[Abstract] In recent years, more and more scholars have made researches on metaphor and an “upsurge of metaphor” has been formed gradually in modern society. The studies on metaphor in forEign countries have developed a complete system, which is typically represented by George Lakeoff and Mark Johnson. And the studies on metaphor in China are also influenced by the two. However , if surveying these research achievements, we will easily find that few of them study the translation of metaphor from English into Chinese. Moreover, most traditional theorists believe that metaphor is only a figure of speech and belongs to the category of linguistics. But in fact, metaphor is not only a linguistic phenomenon, but also a cultural and cognitive phenomenon. This thesis breaks these restrictions and try to research into the translation of metaphor from English into Chinese from the perspective of cultural differences between Chinese and English. The whole thesis is divided into five parts. The first part is an introduction. Based on the new belief that metaphor is a cultural and cognitive phenomenon, this part states the significance of studying metaphor from the cultural perspective. The second part focuses on the analysis of the close interrelations between language, culture and translation. The third part introduces some major factors about metaphor, such as its definitions, characteristics and classification. The fourth part emphatically illustrates the approaches to the translation of metaphor from English into Chinese in terms of different corresponding relations between Chinese and English. The last part summarizes the main points of this thesis.
[Key Words] metaphor; translation; cultural differences; cultural connotations; corresponding relation
【摘 要】 近年来，越来越多的学者对隐喻进行了 研究 ，在 现代 社会 逐渐形成了一股“隐喻热”。对隐喻的研究在国外已形成较为完整的体系，其中以George Lakeoff 和Mark Johnson的研究最具有代表性。国内对隐喻的研究也主要受这两个人的 影响 。而纵观这些研究成果，我们不难发现，很少有对 英语 隐喻汉译的研究，而且大多数传统的 理论 家认为隐喻仅仅是一种修辞格，属于语言学的范畴。但是事实上，隐喻不仅是一种语言现象，也是一种文化现象、认知现象。本论文克服了这些局限，试图从中 英文 化差异的角度来研究英语隐喻的汉译。整篇论文分为五个部分。第一部分是导入。该部分立足于认为隐喻是一种文化和认知现象这一新观点，阐明了从文化角度对隐喻进行研究的意义。第二部分重点 分析 了语言、文化与翻译之间的密切关系。第三部分介绍了隐喻的一些要素，如隐喻的定义，特征及分类。第四部分根据不同的英汉对应关系，着重阐述了英语隐喻的汉译 方法 。最后一部分 总结 了此论文的一些要点。
【关键词】 隐喻；翻译；文化差异；文化内涵；对应关系
1. Introduction
On seeing the title of this thesis, the reader may easily find out three key words: translation, metaphor, and cultural differences. In the view of most people, metaphor belongs to the category of language, but as we know that language has very close connection with translation and culture. As Professor Wang Zuoliang, a master of translation, pointed out, translation involves language as well as culture.[1] Translation is not merely a task of replacing one language with another, but also needs to have a good command of the two different cultures represented by the two different languages. When we concentrate on translation studies, we should attach great importance to both language and culture.
Over the past two decades, translation studies have assumed a sound momentum of advancement, and culture, as an indispensable factor in translation, becomes increasingly important. Through thorough analysis, we can find that there are two tendencies in today’s development of translation studies: firstly, translation studies have been more and more integrated with communication theories; secondly, the focus of translation has been shifted from linguistic transfer to cultural transfer. Based on these two tendencies, many scholars engaged in translation studies agree with the idea that translation is an act of intercultural communication.
Since translation involves two languages and two cultures, and in different cultural backgrounds, there are different languages. Both Chinese and English are great peoples with long history and rich cultural resources, and naturally colorful languages. Metaphor, as a category of language, is a common linguistic phenomenon in both Chinese and English, but metaphors in these two different cultural backgrounds have great differences.
Metaphor doesn’t exist on the birth of human. With the advancement of human civilization, the linguistic competence of our ancestors had been greatly strengthened. They gradually acquired the capability to express their ideas through association. In this way, metaphor——one of the most important means of expression in human language came into being. As the foundation of mankind’s conceptual system, metaphor is the common feature of human language. If there is no metaphor in our language, it will be very hard for us to clearly and vividly express our ideas, let along smooth and successful communication.[2] Traditional theorists viewed metaphor simply as an important stylistic device of the poetic imagination and rhetorical flourish, moreover a matter of words rather than thought or action, but in fact, “metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but also in thought and action.”[3] Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature. Just as I.A.Richards contends, “all language and thought are metaphorical, and metaphor is the ‘omnipresent principle of language’.”[4]
From the importance of metaphor, we can see that translation of metaphor has great significance to the cultural translation. Peter Newmark has stated in Approaches to Translation that metaphor is at the center of all problems of translation theory, semantics and linguistics.[5] Especially in English, there are a great number of metaphors. It had been said that three-quarters of the English language consists of metaphors. In order to master English and successfully complete the task of translation from English into Chinese, successful translation of English metaphor is essential. Therefore, in this paper, the author attempts to discuss the problem of translation of metaphor from English into Chinese from the cultural perspective in detail.
As far as translation theory is concerned, this paper adopts Eugene A.Nida’s functional theory, i.e. “Functional Equivalence”: the response of the receptors to the translated message=the response of the original receptors to the message when it was given in its original setting.[6]From this point, we know that for truly successful translation, biculturalism is as important as bilingualism, and even more important at times.
2. Culture and translation
2.1 Culture
“What is culture?” is a very difficult question, because culture is such a complex conception and an enormous subject that it is extremely hard for people to give an exact definition to it. One of the oldest and most quoted definitions of culture was formulated by the English anthropologist Sir Edward Burnett Tylor in Primitive Cultures (1871). “He defined culture as ‘a complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society’.”[7]
Although culture is very complicated, we can roughly classify it into three categories in scope: (a) material culture which refers to all the products of manufacture;(b) instituted culture which refers to social system, religious system, ritual system, educated system and kinship system etc;(c) mental culture which refers to people’s mentalities and behaviors, their beliefs, perceptions, concepts of value, thought patterns etc,
In the view of most anthropologists, culture possesses the following features: (a) culture is socially acquired instead of biologically transmitted; (b) culture is shared among the members of a community instead of being unique to an individual; (c) culture is symbolic. Language is the most typical symbolic system within culture; (d) culture is integrated. Each aspect of culture is tied in with the other aspects.[8]
Since language symbolizes and reflects culture, language communication is actually a kind of cultural communication and the communication between different languages is indeed communication between different cultures. From this perspective, the translation of language is essentially the translation of culture, and translation studies should be conducted in the context of culture. In the next section, the author is going to discuss the interrelations between language, culture and translation.
2.2 Language, culture and translation
Nobody will suspect the close interrelations between language and culture. A language may be a small but indispensable part of a culture. The relation between language and culture is mutually cause and effect. They penetrate into each other and cannot exist without each other. Culture embraces and influences language. In the process of communication, the meaning of language is usually determined by its cultural context. On the other side, language is the important constituent of culture and it is also an essential tool for the reservation, communication and reflection of culture. [9] In a sense, language carries culture, mirrors culture, spreads culture and helps develop culture. It is no exaggeration to say that language is the life blood of culture and culture is the track along which language forms and develops.
Just because of the close relation between language and culture, we have to pay attention to the cultural context when we research into language. According to linguistics, the origin of human language is always connected with the origin of human and human society. Therefore, if we need to understand certain language and the laws of its development, we must closely relate it to the history of social development of this language and to the people using it and its history. The existence of culture cannot depart with its certain cultural context.[10]
As for the relation between culture and translation, the author has mentioned above. Translation is, in essence, an act of intercultural communication, and the translation of language is the translation of culture. Nida holds that both language and culture are symbolic systems, and translation is the interaction between these two systems. Thus, in translation we should not only focus on the literal meaning of words or sentences, but also pay special attention to their cultural connotations in certain cultural context. Therefore, translation studies at least contain two types: in narrow sense it is literal translation, which aims at turning the content in one language into another; in broad sense it is cultural translation, which explores in turning the cultural connotation in one language into another cultural form.[11]
So far as now, the author has illustrated the intimate interrelations between language, culture and translation. And among the relations between individual constituent of linguistic system and social development, the most direct one is lexicon. It is because that lexicon is most sensitive to the development of society. And metaphor, as the minor system of lexicon，is most deeply affected by social culture. As discussed in Introduction, metaphor is the common feature of human language and the foundation of mankind’s conceptual system. So when we do translation studies, metaphor is necessarily enlisted in our consideration. Although metaphor differs greatly, the acceptance of metaphor from an alien culture is possible, because human beings all live in the Earth, and they share more or less similar living environment and similar feelings and sentiments. However, the acceptance of metaphor is usually incomplete, because it is limited by the diversity of culture. As we know, different nations have different culture, and in different cultural context, metaphor is surely different. What’s more thinking itself is metaphorical and metaphorical concepts constitute people’s values and thought patterns. Therefore, how to deal with metaphor in translation is a pragmatic problem in translation studies. In the following chapter, the author is going to first introduce metaphor thoroughly.
3. Metaphor
3.1 Definition of metaphor
“The word ‘metaphor’ derives from the Greek word ‘metaphora’, which means ‘transference, carrying over’. It is a very common figure of speech in English.”[12] Metaphor, whose basic constituents are tenor, vehicle and ground, uses words to indicate something different from their literal meaning-----one thing is described in terms of another so as to suggest a likeness or analogy between them.
On the definition of metaphor, different scholars and academic works give their different opinions. Next the author is going to list some of them:
(a) A figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is applied to another. (Webster’s New World Dictionary)[13]
(b) A figure of speech in which one thing is described in terms of another. The basic figure in poetry. A comparison is usually implicit; whereas in simile it is explicit. (A Dictionary of Literal Terms)[14]
(c) The use of one reference to a group of things that are related in a particular way in order to discover a similar relation in another group. (I.A.Richards, 1936: 89-90, The Philosophy of Rhetoric)[15]
(d)The figure of speech in which a name or descriptive term is transferred to some object different from, but analogous to, that to which it is properly applicable; an instance of this, a metaphorical expression. (Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 2002)
(e) A Textbook of Translation (Peter Newmark, 1988:104) defines metaphor as follows: “By metaphor, I mean any figurative expression: the transferred sense of a physical word; the personification of an abstraction; the application of a word or collocation to what it does not literally denote, i.e., to describe one thing in terms of another. All polysemous words (a ‘heavy’ heart) and most English phrasal verbs are potentially metaphorical. Metaphors may be ‘single’-viz. one- word——or ‘extended’ (a collocation, an idiom, a sentence, a proverb, an allegory, a complete imaginative text)”[16]
(f)A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in “a sea of troubles” or “ All the world’s a stage”(Shakespeare) (The American Heritage of the English Language, Fourth Edition,2000)[17]
(g)A figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress in our God”. (Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary, Special Second Edition, 1996)[18]
Each of the above-quoted definitions points out more or less the essence of metaphor. The common feature of these definitions is that all of them think that metaphor is a figure of speech, containing an implicit comparison. Among the seven definitions of metaphor, the first is very concise; the second makes a contrast between simile and metaphor to point out the fundamental difference between these two rhetorical devices; the third points out that in metaphor, the tenor and the vehicle are related through their similarity in a particular way; the fourth is abstract for it provides no concrete examples to help the reader better understand the notion it intends to convey; the fifth seems to be the most comprehensive and the most specific of the above-quoted definitions as it includes several ways of manifestations which all belong to metaphor; the sixth is somewhat clear with two examples provided; the last one is quite similar with the first one.
But this thesis is mainly based on the view of George Lakeoff and Mark Johnson. “They claim in Metaphors We Live by, ‘…… metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action.’ They point out, ‘Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.’”[19] This point of view is very consistent with I.A.Richards’ “metaphor is omnipresent principle of language” mentioned in Introduction.
3.2 Characteristics of metaphor
From the seven definitions on metaphor above and according to our knowledge of metaphor, we may conclude that metaphor possesses at least the following four characteristics:
(a) Unlike simile, metaphor doesn’t contain such linking words as “as” and “like”, so the comparison is implicit rather than explicit.
(b) In a metaphor, the tenor is compared to the vehicle because they share an abstract quality, which functions as a tie connecting the two together. In other words, the tenor and the vehicle possess a similar abstract feature or quality, which serves as the basis of their comparison.
(c) The tenor and vehicle are by nature different from each other, though they possess something abstract in common on which their comparison is based.
(d) The vehicle in a metaphor creates a specific image, which is usually vivid and impressive. By comparing the tenor to the vehicle, we not only get a concrete image of the tenor but also make its typical quality or feature stand out.
To sum up, the author would rather believe that metaphor is not just a matter of language, a figure of speech, which implies a resemblance between one object and another, but a cognitive mode from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, which helps people understand the world.
So far as now, this thesis has thoroughly illustrated some major factors of metaphor. In the next part, the author will pay special attention to discuss the translation of metaphor from English to Chinese from the perspective of cultural differences between Chinese and English.
4. Translation of metaphor from English into Chinese from the perspective of cultural differences between Chinese and English
4.1 Cultural translation of metaphor
As we have discussed above, metaphor is not only a matter of words, but also a kind of cognitive mode. Thus, it is not enough to explore the translatability of metaphor only from the perspective of linguistics, but also from other perspectives. “Culture is the most important one of them in that in metaphors, the semantic ingredients restricted by context can stimulate readers to associate others, especially certain major definitional ones, which can shape an image in readers’ mind, then make the imparted information more clear and vivid.”[20] While image and culture are closely linked. Therefore, it is necessary for us to discuss the translatability of metaphor from the cultural perspective.
Whether a metaphor is “translatable” (i.e. whether literal translation could create identical dimensions), how difficult it is to translate, how it can be translated and whether it should be translated at all cannot be decided by a set of abstract rules, but must depend on the structure and function of the particular metaphor within the text concerned. The translatability of any given source language metaphor depends on two factors: one is particular cultural experiences and semantic association exploited by it; the other is the extent to which these can, or cannot, be reproduced non-anomalously in target language, depending on the degree of “overlap” in each particular case. Let’s look at an example:
(1) “Don’t be scared, chickens!” came her voice with teasing gaiety.
“别害怕，你们这些胆小如鼠的东西！”只听得她用戏谑的口气说道。
In this example, “chickens” should not be literally translated into “小鸡” in Chinese, because in western culture, “chicken” is often used to refer to a cowardly and fearful person. Thus, “胆小如鼠” is a better translation.
4.1.1 Management of cultural factors in translating English metaphors
English metaphors contain abundant and vivid cultural connotation of the nation and strongly reflect the cultural characteristics of the nation with English as its native language. The key of successful translation of English metaphors lies in the extent to which the translator understands the cultural context and the translation of the cultural features. Thus, the translator should try to master the source and cultural context of English metaphors as much as possible, which is very necessary to exactly understand their connotations and the cultural characteristics they reflect. Then the translator can use proper methods to translate these connotations and characteristics in order to achieve the most faithful and perfect translation.
As to translation standard and approach, in foreign countries, there are Nida’s “formal correspondence” and “functional equivalence”, and C.F.Newmark’s “semantic translation” and “communicational translation”; in China, there exists “direct translation” and “indirect translation”. Although they are different standards, all of them do not conflict with each other but complement with each other. Therefore, there are many approaches to translating metaphors. While in the process of translating metaphors, which approach is the best choice? It will depend on the nature and position of metaphors in text, on the relation between metaphor and context and on the type of the text itself.
Above all, during the process of translation of metaphors, the translator should try to flexibly keep the cultural features while translating meaning. As a result of cultural similarities and differences, the target language and the source language have different corresponding relations: sometimes full-corresponding, sometimes semi-corresponding, and sometimes non-corresponding. Such a phenomenon will further affect the accuracy of translation. In fact, any translation may bring about the loss of meaning and/or image. Therefore, we should adopt different complemental methods in order to achieve what Nida called “functional equivalence”.[21]
4.1.2 Cultural connotation of metaphor
“Both Nida and Newmark classify linguistic culture into five categories:(a) ecology (b) material culture (c) social culture (d) religious culture (e) linguistic culture.”[22] It clearly tells us that: cultural information carried by all kinds of languages is certain to be different, because the ecology, material, social and religious environment which different nations own are impossible to be identical. The cultural differences directly influence the thinking mode and value orientation of human being, thus become the main reason for the differences of metaphorical concepts of the two nations. Through researches on metaphors, we can find the cultural differences between Chinese and English.
Firstly, metaphors reflect geological and natural conditions of a nation. Different nations have different geological environment and national circumstances, and this difference often finds expression in metaphors. For example (2), when describing the emergence of a large amount of new objects, Chinese always say “雨后春笋般地”, while in English people usually say “grow like mushrooms” (像蘑菇一般). From this example, we can find that for the same phenomenon, Chinese and English use different images to describe. The reason just lies in the different environment of the two nations：China abounds with bamboo shoots, while the English speaking countries with mushrooms.
[Key Words] metaphor; translation; cultural differences; cultural connotations; corresponding relation
【摘 要】 近年来，越来越多的学者对隐喻进行了 研究 ，在 现代 社会 逐渐形成了一股“隐喻热”。对隐喻的研究在国外已形成较为完整的体系，其中以George Lakeoff 和Mark Johnson的研究最具有代表性。国内对隐喻的研究也主要受这两个人的 影响 。而纵观这些研究成果，我们不难发现，很少有对 英语 隐喻汉译的研究，而且大多数传统的 理论 家认为隐喻仅仅是一种修辞格，属于语言学的范畴。但是事实上，隐喻不仅是一种语言现象，也是一种文化现象、认知现象。本论文克服了这些局限，试图从中 英文 化差异的角度来研究英语隐喻的汉译。整篇论文分为五个部分。第一部分是导入。该部分立足于认为隐喻是一种文化和认知现象这一新观点，阐明了从文化角度对隐喻进行研究的意义。第二部分重点 分析 了语言、文化与翻译之间的密切关系。第三部分介绍了隐喻的一些要素，如隐喻的定义，特征及分类。第四部分根据不同的英汉对应关系，着重阐述了英语隐喻的汉译 方法 。最后一部分 总结 了此论文的一些要点。
【关键词】 隐喻；翻译；文化差异；文化内涵；对应关系
1. Introduction
On seeing the title of this thesis, the reader may easily find out three key words: translation, metaphor, and cultural differences. In the view of most people, metaphor belongs to the category of language, but as we know that language has very close connection with translation and culture. As Professor Wang Zuoliang, a master of translation, pointed out, translation involves language as well as culture.[1] Translation is not merely a task of replacing one language with another, but also needs to have a good command of the two different cultures represented by the two different languages. When we concentrate on translation studies, we should attach great importance to both language and culture.
Over the past two decades, translation studies have assumed a sound momentum of advancement, and culture, as an indispensable factor in translation, becomes increasingly important. Through thorough analysis, we can find that there are two tendencies in today’s development of translation studies: firstly, translation studies have been more and more integrated with communication theories; secondly, the focus of translation has been shifted from linguistic transfer to cultural transfer. Based on these two tendencies, many scholars engaged in translation studies agree with the idea that translation is an act of intercultural communication.
Since translation involves two languages and two cultures, and in different cultural backgrounds, there are different languages. Both Chinese and English are great peoples with long history and rich cultural resources, and naturally colorful languages. Metaphor, as a category of language, is a common linguistic phenomenon in both Chinese and English, but metaphors in these two different cultural backgrounds have great differences.
Metaphor doesn’t exist on the birth of human. With the advancement of human civilization, the linguistic competence of our ancestors had been greatly strengthened. They gradually acquired the capability to express their ideas through association. In this way, metaphor——one of the most important means of expression in human language came into being. As the foundation of mankind’s conceptual system, metaphor is the common feature of human language. If there is no metaphor in our language, it will be very hard for us to clearly and vividly express our ideas, let along smooth and successful communication.[2] Traditional theorists viewed metaphor simply as an important stylistic device of the poetic imagination and rhetorical flourish, moreover a matter of words rather than thought or action, but in fact, “metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but also in thought and action.”[3] Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature. Just as I.A.Richards contends, “all language and thought are metaphorical, and metaphor is the ‘omnipresent principle of language’.”[4]
From the importance of metaphor, we can see that translation of metaphor has great significance to the cultural translation. Peter Newmark has stated in Approaches to Translation that metaphor is at the center of all problems of translation theory, semantics and linguistics.[5] Especially in English, there are a great number of metaphors. It had been said that three-quarters of the English language consists of metaphors. In order to master English and successfully complete the task of translation from English into Chinese, successful translation of English metaphor is essential. Therefore, in this paper, the author attempts to discuss the problem of translation of metaphor from English into Chinese from the cultural perspective in detail.
As far as translation theory is concerned, this paper adopts Eugene A.Nida’s functional theory, i.e. “Functional Equivalence”: the response of the receptors to the translated message=the response of the original receptors to the message when it was given in its original setting.[6]From this point, we know that for truly successful translation, biculturalism is as important as bilingualism, and even more important at times.
2. Culture and translation
2.1 Culture
“What is culture?” is a very difficult question, because culture is such a complex conception and an enormous subject that it is extremely hard for people to give an exact definition to it. One of the oldest and most quoted definitions of culture was formulated by the English anthropologist Sir Edward Burnett Tylor in Primitive Cultures (1871). “He defined culture as ‘a complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society’.”[7]
Although culture is very complicated, we can roughly classify it into three categories in scope: (a) material culture which refers to all the products of manufacture;(b) instituted culture which refers to social system, religious system, ritual system, educated system and kinship system etc;(c) mental culture which refers to people’s mentalities and behaviors, their beliefs, perceptions, concepts of value, thought patterns etc,
In the view of most anthropologists, culture possesses the following features: (a) culture is socially acquired instead of biologically transmitted; (b) culture is shared among the members of a community instead of being unique to an individual; (c) culture is symbolic. Language is the most typical symbolic system within culture; (d) culture is integrated. Each aspect of culture is tied in with the other aspects.[8]
Since language symbolizes and reflects culture, language communication is actually a kind of cultural communication and the communication between different languages is indeed communication between different cultures. From this perspective, the translation of language is essentially the translation of culture, and translation studies should be conducted in the context of culture. In the next section, the author is going to discuss the interrelations between language, culture and translation.
2.2 Language, culture and translation
Nobody will suspect the close interrelations between language and culture. A language may be a small but indispensable part of a culture. The relation between language and culture is mutually cause and effect. They penetrate into each other and cannot exist without each other. Culture embraces and influences language. In the process of communication, the meaning of language is usually determined by its cultural context. On the other side, language is the important constituent of culture and it is also an essential tool for the reservation, communication and reflection of culture. [9] In a sense, language carries culture, mirrors culture, spreads culture and helps develop culture. It is no exaggeration to say that language is the life blood of culture and culture is the track along which language forms and develops.
Just because of the close relation between language and culture, we have to pay attention to the cultural context when we research into language. According to linguistics, the origin of human language is always connected with the origin of human and human society. Therefore, if we need to understand certain language and the laws of its development, we must closely relate it to the history of social development of this language and to the people using it and its history. The existence of culture cannot depart with its certain cultural context.[10]
As for the relation between culture and translation, the author has mentioned above. Translation is, in essence, an act of intercultural communication, and the translation of language is the translation of culture. Nida holds that both language and culture are symbolic systems, and translation is the interaction between these two systems. Thus, in translation we should not only focus on the literal meaning of words or sentences, but also pay special attention to their cultural connotations in certain cultural context. Therefore, translation studies at least contain two types: in narrow sense it is literal translation, which aims at turning the content in one language into another; in broad sense it is cultural translation, which explores in turning the cultural connotation in one language into another cultural form.[11]
So far as now, the author has illustrated the intimate interrelations between language, culture and translation. And among the relations between individual constituent of linguistic system and social development, the most direct one is lexicon. It is because that lexicon is most sensitive to the development of society. And metaphor, as the minor system of lexicon，is most deeply affected by social culture. As discussed in Introduction, metaphor is the common feature of human language and the foundation of mankind’s conceptual system. So when we do translation studies, metaphor is necessarily enlisted in our consideration. Although metaphor differs greatly, the acceptance of metaphor from an alien culture is possible, because human beings all live in the Earth, and they share more or less similar living environment and similar feelings and sentiments. However, the acceptance of metaphor is usually incomplete, because it is limited by the diversity of culture. As we know, different nations have different culture, and in different cultural context, metaphor is surely different. What’s more thinking itself is metaphorical and metaphorical concepts constitute people’s values and thought patterns. Therefore, how to deal with metaphor in translation is a pragmatic problem in translation studies. In the following chapter, the author is going to first introduce metaphor thoroughly.
3. Metaphor
3.1 Definition of metaphor
“The word ‘metaphor’ derives from the Greek word ‘metaphora’, which means ‘transference, carrying over’. It is a very common figure of speech in English.”[12] Metaphor, whose basic constituents are tenor, vehicle and ground, uses words to indicate something different from their literal meaning-----one thing is described in terms of another so as to suggest a likeness or analogy between them.
On the definition of metaphor, different scholars and academic works give their different opinions. Next the author is going to list some of them:
(a) A figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is applied to another. (Webster’s New World Dictionary)[13]
(b) A figure of speech in which one thing is described in terms of another. The basic figure in poetry. A comparison is usually implicit; whereas in simile it is explicit. (A Dictionary of Literal Terms)[14]
(c) The use of one reference to a group of things that are related in a particular way in order to discover a similar relation in another group. (I.A.Richards, 1936: 89-90, The Philosophy of Rhetoric)[15]
(d)The figure of speech in which a name or descriptive term is transferred to some object different from, but analogous to, that to which it is properly applicable; an instance of this, a metaphorical expression. (Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 2002)
(e) A Textbook of Translation (Peter Newmark, 1988:104) defines metaphor as follows: “By metaphor, I mean any figurative expression: the transferred sense of a physical word; the personification of an abstraction; the application of a word or collocation to what it does not literally denote, i.e., to describe one thing in terms of another. All polysemous words (a ‘heavy’ heart) and most English phrasal verbs are potentially metaphorical. Metaphors may be ‘single’-viz. one- word——or ‘extended’ (a collocation, an idiom, a sentence, a proverb, an allegory, a complete imaginative text)”[16]
(f)A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in “a sea of troubles” or “ All the world’s a stage”(Shakespeare) (The American Heritage of the English Language, Fourth Edition,2000)[17]
(g)A figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress in our God”. (Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary, Special Second Edition, 1996)[18]
Each of the above-quoted definitions points out more or less the essence of metaphor. The common feature of these definitions is that all of them think that metaphor is a figure of speech, containing an implicit comparison. Among the seven definitions of metaphor, the first is very concise; the second makes a contrast between simile and metaphor to point out the fundamental difference between these two rhetorical devices; the third points out that in metaphor, the tenor and the vehicle are related through their similarity in a particular way; the fourth is abstract for it provides no concrete examples to help the reader better understand the notion it intends to convey; the fifth seems to be the most comprehensive and the most specific of the above-quoted definitions as it includes several ways of manifestations which all belong to metaphor; the sixth is somewhat clear with two examples provided; the last one is quite similar with the first one.
But this thesis is mainly based on the view of George Lakeoff and Mark Johnson. “They claim in Metaphors We Live by, ‘…… metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action.’ They point out, ‘Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.’”[19] This point of view is very consistent with I.A.Richards’ “metaphor is omnipresent principle of language” mentioned in Introduction.
3.2 Characteristics of metaphor
From the seven definitions on metaphor above and according to our knowledge of metaphor, we may conclude that metaphor possesses at least the following four characteristics:
(a) Unlike simile, metaphor doesn’t contain such linking words as “as” and “like”, so the comparison is implicit rather than explicit.
(b) In a metaphor, the tenor is compared to the vehicle because they share an abstract quality, which functions as a tie connecting the two together. In other words, the tenor and the vehicle possess a similar abstract feature or quality, which serves as the basis of their comparison.
(c) The tenor and vehicle are by nature different from each other, though they possess something abstract in common on which their comparison is based.
(d) The vehicle in a metaphor creates a specific image, which is usually vivid and impressive. By comparing the tenor to the vehicle, we not only get a concrete image of the tenor but also make its typical quality or feature stand out.
To sum up, the author would rather believe that metaphor is not just a matter of language, a figure of speech, which implies a resemblance between one object and another, but a cognitive mode from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, which helps people understand the world.
So far as now, this thesis has thoroughly illustrated some major factors of metaphor. In the next part, the author will pay special attention to discuss the translation of metaphor from English to Chinese from the perspective of cultural differences between Chinese and English.
4. Translation of metaphor from English into Chinese from the perspective of cultural differences between Chinese and English
4.1 Cultural translation of metaphor
As we have discussed above, metaphor is not only a matter of words, but also a kind of cognitive mode. Thus, it is not enough to explore the translatability of metaphor only from the perspective of linguistics, but also from other perspectives. “Culture is the most important one of them in that in metaphors, the semantic ingredients restricted by context can stimulate readers to associate others, especially certain major definitional ones, which can shape an image in readers’ mind, then make the imparted information more clear and vivid.”[20] While image and culture are closely linked. Therefore, it is necessary for us to discuss the translatability of metaphor from the cultural perspective.
Whether a metaphor is “translatable” (i.e. whether literal translation could create identical dimensions), how difficult it is to translate, how it can be translated and whether it should be translated at all cannot be decided by a set of abstract rules, but must depend on the structure and function of the particular metaphor within the text concerned. The translatability of any given source language metaphor depends on two factors: one is particular cultural experiences and semantic association exploited by it; the other is the extent to which these can, or cannot, be reproduced non-anomalously in target language, depending on the degree of “overlap” in each particular case. Let’s look at an example:
(1) “Don’t be scared, chickens!” came her voice with teasing gaiety.
“别害怕，你们这些胆小如鼠的东西！”只听得她用戏谑的口气说道。
In this example, “chickens” should not be literally translated into “小鸡” in Chinese, because in western culture, “chicken” is often used to refer to a cowardly and fearful person. Thus, “胆小如鼠” is a better translation.
4.1.1 Management of cultural factors in translating English metaphors
English metaphors contain abundant and vivid cultural connotation of the nation and strongly reflect the cultural characteristics of the nation with English as its native language. The key of successful translation of English metaphors lies in the extent to which the translator understands the cultural context and the translation of the cultural features. Thus, the translator should try to master the source and cultural context of English metaphors as much as possible, which is very necessary to exactly understand their connotations and the cultural characteristics they reflect. Then the translator can use proper methods to translate these connotations and characteristics in order to achieve the most faithful and perfect translation.
As to translation standard and approach, in foreign countries, there are Nida’s “formal correspondence” and “functional equivalence”, and C.F.Newmark’s “semantic translation” and “communicational translation”; in China, there exists “direct translation” and “indirect translation”. Although they are different standards, all of them do not conflict with each other but complement with each other. Therefore, there are many approaches to translating metaphors. While in the process of translating metaphors, which approach is the best choice? It will depend on the nature and position of metaphors in text, on the relation between metaphor and context and on the type of the text itself.
Above all, during the process of translation of metaphors, the translator should try to flexibly keep the cultural features while translating meaning. As a result of cultural similarities and differences, the target language and the source language have different corresponding relations: sometimes full-corresponding, sometimes semi-corresponding, and sometimes non-corresponding. Such a phenomenon will further affect the accuracy of translation. In fact, any translation may bring about the loss of meaning and/or image. Therefore, we should adopt different complemental methods in order to achieve what Nida called “functional equivalence”.[21]
4.1.2 Cultural connotation of metaphor
“Both Nida and Newmark classify linguistic culture into five categories:(a) ecology (b) material culture (c) social culture (d) religious culture (e) linguistic culture.”[22] It clearly tells us that: cultural information carried by all kinds of languages is certain to be different, because the ecology, material, social and religious environment which different nations own are impossible to be identical. The cultural differences directly influence the thinking mode and value orientation of human being, thus become the main reason for the differences of metaphorical concepts of the two nations. Through researches on metaphors, we can find the cultural differences between Chinese and English.
Firstly, metaphors reflect geological and natural conditions of a nation. Different nations have different geological environment and national circumstances, and this difference often finds expression in metaphors. For example (2), when describing the emergence of a large amount of new objects, Chinese always say “雨后春笋般地”, while in English people usually say “grow like mushrooms” (像蘑菇一般). From this example, we can find that for the same phenomenon, Chinese and English use different images to describe. The reason just lies in the different environment of the two nations：China abounds with bamboo shoots, while the English speaking countries with mushrooms.
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