A Cognitive Analysis Of The Translation Of Metaphors In Xin Qiji’s Poems

This thesis takes the cognitive approach to the study of English translations of metaphors in Xin Qiji’s poems. Through an analysis of strategies as applicable to the translation of metaphors in his poems, the author hopes to single out some rules for translating metaphors, which will be helpful to the translation study of Chinese classic poems.Traditionally, metaphor has always been viewed as a figure of speech, a phenomenon of language rather than thought or mind; and the study of metaphor to some extent is rhetoric-oriented. Informed with cognitive science, the cognitive linguists believe that metaphor is an important way of cognition, serving as a cognitive tool for people to organize their conceptual system, by mapping from the source domain to the target domain. Claims by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in Metaphors We Live By for the cognitive nature of metaphor are gradually accepted and now taken as the fundamental method in metaphor study. As a result, the links between metaphor and thought are greatly emphasized.The cognitive shift in metaphor studies has also influenced metaphor translation. Translation, as a human thinking activity, is not merely the semiotic process of different languages, but a cognitive process in which the cognitive style of one language community is converted into that of another community. In a sense, translation can be seen as the process of the translator’s conceptual mapping from the source language to the target language. Therefore, given the similarities between the cross-domains of metaphor and the cross-languages of translation, a close focus on metaphor translation from the perspective of cognitive linguistics is very much needed.There are many conceptual metaphors in Chinese poems. To translate them properly into English can help English readers to understand them. Xin Qiji, known as an erudite and patriotic poet, has created many poems. These poems are abundant in vivid metaphorical expressions, which make them exemplars of flexible language, profound thought and fresh content. For the unique charm of his poems, many translators have translated them into English, which accordingly accounts for many English versions of Xin Qiji’s poems. Among these versions, Xu Yuanchong’s is the most influential one.The conceptual metaphors in Xin Qiji’s poems mainly include plant metaphors, time metaphors, emotion metaphors, animal metaphors and weather metaphors. These metaphors in his lyrics are not simply the rhetoric device, but they participate in the cognitive process and the production of meanings. How to reproduce their meanings in English, accurately and properly, in light of the differences and similarities between Chinese and western cognition of metaphors, becomes a key matter of translation. Xu Yuanchong applies mainly three strategies, namely, literal translation, free translation, literal translation plus free translation, to translating metaphors. Overall, his version accurately conveys the images and meaning of the source text.The present study also shows that these metaphors strengthen the gloomy and sorrowful atmosphere of his poems, and thus further construct the patriotic theme. Moreover, this investigation helps find the rules of translation in reference to all metaphorical expressions in Chinese classic poems, and promote the spread of Chinese culture.