On Translating Chinese Idioms From The Perspective Of Conceptual Blending Theory

Idioms are the salt of languages in any nation and heated discussions haveexisted for long. Psycholinguists tend to study the comprehension mode whilsttranslation researchers mainly concentrate on the translation strategies. But what arethe exact cognitive procedures in translating idioms, especially in the translation ofChinese idioms? Discussions about that are still far from enough.Conceptual Blending Theory was innovated by Fauconnier and Turner in1998and it consists of four mental spaces with optimality principles as its constraintconditions. The two input spaces are placed in by idioms and the translatorrespectively with the three operations facilitating the translating process andoptimality principles acting as the verification tool. Based on this, the authorinnovates the fundamental translating mode for idioms.But since various idioms differ in certain aspects, the author classifies theidioms into two groups in terms of their different styles and the distinct degrees inaspects of the culture-specificity, semantic fusion and the figurative tendency. Thusset-phrases, maxims and aphorisms are grouped into the written type while proverbs,two-part allegorical sayings, common sayings and vulgarities belong to thecolloquialism (Su Yu). Two more modified translating modes are created with idiomsin Hong Lou Meng as examples.Finally, it is concluded that though Conceptual Blending Theory was not bornfor translation, it has shown a strong explanatory power in idiom translating,presenting a clear picture of the cognitive processing.