show different appetites towards the numbers. So there exist different cultural connotations a
11、nd extensions between Chinese and English numbers. This paper, from diverse cultural backgrounds of numbers in Chinese and English, discusses the discrepancy in the national psychology, religious belief, mythology and so on, and generalizes several methods of translation in numbers, especially in li
12、terary works, so as to facilitate intercultural or cross-cultural communication. 2. The cultural diversity between Chinese and English numbers All human beings use numbers so that the culture of numbers has come into being. Numbers penetrate into every aspect of human life 5. Yet, numbers, which ref
13、lect the scales of the material world, have been endowed with rich cultural connotations due to the different cultural backgrounds. As far as Chinese culture is concerned, it bears some similarities to the world culture, but it has been laying more stress on the usages of idioms. There are numerous
14、Chinese idioms and idiomatic usages with numbers, such as:说一不二，五湖四海，三教九流，一日不见，如隔三秋，三十六计走为上计，三句话不离本行，八九不离十，百战不殆，七零八落，九霄云外，九九归一，十万火急and so forth.In English-related culture, there are also a large quantity of idioms or idiomatic usages with numbers, such as three sheets in the wind, the upper ten, seco
15、nd to none, two-by-four, four-letter man, catch-22, two-left feet, and so on. Besides, odd numbers except13, are favored and adorned by western people. For instance, number “seven” with marked religious colour is used frequently in the Scriptures to signify completeness. Similarly, multiples of seve
16、n are also used in a similar sense of completeness 6. But in Chinese, it is on the other way around. Although the discrepancy in the social tradition and the diversity in the numerical culture are universal, there exists a general cult of numbers in both Chinese and English. The following part will
17、focus on the cultural sources of number cult or worship from three aspects, that is, national psychology, religion, and mythology.2.1 Numbers and psychology of national culture In Chinese culture, heaven and earth produce everything by the interaction of two existential and powerful forces of the un
18、iverse, yin and yang. “Since numbers were considered a mystical part of the universe, the ancient Chinese regarded odd numbers as yang or masculine and even numbers as yin or famine” 7. “Nine”, as the largest single digit, took on the meaning of “ultimate masculinity” and implied the loftiest revere
19、nce for heaven. Therefore, the number “nine” symbolized the supreme sovereignty of the emperor who was the Son of Heaven. And the number “nine” （or its multiples） is often employed in the Chinese ancient architecture, particularly imperial buildings. Ancient palaces were usually designed as nine-sec
20、tion architectural complexes related to the number “nine” in the number or size. Take the Forbidden City, located in the center of Beijing for example. It has a total of 9,999 bays, and the Gate Tower of Tiananmen has nine by nine bays. Thus number “nine” or its multiple is ubiquitous in the archite
21、cture of the sacrificial temple. And the Nine Dragon Screen near Beihai Park has also been connected with number nine. The Chinese people show preference to number “nine”, not only on the construction of the building, but also in other fields, such as: Annual festival feasts for the royal court of t
22、he Qing consisted of 99 kinds of foods. And a division of ancient feudal government officials was “nine level”. Besides, to celebrate an emperors birthday, there were 81 forms of entertainment called the “nine-nine big celebration” to wish the emperor good luck and longevity 8. By and by, the number
23、 “nine” became exclusively reserved and adorned by Chinese people, even today.Generally speaking, in Chinese culture, even numbers are regarded to be lucky and propitious symbols, which can bring people good luck and fortune, while odd numbers are incomplete. But as far as English people are concern
24、ed, this phenomenon is on the other way around. They prefer odd numbers to even ones, such as “three”, “seven”, of course excluding number “thirteen”, as is known to nearly most English-speaking people. When celebrating or sending flowers to friends or relatives, people should take one, three, five,
25、 or even more （excluding 13）, whereas, people send two or four, six flowers or its multiple when condoling with deceased persons.But everything has its both sides. For instance, number “four” in Chinese has a bad and unlucky association and connotation, though it is an even number. Thus, another ele
26、ment that renders numbers good or bad in Chinese is the homophony and punning in a many-tone word. Number “four” has a similar sound with the Chinese character“死”,representing “death”. So a large number of people try every effort to avoid it. The possible omens associated with numbers and sounds of
27、numbers by the Chinese are inexhaustible. In contrast, the number “eight” is fortunate because it sounds like“发”，namely, making a fortune. When it comes to the cases like telephone numbers, vehicle license numbers, door numbers, people show special preference to number “eight” or something associate
28、d with number “eight”, such as 168（to make a fortune all the way）（一路发），518（I want to make a fortune）（我要发）and so forth9. Number nine also has such lucky association due to its sound and punning “eternity”（久）. Therefore people favor to choose the date related to number “nine” as the wedding day. The 2
29、1st Century once reported that on 9th, September 1999, 165 pairs of people were married, in the hope of having everlasting love for each other 10.But in contrast, English people worship number “four”, which is the symbol of justice, righteousness, power, the fountain of creation, and the key of everything in the world 11. For instance, to the early people, the cosmos is made four elements: earth, air, water, and fire. 2.2 Numbers and religion or philosophyReligion, considered to be the kernel source of a culture, without doubt influences peoples conception of culture, because of
