On Animal Metaphor Translation Of Shui Hu Zhuan From Peter Newmark’s Semantic Translation And Communicative Translation Perspective

Metaphor has been widely discussed in the spheres of linguistics, translation, and philosophy in the east and west. Metaphor study originates in the west and has a very long history. It has been researched in rhetoric, semantics and multi-disciplines. Metaphors have widely existed both in Chinese and English. Moreover, metaphor is the cornerstone of language. As language is an embodiment of culture, therefore, metaphor has distinctive national and cultural characteristics. Meanwhile, a cross-cultural metaphor study will disseminate Chinese culture and promote communications between the east and west.Animal metaphors, which have been widely found in Chinese and English, are metaphors utilizing animals as their images. Furthermore, animal metaphor is a distinctive feature of Shui Hu Zhuan. As Shui Hu Zhuan is known by every household of China and widely disseminated around the world, it is renowned for its enchanting stories, distinctive characters and vivid language. In the novel, impressive and fascinating animal metaphors are always found in characters’ nicknames, poems, and dialogues and add unique and profound literary and artistic charms to the novel.Animal metaphors in the three English versions of Shui Hu Zhuan by Pearl S. Buck, Sidney Shapiro and John and Alex Dent–Young are the research category of this study. The methods that this thesis employs are empirical analysis and comparative study. Guided by semantic translation and communicative translation, and the metaphor translating methods of Peter Newmark, this thesis selects characters’ nicknames, poems and dialogues containing animal metaphors as the examples for sampling analysis and comparison. Therefore, this thesis further investigates the translators’ principles, methods and strategies and semantic and communicative orientations to translate animal metaphors of Shui Hu Zhuan.This thesis is divided into six chapters. Chapter One is the introduction of the research background, purpose and significance, and methodology; Chapter Two reviews the metaphor, metaphor translation, animal metaphor translation studies, and presents the innovation and significance of this study; Chapter Three analyzes and explains Peter Newmark’s semantic translation and communicative translation, and the seven metaphor translating methods; Chapter Four is guided by semantic translation and communicative translation, and the metaphor translating methods of Peter Newmark. This chapter selects characters’ nicknames, poems and dialogues from the three English versions containing animal metaphors as the examples for sampling analysis and comparison. Chapter Five studies the translators’ prefaces of the three English versions and discusses the relations between the translation strategies that the translators have claimed and actually employed. This chapter further suggests that the translators should utilize both semantic translation and communicative translation and specifically focus on one of them to stimulate their interactions. Chapter Six is the conclusion of this thesis. This chapter discusses the animal metaphor translation strategies of the three English versions and confirms the conclusion of this thesis. And further states the disadvantages of this thesis that needed to be improved in the future.