On The Differences Between Western Culture & Chinese Culture And The Translation Of Metaphor

Metaphor is now regarded not just as a figure of speech but a cognitive phenomenon. The theory of Conceptual Metaphor holds that it represents a way of thinking, providing the most essential means of understanding abstract concepts, an indispensable means through which human beings think and act. Both English and Chinese are abundant in metaphors and metaphoric expressions. Although there are similarities between corresponding expressions in the two languages, differences between them are also obvious because of the differences of cultures. Metaphor and culture are closely interwoven. This paper aims to analyze specific differences between the Chinese and Western cultures, a comparative study of metaphor in Chinese and English, principles on the interpretation and translation of metaphor, and special attention will be paid to the strategies of translating metaphors. Literal translation and free translation are traditional alternatives to translation. But the purpose of translation is cultural communication, so the translators should produce a dynamic equivalent translation according to different situations. The choice of strategies is based on the genre of the text, cultural differences, the audience and the settings etc. And in the end a case study of the translation of metaphors in the novel Fortress Besieged is conducted which sheds some light on the translation of metaphors.Metaphor is a window to culture. An appropriate translation of metaphor helps better appreciate the cultures and the people who speak the languages, and reduces the misunderstanding and conflicts between different cultures. However, there are no set rules for translation. The translators must interpret the meaning of a metaphor according to its cultural and contextual background, the genre of the source text, the target audience etc, and adopt the proper strategies and techniques to put it into the target language so as to achieve effective communication between different cultures.