2. 1. 1 Nine in idioms
The number “nine” in Chinese numbers has its unique position. Because nine in Chinese is a totem of dragon, and in Chinese traditional culture there are nine floors of skies, while the ninth floor sky is the highest[10]. So “nine” is given a kind of divine meaning. Besides, in Chinese “nine” has the same pronunciation with “forever”, so it is favored by each emperor of every dynasty for the wish that their governess could last forever. This point is especially clear in the Chinese palatial architectural culture. The Imperial Palace’s three palace halls are all 9.9 feet high, so it is the same height with that of the Payun palace hall in the Summer Palace. The golden nails on the every city gate of The Imperial Palace were fixed in a 9×9 design, 81 nails in total. The quantity of the steps in The Imperial Palace are all nine or multiple of nine[11]. Therefore, it’s not strange to see so many idioms contain nine in Chinese. For example, “九天揽月;九霄云外;九牛一毛;九流宾客;一言九鼎;一龙生九子,九子各不同”. The meaning of “nine” in the words “九天揽月;九霄云外;九牛一毛” is deep level or large quantity. While in the word “一言九鼎” the “nine” is to describe the people with high status or his words couldn’t be violated.
Nine in English has no such meaning as divide, sacred, but it also express a meaning of deep, wide. For instance, “a nine days’wonder(轰动一时、过后即忘的事情)、A stitch in time saves nine(及时医治一针省九针、及时处理事半功倍)、be dressed up to the nines[12] (特殊场合穿着、打扮得很华丽、穿着讲究)、crack up ( flatter /honor /p raise)to the nine(十全十美)、A cat has nine lives(猫有九条命)”, and so on.
2. 1. 2 Seven in idioms
In Chinese culture, there are such idioms,“七日来复”、“正月初七为人日”、“山中方七日,世上已千年”. However, seven is usually a taboo number in Chinese. The amount of the presents couldn’t be seven, and seven dishes on the table is forbidden. When people choose the auspicious day, the date 7th, 17th, 27th will never be considered. The one reason is Chinese people like even number better, another is the tradition of Chinese sacrifice. In some districts of China, July 7th in the lunar calendar is an unlucky day, the wedding ceremony is forbidden. This customer is connected with the legend of Niulang and Zhinv’s love story. Because every year, they could only meet each other this day. And some people think if it rains this day, the rain is the tears of them. Therefore, it is no wonder to forbid the wedding ceremony on that day. The idioms which are formed by seven in Chinese usually have derogatory sense, such as “七零八落、七手八脚、七嘴八舌、七拼八凑、七上八下、七扭八歪”.
In contrast, “seven” is a very sacred number in western culture, because it related to the God. For example: the God spent six days to create the world, and had a rest on the seventh day; Jesus advised people to forgive others more than seven multiply seventy times; Virgin Mary has seven happy things and seven miserable things; Lord’s Prayer has seven parts; Holy Ghost has seven presents. Hence, the English-spoken races have to finish seven things about virtue, sin, well-doing. Such as “seven virtues(七大美德), seven deadly sins(七宗罪), the seven gifts of the spirits(七大精神财富), the seven corporal works of mercy(七大肉体善事), the seven spiritual works of mercy(七大精神善事), the seven sacraments(七大圣礼)”. Seven is also a lucky number in English, “lucky seven” is familiar with western people.
There are many idioms contain seven, “Keep a thing seven years and you will find a use for it. (东西保存时间长,终会派上好用场) Seven hours’sleep will make a clown forget his design. (睡七小时的觉,小丑把花样都忘掉)A man may lose more in an hour than he can get in seven. (得之艰难,失之易) to be in the seventh heaven. (极其快乐) ” .
2. 2 Analysis of taboo differences between English and Chinese numbers
Taboo differences take a very important position in numerical culture. Adoring or tabooing to some numbers or dates is a mutual phenomenon of every race in the world. But the numerical taboo is different between English and Chinese.
Number “four” in China is regard as an unlucky number, because it has the same pronunciation with “dead” in Chinese. So the car number or telephone number will not be popular if it contains four.
While in western country, basically “four” is not a taboo subject. Except the wedding ceremony, they will avoid it is held on Thursday, as they think it is an unlucky day. Different with Chinese people, they think “thirteen” is a frightful number. “Thirteen is a unlucky number” is a famous idiom in western world. “Thirteen at table” means who stand up first around the table in the thirteen people will die. Jesus is just the example. “a baker’s dozen” equals to “a devil’s dozen”, “a printer’s dozen” or “a great dozen”, they all mean “13”.
3 Translation of Chinese and English numbers
Although the numbers may be the same in different countries, yet they will spark dissenting associations or connotations because of different background. In some cases, the target language shares the same association or connotation and linguistic feature with the source language. But in most cases, the source-language numbers or numeral expressions may produce specific cultural connotation, which is unknown to the target-language readers. Thereby, the translation of numbers is simple on the surface but complicated in essence. 转贴于 酷文网-论文下载中心 http://www.coolwen.net
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