A Tentative Probe Into The Limit Of Translatability In Mataphor Translation

Metaphor has been studied for over two thousand years. However, it was traditionally confined to rhetoric and regarded as a kind of linguistic decoration, the frosting on the cake merely, sweet and pleasant tasting, but not really necessary. Modern study has broadened the field of metaphorical study. Now metaphor has become the common concern of psychologists, logicians, sociologists, anthropologists, as well as rhetorians and linguists, etc. Lakoff's study from the perspective of cognition has opened up a new world for the study of metaphor. The study of metaphor has revealed that metaphor is not merely a linguistic phenomenon, but basically a cognitive phenomenon. Both Chinese and English-speaking people in the world have fostered the fragrant flower—metaphor, in their respective history of the development of civilization, and the translation of metaphor inevitably attracts the attention from translators and scholars. However, owing to peculiarities of metaphor imbue with linguistic and cultural uniqueness, the limit of translatability of metaphor translation is under discussion.Starting from a general review of the translation practice both abroad and at home and some translation theories, this paper introduces some translation theories, focusing on the Equivalence Theory, Eugene A. Nida's Functional Equivalence and Peter Newmark's Communicative Approach in particular. This paper also unfolds a picture of the development of metaphor study, from Aristotle to Roman scholars who represents the earliest study of metaphor limited to rhetoric field, Interaction Theory developed by Richards and Max Black, and Lakoff's contribution to the study of Metaphor. In terms of metaphor translation, this paper introduces some views from Dagut, Peter Newmark and cognitive approach etc.The main body of this paper is an elaboration of the limit of translatability in metaphor translation from four perspectives. Firstly, the different cognitive experience sets the limit to the translatability in metaphor translation between Chinese and English. Secondly, the different linguistic features of Chinese and English also give rise to the difficulties in metaphor translation. In this section, the paper elaborates on the limit of translatability in three aspects: phonetics, morphology, and syntax. Besides, cultural gap also contributes to the limit of translatability in metaphor translation. In this section, four aspects are involved in the discussion on the limit of translatability in metaphor translation, that is, socio-historical backgrounds, values, religious, legendary and mythological origins, and daily life practice. Lastly, the style of source language text sets the barrier for metaphor translation and in many cases is difficult to transfer.Then another chapter is set aside to offer some cases of metaphor translation from various sources for further analysis in order to strengthen the thesis of the paper. Finally the paper concludes that it is very hard to bridge those gaps in metaphor translation between Chinese and English owing to the difference of cognitive experience, linguistic features, culture, and style. However difficult it might be to bridge those gaps in metaphor translation, more effort should be devoted to seeking after a more acceptable translation in spite of the limit of translatability existing in metaphor translation.