Cognitive Approach Towards Metaphor Translation In China's Official Speeches

Metaphors are pervasive in languages with numerous studies on them which have undergone through several major stages. With the ever deepening researches, it has been gradually acknowledged that metaphors are not only language ornament but also cognitive instruments and thinking modes of human being.Political speeches are objective, rigorous and accurate. However, as one of the imperative text types, political speeches must be convincing and persuasive in the first place in order to better advocate their political stands. To achieve this purpose, the speakers must try to get into the minds of the listeners and catch their cares and needs by employing various languages techniques, and then transplant ideas into their minds. Therefore, as mind bridges"enabling messages to go from one world to another", metaphors are commonly used in political speeches. (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980:5)China's fast development has drawn increasing world attention. There have always been debates and discussions home and broad on how to translate metaphors accurately and completely. After getting a thorough review on the theories in this field, this thesis lays stress on the major two cognitive linguistic theories (CMT and BT) by which many translation cases are analyzed. Then a series of translation strategies are listed in hope of inspiring further studies.