On Translation Strategies Of Metaphor From Cross-cultural Perspective

Translation is like a bridge for people who have different cultural backgrounds to communicate. Translation is not only a linguistic transference but also cultural transmission, and the former is surface meaning of translation but the latter is the essence of translation. Metaphor, as a rhetorical device, is a reflection of human thinking modes, furthermore it is viewed as a cognitive phenomenon. Therefore, metaphor is endowed with abundant cultural connotations. Then under the influence of culture, the translation of metaphors becomes the most important particular problem (Newmark, 2001:104). This thesis attempts to discuss the translation of metaphor from cross-cultural perspective.The thesis consists of three chapters in addition to an introduction and a conclusion. The introduction briefly presents the purpose and significance of this thesis, then methods of research and structure of the thesis.Chapter 1 reviews the relations among language, culture and translation, pointing out the recent theoretic trend of"cultural turn"in translation studies. Then two cultural translation strategies—foreignization and domestication, with their respective origins, definitions and representative advocates are introduced.Chapter 2 begins with the definition of metaphor, analyzing the nature and characteristics of metaphor. Then this thesis has a comparative study in cultural similarities and cultural difference between English and Chinese metaphors.Chapter 3 mainly deals with the practical application of foreignization and domestication. This thesis doesn't intend to argue about which strategy of them is better, another is worse. In the author's view, these two strategies can be alternatively adopted in the translation of metaphor. The author holds the view that if possible the priority should be given to foreignization for cultural promotion from the cross-cultural perspective, and if foreignization fails in intercultural communication, domestication should be taken into consideration and it is supplementary when necessary. Guided by this principle, this thesis discusses five concrete techniques: (1) reproducing the original image in the TL; (2) retaining the original image with explanation; (3) conversion of metaphor to sense; (4) replacing the SL image with TL image; (5) omission; the first two falls into the category of foreignization, and rest domestication.In conclusion, a general summary can be made that since metaphor is not only a linguistic phenomenon but also cultural specific, we should be proficient in bilingualism and biculturalism. Finally, the author wishes more researchers who have an interest in metaphor translation will devote themselves to this subject.