A Comparative Study On The Translations Of Conceptual Metaphors In The Analects Of Confucius

The Analects of Confucius is one of the most important literature treasures China has ever created. As the most representative work of Confucianism, the book has had produced a great impact on politics, education, culture and many other fields in the Chinese history. For the past 2000 years, the book has been widely read and studied. Previous studies on the English translated versions of The Analects of Confucius tend to focus on the interpretation from a linguistic or cultural perspective. Very few researchers, however, have studied the conceptual metaphors in this book from the cognitive perspective. Hence, in the combination of the English translated versions of The Analects of Confucius by James Legge and Ku Hung-ming, the purpose of this thesis will aim to make a comparative study which examines The Analects of Confucius from the perspective of cognitive linguistics using conceptual metaphors.The construct of conceptual metaphors was first proposed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in Metaphors We Live By published in 1980. In essence, conceptual metaphors refer to the ontological mapping process from the source domain to the target domain by using a specific and familiar concept to understand and reconstruct an abstract and unfamiliar one.As the matter of conceptual metaphors is an existent one involving translation, it is important for us to take into consideration such a problem whenever we analyze and compare translated texts. As a book full of conceptual metaphors, The Analects of Confucius has been translated into English versions both in Chinese literature and within a cross-border, cross-culture context. In the combination of the translated versions by James Legge and Ku Hung-ming, this thesis will analyze and compare the translations of conceptual metaphors in The Analects of Confucius so as to bring some inspiration for conceptual metaphor translation.Based on Lakoff and Johnson(1980), the conceptual metaphors in The Analects of Confucius can be divided into three types: The first type is structural metaphors: including metaphors relevant to people, water and journey. The second type is orientational metaphors concerning “ 上 ”(shang) or “ 下 ”(xia). The third type is ontological metaphors: referring to entity and substance metaphors, container metaphors and personification. This thesis firstly revels a descriptive analysis of the working mechanism of conceptual metaphors in the ST(source text) and their translations in the TTs(target texts). Furthermore, the research compares and summarizes the similarities and the differences between the two translations. Finally, this research seeks to answer the question of whether the functions of conceptual metaphors in the ST remain the same when translated into the TTs. In addition, the research further examines the social and cultural factors which exert influence on the function of conceptual metaphors in the ST and the TTs.By making a comparative analysis of the translations of conceptual metaphors we mentioned above, it can be concluded:(1) The metaphorical mappings of conceptual metaphors in the SL share both universality and peculiarity in the TL.(2) The translation methods the two translators employed when translating the conceptual metaphors in The Analects of Confucius are varied according to different mapping conditions.(3) In most situations, the function of conceptual metaphors in the ST can remain the same in the TTs, and there are many factors relevant to culture, religion, etc., which can produce an influence on the function of conceptual metaphors in the ST and TTs. Therefore, it becomes apparent that different translators choose different methods to translate the conceptual metaphors in the ST into those of the TTs according to the mapping conditions of which they use avail a result. Considering the above analysis, we now have a better understanding of how translators purportedly handle the conceptual metaphors in The Analects of Confucius. In the process of translating Chinese classics such as The Analects of Confucius into English, clarifying conceptual metaphors and then translating them properly into the TTs play a very important part so long as the cultural connotations of conceptual metaphors in the ST are effectively and accurately conveyed.