| Traditionally, metaphor is merely treated as one of the figures of speech, and studieson metaphor translation is mainly carried out from the rhetorical perspective. Since theproposal of Conceptual Metaphor theory by Lakoff and Johnson in1980s, the cognitivevalue of metaphor is gradually recognized by many scholars, and impressive progress hasbeen achieved in this field. However, studies on the translation of conceptual metaphorsare still on the starting point, leaving considerable room to be explored. Tao Te Ching,one of the great ancient Chinese philosophical classics, which has been translated intomany languages with its English versions reaching182, is full of metaphors to constructits ideology. Viewed from the conceptual metaphorical perspective, it can provide a newperspective for the study on Tao Te Ching and its translation.With this background, the author, finding that the three conceptual metaphorsystems are all reflected in Tao Te Ching, analyzes their functions in constructing and comprehending Laozi’s philosophical ideas, and explores the corresponding realizationof functions of these metaphors in the English translations. In the thesis, four typicalEnglish translations are researched to discover to what extent those conceptual metaphorsare reproduced in the target language and what translating strategies are used. It also triesto prove that different translation strategies lead to different degrees of undertranslationof these metaphors, which accordingly results in the loss of information.The thesis consists of seven chapters to study the English translation of conceptualmetaphors in Tao Te Ching. Chapter one is an overall introduction to the research.Chapter two reviews previous studies on conceptual metaphor translation and the Englishtranslation of Tao Te Ching both abroad and in China, and further points out the room forstudy so as to testify the creative significance of the thesis. Chapter three deals with theconceptual metaphorical basis of metaphor translation. Chapter four to six contribute to acase study concerning the English translation of conceptual metaphors in Tao Te Ching.First, metaphors in the source text of Tao Te Ching is identified and classified accordingto the conceptual metaphor theory initially proposed in the book Metaphors we live by byGeoge Lakoff and Mark Johnson, and the metaphorical mapping of some majormetaphors in the original Chinese version is analyzed. Second, strategies adopted in theEnglish translations of the above metaphors in Tao Te Ching are summarized. Finally,causes and the extent of the undertranslation of the conceptual metaphors in Tao Te Chingare explored. Chapter seven comes to the conclusion, which sums up the main findings,points out the limitations of the study and put forward some suggestions for furtherstudies. |
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