On Translation Methods Of Nicknames From The Perspective Of Conceptual Metaphor Theory

Nickname is also called"Waihao (外号)", which is added to name by the people around according to the figure's certain characteristics or living environment and often called in an informal setting. It is vivid in characteristics and historically significant in society. Nicknaming is an expressive technique of art in the literary creation. As a literary treasure of China, Shui Hu Zhuan is one of the representatives of Chinese classical literature and enjoys a high reputation at home and abroad. The use of nicknames plays an important role in shaping characters. There are highly representative and have a great literary attainments and research value Two versions of Pearl and Shapiro.Since the 1970s research on metaphor has been increasingly framed by the perspectives of cognitive linguistics rather than traditional rhetoric, especially with Conceptual Metaphor Theory as a symbol proposed by Lakoff and Johnson in 1980. Since then, metaphor has been a way of human cognition to the world. This theory emphasizes the importance of experience and cognitive ability of people in explaining the meanings of words. Some principles of CMT such as experience basis, metaphorical cognitive mechanism and a cross-domain mapping, can well explain the phenomena in translation and provide a new perspective for translation study.With the CMT as a guide, all 132 nicknames coming from the front 70 chapters of Shui Hu Zhuan and divided into 6 aspects as the corpus, by the method of combination of empirical study and theoretical explanation, five translation methods of two versions are comparatively analyzed, and the features of translation methods of nicknames and their reasons are explored. The conclusions are made that there are three features in the translation methods of nicknames between two versions. The first feature is that the general tendencies of translation methods of two versions are different; the second feature is that in different aspects, the highest and lowest frequencies of translation methods vary in two versions. The third feature is that there are three kinds of relations, namely, sameness and similarity and difference between translation methods of nicknames of two versions. In different aspects, the similar degrees of translation methods of two versions are greatly different.Metaphor is a universal cognitive mechanism of cross-domain mapping. Translation is a process of second metaphorical cognition by changing one language into another where a translator's experience basis and metaphorical cognition play a great influence on the choice of translation methods. Experiences for both the common and different features of physical structures, thinking models, cultural traditions and natural environment, can result in the existence of common and different cognitive domains, so the translator can have two experiences of being universal and individual. For being common, there are the same or similar concepts in two languages when the translator can choose the same or similar concepts in target language and take the same or similar translation methods tending to foreignzation to map the concepts of source domain under the function of metaphorical mechanism on the basis of universal experience and cognition and vice versa, for being different, there are the same concepts with the different images or different concepts in two language domains when the translator can choose the different levels of the same concepts or different concepts in target language on condition of similarity and take the different translation methods tending to domestication to map the concepts of source domain under the function of metaphorical mechanism on the basis of individual experience and different cognitive tendency. In six different aspects, translators have differently universal and individual experiences and cognitions, so they can take different translation methods. The more translators have the universal experience and cognition, the less the individual difference, the higher the similar degrees of translation methods are and vice versa.