On The Translation Of Metaphor In The Perspective Of Cross-cultural Communication

Since Aristotle's time,metaphor has been a heated topic for scholars in the west. Along with the advancement of time,the study of metaphor has also exceeded the traditional linguistic confinement to a new stage of interdisciplinary research. Especially when it came to the end of the twentieth century,scholars in various academic fields began to explore the nature of metaphor systematically from the perspective of psychology,semiotics,aesthetics,cognitive science,etc. To the end of 70S> the studies on metaphor in the west reached its heyday. No wonder this period is called the period of "metaphormania".Metaphor,as a linguistic and socio-cultural phenomenon,is in essence culture-specific,and as such poses serious difficulties to translators. Based on this understanding,this thesis aims at giving a tentative discussion of metaphor translation from the perspective of cross-cultural communication dealing with what is metaphor,the theories of metaphor in the west and in China,and the strategies we take in its translation across two different cultures. As is well-known,depending on the compatibility of the two cultures involved,in tackling the translation of culture-loaded items,there are generally two different methods:foreignization or domestication. In this thesis,I further distinguish the following points:1) When the SLC and the TLC totally overlap,or when the object,sense and image in the SL and TLare the same,the metaphor in the SLC can be replaced by a corresponding metaphor in the TLC. In this case,we take the strategy of substitution. 2) When the SLC moves closer to the TLC and the TLC becomes predominant,the metaphors in the SLC can be domesticated by coiresponding metaphors in the TLC,or in other words,when the object,sense and image in the SL are totally different from those in the TL and the emphasis is on retaining the cultural image in the TL,the strategy of total domestication is employed. 3) When the TLC moves closer to the SLC and the SLC becomes predominant,the metaphors in the TLC can be replaced by corresponding metaphors in the SLC,or in other words,when the object,sense and image in the TL are totally different from those in the SL and the emphasis is on retaining the cultural image in the SL,the strategy of total foreignization is employed. 4) The majority of metaphors in Chinese and English are not totally compatible or totally incompatible. In this case,other strategies would be possible in between the two extremes of domestication and foreignization.There are altogether five parts in this thesis.Part One is Introduction,in which the content and structure of the whole thesis are introduced.Chapter One reviews the study of metaphor in the west and in China and gives the definition of metaphor used in this thesis. The study on metaphor in the west,as is summarized in this part,can be divided into three periods:the periods of rhetorical,semantic and interdisciplinary studies. Compared with the studies on metaphor in the west,the studies on metaphor(or more precisely,trope) in China are far lagged behind. By exploring the studies on metaphor both in China and in the west,the thesis draws two important conclusions:first,the creation of metaphor is based upon the psychological activity of association of one thing with another. Second,the exploration of metaphor has been extended from single words to larger units of phrases,sentences or even the whole text.In Chapter Two efforts will be made to the discussion of some influential theories on the translation of metaphor in the west,their representatives being Menachim Dagut,Raymond van den Broeck,Peter Newmark,and Alicja Pisarska. Compared with their western counterparts,scholars in China seldom touch upon this issue and discussions of the translation of metaphor seem to be more pragmatic.Chapter Three is the most important part in the thesis. In this part,I first claim that the translation of metaphors is in essence a cross-cultural transference. Then metaphors are classified in the perspective of cross-cultural communica...