Strategies Of Translating Figures Of Speech Used In Documentary Captions

Domestic documentary is an important medium of Chinese culture.Its translation is of great significance to promoting Chinese culture to the world.Current researches on translation of documentaries have mostly centered on the translation of subtitles,yet few researches have discussed how to translate captions with Chinese cultural characteristics.This paper reports on a Chinese-English translation practice of the captions of Aerial China,a documentary recently launched by China Central Television(CCTV).With a large amount of figures of speech,such as metaphor,metonymy and personification,the captions appear vivid and appealing but can be difficult for foreign readers to understand.The translation of the figures of speech would thus affect readability and uptake of the captions.This paper identifies some methods of translating these figures of speech.These methods are hoped to make the language concise and easy to understand and convey the beauty of Chinese culture.Drawing on the perspective of Translation as Adaptation and Selection,this paper identifies the following translation methods.Regarding metaphor,literal translation,translation of metaphor by simile,paraphrase translation methods may be flexibly adopted.Regarding metonymy,by focusing on the correct transmission of meaning,the vehicle can be translated into the tenor,or both the tenor and the vehicle can be translated together.Regarding personification,literal translation,literal translation with addition,free translation may be employed to reproduce the original style.This paper explains how translation of figures of speech attempts to select the most suitable translation by adapting to the translational eco-environment.The paper hopes to shed some light on future translation practices of the captions of domestic documentaries that fall into the same genre.