4. Translation of metaphor from English into Chinese from the perspective of cultural differences between Chinese and English
4.1 Cultural translation of metaphor
As we have discussed above, metaphor is not only a matter of words, but also a kind of cognitive mode. Thus, it is not enough to explore the translatability of metaphor only from the perspective of linguistics, but also from other perspectives. “Culture is the most important one of them in that in metaphors, the semantic ingredients restricted by context can stimulate readers to associate others, especially certain major definitional ones, which can shape an image in readers’ mind, then make the imparted information more clear and vivid.”[20] While image and culture are closely linked. Therefore, it is necessary for us to discuss the translatability of metaphor from the cultural perspective.
Whether a metaphor is “translatable” (i.e. whether literal translation could create identical dimensions), how difficult it is to translate, how it can be translated and whether it should be translated at all cannot be decided by a set of abstract rules, but must depend on the structure and function of the particular metaphor within the text concerned. The translatability of any given source language metaphor depends on two factors: one is particular cultural experiences and semantic association exploited by it; the other is the extent to which these can, or cannot, be reproduced non-anomalously in target language, depending on the degree of “overlap” in each particular case. Let’s look at an example:
(1) “Don’t be scared, chickens!” came her voice with teasing gaiety.
“别害怕，你们这些胆小如鼠的东西！”只听得她用戏谑的口气说道。
In this example, “chickens” should not be literally translated into “小鸡” in Chinese, because in western culture, “chicken” is often used to refer to a cowardly and fearful person. Thus, “胆小如鼠” is a better translation.
4.1.1 Management of cultural factors in translating English metaphors
English metaphors contain abundant and vivid cultural connotation of the nation and strongly reflect the cultural characteristics of the nation with English as its native language. The key of successful translation of English metaphors lies in the extent to which the translator understands the cultural context and the translation of the cultural features. Thus, the translator should try to master the source and cultural context of English metaphors as much as possible, which is very necessary to exactly understand their connotations and the cultural characteristics they reflect. Then the translator can use proper methods to translate these connotations and characteristics in order to achieve the most faithful and perfect translation.
As to translation standard and approach, in foreign countries, there are Nida’s “formal correspondence” and “functional equivalence”, and C.F.Newmark’s “semantic translation” and “communicational translation”; in China, there exists “direct translation” and “indirect translation”. Although they are different standards, all of them do not conflict with each other but complement with each other. Therefore, there are many approaches to translating metaphors. While in the process of translating metaphors, which approach is the best choice? It will depend on the nature and position of metaphors in text, on the relation between metaphor and context and on the type of the text itself.
Above all, during the process of translation of metaphors, the translator should try to flexibly keep the cultural features while translating meaning. As a result of cultural similarities and differences, the target language and the source language have different corresponding relations: sometimes full-corresponding, sometimes semi-corresponding, and sometimes non-corresponding. Such a phenomenon will further affect the accuracy of translation. In fact, any translation may bring about the loss of meaning and/or image. Therefore, we should adopt different complemental methods in order to achieve what Nida called “functional equivalence”.[21]
4.1.2 Cultural connotation of metaphor
“Both Nida and Newmark classify linguistic culture into five categories:(a) ecology (b) material culture (c) social culture (d) religious culture (e) linguistic culture.”[22] It clearly tells us that: cultural information carried by all kinds of languages is certain to be different, because the ecology, material, social and religious environment which different nations own are impossible to be identical. The cultural differences directly influence the thinking mode and value orientation of human being, thus become the main reason for the differences of metaphorical concepts of the two nations. Through researches on metaphors, we can find the cultural differences between Chinese and English.
Firstly, metaphors reflect geological and natural conditions of a nation. Different nations have different geological environment and national circumstances, and this difference often finds expression in metaphors. For example (2), when describing the emergence of a large amount of new objects, Chinese always say “雨后春笋般地”, while in English people usually say “grow like mushrooms” (像蘑菇一般). From this example, we can find that for the same phenomenon, Chinese and English use different images to describe. The reason just lies in the different environment of the two nations：China abounds with bamboo shoots, while the English speaking countries with mushrooms.
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