Abstract
Idioms are fixed phrases that are formed with using and polishing in the language in a long time. Its form and connotation are the essence of Chinese language. They usually appear in three-word, four-word or more. The numeral words play an important role in the Chinese idioms. Therefore, when we translate the numeral words in Chinese idioms, we should figure out the meaning and the cultural connotation of them, and find whether they serve as congruent reference or phantom reference; or it is hard for us to convey the cultural connotation of Chinese idioms in a complete way. We believe that it will help us convey the extensive meaning and the connotation of the numeral words in Chinese idioms more accurately by using the proper words in English to translate them in the discourse translation of general literary style or science and technology literary style. At present, we have made a great achievement in interpretation and translation of the Chinese-English of four-word Chinese idioms and English-Chinese of English idioms.
However, both English and Chinese have a very long history and profound culture, which are also deeply imprinted in the language. Idioms as a very characteristic language reflect the essence of language, which play a very important role in English and Chinese. As English and Chinese ethnic groups have different geographical environment, history and culture background, religion and custom etc, they have different meanings of the same idiom. Therefore, the numeral words in Chinese idioms and English idioms convey different cultural information because of different culture.
Keywords: idioms, numeral words, congruent reference, phantom reference, culture.
Contents
Abstract I
Contents I
Introduction 1
1.1 Research Background 1
1.2Research Object 2
2. Literature Review 3
2.1 The Previous Studies of Chinese-English Numeral Idioms Translation 3
2.2 The Origin and History of Chinese Idioms. 4
2.3 The Meaning and Translation Strategies of the Numeral Words in the Chinese Four-word Idioms. 5
2.3.1 The Meaning of the Numeral Words in the Chinese Four-word Idioms 5
2.3.2 Use the Equivalent English Idioms to Translate the Chinese Four-word Idioms 6
2.3.3 Bypass the Cultural Background to Translate the Original Connotation of the Chinese Four-word Idioms 7
2.3.4 Look up the Real Connotation of the Numerals in the Chinese Four-word Idiom and Use the Proper English Words to Translate Them. 8
Conclusion 9
References 10
