The Role Metaphor Plays In Interpreting Culture

Metaphor is not only a phenomenon of language, but also that of culture.Through the comparative study of dominant metaphors in the Chinese language and American English, this thesis aims to offer a glimpse of how the Chinese and Americans view the world and life differently and explores the role that metaphor plays in interpreting culture.The paper gives a theoretical introduction to metaphor. It also makes a careful study on dominant metaphors in the two languages respectively, that is, eating metaphor and family metaphor in the Chinese language, sports metaphor and business metaphor in American English. Finally, it reaches the following conclusion: the Chinese tend to see life as an eating event and enjoy viewing the world and their life via the family structural frame. The Americans like to talk about life just like they talk about competitive games and business. The different worldview reflected from dominant metaphors in turn reflects the cultural differences. At the same time, there exists cross-culture influence in metaphor use between the two languages and the influence is unbalanced.The dominant metaphors of a language can provide an excellent window for us to look at the values and beliefs treasured in the culture and the worldview the speakers hold. A comparative study on dominant metaphor helps us to gain a better and in-depth understanding and appreciation of the speakers of other languages and seek more effective communication with them.