A Brief Analysis on English—Chinese Metaphor Translation

Abstract：People's lives are full of metaphors， so it is evident that metaphor is very important for human beings. Metaphor is an effective means for people to understand the world around. It is rooted in a culture and reflects a culture. So if one wants to translate metaphors accurately between cultures， one should first understand the cultural background behind metaphors clearly. Metaphor is a common linguistic phenomenon and always realizes its value within a certain context. Metaphor uses words to indicate something different from their literal meaning， that is to say， one thing is described in terms of another so as to suggest a likeness or analogy between them. A metaphor can be easily seen as a bridge which links and comprises the known and the unknown， the familiar and the unfamiliar. Some people hold that metaphor tends to be seen as a way of coloring the ordinary plain language. Meanwhile some people think that metaphor is regarded as a way of experiencing the world. In my view， metaphor is the lighthouse guiding the way to aesthetic features of cross-culture.A brief analysis on English-Chinese metaphor translation will help us to understand different languages and cultures.

Key words：English-Chinese metaphor translation； Cultural background； Aesthetic features

【摘要】人們的日常生活中充满了隐喻，隐喻的重要性不言而喻。隐喻是人们理解世界的一种有效的手段，它根植于文化并反映着文化。因此要想准确地翻译不同文化中的隐喻，首先必须清楚隐喻所涉及的文化背景。隐喻是一个常见的现象，经常在一定的语境中体现其价值。隐喻可以体现表达式的深层概念既通过将一个事物比作令一个事物来说明该事物的特征。隐喻是连接已知与未知，熟悉与不熟知的桥梁。有人认为隐喻是描绘单调世界的彩笔。与此同时，有些人认为隐喻是一种体验世界的方式。我认为，隐喻是灯塔，指引我们理解跨文化背景下的美学特征。对英汉隐喻的简单分析将有助于我们更好的理解两种不同的语言及文化。

【关键词】英汉隐喻互译；文化背景；美学特征

1. Introduction

Deriving from the ancient Greece words ‘meta and ‘pherein， metaphor comes into being. ‘Meta means ‘across and ‘pherein means ‘change. People used to consider metaphor as a kind of rhetorical device. In 1981，Peter Newmark published his first works Approaches to Translation. They perceive metaphor from a cognitive perspective. The history of studying metaphor covers more than two thousand years. Up until now， numerous researchers have been making their great efforts on it from different angles. Metaphor， or the means by which one thing is described in the terms of something else， has been described as a significant tool of our cognitive device. Meanwhile， it is essential to our understanding of how language， thought and discourse are constructed. In one form or another， metaphor is absolutely fundamental to the way language systems are structured， as well as the way human beings formulize and extend their thoughts， their relationships and their knowledge of the world around them. What s more， it has a closed relationship with many subjects， such as Literature， Aesthetics， Sociology， Philosophy， Logic and so on. Therefore， studying metaphor sometimes seems like an overwhelming experience. In recent years， metaphors in translation are studied mostly in the poetry， literature and rhetoric. In order to translate a metaphor successfully， it is necessary to make clear the structure and features of the metaphor. Because of the differences between the cultural background of English and that of Chinese， researchers have found out three correspondences in metaphor translation， including correspondence， partial correspondence and non-correspondence. According to these three correspondences， three methods are applied to metaphor translation.

This paper will be presented in three parts. The first part is the introduction； this section comprehensively states the definition and history of metaphor and its general usage in translation. The second part of the paper is the classification of metaphor， including Lakoff and Johnsons classification， Pete Newmarks classification， as well as Conceptual Metaphor Theory. The third part is about correspondences in Metaphor Translation， including correspondences， non-correspondences and partial correspondences. The fourth part is about Methods in Metaphor Translation. The last part is conclusion.

2. The classification of metaphor

（1） Lakoff and Johnsons classification

In the book of Metaphors We Live By，Lakoff and John-son divides conceptual metaphor into structural metaphor， orientational metaphor and ontological metaphor. A structural metaphor means the process from which one concept is understood and expressed by virtue of another structure， for example， Love is journey； Argument is war. Orientational metaphor means a metaphor which derives from our physical experience directly or things related to each other spatially，like up or down，in-out，front-back，on-off， deep-shallow， central-peripheral. For instances， happy is up； Sad is down. An ontological metaphor is a metaphor in which an abstraction，such as an activity， emotion， or idea， is represented as something concrete， such as an object， substance， container， or person. For example，the pressure of his job-hunting caused his breakdown； She gets a lot of satisfaction out of washing windows.

（2）Pete Newmarks classification

In Peter Newmarks view， metaphor can be divided into several types： dead， cliché， stock， recent and original in his book A Textbook of Translation. When we translate an article， we will meet some sentences which are structurally complete but meaningless. At this time，we can treat it as a metaphor. Peter Newmark divides it into six kinds. The first one is the dead metaphor. It means this kind of metaphor is trite， out of date and barely used. Many metaphors are used frequently for a long time and then the rhetoric effect declines gradually. Consequently， they melt into the language and are regard as the common expressions， like ‘ rain cats and dogs， ‘the apple of ones eyes. The cliché metaphor means those that cannot attract peoples interests. They use them just for emotional reasons. The stocks， a kind of metaphor， refer to those which have been taken in the dictionaries for the usage of metaphorical meanings and are still frequently used in our daily life. Recent metaphors refer to those which have not yet been used in the dictionary but can be accepted by the common people with a feeling of freshness. They are new created and become popular quickly for vivid and expressive， such as， Neet Group（啃老族）， which means some young people neither go to school nor go to work or accept vocational skills training and rely on the support of parents.

（3）Conceptual Metaphor Theory

In 1980，George Lakoff and Mark Johnson published Metaphors We Live By. It is the first time they have built the structure of conceptual metaphor theory and established a new approach to the study of metaphor. As what they said in their book， metaphor can be analyzed from cognitive point of view. Generally speaking， conceptual metaphors refer to the abstract notions in humans mind； they are always in capitalized form， Time is money； Love is water. In 1999，Lakoff and Johnsion worked together and published another two works Philosophy in the Flesh -The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought. It is the achievement of their ten-year efforts in metaphor research and they define the concept ‘Embodied philosophy systematically. Lakoff and Johnsion think of embodied philosophy as non-objectivism， which is also called experientialism. Embodied philosophy is the basis of philosophy of cognition metaphor. For example，in Chinese，there are 针眼、河口、山脊、山腰、桌子脚、椅子背。It is proved that human beings begin to know this world in the way of individual identity which is self-entered.

3. Correspondences in metaphor translation

As a tool in language communication， metaphor has been confined to the custom， tradition， living environment， history， religion， and so on. Therefore， people in different countries and regions always have various experiences. According to peoples different experiences， there are basic correspondences in metaphor translation.

（1）correspondence

Living on the same earth， all human beings are sure to have something in common. Therefore， there are some similarities among different cultures， that is， equivalent expressions exist among different languages. Owing to this， the tenor， the vehicles in source language have their counterparts in the target language. For example： laughing stock 笑柄。趁熱打铁 strike while the iron is hot.（Luo 151）

（2）partial correspondence

The same vehicle used in different languages usually has different meanings. Take “dragon” as an example： Chinese people are always proud of being regarded as the descents of dragon， which is the symbol of China. Dragon is a mascot that is believed to be noble and sacred in the history of China. There are many four-character idioms about dragon such as“鲤鱼跳龙”（Every dog has his day）， etc. However， as far as English peoples concerned， dragon is considered as a monster and the symbol of evil. In Bible， the evil dragon has ever been killed by a hero. Therefore， it is difficult for non-Chinese to have the same feeling about dragon as Chinese people do.

（3）non correspondence

Sometimes， different vehicles could make different peoples have the same image in mind. England is an island nation， and its navigation has been the most advanced in the world history， while Ancient China is an in-land country. Chinese depend greatly on agriculture while Englishmen on fishing and navigation. However， an English metaphor “spending money like water”， is very likely to be associated with the Chinese metaphor“挥金如土”. 正玩笑不绝，忽见东府中几个人慌慌张张跑来说，“老爷仙逝了。” They were chaffing in fun when some servants from the eastern Mansion came rushing up frantically. “The old masters ascended to Heaven！” They announced. “仙逝” is the term in Taoism， which is a pervasive religion in China.“仙逝” is used to mean a person who has died. In English， a dead person is said to ascend to Heaven， where the God lives. Those who are able to ascend to Heaven are certainly respected by others. Therefore， they tend to be considered as immortal.

In China， Buddhism has existed for more than one thousand years. It has had great impact on peoples outlook and behavior. Therefore， there are numerous metaphors related to Buddhism， such as“借花献佛” （to borrow something to make a gift of it）. But in western countries， most people believe in Christianity， and they are unfamiliar with Buddhism. In this case， British people will be all at sea when facing its literal translation. Similarly， Chinese will be confused when facing the literal translation. For example： “Achilles heel” should be translated into“唯一致命的弱点” instead of“阿客琉斯的脚踵”. “Pandora s box” should be translated into“一切祸害的根源” instead of“潘多拉的盒子”。

4. The methods in metaphor translation

（1）Equivalent translation On the condition of complete correspondence in metaphor， it is easy to find equivalent image in target to translate the source metaphor. Jane s uncle is an old fox， up to all kinds evils， the equivalent of which in Chinese is簡的叔叔是个老狐狸， 什么坏事都能干的出来。金钱是万恶之源。 Money is the root of all evil. 失败为成功之母。 Failure is the mother of success.

（2）Transferred translation

In metaphor translation， equivalent image is difficult to be found on the condition of partial correspondence. We should find similar image in target language to translate the source metaphor. For example： one boy is a boy， two boys half a boy， three boys no boy. 一个和尚挑水吃， 两个和尚抬水吃， 三个和尚没水吃。 Chinese readers would be confused if the sentence is translated literally into“一个男孩是男孩，两个男孩半个男孩，三个男孩没有男孩”. It was diamond cut diamond when the two men met because they were both so sure that their own wears were right.这两个人都坚持自己的主张正确， 因此他们相遇是一场棋逢对手的酣战。In example “diamond cut diamond” should be translated into“棋逢对手”. He did not win the first prize； he is just pulling your leg. 他并没有获得第一名，只不过和你开个玩笑罢了。In example， “pull one s leg” is easily misunderstood as“拖后腿”.

（3）Alienative translation

The condition of non-correspondence， no image in the target language could be found to express the meaning of source metaphor. Alienative translation is a good method to keep the metaphorical meaning in source language and add new metaphorical expression to target language. For instance， Hitler was armed to the teeth when he launched the World War II， but in a few years， he was completely defeated. 希特勒在发动第二次世界大战时是武装到牙齿的，可是不到几年，就被彻底打败了。It is better to translate “arm to the teeth” into“武装到牙齿”than into“全副武装” or“装备精良”. Among so many well-dressed and cultured people， the country girl was a fish out of water. 同这么多穿着体面而又有教养的人在一起，这位乡下姑娘像鱼儿离开了水，感到很不自在。“感到很不自在” is used to explain the feeling that a fish is out of water. In this way， Chinese readers could understand the sentence much more easily. People consider that what he had played on the occasion was no more than a Judas kiss. 人们认为他在哪种场合的表演不过是犹大之吻，居心险恶。Many Chinese readers could not comprehend the hidden meaning of “a Judas kiss”， so“居心险恶” is used to explain “a Judas kiss”.

5. Conclusion

Although metaphor is viewed as a way of language expression， it has richly visual and vivid aesthetic characteristics. In this case， translators should take culture into consideration， choose appropriate strategies to convey the accurate meaning of the source language and promote the communication between countries. Translation promotes mutual understanding between Chinese and foreigners， contributes to the speeding up of our countrys modernization， and thus is absolutely necessary in the development of our country. So this thesis gives the readers more knowledge about translation in order to improve translation and help them to be useful people for our country. Cognitive linguistics puts emphasis on the important effect of experience and cognition on language. According to this view， language is the outcome of objective reality， social culture， physiological function and cognition ability. Any kind of linguistic phenomenon including metaphor can be analyzed and illustrated by the means of psychology and cognition. Unlike traditional translation theory， metaphor is not only a rhetorical artifice； neither is metaphor translation merely nor an issue of simply transferring language symbols. It is also projection from source language domain to the target language domain based on psychological foundation and mechanism. With the development of modern translation study， there must be many new principles and methods concerning metaphor translation， and thus better promote cultural communication.

【References】

[1] Lakoff， G﹠Johnson. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago： University of Chicago Press， 1980.

[2] Lakoff， G﹠Johnson. Philosophy in the Flesh-The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought. New Youk： Basic Books， 1999.

[3] Newmark， P. Approaches to Translation. Shanghai， Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press， 2001.

[4] Nida， E. Language and Culture. Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press， 2003.

[5] 杜建慧. 翻譯学概论[M]. 北京：民族出版社， 1998.

[6] 靳梅林. 英汉翻译概要[M]. 天津：南开大学出版社， 1995.

[7] 刘重德. 西方译论研究[M]. 北京：中国对外翻译出版公司， 2003.

[8] 刘宓庆. 当代翻译理论[M]. 北京：中国对外翻译出版公司， 1999.

[9] 马会娟. 奈达翻译理论研究[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社， 2002.

[10] 王治奎. 大学英汉翻译教程[M]. 济南：山东大学出版社， 1998.

[11] 王治奎. 大学汉英翻译教程[M]. 济南：山东大学出版社， 2001.

【作者简介】

汪珊（1996—），女，汉族，重庆市万州区人，重庆人文科技学院本科生，主要研究方向：英语学科教学。