汉英数字文化比较及其翻译[Abstract]Numbers,asaspecialpartinthescienceoflinguistics,arewordsoriginallyusedtoexpressquantityorsequence.NumbersservethesamecalculatingfunctioninbothChineseandEnglish.Butbecauseoftheculturaldiversityfoundinthenationalpsychology,religiousbeliefandmythology,numbersareendowedwithabundantculturalconnotationsandassociations.AndbothChineseandEnglishpeopleshowdifferentcults,taboosandconnotationstowardsthedifferentoridenticalnumberssoastogeneratetheirownnumeralcultures.Therefore,intheprocessoftranslatingnumbers,especiallyonesinthefolklanguageandliteraryworks,translatorsshouldmakearelativelythoroughstudyofthelanguageandculturebothinChineseandEnglish,andconsiderthediscrepancyinthevaguenessofnumbersrespectivelybeforerenderingsatisfactorytranslations.[KeyWords]numbers;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；翻译1.Introduction:1.1Language,cultureandnumbers1.1.1TherelationshipbetweenlanguageandcultureCulture,acontroversialandpuzzlingquestion,hasbeenconceptualizedfromdiverseperspectivesbygenerationsoflinguistsandanthropologists.Ithasnocompletelystandarddefinitions,however,“culture,inabroadsense,meansthetotalwayoflifeofapeopleincludingthepatternsofbelief,customs,objects,institutions,techniques,andlanguagethatcharacterizesthelifeofthehumancommunity”[1].Ascultureissoinclusive,itpermeatesvirtuallyeveryaspectofhumanlifeandinfluencespredominantlypeople’sbehavior,includinglinguisticbehavior.Andlanguage,“thecarrierandcontainerofculturalinformation”[2],iscommonlyviewedasameansofcommunications,meansofexpressingideasandemotionsofhumanbeings.Language,asareflectionofthecultureandamirrorofthesociety,isstronglyinfluencedandshapedbyculture.Andcultureisinfluencedbymanyfactors,suchaslanguage,beliefs,customs,socialhabitsandsoon.Thus,languageandculture,intrinsicallydependentoneachother,cannotexistwithouteachother.Thecloserelationshipbetweenlanguageandcultureisreadilyshownbythefactthatcultureistransmittedfromonegenerationtothenextthroughlanguage.1.1.2ThedefinitionofnumbersAsfarastherelationshipbetweenelementsoflanguageandcultureisconcerned,thewordsrelatemosttightlytotheculture.Andnumbers,asanimportantpartinlanguageworld,haveaninformativefunction.Butwhatisnumber?AsOxfordAdvancedLearner’sEnglish-ChineseDictionarydefines,“Anumberisawordorsymbolthatrepresentsanamountoraquantity”[3].Numbersareusedwidelyineveryaspectoflife.Withoutnumbers,nothingcangetalongwellintheworld.Asweknow,numbersaregrammaticallydividedintocardinalnumbers,ordinalnumbers,multiples,fractionsandapproximatenumbersinChineseandEnglishlanguage.AndtheconceptofnumbersstemsfromtheNature,fromhumanbeings’observationandexplorationtotheobjectiveworld,fromtherealizationandgeneralizationtothephysicalworld[4].Anumberistheabstractconceptthatcanbeconsiderednotonlyasthewordbutalsoasthesymbol.1.2ThepurposeofthispaperNumbersarecrea...
