Literature Review of Metaphor Translation

楊梓悠

【Abstract】Metaphor was only viewed as a kind of rhetorical device at the beginning， but it is now regarded as the way that people perceive the world. As a result， it is widely used in the daily life. For translators， it is necessary to translate metaphor with the exact strategy. Thus， this article reviews previous studies of metaphor translation including theoretical studies as well as the analytical ones in order to put forward some practical suggestions and point out the gap of those studies.

【Key words】metaphor translation； literature review； translation strategy； theoretical studies； analytical studies

1. Introduction

At first， metaphor was a research interest of literary scholars because it was viewed as the figurative uses of language which mainly appeared in literary works. However， it became widely used in peoples daily life. As a result， linguists began to pay attention to metaphor and regarded it as the way for people to perceive the world. According to Leech， similarity or comparison between the literal and the figurative meaning of an expression were the basis of metaphor. “To illustrate， metaphor establishes links between two concepts that do not seem to belong together by their very nature. More specifically， metaphor has been seen as a three-item pattern involving the elements ‘tenor， ‘vehicle， and ‘ground （Leech， 1969）.” Generally speaking， metaphor is unconsciously built into the language， which means that metaphor may differ in different languages. It is not difficult to draw the conclusion that metaphor translation is a challenge for translators because of the cognitive differences between the source language and the target language. As a result， it is necessary to find out the proper way to translate metaphor. The following essay will summarize some previous research on metaphor translation as well as the strategies.

2. Previous Research on the Strategies of Metaphor Translation at Abroad

For foreign researchers， whether building up the systematic theory of metaphor translation is necessary remains a controversial question. Besides， how to deal with metaphor translation is still disputable. Nevertheless， there are some strategies of metaphor translation such as domestication. Among those researchers， Nida was the one who paid attention to metaphor translation as a pioneer. In Nidas view， strategies of metaphor translation includes the plain translation of metaphor， the conversion of metaphor to simile， the conversion of metaphor to non-metaphor， and the conversion of non-metaphor to metaphor （Nida， 2003）. Similarly， Newmark pointed out seven strategies of metaphor translation including using the same vehicle in the target language， the conversion of the vehicle in the source language to the normal one in the target language， the conversion of the metaphor to simile， remaining the ground， combining metaphor and simile， the conversion of the metaphor to the ground， omitting the metaphor， and combining the metaphor and the ground （Newmark， 2001）. Besides， Teilanyo put forward four strategies including conversion， ellipsis， modification， and retention based on the textual analysis （Teilanyo， 2007）. In all， foreign researchers study this topic both theoretically and analytically. They mainly agreed that translators ought to deal with metaphor translation with conversion， ellipsis， modification， and retention.

3. Previous Research on the Strategies of Metaphor Translation at Home

Some domestic researchers aim at finding out the proper way for translators to deal with the cognitive differences between Chinese and English better. These studies can be divided into two categories： theoretical studies and analytical studies.

3.1Previous Theoretical Research on the Strategies of Metaphor Translation at Home

Domestic researchers focusing on theoretical studies mainly put forward two suggestions including domestication as well as foreignization and equivalence.

3.1.1 Domestication and Foreignization

First， six published essays agree that domestication and foreignization are the best choice for metaphor translation. For these researchers， cultural blanks and cultural conflicts are the main obstacles to correct translation， so they support their argument from the cognitive perspective. As a result， all of them pay attention to the cultural differences of cognition and suggest that literal translation， free translation， and paraphrase are the best strategies.

There is no doubt that differences still exist among these essays. To begin with， Chen Xue and Zhao Yan applied Wilsons model of the cognitive process of metaphor translation. In their opinion， strategies mentioned above ought to be chosen in accordance with the relationship between the source language and the target language （Chen Xue & Zhao Yan， 2016）. To illustrate， literal translation and conversion can be applied if there are similarities between the source language and the target language. To be exact， the former one is for high similarity while the latter one is applied when the figurative meaning of words is different in the two languages. On the other hand， free translation and paraphrase ought to be applied when there are not similarities between the two languages. Similarly， both Zhang Guanglin and Xue Yahong agreed with them that the conversion of the vehicle is helpful in domestication. However， they argued that retaining the metaphor is able to help target readers get to accept the way that readers of the source language perceive the world （Zhang Guanglin & Xue Yahong， 2009）. The conversion of the vehicle is defined as loan translation by Wang， whose research mainly focused on the pragmatic usage of metaphor （Wang Xiuhua， 2008）. As for Cheng Yali， she mainly focused on the relationships between the vehicle in the source language and that in the target language （Cheng Yali， 2014）. She argued that annotation should be added when retaining the metaphor because some of the target readers may not be able to understand and accept the way that readers of the source language perceive the world. Moreover， she thought that amplification， the proper extension of the sentence， could help readers understand the figurative meaning of the metaphor. It should not be neglected that she also agreed with Newmark on the conversion of metaphor to simile， which managed to retain the vehicle of the source language and depict the scene vividly. In comparison， Sun Guiyings essay attached more importance to the cultural blanks and the cultural conflicts in detail between Chinese and English and advocated that paraphrase should be the most widely used method （Sun Guiying， 2010）. On the contrary， Huang Yonghua argued that the cognitive similarity and the cultural similarity on the basis of globalization should be noted because they could ensure the application of literal translation （Huang Yonghua， 2011）. To sum up， domestic studies have various focuses result in the diversity of some details in their findings， but most of them agree that literal translation， free translation， and paraphrase are useful in metaphor translation.

3.1.2 Equivalence

Second， four essays agree that equivalence is the proper strategy of metaphor translation. From the cognitive perspective， metaphor translation requires that the relationship between the vehicle and the tenor of the source language should not be changed in the target language. As a result， they suggest that Nidas theory of equivalence should be the best solution of metaphor translation so that readers of the target language are able to perceive the article in the way that those of the source language do （Nida， 2003）.

Nevertheless， there are some differences among those researchers idea. To begin with， undertranslation put forward by Newmark is applied to evaluate metaphor translation because cultural conflicts and cultural blanks are obstacles to equivalence （Xiao Jiayan， 2010）. She stated that translators ought to choose the correct strategy to reduce its negative influence. Additionally， both Liu Bingquan and Zhang Lei believed that equivalence is based on the shared non-cultural knowledge between the source language and the target language （Liu Bingquan & Zhang Lei， 2009）. To illustrate， their research focused on the cognitive similarities between both languages and concluded that dynamic equivalence is helpful when they have no shared non-cultural knowledge. Chang Hui added that amplification can also be applied （Chang Hui， 2008）. For Sun Qiuhua， binary similarity including the intra-lingual similarity and the inter-lingual similarity is the spirit of metaphor translation （Sun Qiuhua， 2017）. In other words， the intra-lingual similarity is formed by point， line， and plane similarities， while the inter-lingual similarity is formed by line， plane， and three-dimension similarities， originating from the intra-lingual similarity. Based on this concept， she suggested that amplification and conversion could be the proper strategies.

3.2 Previous Analytical Research on the Strategies of Metaphor Translation at Home

For other researchers， analytical research on the strategies of metaphor translation is more convincing. These analytical studies are based on the textual analysis of canons of traditional Chinese medicine， literary works， television news， scientific language， political texts， and legal English. It should be noted that researchers viewed domestication， foreignization， and equivalence as the proper strategies of metaphor translation.

3.2.1 Application of Domestication and Foreignization

Based on domestication and foreignization， most researchers regarded literal translation， free translation， paraphrase， and conversion as the suitable strategies of metaphor translation. Undoubtedly， there are some differences among those studies. As for analytical research on the canons of traditional Chinese medicine， two researchers suggested that sentence structures play the vital role of free translation （Fan Chunxiang & Yao Xin， 2014）. However， the other three researchers added that ellipsis would be acceptable when metaphor is overused in the source text （Wang Na， Xue Junmei， Wang Zhimei， 2016）. The reason is that the canons of traditional Chinese medicine tend to use parallel sentences to explain the symptoms. In order to make the sentence concise， translators ought to summarize the main idea of the source text and omit the needless metaphor.

As for television news， both researchers agreed that literal translation， free translation， and conversion are useful by providing relevant charts （Chen Jiaxu， 2016）.

When it comes to the analytical research on scientific language， a researcher combined Hallidays theory with metaphor translation （Chen Qing， 2012）. According to Halliday， congruent form and metaphorical form are the basic forms of scientific language and grammatical metaphor shifts in functions as well as ranks. As a result， he suggested that metaphor should be translated on the same rank or to a higher rank in accordance with the degree of difficulty.

According to the researchers studying on political texts， annotation should not be neglected because of the cultural blanks （Zhu Xiaomin & Zeng Guoxiu， 2013）. Based on the corpus of political texts， the qualitative analysis succeeded in making the argument convincing.

Also， legal English is another research interest for some researchers. It is pointed out that foreignization is more suitable for metaphor translation of legal English （Wang Qian， 2015）. The reasons are as follows. First， cultural blanks and cultural conflicts result in the legal differences between the source language and the target language. Second， legal texts require concise and logical sentences.

3.2.2 Application of Equivalence

Analytical research on canons of traditional Chinese medicine and literary works come to agreement that equivalence is appropriate for metaphor translation， though they have different detailed suggestions.

On one hand， relevance theory is discussed because the optimal relevance is able to convey the concepts of traditional Chinese medicine （Fan Chunxiang， 2016）. Consequently， the researcher tried to attract peoples attention to dynamic equivalence， which could provide the optimal equivalence according to the optimal relevance. On the other hand， equivalence cannot deal with all the metaphor translation of literary works （Wang Zhen， Yang Sihui， Hu Dongping， 2010）. By comparing the two English versions of Lu Xuns A Madmans Diary and Medicine， researchers indicated that amplification would be in need if cultural conflicts exist between the source language and the target language.

4. Conclusion

It is clear that there are several domestic studies of strategies of metaphor translation including theoretical ones and analytical ones. Though they can be divided into two categories， the terms translated into Chinese are confusing because researchers tend to use different versions. As a result， the exact Chinese translation of these terms ought to be confirmed so that researchers are able to use the same terms to make their essays concise and readable.

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